The term “Summer Reading Program” always make me chuckle. As an affirmed bibliophile I can’t imagine any season that shouldn’t be full of reading. Books have been my life-long friends. I can’t remember not being able to read and can’t imagine what life would be like without my daily reading fix.
However, for many people reading is a chore that you do because you “have to” while you’re in school. And this chore can be tossed out the window once you’ve graduated. For many, reading is something that you do for practical purposes and never for simple enjoyment. How sad. I personally don’t like “Summer Reading” programs because it sounds like a homework assignment. Yuck! Reading should never be a chore, but a grand adventure to undiscovered destinations.
Do you remember “RIF” back in the days of the Flintstones? It stands for “Reading Is Fundamental” and is something that should be engaged in everyday, not just for homework or something to keep the kids busy during the summer months. Reading is a fundamental skill that only gets better with practice. And anything that contains words can be practice — including comic books!
I believe a key to having good readers in the family is to be a good reader yourself. My kids have always seen us reading — even if it’s just a cereal box at breakfast! We are weekly library patrons and I can’t be trusted with a debit card in bookstores or we’ll end up on Debtors Prison. Every room in my home is full of books — books my parents had from the 1950s to contemporary works. Having books always available and in plain sight makes it easier for children to become addicted.
Reading to your children is another big contributor to having good readers. I like to read to the children on a regular basis. It’s became more challenging now that I have more children and more responsibilities with my business. I don’t want my children to miss the benefits of being read to so they drift off to sleep listening to audiobooks.
And you don’t have to spend money on professionally done audios if that’s not in your budget. Most libraries rent audiobooks. My library even offers books online that you can listen to as long as you are their patron. If you have very little ones you can even create your own audiobook for them. Select their favorite books and record them for later use. I found this to be an excellent way to comfort my eldest daughter when I was working outside of the home. Just pop in the tape (or nowadays upload the MP3 to your favorite audio device) and you’re all set.
I know a lot of people don’t like audiobooks because they think that it will stop children from picking up books and reading them for themselves. That has not been my experience. My reluctant reader (there’s always one!) has a very large vocabulary and I have to give some credit to the audiobooks. As the children listen to stories, read by their parents or a professional recording, they are being exposed to adult syntax, phrasing and other elements that help make a complete reader.
And as the three bags of library books show, their interest in physical books has not been hampered in the least. As a matter of fact sometimes listening to the audiobook has caused my kids to go and look for the physical book because they fell asleep and missed something that they wanted to hear!
Although my children listen to audiobooks while they are drifting off to sleep, I also use them in the car as we travel. Audiobooks really should not be considered”standalone” items. Children can only develop strong comprehension skills through discussion. So, the audios get stopped when language becomes more complex, there are underlying motives that need to be examined, the children have questions about what they’ve heard. And of course if we’re listening to a mystery everyone has to chime about who and what the solution to the problem might be and then seeing which one of us is right.
My reluctant reader is reading the Little Bear Library and she’s doing pretty well. The Madsen method is helping her with some of her issues (primarily “why isn’t the word spelled the way it sounds?”) and the rest is just practice. So we’re supposed to read half of a story each day (sometimes evening). To make it more interesting for her sometimes we read the words using silly voices or we sing the words of the story. Just the other day we conducted a wonderful “opera” singing the story of Little Bear meeting his new friend Emily.
Another way to encourage a love of books is to be involved. Reading should not be a ho-hum sit down affair. Why not assign parts of a story to different family members and have them act them out? You can do this in two ways. You can either have multiple copies of the book for the family (i.e., the Bible) to read from, or you all sit in a circle and pass the book around as the speakers change from one to another. Or while you’re reading to the kids have them pick out their favorite scene and draw it out. Sometimes my children illustrate their favorite scenes in clay or Play-Dough.
Each family dynamic is different, but reading is something that can be shared by all. And best of all, you’re building a strong reader with strong memories of happy times together with their family. What strategies do you use to get your children involved in reading?
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