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The experts all agree – reading to your children is one of the most important things you can do to foster their love of learning. Children whose parents read to them are more successful in school. They often learn to read earlier and understand what they read more clearly. Reading to your children benefits them in many ways – some of them obvious and some of them not quite so obvious. Jim Trelease, author of The Read Aloud Handbook, offers many ways that reading aloud to your children helps them academically.

-When you read to your child, you condition your child to associate reading with the pleasure of your company and love. That association will help foster an enjoyment and love of reading, and that association is necessary to turn your kids into lifelong readers.

-You provide your child with a reading role model when you read to them and let them see you reading. Children naturally want to emulate their parents. Reading to them gives them a positive activity to copy.

-Reading to your child contributes to their general knowledge of the world, knowledge that will help them when they start studying history, geography, science, social studies and mathematics, among other things.

-One of the more obvious benefits of reading aloud to your child is that you increase their vocabulary naturally, and teach them proper grammar by osmosis. They listen and absorb the meanings of words, sentence structure and other aspects of communication that will make it easier for them to read and understand their lessons when they start school.

-Reading creates empathy toward other people, which is a valuable trait in learners. The best learners are those who can recognize themselves in others, no matter how different. They generalize knowledge more widely and often can make those intuitive leaps that are vital to learning new things.

-Children who are read to learn to read earlier than those who are not. Research shows that they are more likely to stay in school and graduate from high school and pursue secondary education.

-A surprising correlation is an extension of the one above. Because children who are read to are more likely to graduate from high school and go on to higher education, they are more likely to get higher paying jobs, and live longer.

-Reading improves the attention span, making it easier for children to learn.

-It improves the skills that are fundamental to all kinds of learning – sequencing of events, problem solving and critical thinking skills.

-Reading to children stimulates their imagination, and imagination may be the most powerful force in the universe. Everything – every invention, every creation, every achievement – begins with imagination. When you read to a child, you encourage him to exercise his imagination.

-When you share reading with a child, you give them an entertainment alternative to television. Reading is not a passive entertainment – it engages the mind and encourages children to learn more.

In addition, there are some very important reasons that fathers should read to their children, not just mothers. According to the National Literacy Trust, when dads read to their children:

-They serve as a male role model to encourage reading for their boys. Reading is often thought of as a “girly” pastime. This can put boys at a distinct disadvantage academically. Boys who see their fathers reading learn that reading isn’t for sissies – it’s the intelligent thing to do.

-They have better relationships with their children. Shared reading time is positive bonding time, and that’s great for your relationship with your little one.

-Their children feel more confident that their father supports them emotionally. That’s a direct outgrowth of shared time and emotional closeness fostered by reading together regularly.

-They also talk with their children more openly and easily as they grow older.

In addition, dads can provide a different aspect of reading that mothers seldom do. Mothers tend to read fiction and stories to their children. Fathers often favor non-fiction. As your children grow older, reading with them can let them into your hobbies and interests. How to manuals, books on sports, comic books and books about hobbies are great places to expand a comfortable relationship with your children, particularly relationships between fathers and sons.

Whatever you do, don’t start thinking of reading as an exercise in your child’s development. First and foremost, reading aloud to your child is a fun, shared activity between you and your children. Pick books that you like to read and that your children like to hear and just have fun – because that’s when children learn their best.

A child who reads becomes an adult who reads. Most adults who begin reading at an early age continue to learn by reading throughout their lives. Reading is more than a necessary skill – it’s a source for learning, entertainment, enjoyment and comfort. The skill of reading can be one of the most valuable gifts that you give to your – or any – child.

Still, the question remains: How do you get children to read? There are so many distractions in today’s world – television, cartoons, and video games, to name a few – that it may seem impossible to get your children to sit down and read, let alone turn them into reading enthusiasts. As a mother who has raised five avid readers, I can tell you that it’s nowhere near as hard as you might think. Here are ten important tips for getting your children to read – and loving every minute of it.

1. Let them see you read.

I’ll bet you thought that #1 would be “Read to them”, didn’t you? That’s important (and it will get its own tip), but the single most important thing you can do to raise children who love reading is to be a reader. It doesn’t matter if you read magazines, newspapers or books. What is vital is that your children, from an early age, see reading as a valuable and fun thing to do – and the best way to show them that is to read in front of them.

2. Read to your children regularly.

Bedtime stories are an enduring childhood ritual, but don’t stop reading when your kids outgrow being tucked in at night. In our house, we made nightly reading a part of our evening – not at bedtime, but in the living room. Even when they reached their teens, my kids would often wander out into the living room to listen if I was reading to younger brothers and sisters.

3. Talk about what you read.

I am not suggesting that you should give your kids a reading comprehension quiz every time you read a story to them. Instead, get used to talking about the books that you read in casual conversation. Mention how excited you are that your favorite writer has just published a new book. Ask them how they think Ramona (or Harry Potter) would handle a situation. Remind them about scenes in stories that you read to them when you run into similar scenes in real life.

4. As soon as they’re old enough, get them a library card.

Your public library is still the very best source of reading material. Take your kids to the library often. Hang out with them in the kids’ room and let them choose their own books. Get them familiar with the librarian, and let them see other people enjoying books.

5. Make a big deal of their personal writing.

Writing gives kids an appreciation for the written word and deepens their enjoyment of reading. When children and teens start writing their own stories, they stop viewing books as something magical and unusual, out of their reach. If your children write, treat their writing as you would any other book. Buy them a journal. Help them create and bind their own books. Put their books on the bookshelf next to their bought books.

6. Subscribe to children’s magazines.

Books are fun, but magazines offer a different kind of reading and engagement. Too often, even we adults only consider it “reading” if it’s in a book. Magazines are colorful, topical and fun. Many children who consider reading a chore when the reading comes in book form will eagerly snatch their favorite magazine from the post box the moment it arrives and not put it down till they’ve read every last page.

7. Make books and magazines accessible – in every way.

Buy books and magazines for your kids as gifts. Make sure that there are books around the house in places that are easy for them to reach. Make sure, as well, that the books you choose are accessible – written for the right age level, and geared to their interests.

8. Institute family reading time.

When your kids start thinking they’re too old for read-aloud, institute a family reading time. It can be as little as twenty minutes a day, or an hour two or three nights a week. The only rule is that everyone in the family participates – shut off the televisions and computers and everyone reads.

9. Show an interest in what they’re reading.

The single most valuable reward for most kids is attention from their parents – so pay attention when your kids read. Notice it when they read a book that you remember. Ask them what the story is about. Talk to them about the books that they like.

10. Watch movies based on books – and then read the books together.

The other way around may work as well. Television and movies don’t have to be the enemy. When you read Charlotte’s Web, rent the video and watch it together – then talk about how well it captured the book. Or reverse the process – watch Harry Potter, then read the book together and talk about how much more depth there is in the book. Either way, you’re fostering a critical eye and showing your children that behind every movie or television show is a writer and often, a book.

Perhaps a bit unfairly, the parents of homeschooled children sometimes discover that the success of their children’s reading achievement is often evaluated differently than it is for traditionally-schooled children.

Traditionally-schooled children are tested regularly on their reading skills because the traditional teaching methods rely so heavily on children’s reading ability as a way for them to learn other subject matter. The teaching reading is so significant for the traditionally-schooled child that they seldom achieve academic success without first mastering fundamental reading skills.

Developmental Readiness vs Early Reading Skills

The story of teaching reading in the homeschool has evolved somewhat differently. Home schooled children have many advantages and opportunities that enable the acquisition of reading skills less stressful than they are for traditionally-schooled children. Some homeschooling authorities many that there is really no need to be concerned about mandating the development of reading skills in homeschooled children because many homeschooled children don’t master reading until years after their traditionally-schooled peers. Many homeschooling educators believe that teaching reading is something that happens naturally.

Because they are taught in different ways than traditionally-schooled children, homeschooled children may not require mastery of reading skills at the earliest possible age. Traditionally-schooled children must abide by a relatively fixed standard that is designed to ensure that all children develop at the relatively same (fairly slow) pace. Teaching dozens of children the same material requires that all of the children are approximately at the same basic level of preparation. A public school teacher faced with teaching ten, twenty, or even thirty children at varying learning stages is likely to be unsuccessful at such an endeavor. Assuming or requiring that children learn specific skills by a specific age simply makes teaching large groups of students far more efficient.

The Influence of Maria Montessori on Reading Instruction

The work of Maria Montessori changed the face of teaching reading and opened the door to a new home schooling movement. Dr. Montessori challenged traditional teaching theories and methods by presenting research that children learn at varying rates and that hands-on activities enable children to learn better and more completely than traditional rote memorization teaching techniques. Her pioneering work in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s made dramatically clear that having multiple learning levels in the same classroom generally provides surprisingly unexpected benefits. Regardless of age, children learn from each other. Older children teach younger children without even realizing it. And, younger children give older children the opportunity to learn by experience. However, because the Montessori classroom relies on individualizing teaching methods to each student, employing this method in the public school environment is seldom. More about Dr. Montessori’s work can be found at www.montessori.edu.

Intentionally or unintentionally, homeschooling is Montessori-like in the practical application of homeschooling teaching methods. Like Maria Montessori’s theories, homeschooling today emphasizes the specific learning style of the individual student over the need to teach certain skills by the time a child reaches a certain age. The child who is a so-so reader might be verbally proficient and a verbally weak student may be an above-average reader. This suggests that the homeschool teaching partner plays on each child’s strengths to teach each individual child. This format is far more easily implemented in the homeschooling environment than it is in a traditional school setting.

Standardized Assessments Encourage Early Reading Skills

The movement towards assessing student progress has invaded what was once a rather freestyle homeschooling environment. Students nationwide are now expected to perform at certain levels based on their age and academic grade. And, even though standardized assessments can be good indicators of overall performance, they are somewhat constraing to homeschooling enthusiasts because they fail to consider the different learning styles and speeds of individual students. Essentially, periodic standardized assessments, which are now required of many homeschooled children, are ultimately forcing homeschooling educators to ensure that their students learn academic skills at roughly the same pace as their traditionally-schooled peers. This means that teaching reading has recently become more important within the homeschool environment.

Many educators, homeschooling and traditional, strongly dislike standardized testing. Still, it looks like it’s here to stay, at least for the moment. And, for the homeschooled child to meet the expected standards and to stay on track, that child has to have mastered certain skills, especially reading, by a comparatively early age. In situations where standardized testing is an important assessment tool, children who fail to develop early reading skills are likely to be incorrectly assessed. And, an incorrect assessment is dangerous to both the child and the homeschooling program. For this reason, it is important for homeschooling educators to emphasize reading skills as a learning tool and that they emphasize teaching reading.

Reading as More Than an Ordinary Skill

Teaching reading to children as early as possible does not have to be a perceived slight to the homeschooling approach. Like Maria Montessori, many homeschooling educators take issue with forcing children to learn any skill before they are developmentally ready because there is no definitive research showing that teaching kids to read early can harm their future development in any way. As a result, apart from the obvious difficulties associated with teaching children skills that they may not be prepared to learn, early reading development probably still is a worthwhile endeavor.

The benefits of reading are well-documented. Reading is fun, opens doors to new subjects and adventures, and helps prepare children to think critically and embrace information that is both educational and entertaining. Reading is so important to today’s teaching methods that its importance spills over into the areas of mathematics, social studies, science, and other academic areas. The student who is interested in reading develops faster in many academic areas than peers who are unprepared with basic reading skills.

Homeschool parents and home school providers have a large basket of tools available to encourage their child’s early reading skills. Some reading experts insist that the first ten years are crucial for reading development and that teaching reading and a love of reading before the age of ten sets the stage for a lifetime of reading enjoyment. Many theories strongly suggest that reading to young children helps them develop a love for reading. When young kids then express a desire to learn to read on their own, they then practice reading by doing with adults and older peers, and ultimately can read for their own satisfaction and/or pleasure. Children who have become regular readers and who truly enjoy reading live in a world that is forever enriched and expanded by this one simple skill — reading.