The Most Important Part of Teaching Kids to Read
A whole lot of us get this completely and utterly wrong. Schools do it. Teachers do it. Moms do it. Well-meaning adults make an epic mistake in the education of our children: we make teaching a child to read our top priority.
When it comes to our kids and books, our top priority is not to teach our children to read. It’s not to help them decode words on a page, learn their phonics, or bolster their reading comprehension.
It’s none of those things.
This post is a bonus episode of the Read-Aloud Revival podcast. If you’d rather listen, click the play button below.
Mark Twain says “a man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read,” and the same thing can be said for children.
Our first and foremost job in the education of our children, then, is to nurture a love for reading. We can pretty much shelf everything else until we’re nailing that.
Here’s why
If you focus primarily on teaching your kids HOW to read, you will likely have kids who do, indeed, know how to read.
But do you want kids who read because they can? Or kids who read because they love to? Kids who read because they can’t imagine life without stories?
A child who has been bribed, cajoled, or pressured to read does not delight in it. When he’s forced to read a book and answer comprehension questions about it, take a quiz on it, or write a book report about it… he learns something very, very clearly:
He learns that reading is something you have to do for school.
Reading is something you need to get out of the way. Check it off your list. Get it done with, already.
So even if he can read, because someone has taught him, he won’t do it for fun. He won’t delight in it. He won’t see books as one of life’s sweetest delights.
When you focus on nurturing your child’s love of stories first and foremost, you get a child who can read, and a child who loves to read.
You get both
You may not get the first part on your timetable, but you’ll get it on your child’s unique timetable, and he’ll have an insatiable appetite for stories, as well, which is worth its weight in gold.
A child with an insatiable appetite for stories will learn to read (although that may not happen this week… be patient), but he or she will learn to read. And he or she WILL read, then, even if it doesn’t come as a mandate from mom or the teacher.
Especially because it doesn’t.
When it comes to the language arts, everything follows nurturing that initial love. First, we want kids who LOVE stories. Everything else- phonics, comprehension, analysis, even writing… follows that.
A great loss
I find it terribly tragic when I hear that a child has been reading excellent books in school– the best classics, poets, and novelists of all time—if that child doesn’t also leave school with an overpowering love of books.
That love is the greater need. Prioritize your child’s love of literature above everything else- even if it means your kids aren’t reading the same impressive books your friends’ kids are, or even if it means they read less, and have less to show for it.
In his 1965 anthology, A Father Reads to His Children, Orville Prescott said, “Few children learn to love books by themselves, Someone has to lure them into the wonderful written word; someone has to lead the way.”
So how do we do that?
How do we help our children fall head-over-heels for the wonderful written word?
Here are 3 quick ideas you can put into practice right away to do just that.
1. Schedule time, not titles
Dictate less of what your child reads. Instead, just give them the time and space they need to read. You can do this by blocking off a half hour or hour in the day when the only option is to rest on their beds or to read. And then let them read what they want.
Don’t grimace when you find them reading an entire stack of Calvin & Hobbes or Garfield, or even those dreadful Disney fairy books or something else that gets on your nerves. As long as it fits into your normal moral guidelines, then just let them read what they want during that time of day.
Kids who love to read, read more. Good taste in books takes time to develop and mature, so let that happen without forcing it to happen too quickly. Help your child figure out that reading hour is the best hour of the day- because it is, right?
You do that by scheduling the time, but not the titles for your child.
2. Dig out a childhood favorite and read that aloud.
So often we feel like we need to read the best books to our kids, right? So we pick up classics or whatever we just saw someone post on their Instagram feed.
There’s nothing wrong with that, but if your kids haven’t seen you light up with complete and utter delight while reading yet, then you need to pick something that will indeed completely light you up, and read that.
What did you love reading as a child? Read that. I’ve got a list of books for you to choose from, and you can pretty much pick anything off the list and have a good chance of enjoying it.
Just shoot for 10 minutes day. Ten minutes is completely manageable for just about all of us, and it adds up to a tremendous amount of reading over time.
You can read a book in short order by tackling it in 10 minute chunks.
3. Consider giving your kids a book allowance
I saw this idea first in the comments of the Read-Aloud Revival Facebook page and I was immediately taken with it.
We demonstrate that things have value when we spend our money on them, right? So what better way to help our kids get into the habit of valuing books thinly adding to their personal libraries?
We are just now enforcing this idea brand new in our home, and my kids went nuts for it- they don’t really need to love books any ore than they already do, but I loved this idea too much not to implement it.
So our kids are going to get a $15 monthly book allowance that they can spend on whatever books they like.
You could even just give your kids $5 and then take them to a used bookshop or even $3 and take them to thrift stores, if you’d like.
I kind of hate taking my toddler twins out to stores of any kind, so we made ours $15 a month and we’re doing our book shopping online.
If this idea appeals to you, get creative with how you could fit it into your budget.
All three of these ideas- scheduling time, not titles; digging out a childhood favorite and demonstrating utter delight, and even possibly setting up a book allowance- they’re all ways that we become the literary matchmakers for our own kids.
If you try any of these and post about it to social media, use the #readaloudrevival hashtag, because I want to hear about it.
Let’s all do this. Let’s inspire our kids to fall in love withe books.
Every other problem we could possibly run into regarding books and reading would be made easier if we did this first- if we nurtured a deep and abiding love of the reading life in each of our kids.
I’d love to hear more about how you do your book allowance! How do you give guidance for selecting books-especially if doing the shopping online where they can’t necessarily “see” selections? I love this idea and can’t wait to try it!
When we go grocery shopping we head to the books first thing. My kids pick a book to buy and read it in the cart-until it’s too full for them to be in there. :)
I have to say I disagree. I can’t say that my kids were bribed, cajoled, or pressured to read, but there was never any doubt. This is what you do. We focused on the how and provided lots of good books and guess what- they all love it. If a kid can, they most likely will. But if they can’t, they positively won’t. I am so frustrated with all the pendulum swinging in people’s homeschooling philosophies. It takes both!!
Mama, it sounds like you did a beautiful job of teaching your children a love for reading!! You taught them to read and obviously they also learned the amazing richness of this!!!
My husband learned to read but he never learned to love to read. He says often “anything worth reading they make into a movie”. He gets frustrated when I want to just sit and read because he doesn’t get the joy. It makes me sad!!
I think the point of the article isn’t an either or but both!!! If our focus is concern of them learning to read in our (or others) timetable then we could miss something so important!
I pray my kids will love reading as yours do!!!
Love this book! Purchased it last weekend and can’t put it down! As an educator for 28 years, and a mom of 25 years, this book is so rejuvenating!
Brilliant. Great ideas.
thank you so much for this. not enough words to convey my gratitude.
Love this post and these ideas! One way my mom nurtured a love of books as we grew up was to give “tooth books” instead of tooth fairy money. Sometimes we got to pick the book, but usually she gave us a book that she thought we’d like, often one she’d loved as a kid. When I taught 5th grade, I gave “tooth books” out when students lost their teeth during the school day. One mom told me at the end of the year, “Oh! So that’s why my kid lost all his teeth at school this year.” haha!
Love this post!! I definitely feel like I made the mistake of just teaching my older kids how to read. Now they’re in high school/middle school, and I’m finding it dicfficult to undo my mistake! It seems like there’s so much the “have to read” and not enough time for free reading. I’m trying to do better by my 5 year-old. Thanks for the great ideas!
I live all the advice and tips to get kids loving to read. It has helped me more then you know.
I love your post and ideas!! I do have a comment/question. My daughter loves stories and being read to, but she does not love reading herself. She has dyslexia, and reading is a chore for her. She has to be taught explicitly in a certain way for her to learn. It isn’t fun for her, even though I’ve tried to add in games and incentives. It’s still just hard and takes a lot of mental energy for her. I guess my question is how do you develop the love of reading for a child when it is just hard? We do read alouds and audible for a large part of our day, but she still needs to do her reading lessons and that just reinforces the fact for her that when she reads it isn’t fun. It’s hard work.
Jennifer–have you listened to podcast Episode 49 with Rebecca Bellingham? I think she shares an interesting perspective. https://readaloudrevival.com/49-2/
What a great post. As an avid reader, I have done my best to pass the love of reading along to my children. My 6 year old loves to read and chooses to read during her quiet time and then dress up as the characters. My five year old loves to listen to me read to him but hasn’t quite caught the “reading-on-his-own” bug yet. I think he is struggling since his older sister can read just about anything. We are trying to bridge the gap from basic phonics books to slightly more advanced and help him overcome his confidence issue. He loves comic books like Baby Mouse and those might be a good way to help him. I thought the book allowance sounded great. I am wondering how to logistically manage it. The nearest book store is an hour away and I could probably make a trip there once a month if I planned for it, but I do dread shopping trips with all the kids (a 2 year old in a book store sends me in panic mode!). If I tried to do it on Amazon with such young readers, how would I go about it? Also, do you recommend connecting the book allowance to chores or just giving the allowance as a pure gift with no strings attached (and subsequently can’t remove money as punishment)? Thanks so much for your site.
Last year I started reading Heidi to my 6 year old son and he loved it so much he read Heidi Grows Up and most of Heidi’s Children before he needed me to read some of it with explanations of some of the subject matter. I had enjoyed the same Heidi books when I was little.
Sarah:
Thank you for being such an encouragement! I love the podcast! After 13 years of homeschooling and 12 more to go before my youngest graduates, I was a bit tired last year but continued to read aloud. One of my daughters was a struggling reader, but this past spring it all came together and she fell in love with reading! She even was one of Tennessee’s Top 100 readers for the First Lady’s Reading Program this summer. Wow! She said that after accepting Jesus into her heart, falling in love with reading was the next best thing. Anyway, I just wanted you to know that this mom in Franklin, TN really appreciates what you are doing! By the way, you have the best laugh ever!!!
With much love and appreciation,
Kari Shepherd
Oh, Kari! Your note is so wonderful to read! Peace keep you as you homeschool your children.
HI, I am wondering what you think of previewing the books your kids read….? I don’t want to be too controlling in this area, but I know a lot of parents preview the books. My 8 year old daughter is reading a LOT. If I decide to preview them I’m not sure I will be able to read them all, maybe the first in the series or something like that. She has read the Ivy and Bean books before and I flipped through them and they seemed ok…. one of them even inspired her to make her own newspaper for a few days which was darling, but now she is reading one that sounds like the main character is pretty rude….. I know her books are mostly twaddle. I don’t mind. I just don’t want her reading a ton of books with rude kids as the main characters….introducing her to lots of rude slang….she recently asked me what “dork” and “dweeb” mean or something along those lines… maybe this is not a big deal…? Thanks so much for your wonderful podcasts, I’m a big fan :)
So I just told my son we need to block out a half hour of reading time a day. He grimaced at me, and then replied, “Not just a half hour, let’s do an hour!”
Sounds like our kind of boy! ;)
Great article! I love the idea of a book allowance, I’d never thought of that. Growing up, my mom was always reading and always reading to us and it really instilled in all her children a love of reading (even my younger brother who had a learning disability and didn’t love reading until he was a teenager). I will forever be grateful that she shared her love of reading with me and definitely want to share it with my own kids now. Thanks for these tips!
I have a subscription to Audible and I let my 7 yr old pick from a wish list I have created of good books to listen to each month. That is my “book” allowance for him. However, even though he can read by himself real books, he doesn’t want to. He would rather listen as it is easier. Any suggestions or should I just let it go. We read everyday and i let him read to me but don’t push it. Thanks!
7 is still early days! The Audible wish list coupled with your read-aloud time sounds like the ideal conditions for nurturing his independent reading. Offer opportunities to read independently, but I wouldn’t force it at this age.
This post and comments are so helpful. We’ve always enjoyed reading to our kids but this is a valuable nugget! Brilliant Book Allowance!
Sarah,
I love all that your saying and suggesting here! However; I am curious as a first-time homeschooling mom. Would you recommend not doing reading lessons at all and purely let things happen on their own? I’ve taken the approach of reading great books to my son which he really enjoys but recently have added a 15 minute lesson that has seemed to be fruitful; however, I don’t want to push it too much and this is all new to me. I would love your thoughts. He is four and a half.
Four and a half is young! But if the short lessons are working (progress is being made and peace preserved), then you’re headed in the right direction.
This was so encouraging as I’m struggling with my 5 year old daughter to read. I’ve lost the point of it all!! But im excited to change my approach! It’ll be a relief for us both!!
So glad to hear it, Jessica!
I read this awhile back but completely forgot the importance of what is being expressed here. Thank you! …again!
A friend posted this and it was PERFECT timing for our family!!! Awesome advice!
*Funny* how that works, Holli! <3
I love these ideas. I couldn’t agree more about reading aloud as the foundation of loving to read. thanks for all the information and all you do to help parents understand the importance of reading aloud right from the get-go. I have linked this post to my website: http://www.theresalapforthat.com.
Love it! My son is an excellent reader and sometimes he just wants to read Captain Underpants. I squirm a little everytime, but I know that he loves it and it’s not all he reads. Sometimes you need a little dessert and not all meat and potatoes. And to earn a book allowance I have him review books on his blog.
My husband had an Amazon book allowance when I first met him in college. His dad wanted to make sure he continued to read things he enjoyed outside of his required coursework. This was in 2000 when Amazon mostly sold books and not everything including the kitchen sink. It was so fun watching him get new books every month and hear him talk about them around the dining hall table. Now that has translated to us as adults buying new books whenever possible and talking about them around our family table.
100% agree!
I have a huge basket that was collecting dust that I put on the floor between my girls’ table (ages 4 and 2) and our recliner. It’s rather large and low-walled and perfect for holding 50ish picture books at a time. So now we go to the library at least once per week and keep a steady flow of new picture books coming into our home. We take all the books off of your monthly list that appeal to our girls’ ages, a few *more advanced* titles as sometimes they enjoy it. We read everyday, multiple times per day. When We’re not reading aloud together, they often read aloud to themselves and even each other! I love seeing them discover a book(s) that rock their socks! I love the excitement they have for going to the library! I love that they love books! Sometimes it’s reading, sometimes it’s building book towers and book bridges, but they books! I’m not concerned that my 4 year old cannot read. I know many parents are focused on teaching reading at this age. Teaching them to spell at this age. Writing names and addresses. We have so many years ahead of us that they can learn this. Like anything, when they are ready, they will. And it’ll take a fraction of the time to learn, too!
I have to say that I adore your blog, your FB Page, and book. I thank you for all that you have done for so many families. For my family. I was planning on following AO’s website recommendations for education as we too, are going to homeschool, but it just didn’t feel right. I’m not concerned with how many classics they read before they graduate so much as I am with them LOVING to Read and LOVING to Learn! They have the rest of their lives to read classics. And I have to thank you from my girls- they adore the Elephant and Piggie Series that you posted on the March 2017 List. We’ve read most of them in last 7 days. They are eating them up! Thank you!!
PS: I can’t wait to listen to your presentation at the Orlando, FL Homeschool convention!!
Thanks so much for sharing about your very full book baskets, Julia! It’s time to Spring Clean our baskets around here…phasing out the board books in the 4 year old’s basket!
As a mom to two dyslexic boys (ages 10 & 7), I can not tell you how much I appreciate your blog and this post. In our home learning to read is not easy and it’s not fun. We live on audiobooks and read alouds. And because of that, both of my boys LOVE reading (even if they can’t do it the same way their peers do). My 10 year old begs to get in bed with his tablet and book to tackle his current 450 page favorite title. My 7 year old begs to curl up in my bed with his tablet and book to listen to his. And they both (according to their educational testing) have superior verbal skills to which the professionals (doctors, therapists, tutors, etc.) always say, “you must read to them a lot”. Even with struggling readers, a love of books is possible!
Love hearing this, Jennifer!
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These ideas are wonderful! I so enjoyed this article. However I’m not sure how to apply it…i haven’t yet succeeded in creating readers in my home. My older graduated children aren’t readers, and my 13 and 11 yo that I’m working with now aren’t yet either. I’ve always read aloud wonderful books to my children, which they have all enjoyed and still do, and I’ve held a daily “quiet time with books” for years. I haven’t required particular books during that time, or required many books during school time either. However, this year I have gotten more structured and decided to require the reading of certain books during school, in an effort to develop the habit and tastes. My 13 yo son has been doing the reading without complaining, he seems to like it ok but isn’t passionate either. My 11 yo will read certain of the books on but balks at others. Also my 13 yo son in particular really needs to amp up his writing and spelling skills in order to be prepared for young adulthood so I feel I must start requiring more there. I believe in allowing their own developmental timetable but his is far past what I’m comfortable with. After reading your article I’m worried that this approach may backfire too! I can’t figure out why I haven’t yet been successful with this! Our home is filled with wonderful books, we don’t overuse tv or electronics, I’ve always read aloud, and always had quiet reading times, i give books as gifts, and yet I don’t have any readers yet in my family :( I do still have little children too so I have hope that i still may have some readers! The only thing I can think is that maybe it’s because our parental example is not what it should be. My husband isn’t a reader and doesn’t have a heart for books, and I have a heart for books, and used to be a reader, but haven’t been since I became a mom, sacrificing myself for my family…to an unhealthy degree…I’m working on fixing this, and trying to inspire hubby! Anyway, do you really think that requiring certain books to be read for school will kill the love? In the past when I didn’t require, it didn’t create the love then either!
Thank you for this. We read a lot, bedtime stories and living books for school. I get caught up in worrying that we are behind. My 7 year old is barely reading and my nine year old can read easy reader books, but when we try magic tree house it’s too much for her. I often get caught up in “they will never learn to read”, and “all of their friends are ahead”. I must remember I am cultivating a love for reading and the rest will come.
I love Read Aloud Revival! You give wonderful suggestions for building readers and enjoying the gift of literacy. 😍
I understand what you are saying by letting them read what they want. “The Calvin and Hobbes, Disney princesses, or something like that. What do you do when it is over and over and over. How are they suppose to get a love for reading if this is all they pick for six months to all they will ever pick. For example, my soon to be 12 yo is still reading Magic Treeouse and Judy Moody for the past two years!!! She does have reading issues, I am just thinking she could be past this by now.
I worked in an Title 1 Reading Program for years teaching Reading Comprehension. Our rule of thumb was: It doesn’t matter what the child likes (has to be moral) so long as the child enjoys reading. We can make suggestions based on current titles that they enjoy but allow them to read what gives them the desire.
I loved this podcast. I have young kids, new readers, and I’m just starting to figure all of this out. We homeschool through a charter, and one of the things they give us to go along with the literature we read is these packets full of burdensome questions, vocab list, and activities to go along with the book. Frankly, we hate them. Am I right to just ditch these entirely, and trust that in K/3rd grade the reading and perhaps a discussion about what’s happening in the book is enough?
So happy to find you Sarah!
I.have been ‘feeling’ that what you are saying is true..so.reading this just confirms it for me..which is huge! I am beginning my homeschool journey with my 5th grade son. We have always read as a family, individually, at bedtime, etc. My son never loved it but he liked it enough that he would read some on his own. Now he hates it, even when I read. It may be in.part due to ‘negative experiences’ with reading in.school last year. So as much as I want him to read (he is able, just not willing) especially entering this new journey, I think I will just be reading to him and not pressuring him at all and having.plenty of books available that I think he may be interested in, especially for a set aside quiet daily reading/resting time. But any other ideas would be greatly appreciated!:)
I LOOOOVE THE BOOK ALLOWANCE!!!!! I’m going to get each if my own kiddos their own book shelves so each month they can add to their own personal library. And maybe some days wake up to a surprise book from mama on their shelf <3
Each child their own bookshelf * 🙃 I was excited 🤓
Awesome post.
How I wish I knew about RAR when my daughter was younger.
she is 7 and does not like to read.
I will try these tips
Great article! I love the book allowance! That is so clever!! I have to pass it on! As a retired first grade teacher, I so believe children need to love to read and write — that they are fun things to do!!!!
What a wonderful idea for a book allowance!! We are just starting to work on money and saving, etc., with our 4 yr old and what a perfect strategy that we didn’t think of!!!!! I don’t really want to start teaching him to save for toys.
Agree with this whole-heartedly. Even in my time in public school as a teacher and literacy coach, this was always the message I preached. And it’s harder and harder to do that in school with the demands of testing. It’s possible though. I love teachers like Donalyn Miller and her work with “The Book Whisperer.” As a homeschooling mom now, this is definitely my first and foremost goal when it comes to reading. It applies to writing too and other areas of learning as well! So glad there are mamas and writers like you who are influencing others in this way!
I really enjoyed this podcast episode! Sometimes it’s so easy to get caught up in phonics lessons, getting stressed when my child is struggling with decoding and reading fluently. I know consistent lessons are important, but as you said helping my kids love books is even more important. :) I know it will all work out in the end! 💜
Hi Sarah, I love your podcast!
In this podcast, you mentioned kids can read any book but within your guideline. What is your guideline?
LOVE this… especially the idea of scheduling TIME not TITLES!!! YES! I feel like this is such a much needed message, especially in the Classical and Charlotte Mason circles where so many Mamas feel pressured to assign their children very specific books from very specific lists. I have never forced my kids to read anything! (Some people think that’s crazy, but I know you understand my heart!). However, I do have kids who are nuts over books and love to read! Instead of assigning books, I stack our shelves with books I *want* them to read and then give encouragement and ‘suggestions’. ;) Often I will simply show my kids the pile of books I’ve picked out as possible titles for their year and they will very likely choose to pick up and read 75% of them. So, it does work. We also go to the library weekly and bring home a huge bag of great books that get scattered all over the living room for them to pick up any time and read. :) Never thought of giving the kids a book allowance, but it is a great idea. Thank you for this great post and wonderful inspiration!
The link to the author access is broken, there is a spelling error. Loved the podcast, I’m going to share it with my friend, who’s son I’m tutoring. Our family loves books so this is natural, but for people who didn’t grow up reading much, or who still struggle with reading as adults, it’s really hard to teach love for reading.
I love the idea of a book allowance! One time, years ago now, we went to a beautiful bookstore. I had $120 to spend. We had the best time! I let each child pick a few books. And if it weren’t for that magical day, our family would not have met Fritz and the Beautiful Horses!
Yes!!! I’m a former teacher and now a homeschooling mom. This is my philosophy toward ALL subjects, including mathematics. How many adults think of themselves as “bad at math?” Or think they’ve NEVER used algebra in real life even though they use it daily without realizing it?
I absolutely love this post. We do number #1 and #2 pretty regularly. I do struggle with not assigning them books to read. When I notice they are reluctant to one of my suggestions or assignments, I try to get the audiobook and we listen to it together in the car. If it was a childhood favorite of mine, I will often stop and tell them why certain parts were my favorite. If it is a book I want them to read and I have not read it, we get to experience it together and I get to tell them at different points why I thought they would like it.
By the end of listening, they usually return to the book and read it on their own accord just so that they can savor it on their own.
Thank you for all your read-aloud resources and encouragements.
I love this. We had three book reports to do this summer, and my son needs some help in writing. So I decided to read his books to him aloud so we could talk about the books together and I could help him learn how to structure a book report. We had SO MUCH FUN! And this together time was really really special for both of us, especially when we got to our Narnia book, The Magician’s Nephew. I read in voices and made it extra dramatic at the good parts. He hasn’t stopped thanking me for our reading time and wants to go through all the Narnia books together. I also want to say how much I hate the AR reading competitions in school. We boycott them on principle. Reading should not be pass/fail. And in 2nd – 5th grade it shouldn’t be what someone else wants you to derive from a book and then you’re punished if you don’t get the same things by failing the test. For a struggling learner, this is the worst and yet schools continue to buy into it. I’m not a homeschool mom, but I do a lot at home to augment the school day.
Had a “love of reading” breakthrough at our house this week. :) I’ve been using the Alphabet Mysteries series by Ron Roy as frequent read-alouds for the past year. My son enjoys them a lot, but hasn’t been very motivated to read them on his own. I came across the first of the Calendar Mysteries, which feature the younger siblings of the Alphabet Mysteries’ main characters, at a booksale recently and picked it up. My son was excited when I brought it home. He then proceeded to sit down and spend 2+ hours reading the entire book independently. Yes! Yes, yes, yes! I think that the reading level was just a little lower than the other books, so it didn’t feel like “work” to him to read it. I’m so happy to see him discovering the joy of reading. And I know that as his reading skills continue to develop, the level of book he reads independently will increase. Thanks for all your encouragement here, Sarah, and all of you RAR community members for your insightful comments too! This blog is one of my favorite places on the internet. :)
Thanks Sarah :) Glad the Read Aloud Police don’t live near me. You bring so much joy and encouragement to our homeschool. My daughter turned ten this week, and one of the books she got was “The Prairie Thief.” She was no use to anyone until she had got to the very last page. About ten times in the last 48 hours she said “oh, this book is SO GOOD!” She said it’s like the characters reached out and grabbed her.
When you first talked about the fact that reading aloud didn’t need to be thirty minutes a day every day for as long as The Reading Promise went for. You said five minutes. So I did. Thank you. I read something every day at snack time in the morning. We read all of “Dangerous Journey” in the first half of this year, one page per day when we had a school day. It has already become a family favourite – even the three year old would request it.
By the way, we have had to ban reading books while brushing teeth.
Four out of my five have developed “book love.” I am hoping my daughter is just a late bloomer. She is nine years old and highly logical, very practical. I am hoping to help her find a genre that she loves (soon!)
My just turned 10 yr is the same way!
One thing my parents did was they would buy me books that I wanted, put them away, and I’d have to earn them through doing a certain number of chores to earn “points”. They got a cleaner house, I got new Babysitter’s Club or whatever other books I’d picked, everyone won. I haven’t tried that tactic because my kid is too young, but I loved reading these ideas! (And personally, I’d love it if he gets into Calvin & Hobbes. It was my favorite comic ever, and actually does have a good level of vocabulary!)
So this blog totally hit the heart for me. I am totally guilty of making reading ‘school’ and not pleasure. I have a beautiful 7 year old son (+ a bunch of younger kids too). He loves audiobooks (anything history) we also read aloud. However, I have a 30 minute a day quiet reading time. The other ones get their pile of books out and read. But my 7 year old. He has his book or books and almost always stares out the window during this time. I even heard my self bark at him today that he was not reading. I cringe everytime I bark at him, however, I need wisdom. Do I just let this happen? The only thing he does on the ipad is listen to audiobooks. Shall I just be patient and let this be his cycle. What are some other ideas? Maybe for me, MOM!!
Yes, let him be. He enjoys listening, so keep those stories washing over him. Audiobooks are wonderful! Think about what HE will remember from this time – the great stories, or the reprimand and guilt/shame it might engender?
I would just let him listen to audio books or just stare out the window. :) It can be hard to watch (especially if you’re a do-er, like me), but I’ve found that some of my kids need more time than I expect to just sit and think and be.
My 12yo told me once a few years ago (when I was snapping at her to BRUSH HER TEETH ALREADY because we needed to get out the door) that she couldn’t brush her teeth for a second because she needed to finish thinking. I think I *may* have responded with, “Can’t you brush your teeth and think at the same time?!”
Ahem.
She’s one of my best little thinkers, though, and she has a heart of gold and is smart as a whip. She just needs time to make it happen.
Anyway, grace over grace. You are a gooooood mama, even if you bark sometimes (we all do). Maybe just let him do his reading time in another room so you aren’t bugged so much when he’s staring out the window? :) But I wouldn’t worry too much about whether he’s actually reading during that time or just looking at the pictures or staring at a wall. :)
xo!
Thank you so much for making this readable. Podcasts are great when I can find listening time but with my crowd, most of my listening time needs to go to them! 😉 Thank you for everything! It’s just lovely!
Wow, I NEVER considered a monthly book allowance! I live in a small town so we’d probably do online as well but their umbrella school would totally allow me to use school funds for this! Why didn’t I think of that?!
I 100% agree with you here, by the way. My two oldest are dyslexic. Reading, at nearly 10 and 9, is still not easy. We’re still going through phonics and word attack skills and fluency exercises and workbooks and readers. But we all read together at various times through out the day, just for the thrill of a good story or an interesting fact. All my kids especially love audiobooks and listen well above their reading level – it can be a problem some times how much they listen!
What’s the point of learning to read, finally remembering all those darn rules and exceptions and synthesizing them, if they’re going to toss the books aside with a sigh of relief and never pick them up again?
My (wonderful, concerned) mother-in-law aside, enjoying reading was ALWAYS more important than forcing them to read more and more and more and more! And it’s working!
Robyn,
Your situation sounds a lot like mine! I have a 10 year old boy who is still working on the skills, but he is coming along. However, it doesn’t ever seem to be quite enough for the mother-in-law!
Red Rider wagons being pulled by messy kids who have been out in nature and trips to the library! Heaven in my book! Thanks Sarah. I love reading any post having to do with books, the love of reading and kiddos.
Sarah, what a bonus. Thank you. I found this moment before walking out the door to take my son to vision therapy. Today is evaluation day…and when I talk to the doctor in a few minutes I know she is going to recommend more (expensive) therapy. I needed this more than you will ever know. My dear friend, whom I have never met, Thank you for your insight and encouragement.
Sending you love and hugs! And thanks for such an encouraging note. :)
My kid went from a reluctant reader to a reading junkie overnight when she found a hand-me-down copy of the above-mentioned Disney Fairy series. It was the thing that made reading useful and interesting to her and she has not stopped since. We frequent the library as an alternative to purchasing more books (and I often order selected titles through interlibrary loan for her), but the book allowance idea does appeal so that she may have books to collect from this special time in her life. We have buckets of board and picture books that adults chose for her when she was younger, but it would be interesting and good to see her replace those with books of her very own choosing – especially as treasures that she can have of her very own.
Yep- my kids all became voracious readers by reading easy series books, too. They are definitely fantastic for that!
My daughter fell in love with the Never Girls books, and as she is still just learning to read, they are all read aloud books in my house. Because this happened the same time as her first two teeth fell out, our tooth fairy brought her a few of the books that she magically knew we couldn’t find in the library ;-) It started a fun and easy way to add books to our already-growing library.
My parents were awesome about buying us books and still have hundreds of them at their house. It is so much fun to go back and reread them with my kids now!
I am witnessing a phenomenom in our home. My #4 child is 8 years old, has taken the longest to learn how to read, and for the past 2 weeks can’t get his nose out of his Magic Tree House books! We had completed the reading lessons years ago, but he still struggled. What happened? I don’t know! Just, very suddenly, he is reading in the car, at his desk, to his little brother, to me….laughing about silly things he reads, giving us summaries, asking to go the library every single time we drive by (almost daily) and here’s the kicker…. spelling everything! Just randomly spelling and asking how to spell….hard words! And asking me questions like “which is better – ‘lick’ or ‘light’?” Thinking about words and their value I suppose. This is the most exciting part of teaching to me – watching the love of reading ignite!!!
My three oldest children of 7 have all majored in Literature in college. I totally agree that reading to them as children made the love good books!
Yes, reading to them also needs to continue even after they are fluent readers. We used to read to/with our daughter into junior high school. She loves to read and is a voracious reader. She used to read in the car, walking around the mall (following our feet!)
HAPPY!!!! I love it when this happens.
I love this! And totally agree. But..as a new homeschooler (our 2nd week lol), im not sure how to do this AND also teach tbem how to write about what they read? Or do oral narration?
We are taking a very laid back approach tbis first few months and my kids are reading novels of their choice, at least 30 minutes a day ( that is separate from their just for fun reading), and then we talk a little about it. I am having each write afew sentences about the book and/or draw a picture about it. My 8 year old boy, a struggling reader, actually seems to comprehend and retain much more of what he reads than my 11 year old girl, who reads TONS (she read Story of the World Vol 1 for fun last week). She has such a hard time doing anything but fill in the blanks type questions (what she is used to from private school). I helped her start a reading notebook yesterday and told her to record what she read “for school” daily, and write a bit about it. We printed off some basic, describe the main idea, des ribe the character type pages (from a public school interactive reading journal). They both seem to want to pick out an easy book, get it done and write the bare minimum about it..
Am i asking too much in the name of “doing enough”? More than anything i want them to learn to love learning and read for pleasure and to seek knowledge of their own interests??
Have you thought about reading a book together and using that for discussion? My best memories of public school are of my 4th grade teacher reading aloud to us after lunch every day. I credit her for feeding my love of reading. If you are taking a laid back approach to school you might also want to look into Brave Writer Arrow where a different book is read each month and discussed, copy work, dictation, literary elements are covered using that 1 title. You could find titles listed on the BraveWriter website or individually as 10 packs through the Homeschool Buyers co-op website.
We use audiobooks a lot and I have to credit ReadAloud Revival for leading us to some great literature this year! We really enjoyed Magyk and are now working our way through Red Wall series. My 8 year old is enthralled with Redwall and insists that I read the whole series to him. Thank you ReadAloud Revival for leading us to those authors!
Sometimes it takes a bit to “deschool” them and help them transition to a new way of thinking about books and learning when you first start homeschooling. That’s okay! Let it take some time.
I probably wouldn’t have them write about what they’re reading for a little while. or just choose one book to have them write about, and let the rest of their reading be “for fun.” It’ll be easier to add it in later.
How old are your kids?
My school age are 11 and 8 plus a 4 and 2 year old. Oldest is the only girl so my house is loud and chaotic..
Perhaps you could tweak the question a bit. Instead of simply writing about the main character, for example, you could frame it as “How is the main character similar to/different from you?” or “What qualities does the main character exhibit that you like/dislike and why?”
Often comparisons to the reader(s) ( e.g. your 4th grader) make it more relevant and interesting to them.
Where do I get that list?
You can snag it right here, Sarah! https://readaloudrevival.com/booklist/
A book allowance! What a wonderful idea. Can your kids spend their allowance on anything they want? Is twaddle okay in the name of loving to read? Or do you have veto power?
I’m going to let them use it on anything they want, for now. I’ll let you know how that goes! :)
I love the book allowance part. I wanted to share that Scholastic Book Club http://clubs.scholastic.com does allow homeschoolers to join as a “school.” I often have a hard time keeping myself to a book budget because their book prices are sometimes $1 -$3. For the younger grades, they often have grade level packs – 20 books for $20 (Kindergarten particularly) and with every book you order you earn points for your “classroom.” I have used Scholastic for the last few years to order Christmas presents for my child, his friends, cousins, etc.
Thanks for the tip, Kim!
Just joined! thank you for this!!
Great post! I’ve taught four of my boys to read and they all learned at different rates, but they have one thing in common. They all love to read. I think it’s because my husband and I read a lot, and we’ve done family read-alouds in the evenings pretty consistently. That and we haven’t allowed a lot of other distractions to take over the pleasures of a good book. I really think that growing up in the family they are in they didn’t have much choice but to love books.
And now one of my little girl’s favorite past times is looking at books. I’m really looking forward to teaching her how to read, because it will open up a whole new world for her.
Great ideas- especially not cringing when my little one grabs another disney princess story- i swear they’re over stocking those at our library!!
Ha! They probably are. ;) But they have their place, too. My kids often became fluent readers by reading stacks of books like that.
Oh, the pressure of learning to read! Been there, done that with my older one. Both children, ages 5 and 10, love stories, and would often grab a book and read by themselves or ask me to read to them, but the younger one has always known just the joy, and not the pressure. Now he is starting to sound out words — on his timetable, not mine. I love your suggestions on igniting a love for reading. We don’t have a set reading time, but we often start the day by grabbing a book to read together or alone. I love reading old favourites to them, and hubby enjoys discovering books with them. We also have a book allowance of sorts — we let them borrow as many books as they want from the library, and we let them choose a book or two when we go to thrift shops. One thing I’ve been doing too: When they tell me they’re bored, I answer, “Get a book and we’ll read.”
Love this post! I don’t often have time to listen to the podcast, but as I think about how I want to grow a love of reading in my children, these are great ideas and ones that I recognize from my childhood. My parents read to us every night before bed, no matter how tired they were. In a spin on #3, they also gave us books for good grades in school (1 A or 2 Bs on your report card = 1 paper back book, 2 As = 1 hardcover). I really like the idea of a book allowance though, that would be a great way to teach budgeting and how to use spending money. Thanks for sharing!
Another great idea Amy! Give books as rewards! Love it! 2nd Grade teacher ~.~