How much time do you (at least try to) spend reading aloud?

[happynurse]

...and how old are your children? I'm primarily talking about reading for pleasure.

 

Also, if you have really small children, such as toddlers/babies, how do you incorporate a read-aloud time for them?

 

I try to do at least 30 minutes per day, per child, however we do the bulk of it at bedtime. Just curious as to other people's methods. 

 

Thanks!

[Gil]

I've stopped reading aloud to the boys as a regular past time. They are 7 and 8. It isn't ideal but they can and do read to themselves plenty.

[HS Mom in NC]

2 hours a day. With our age spread, when we were homeschooling 3, we increased the time mom and dad each read because we each had a read loud for the older two and a read aloud for the younger one.

 

We start when they're about 4 and read aloud about 15-30 minutes at first, depending on the kid.  They can play quietly while we read.  We work up to them being able to sit for 45-60 minutes by the time they're mid-elementary school aged.  Again, they're always allowed to play quietly while we read.  My husband reads aloud an hour in the evenings and I read aloud an hour right after school or in the evenings in the summer.  We do it until they go to college.

 

When we choose a read aloud, it's always above their independent reading level. They have plenty of independent assigned reading and plenty of independent free reading time too. We read aloud for several reasons:

 

1. As a family activity that doesn't involve a screen.

2. To have book discussions regularly between ourselves.

3. To train the ear for grammar, syntax and expressive phrasing.

4. To develop their imaginations.

5. To expose them to a very wide variety of people, places, things and ideas.

6. To experience different perspectives and points of view.

7. To participate in The Great Conversation.

8. To relax.

9. For cultural literacy beyond this current generation.

10. As part of national and heritage studies. (Our youngest is an international adoptee.)

 

The read aloud time I listed doesn't include SOTW (usually about a 10-15 minute read aloud) and the read alouds that go with SOTW Activity Book lists. Many of those are short library books that take 10 minutes to read aloud-often a short folk tale or simple biography directly related to the time and place we read about in SOTW.  We do history 3 days a week. We read aloud about 15 minutes of Bible and 10 minutes of a character study daily too. 

[Ellie]

...and how old are your children? I'm primarily talking about reading for pleasure.

 

Also, if you have really small children, such as toddlers/babies, how do you incorporate a read-aloud time for them?

 

I try to do at least 30 minutes per day, per child, however we do the bulk of it at bedtime. Just curious as to other people's methods. 

 

Thanks!

 

I didn't have a goal of how much time, only that we did it.

 

I read books like Dr. Seuss to the dc whenever they were interested. The first juvenile novel I read to dd was the Wizard of Oz, and she was about 5yo. From that point on, I read to her one chapter a day from a good book, right after lunch while younger dd napped. Eventually, when younger dd was finished with naps, she joined us...one chapter a day, right after lunch.

 

I did not read at bedtime, because I wanted all of us to be wide awake :-) and for goodness' sake, we had been together, face to face, all day long. Go to bed already! :laugh:

[Jackie]

About an hour on most days. We schedule 30 minutes of a family read aloud time before bed every night, generally quality fiction. And then there's usually about another 30 minutes during the day of a history-based or science-based selection.

 

My child is 5 and an independent reader. Reading aloud took up much more time during the day before she read to herself.

[HS Mom in NC]

 

I did not read at bedtime, because I wanted all of us to be wide awake :-) and for goodness' sake, we had been together, face to face, all day long. Go to bed already! :laugh:

 

Sounds like my house.

[happynurse]

I didn't have a goal of how much time, only that we did it.

 

I read books like Dr. Seuss to the dc whenever they were interested. The first juvenile novel I read to dd was the Wizard of Oz, and she was about 5yo. From that point on, I read to her one chapter a day from a good book, right after lunch while younger dd napped. Eventually, when younger dd was finished with naps, she joined us...one chapter a day, right after lunch.

 

I did not read at bedtime, because I wanted all of us to be wide awake :-) and for goodness' sake, we had been together, face to face, all day long. Go to bed already! :laugh:

 

This is how I'm starting to feel. If I'm being honest, we're all a little foggy headed by read-aloud time! We need to form some new habits. ;)

[Ellie]

This is how I'm starting to feel. If I'm being honest, we're all a little foggy headed by read-aloud time! We need to form some new habits. ;)

 

Yup. We started getting dc ready for bed about an hour before, with baths for all (and that including washing and *blow drying* their hair. Really. Because who wants to go to bed with wet hair, such that when you get up in the morning it looks like a cow licked your hair all night long? :laugh: ), and dc would get into bed and we'd hug them and kiss them and tuck them in and turn the light off and walk away. At least two hours of adult time. Yayness.

[PamJBA]

When I was a single working mom the only time I had with DD was the 2 hours before bed. We piled in her bed with books and bedtime snacks and read until lights out. I was a reference librarian, so I'd bring a new tote bag of books home every week. When she started reading we'd sometimes alternate pages or chapters. Sometimes I'd read chapters of longer books and sometimes we'd go through a half dozen picture books instead.

 

DD is nearly 8 and reads at a 7th grade level, but we still read together this way several times a week. I've read aloud while she's played Minecraft, danced, or even thumbed through another book. All of this has been around her public school schedule. I'm hoping homeschool will allow more time for read-alouds.

[sbgrace]

My boys always did a lot of listening to audio type stories. We did a lot of reading aloud (picture books) when they were toddlers/preschoolers because one son was sick so much. They also had a grandma who would read to them for hours when she made weekly visits. It was great. 

 

Now, though, it's far less. We read aloud together a few times a week, generally just one or two chapters at a sitting.  My kids still listen to audio books, and read a lot on their own. This means it's hard to find a good read aloud my avid reader particularly hasn't read or listened to already. I miss experiencing great books together for the first time.

[Guest]

I stopped reading aloud when DS was around 6.  By then he was reading just fine by himself (aloud and silently) and he didn't want me to read to him anymore.  He still reads plenty on his own now.

 

When he was younger, I would spend between 10-20 minutes at night reading to him.

[Coco_Clark]

Ages 2,5,7 (plus we foster so 1 or 2 more five and unders on any given day).

 

We do 45-60 minutes of reading and discussion in the morning, m-f. This is quality picture books, poems, bible, saints stories, chapter books ect. I start with the picture books and gradually move to deeper stuff, and children are given the option of being dismissed along the way. Only the 7 year old HAS to stay for EVERYTHING. The 5 year old sometimes does. The 2 year old rarely does.

 

We do another 30 or so minutes of non-fiction school-assigned reading in the afternoon during nap m-f. Anyone not napping participates.

 

And we do about 30 minutes of kid-selected completely "fluff" reading before bed, every night. Each kid picks 1 book or 1 chapter.

[Sherry in OH]

In the summer months, I try to read aloud for at least thirty minutes a day, weekday mornings.  During the school year, I aim for an hour a day.  I read on weekends and at other times if the children ask.  Occasionally my 7 year old requests a bedtime story.  My 9 year old doesn’t want bedtime stories anymore.  He always comes running when I read to his brother though.

 

I read to my children as babies.  When they grew old enough to show preferences, each child would pick a book and I would pick a third.  They would snuggle in my lap, or as they grew older, next to me while I read the selections.  They still like to be next to me when I read.  Mostly I pick the titles though.   They read the titles I won't read on their own or listen to audiobook versions.

 

[underthebridge]

DD6 and DS3, after schooling both. DS3 gets 10-15 min during each meal, various times in the afternoons and 20 min at night. DD6 gets 10-15 min at breakfast and dinner alongside DS3 and 30 min at night. The nighttime readings are one on one and are chapter books of my choosing. The mealtime books are a hodgepodge - nonfiction, picture books, magazines, etc and we all take turns choosing them. I would love to continue to read aloud at least until they reach 10-13.

[Soapy]

I love reading aloud!  I've always done an evening read aloud, but we put our kids to bed pretty early and then they read on their own in bed.  In soccer season, it's harder to get that read aloud in because everyone is exhausted after practice.  But, our evenings are always smoother with fewer "jack-n-the-box" episodes if I've done our evening read aloud.  It's usually a chapter or two of the book we are currently reading.  

 

During the school year I also read aloud a lot during the day.  History stuff or science books or just great stories.  I really just enjoy devouring books with them.  They're just eight now, but I have no plans on stopping!  I felt that way before, but listening to Andrew Pudewa's thought on this reconfirmed it for me too. :)

[sweetpea3829]

I do audio books with my set.  They listen for about 20 minutes during breakfast, and again for about 20 minutes during lunch.  If its a book that I really want them to hear, but isn't available on audiobook, I'll read it aloud during breakfast and lunch.  

 

Mine are 9, 8, 7, and 6.  We've been doing this for about 2 years.  

[tm919]

I read at least 20 minutes to each child per day, but since I have two kids that often turns out to be 40 minutes (just the read-aloud that my 5 year old wants is usually different from the 3 year old). If I really can't do it, the responsibility devolves on my husband. I also listen to each of them read aloud to me for at least 20 minutes a day. Then,  if we count in audio books, "read aloud time" altogether might be about 2 hours because we listen in the car.

 

The funny thing is that I perceive myself as reading aloud to them a very inadequate amount. I have this archaic image of a proper amount being all night, by an oil lamp.

[eternallytired]

I read aloud from a chapter book for 20-30 minutes each weekday while my kids are having morning snack and playing quietly around the table.  It's how we start our worktime.  The little guy (3) will sometimes wander to the adjoining family room to play, but I know he's still listening because he will pipe up with questions occasionally and act out the story later.

 

The 3yo also gets about 20 minutes of read-aloud before bed--any books he chooses.  The older kids used to as well, but as they started reading on their own they often chose to read to us; eventually it transitioned to one book with Mom or Dad (we read to you or you read to us) and then 30-45 minutes of quiet reading in their rooms.  Sometimes now they'd rather play for a few extra minutes rather than read with us, which I don't mind since they still get a minimum of an hour a day of reading exposure.  (That solved the problem of needing to push back bedtime as they got older--we're still out of each other's hair around the same time, but now they just read in their rooms until I go for final tuck-in procedures.  I don't remember whose trick it was, but it was someone online to whom I will be forever grateful.)

 

Before we started "school" we did a lot of spontaneous read-alouds throughout the day.  YDS will still bring me books during the day, but the other kids just read on their own mostly.  My kids are 3, 5, and 6.

[TarynB]

I read aloud to DS13 every night for about 30 minutes. Then he reads to me for about 10 minutes from the same book. We're both night owls anyway. I read aloud to him from birth but we stopped when he was age 9 or 10. We started up again about a year ago. We both enjoy it so we make time for it even though his life is getting busier. Currently we're reading Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. We are loving this book, and it is excellent for vocabulary development, for both of us.

[lilajoy]

For us, it varies a lot day by day, depending on what else is going on. On a busy school night, we might only have time for a bedtime story (15-30 minutes). But on weekends and more relaxed days, we try to read a lot more often. In the summer (since they're off school and I'm off work for about two months), the goal is to read for 60-120 minutes each and every day (not necessarily all at once, including reading for science, but not including reading for history, which is an additional 20-30 minutes). 

 

Both of my kids are used to having a story at bedtime and put up a mighty fuss whenever I try to bypass that routine. So no matter how busy we are, we usually get at least one story in before they crash.

 

[Pegs]

It waxes and wanes, for us. Currently I spend maybe 40 min a day (not quite every day) reading picture books and short stories, because we alternate them with DS' readers. Then at bedtime he listens to audiobooks that I don't want to read to him, either because we've already read that particular book together and I'm sick of it, or because I simply *cough* CBA.

 

When we are working through a really good read aloud, we do it a chapter at a time during our daytime reading practice session, and again at bedtime. The last book we just couldn't get enough of was The Hobbit, but I've been more than happy to delegate LOTR to Rob Ingliss. :)

[mommysanders]

My kids are 4 and 2 with another on the way. During the phase of morning sickness there wasn't much read-aloud. But usually we read a book or chapter before nap and before bed time, plus random times throughout the day. My 4 year old and I just finished his first chapter book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. he was hooked and we read a lot more each day of that book. It was a big hit! I think my 2 year old gets less time being read to than the 4 year old for various reasons. I need to work on that. I have always required my kids to sit and listen while I read. As a baby they sat in my lap and I wouldn't let them grab the book until I was done reading. Now they still sit and listen. If they get distracted I stop. I am curious about other families who let their kids play and do other things. My kids just can't focus on two things at once. And I hate repeating myself. Plus I like that they're being trained to sit still. But maybe that will change as they get older. Who knows.

 

I love The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease. I plan to follow his advice and keep reading to my kids while they're in my home. My 4 year old is starting to read on his own with early readers. But that doesn't replace read-aloud time. Again... Who knows what will change as they get older!

 

 

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[raptor_dad]

We read at least 30 minutes a night to DS6 and DS8 together. Our latest combined book is "The Last of the Really Great Wangdoodles". Before that it was "The Pushcart War".

 

DS6 currently gets another 10-15 minutes of classic literary poems each night which he loves and DS8 has currently been listening to 20-30minutes of either Sherlock Holmes and Ogden Nash poems.

 

Back in the Fall/Winter, DS8 was getting another 30minutes midday and at bedtime as we were reading "Lord of the Rings" aloud.

 

DS6 is in B&M school so this Summer we will add in ~30minutes of midday read aloud for both boys.

 

So call it ~45+ minutes a day on average year round.

 

PS Each boy has an hour of midday quiet time when they are at home to either read or nap and DS8 reads independently for at least 30minutes at bedtime. 

 

[Sukale]

I read picture books right before lunch for about 20-30 minutes. Then I read a chapter book at bed time for another 20-30 minutes. The weekends are a little more relaxed, sometimes no reading at all, sometimes we read for hours.

[FO4UR]

2 hours, and that includes school stuff and pleasure reading.  It's all sort of the same to us.  That time is broken up throughout the day.  30min in the morning, 30min at noontime, 60min at bedtime.  We don't time it, so that is approximate.

[PamJBA]

I am curious about other families who let their kids play and do other things. My kids just can't focus on two things at once.

DD focuses better when she's in motion. Sitting idle doesn't happen unless she's zoned out with TV. If she's being still while I read it's because she wants me to rub her back or arm or something. Even then she squirms. I think it's an individual thing. I'm a doodler so I get it.

[Farrar]

We do about 45 mins now daily, but it's common to do more. They're 10 yo. When they were younger, it was a lot more - more like two hours or more every day.

[SnMomof7]

15-20 minutes chapter book reading as a family. Around the same for picture book reading to little ones. Audiobooks at bedtime often.

[Maela]

At least an hour.  My kids are five and seven.  

 

After lunch I read some SotW, some sort of book about character/manners/moral lessons, and some poetry or good literature that they can both enjoy (currently Wizard of Oz series).  

 

Before bed Dh and I read to the kids.  We switch kids every night.  Right now I'm reading Tuck Everlasting to M(7) and Henry and Ribsy to j(5).

 

 

I'm hoping to keep this up for another eight years.   :)   It's our favorite part of the day.  Well, that and playing board games...

[Chelli]

Our just for fun read alouds (aka not for school) are read during lunch time. It is usually about 45 minutes to an hour of reading. I start with the youngest child's read aloud book and read it first and then move up in age. They are free to leave the table if they are finished eating and their read aloud is done to go play. If they choose to stay in the room and listen to the other read alouds, they have to be quiet. 90% of the time the two girls stay in the room to listen, but my son tends to run off to play.

[ryyans]

My parents never read to us growing up and so I read a lot on my own. I loved reading though,

But now reading all the childrens classics I never got read as a kid to my daughter has become such a special part of our homeschooling. I read an hour a day ( the chronicles of Prydain series currently)

And at night we listen to an audio book for 30 minutes.

[MinivanMom]

I read to my youngest two (3 & 5 yrs) at bedtime. I don't really have a goal or a set amount of time; it just depends on the night. Usually we read for 20-30ish minutes.

 

I read to my two middle children (2nd & 5th) right after lunch when the youngest two are napping. We always have a chapter book going and we alternate between reading history or science each day. It winds up being 30-40ish minutes of reading daily.

 

I no longer read aloud to my oldest, but I usually read whatever literature book she is currently reading so that we can discuss it.

 

When we are in the off season and don't have any evening sports games (summer & winter), my husband reads aloud to the older 3 children in the evening. He is a marathon reader, and I sometimes have to cut them off after more than an hour so they can go to bed.

[calihil]

Well, not as much as I should right now. Most reading is done at bedtime. I'll read a Bible devotional then a picture or chapter book. My kids are 6, 4, and 2. I'm 35 weeks pregnant right now and I have an awful spitting symptom that makes my mouth water excessively and taste terrible so reading aloud has been very hard for me lately. I plan on reading a lot more once this baby is out!

 

Oh, and they do listen to Winnie the Pooh at bedtime after I leave their room.

[HS Mom in NC]

At various times for different reasons we've supplemented reading aloud live with recorded readings. This can be done not only at home but in the car too if we had to do a lot of driving.

[MerryAtHope]

I still read aloud to my teens (10th & 12th grades) about 20-30 minutes per night, and we read Bible together earlier in the day. 

[TyraTooters]

We need to do read alouds more often as we are seriously lacking in this area. What kind of quiet play do you allow your children to do while reading? Mine always start talking or fighting while playing quietly. I'm thinking might start trying it while playing with Play Doh. They are all fixated on that activity right now, all of them, ages 2.5, 6, and 8. So maybe they can quietly play with that while I read for just a few minutes at a time. 

[MerryAtHope]

We need to do read alouds more often as we are seriously lacking in this area. What kind of quiet play do you allow your children to do while reading? Mine always start talking or fighting while playing quietly. I'm thinking might start trying it while playing with Play Doh. They are all fixated on that activity right now, all of them, ages 2.5, 6, and 8. So maybe they can quietly play with that while I read for just a few minutes at a time. 

 

When my kids were young, sometimes I read while they ate too :-). 

[J&JMom]

Read aloud time is one of my boys' favorite time of the day - we read to start our school day. For my 10-year-old and 12-year-old (rising 5th & 7th graders) during the school year, I plan to read at 30 minutes a day a novel plus throw in a relevant biography a week and readings from SOTW and a Mythology book.  Over the 2014-2015 school year we read 57 books including 18 biographies, 2 volumes of SOTW and D'lulaires Greek Mythology.  Over the summer we shoot for at least 6-10 books read aloud.  I do the vast majority of the reading as my youngest prefers my voice, but we have a Learning Ally subscription to read textbooks and books I am too tired or sick to read aloud myself.  This is all in addition to their literature program, novel studies, and independent reading. 

While reading aloud, the boys are free to doodle, play with clay, do jigsaw puzzles, legos, etc.  My older fancies himself an artist to he does computer art while my ADHD kid keeps his hands busy. As long as they can retell the story and answer a question or two, I'm good with that. 

[zarabellesmom]

...and how old are your children? I'm primarily talking about reading for pleasure.

 

Also, if you have really small children, such as toddlers/babies, how do you incorporate a read-aloud time for them?

 

I try to do at least 30 minutes per day, per child, however we do the bulk of it at bedtime. Just curious as to other people's methods.

 

Thanks!

This is us. 30 per child at bedtime. Occasionally longer or occasionally at some other time of day, but my 10 year old reads avidly on her own. My seven year old has no desire to be read to during the day. S he is a very active little person and has no patience for sitting around hearing books until bedtime. At that point, you have her full attention.

[Homeschoolmom3]

My two older boys I read about 1 1/2 hrs. a day and we do this during our "morning time" we use the Bible, novels, character studies, poet/musicians/biographies, Shakespeare.  

 

My 4 yr. old LOVES to read and so he has always wanted me to read to him for LONG periods of time even before he was 2.  So we read about 1 1/2-2 hrs. a day usually on average I know he would prefer more but then I would never get anything else done!  I will occasionally read a book here and there.  I incorporate reading throughout the day during breakfast, and lunch but our long stretches of reading happen right before "rest time"  in the afternoon and before bedtime with periods lasting from 20-40 minutes.  There have been occasions to lengthen to an hour but then I need a rest.  :)

 

Quiet activities while reading:  I suggest eating if they have a hard time sitting still, puzzles, legos, magnets, coloring

 

HTH

[HS Mom in NC]

Quiet activities should be things they don't need any help with.  If they need your help, it's the wrong activity and they need to be told to choose something else.  Our kids have done art, crafting, construction toys, dolls, puzzles, tumbled on a mat, bounced on an exercise ball, played solitaire, cleaned out drawers, straightened up a room, sorted laundry, and stared at the walls while we read.

 

We discuss what we're reading throughout the day at meals, as we drive somewhere, when we visit with friends and family and while we do chores.

[wintermom]

We've done read-aloud time different ways over the years.

 

- We used to do it in my bed first thing in the morning when I was nursing a baby and I really wanted to be in bed a little longer and the other children were too young to get their own breakfast. 

 

- We dropped read-alouds for around 6 months when the youngest was 18 - 24 months as it wasn't working . at . all.

 

- We did massive amounts of read-alouds when doing Sonlight. Usually first thing in the morning, but then it went up to different times as the dc were in 2 different cores. Then it became just too much and we cut way back.

 

- Now we all do a read-aloud together as a family for 40 - 60 minutes 4 times a week first thing in the school day. We do one book at a time - usually something historical. There are great discussions, loads of "bunny trails" and additional mini-research projects that have been emerging lately. 

 

 

I have to say that as the dc are getting older, read-aloud time has become more and more interesting and exciting. Sure, I could send off my oldest to read, "Eagle of the Ninth" on her own, and ask her questions, but reading it as a family has been brilliant. There is so much information packed into each page, and we're continuously heading to the web to look up things like: what does the honour "Pia Fidelis" mean and what was its significance in the Roman military; what does the hypocaust heating system look like and how does it work (the one mentioned in the uncle's house); what is "The Royal Four" in relation to Roman chariot racing; and so on. There are dozens and dozens in things referenced on every page, and I can't imagine a middle school student taking the time to figure out what all these mean on their own. Doing it as a family, and sharing the information with each other is really exciting.

[Mswin15]

Reading aloud is the cornerstone of our homeschool and a big piece of our family culture. My kids are 9,7,6 and 2 and we read aloud about an hour a day not including listening to audio books in the car.