Could reading music count as reading?

When does Mo have two days off in a row?

Joe(jistasking)Nation

With baseball's frikken schedule of Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and drums on Wednesday he has Friday, Saturday and Sunday off.

I KNOW it's way too much. We really didn't expect baseball to be so intense.

Baseball will be over in about another month. We do the word/book/newspaper/whateverseemsinteresting reading on all of those nights and have been doing it on Wednesday's too but....

.... it seems like reading music should count to me.

But I'm a little prejudice.

If the teacher doesn't know much about music, you'll be able to get away with it.

Music's usually considered to be more closely aligned to the maths (in academic terms).

But I'm a little prejudiced.

Isn't there some practice time on those days too??

Joe(wooo)nation

We take a really laid back approach to his music lessons since he's still a little kid. He LOVES going to class and he LOVES his teacher and banging around on the drums is always fun.

He bangs about when he wants. Which is often.

His teacher is a groovy, no pressure kind of guy too so it all works out.

Mo plays instead of practices, I guess, and he does it when he feels like it.

Mo has taken several music classes though and he reads music pretty well.

I wouldn't count it. On one hand, teachers use the homework reading schedule as a target. On the other hand, teachers don't like it when extra-curricular stuff gets in the way of homework.

Does Mo have to read every night? Can he read a little extra on a different night?

He's supposed to read with an adult for at least 15 minutes a night and write the title down on his reading log.

I'm not trying to make excuses for him not to do the reading. Usually we read much longer than is required. We also read lots of smaller things throughout the day. If he were to list everything he read on any given day he'd run out of room on his homework sheet.

Yesterday was the first really beautiful day in a while. When we got home from drum lessons all the kids were playing outside so I told Mo that he could play. I knew we'd really have to squeeze in homework.

That's when I started wondering if reading music didn't count as reading. It seems to me that it should -- it's a little trickier than regular reading. I wasn't sure what a teacher would think though.

Thanks for setting me straight, littlek!

Hey Boomerang, Are you are talking about reading music as in quarter notes, rests, etc. on a staff vs. words in a music book?

We have the same thing required of us. Their teacher is very laid back and does not seem to mind that I will put down double the reading time the next day if we miss a night. I also put the actual amount of time they read vs. just the required amount. We have to sign it so if she has a problem she can come to me. She is fine with it.

Hey Boomer, this is one of those cases where you pick your battles. If he reads other things throughout the day and you're comfortable with the effort he's putting in then that's the answer. I'd put "assorted" or "various" as the title and leave it at that.

Reading logs were a HUGE battleground in this house. M was (is) an avid reader but refused to time herself and put minutes to paper. The clock took away from her reading experience (this started in second grade and continued through middle school). She's a straight-A student and doesn't care that her teacher has certain expectations when she thinks those expectations are counter-productive to the goal. She fought the mighty fight with every teacher she had. She's good at fighting her case and they all backed off. She'd write "many" in the minutes spot on her log and leave it at that. (This is the same kid who decided she didn't need a TB test to enter fifth grade, looked up the current statutes and brought a copy with her to her Dr's appt -- she didn't have the test).

K, on the other hand, was a poor reader and getting her to focus on reading for 20 minutes solid was impossible and extremely frustrating for all involved. More nights ended in tears than not and the reading log once again (but for completely different reasons) became something of a battleground. We had discussions with her teachers and decided that "various" was an acceptable title and the number of minutes would accumulate over the course of the day.

Different kids, different solutions to the same dilemma.

Yes, I'm talking about reading (and playing) the music notes on the staff.

We have to sign off on the homework too.

Mo usually brings home science books from the library. Right now we're reading a really amazing book about sharks. Did you know that there are over 300 species of shark? The second half of the book is a shark dictionary. Thoughout the day Mo will flip through the dictionary asking me to read about the goblin shark, the green dogfish, the frilled shark, or one of any of the 300 sharks listed. I don't count that into our reading time.

Each evening we read a few chapters from the book. That's the time we write in. Getting Mo to read isn't a problem as long as it's a science book and it isn't a sunny day.

"Various." I LOVE that.

I've discussed out battle of the reading list on A2K before. I get why they do it but it still doesn't seem right.

I gave up on story books or anything he can read on his own because he always wants science books and I can hardly pronounce some of the words.

Mornin' JPB...having to sign off on stuff would mess with my enjoyment of the reading as well...have a wee bit of a rebellious nature.

Mo sounds normal Boomerang...typical little boy. I have come to think that parents have as much homework as the kids - especially in elementary school