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I want to get a blog entry in on reading. It's part of "what my philosophy is on homeschooling" series as well as helping me process my plans for next year. Our homeschool philosophy begins and ends with reading aloud. If I had to choose only one thing to do for homeschool this would be it. I don't think you can go wrong with starting to read aloud to your children at a very young age and continuing that into their adult years (perhaps not a full novel, but if you read something interesting or well written I think you should share it with your children no matter how old they get). I think a common mistake we make, especially once our children have "independent reading skills" is that we stop reading aloud to them. I know I did and it turned out to be a mistake. Thankfully Tea Time "reintroduced" us to this wonderful resource! I believe by reading aloud that "narration" or discussion naturally follows suit. It's very natural to ask a child "so why do you think that character responded that way?" or "what do you think will happen next?" Likewise I don't know any child that doesn't ask questions while being read to or is willing to share their thoughts or opinions on the story at hand. Reading aloud is such a great teaching tool! It's cross curricular -- it doesn't always have to be a storybook or novel...non-fiction, newspaper articles, biographies, history, travel anything you can think of you can find in printed form to read aloud. What if YOU get tired of reading aloud or don't feel you have the "talent" to make the story come alive for your children? Welcome to the 21st century -- not only do we have books on tape we have audio books on cd and the inenviable resource of the internet and mp3 formats, podcasts, etc., so someone else can do the reading! Just as reading aloud leads to narration, writing naturally follows narration. I truly believe that if children read good writing that they will be good writers. Copywork and Dictation can naturally follow Narration as well Spelling and Grammar is naturally incorporated into copywork and dictation -- they will know when something doesn't look or sound right and these are wonderful "teachable" moments that reinforce learning in a powerful yet simple way. Again cross-curricular, all age and grade levels - what better "curriculum" is there?! So what resources do I use to choose what books to read aloud? Book lists - one of my favorite is http://childrensbooks.about.com/mlibrary.htm - a list for everyone! This is another favorite - http://www.homeschoolfavourites.com.au/index.html For science and history resources I like this site: http://www.livinglearningbooks.com/cart.php If you are following a certain "pilosophy" of home education they usually recommend certain books as well. I also like using a variety of homeschooling catalogues - they have great "reading lists" to choose from and instead of buying I check the library first. Speaking of which, let's not forget the library a homeschoolers best friend - which you can now search and put books on hold in the comfort of your own home (and pajamas I might add). And asking! My fellow homeschooling buddies always have recommendations, especially useful as you get into the older teen years. For audio resources I love this commercial site http://www.firetheimagination.ca/home.php and for free audio resources that include a lot of the classics I recommend signing up for http://www.homeschoolradioshows.com/ they will email you a link to download an audio classic each week. We've built up quite the library this way and if I don't feel like reading I just put one of these on the computer while we are having tea time. And although I haven't used this site yet http://www.tumblebooks.com/library/asp/customer_login.asp?accessdenied=%2Flibrary%2Fasp%2Fhome%5Ftumblebooks%2Easp I do want to start using it to setup a "listening corner" for Noah to use to hopefully give me some time when I need to work with Joshua on some one on one stuff. So what about teaching your kids to read? Start and keep reading aloud to your kids, eventually they will want to know how to read -- yes every child will reach this stage at different ages just like every other developmental milestone so until then....just keep reading to them. When they start asking, "what does this say" or "i want to read it" you know they are ready to learn how to read. What do they need to learn to know how to read? Simply - they need to recognize the letters of the alphabet. They need to know that each letter has a name and each letter makes a sound (or several sounds, depending on the other letters that are in the word - letters make up a word). Start with easy words - words that are in the books they like to "read". Rhyming books are another good place to start because they can usually predict the word that comes next which is a great confidence builder, yes even if they aren't technically reading the word they "believe" they can read. This is a great "shared reading" experience. Another game I like to play is when a child knows how to read a certain word, let's say "the" or "and", while I'm reading aloud I'll use my finger to follow along what I am reading when I come to a word they can read I stop and wait for them to read the word. As they learn more words they get to help to read more of the story. They also learn that reading is done left to right. Yes some phonics and sight word instruction is usually necessary at some point - use whatever system/curriculum works for your child - every child is different. For Josh Bob Books was all it took as well as a fun "phonics city" display on our living room wall that I made (it really it was more for me than him). For Noah he is practically teaching himself and he definately has the motivation to want to be able to read. Computer games and recipes are another great way that kids can learn how to read. The other great thing is that once kids do know how to read teaching/learning is SO much easier and it's the cornerstone for learning everything else! It's my first homeschooling "goal" to achieve with a child. It's important to make time in the day for quiet reading time as well. Whether it's to each other or each person grabbing a book for a little solitude time. It's easy for this wonderful resource to get pushed out by other "distractions" -- keep a certain time of the day as part of a daily routine even if it's right before bed if no other time works. Lastly, if you feel like no homeschoolng is taking place in your life....grab a book. SO much learning can be done just by reading and listening. So for those hectic days, weeks or months if you don't get to anything else -- grab a book and 15 minutes and you'll be amazed at how much learning can be accomplished in a little amount of time. I think that is all my thoughts on reading for now. I would love to hear comments, suggestions, recommendation and your thoughts on reading as well. Now I'm going to go to the library with my kids and pick up more books :)
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Posted by Kristen