Reading Aloud

One thing that we have done each year since we began our homeschooling journey is to read aloud daily. I cannot tell you how much my children (and I!) enjoy this time, and how much we gain from it! We set aside 30 minutes daily and read aloud. During this time my younger children can play quietly or look at other books if they want. My 4 year old almost always sits down to listen in and my 18 month old will sit and cuddle in my lap for awhile, then he usually goes on to play!

I have several of recommendations for read aloud books on the amazon sidebar. I personally like to buy good quality books for our home library, but I will say that in times when finances are difficult, the library is a great place to get those read-alouds. Our library is wonderful about allowing us to re-check books, so we can even do books that take several weeks to a month to finish.

One thing I have learned about reading aloud is that a child can listen to books that are a much higher level that what they may be able to read. I remember when my oldest son was in second grade, we began reading "The Horse and His Boy" by C.S. Lewis. I felt, after the first day of reading it, that the book was way above his level. We read the book again the second day, and on the third day I decided to choose another book. When we started reading that day, Brandyn said "Hey, what happened to "The Horse and His Boy", we didn't finish reading it!" I explained to him that I felt it was too advanced and I was worried that he may not understand it. At this point he proceeded to tell me all the things that he would miss out on finding out about the book if I didn't finish reading it to him. He used such detail about what we had read and I could tell he understood it, so we went back to "The Horse and His Boy" and finished it. Then we started with the other Narnia books and read through them all.

This year, we started Oliver Twist, and I kind of felt the same way. The older language and more formal language style seemed overwhelming at first, but because of the last experience I hung in there and found that after a few days I could tell that not only were my children understanding this book, they were enjoying it!

Reading aloud helps to build listening, critical thinking, reading, vocabulary and language skills- among others. It is a also such a great time to snuggle with your children and enjoy your time together. If you don't already read aloud, give it a try!