Teaching & Cultivating A Love of Reading 1

Quality books. They really are such a treasure for the home educator. I'm talking about the kind of beautiful stories, biographies, historical novels, fiction and non, that you'll find in book lists such as Reading For The Heart, by Sarah Clarkson, and all of the "Honey For..." books by Gladys Hunt  (I'm currently using her Honey For a Teens Heart.) I use these lists for choosing books for Noah to read on his own as well for me to read aloud. I highly recommend keeping these on hand for a quick go-to when you're at a loss for the moment or want to plan ahead.

So how do I go about reading in my home? Here are some answers to a few of the questions I get: How old were your kids when you started reading aloud from chapter books? My oldest was about 6 or 7 when we started the Little House series. So that meant that my others were pretty young. We started slow and let all the kids play quietly while me or their dad read. Of course we had started reading aloud long before that, but this was our start with "big" books. At what age do you stop reading aloud? I've never turned away a willing listener, no matter how old! ha. With my older kids I can't remember when we stopped, it just naturally started changing as they got older, started working and having their own schedules. Noah is almost 16, and reading aloud to him is still very alive and well in our home. The Read Aloud Revival podcast has a wonderful episode on reading aloud with older kids that I really encourage you to listen to. I loved it! It's episode #01, their very first! How do you cultivate a love of books and reading in your children? That can be answered in so many ways but to simplify I'll say this: model a love for books by keeping them surrounded with the best you can find. Our library pile was ongoing and always changing. I kept books stacked on the coffee table or anywhere they could come across them easily. When you get excited about books and show them that you value them, that helps to nurture that in them too. Let them see you enjoy personal reading (more on that later, I wish I had done this one thing more). And of course, reading aloud daily  as much as possible.