Evan has started reading!
Now, I don’t mean that he’s started sounding out words and
“reading” in that sense. He learned to
read a couple of years ago. I mean
READING. As in, sitting down with a good
book and really enjoying it for a good long time.
He was doing well with actually decoding words and reading
fluently, but he hadn’t started to truly love reading yet. He wouldn’t pick up a book on his own and get
lost in it. Recently, I thought that it
was probably time to encourage him to move on to the next level of reading-
chapter books.
He had already been reading little kid chapter books
like “Magic Tree House” and “Puppy Place,” but I had a hunch that he would be
more motivated to read if he had the confidence to dive into more interesting
stories. I pulled out one of my favorite
first “real” chapter books- The Boxcar
Children. He started reading it
aloud to me, but pretty soon, a chapter a day wasn’t enough for him. He begged to be able to read more in his free
time. Hmmm, let me think about that-
sure!
He came and told me, “I like reading now!”
Sigh. It’s a
wonderful thing to see a child transported to another world by a good book.
I think most parents have a desire to see their children
love reading. Many studies have been
done that demonstrate the benefits of reading.
And, of course, reading children are quiet children! (Except for the giggling caused by some
especially clever stories.) So how do we
raise readers- not just children who can read, but children who really want to
read? Well, every child is different,
but there are a few things that can help nudge them in the right direction.
- Teach them to read well. I can’t imagine that anyone who has trouble reading, or reads especially slowly would enjoy reading. No one wants to limp through word after word. It’s my personal experience that some of the kids who “don’t like to read” actually are poor or slow readers, or that they have trouble remembering and comprehending what they read.
I actually remediated Evan about a year ago. We had been going through a snazzy reading program
when I realized that he was stuttering and reversing letters. I put the brakes on everything and we went
back to basics. We pulled out Phonics Pathways (my favorite
learn-to-read book) and just went through that for a couple of months. The reversals stopped and he began to read
smoothly. When it comes to reading, slow
and steady wins the race. Don’t be
afraid to go back or stop completely and pick it up later. There are also computer programs that help
with reading fluency. I’ve never tried
one of them with my children, but if I suspected one of my older ones was
struggling, I certainly would.
Timberdoodle has good recommendations.
- Read to them. A lot. A whole lot. Start with board books and move on to chapter books and classics. Read books that everyone can enjoy. Listen to audio books together. This is actually worthy of a post all of its own. Look for that soon.
- Turn everything else off: TV, Wii, Ipod, computer, DS, and so on. Bored children pick up books out of sheer desperation. In our family, the daily quiet time is a great reading encourager. There’s nothing else to do for that hour unless you want to sleep. Technology with its beeping, flashing, many-images-per-second hypnotic characteristics can squelch any desire to read.
- Be a reader yourself. Kids learn by example, for better or for worse. If your time is spent in front of the TV or with Facebook, your kids probably won’t turn into super readers.
Raising readers is worthy goal. God communicated to His people through the
written Word. How much we read and what
we read has a powerful influence in our lives.
Let’s introduce our children to the splendors of the world of books.
