In October, we will be looking at different parts of our schedule that make up our home schooling days. Whether you use the “unschooling” method or whether you are strictly classical, you can add tidbits here and there to make things more fun and augment your child’s education. Feel free to take and leave suggestions here on the comment board.
If you have a reader, your story is probably similar to many other moms that I know. One day, they just started reading. You might have done some phonics instruction but reading is as much a developmental milestone as is potty training and when they’re ready they’re ready.
So what things do you do to encourage your homeschooler to read?
Be a reader yourself
The more you read, the more your child will get the idea that this is a worth while pursuit. In our house, DEAR (borrowed from the public school system by-the-way) stands for Drop Everything and Read. That includes mom, babies, everyone. We all pull out a favorite book and read for 5 minutes.
Independent reading
Independent reading is probably easy to squeeze in. Especially if your child already likes books, independent reading is likely to be a favorite pass time. But independent reading can and should count as part of your school day.
We have three times of independent reading at our house. Once in the morning while my oldest is waiting for me to get ready. Once after lunch, to kind of ease our way back into home schooling and once at the end of our home schooling day. Generally my daughter works her way through a series of books such as Amelia Bedelia, or Henry and Mudge.
Reading Out Loud to Your Child
Again, this is something you likely already do but have you considered making it a significant part of your school day? Maybe you read out loud at bed time or after dinner but have you considered starting your day that way?
Whenever you read out loud, you should choose books that your child would not be able to read on his or her own. Choose books where the vocabulary is a little too hard, but where the story is interesting and would “catch” them.
Your Child Reading out Loud to You
Almost as important, your child should be reading some thing out loud to you too! Reading out loud helps build fluency. It helps the child to know when he’s mispronounced something.
If your child is squeamish about reading out loud to you, try reading along with your child. Don’t feel like you have to stop and correct all of the mistakes. Just read out loud and enjoy the book.
Your Home Library
People make fun of us because we have nothing less than 7 bookshelves. This is partly because my husband and I read voraciously (and my husband is a pack rat). But this is also because we make a point to own good books for our kids.
Furthermore, we have set up baskets on the lower shelves of some of our book cases for library books and borrowed materials. This helps keep everything neat and tidy and then we know where the books are when we want to return them.
What tips do you have for getting your child to love to read? What questions do you have about getting your child to love to read? Here is the forum created just to discuss our home schooling days.
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