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Fostering a Love of Books and Reading


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I wanted to start a thread to share ideas of how you've been able to foster a love of books in your home with your kids. 

In our house: 

I've allowed reading after bedtime. My kids have to be in bed by 8:00 but they can read as long as they want. 

I don't monitor free reading books. They are free to choose whatever book they want as long as it isn't inappropriate. 

We keep lots of good, quality books on our shelf. I find these books at thrift stores, library friends rooms, and garage sales. I'm always looking for books. Once they love reading they will start plowing through any book they find so even if they choose junk books from the library they will still end up reading the good books we have at home. 

We read. My kids see DH and I read all the time. We also talk about books we are reading with the kids. 

What else has worked for everyone else here? 

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8 hours ago, Momto4inSoCal said:

I wanted to start a thread to share ideas of how you've been able to foster a love of books in your home with your kids. 

In our house: 

I've allowed reading after bedtime. My kids have to be in bed by 8:00 but they can read as long as they want. 

I don't monitor free reading books. They are free to choose whatever book they want as long as it isn't inappropriate. 

We keep lots of good, quality books on our shelf. I find these books at thrift stores, library friends rooms, and garage sales. I'm always looking for books. Once they love reading they will start plowing through any book they find so even if they choose junk books from the library they will still end up reading the good books we have at home. 

We read. My kids see DH and I read all the time. We also talk about books we are reading with the kids. 

What else has worked for everyone else here? 

Same in our house.  Another thing we've done is to keep reading instruction as fun and interesting as we can.  I have 2 dyslexics, so they spent a LOT of time learning to read.  Keeping them from getting discouraged has been key.

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  • I go to the library by myself every Monday night and check out 40+books. I take requests before I leave from all four kids and though I occasionally edit out twaddle I am not draconian in my definition and there are plenty of graphic novels, tween series, etc... in the mix. I just limit genuine junk.
  • We have an old house with a tiny bedroom at the top of the stairs that we turned into a library with comfy chairs, a lamp and Billy shelves. We have a noisy, emotionally chaotic household (mild SPD for more than one kid) so it has turned into a great place for my kids who need to be quiet to find some space.
  • They are only allowed free screen time one day a week.  We also allow them to read on the Epic app and I'll admit that I'm considering getting rid of it. For some reason my kids seem to gravitate towards the lowest common-denominator junk on the app and then there's the screen factor. I just don't love it.

In the end it's a work in progress. Training appetites and ordering affections is a lot harder than teaching grammar, logic and rhetoric because it's sort of alchemical and there is an enormous degree to which we are more like guides than teachers in this area. I make great books available. I fence the pasture so that reading might be a desired activity. I read voraciously myself and talk to them about books but in the end I'm not writing the story of their love for reading. They are. I'm also conscious that they may never love literature the way  I do (my genuinely lovely husband does not) and that that's ok.  There is much to be said for the empathy, insight and delight that can be had in reading a great book but it is not an experience I can force.

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Read funny books.  When you laugh out loud, your kids will ask, "What?  WHAT???"  

That happened to me a few years ago, I was reading Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, and there's a really funny scene, I think it had to do with her daughter refusing to practice piano.  My daughters insisted I tell them what was so funny.  

I also started a quiet reading time after lunch.  My dd's and I sat on the sofa and each of us read quietly for 20 minutes or so.  They were free to choose whatever they wanted, even an American Girl catalog.  I did this because I had a suspicion that they thought reading was something that only happened right before bedtime.  

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Mine still hesitates to read out loud, but he voluntarily spends hours during the day, and time at bedtime, reading.

Some things we've done that I attribute to his love of reading:

  • He's been surrounded with books and reading and audiobooks from toddlerhood. He's 10 and I still haven't given any assignments that require him to read a book and answer questions on his own.
  • I view non-fiction, picture encyclopedias, and graphic novels all as 'legit' reading material. If I required him to read certain things (eg. books without pictures) he'd resist. That doesn't mean that I don't also seek out interesting looking books for him with fewer and fewer pictures. He does take the bait when the material appeals to him.
  • DH and I both let the kids see us read. I have the tendency to react out loud to my books (laughing, gasping, etc.) - prompting DS to ask questions and allowing him to see how much I am enjoying reading.
  • Nightly bedtime stories, even after he could read to himself - he gets exposed to advanced vocabulary and grammar, stories that are too long for him to read on his own, and comprehension/discussion takes place during the story time. Plus, it makes reading a habit.
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We have read daily to DD6 since she was a baby. When my voice wore out or we were in the car then we would use audiobooks.

She is now reading Syd Hoff and some Dr. Seuss on her own at bedtime. 8:30 bedtime but can read as long as she wants. She picks from her collection. 

As long as the books are appropriate she can choose what she wants. I personally cringe when she asked for Captain Underpants (Daddy would cuddle her and they would laugh and giggle together). She also loves Uncle Wiggly,  Mr Poppers Penguins, My Father's Dragon and other classics plus fairytales. So an occasional silly book I can take.

She asked me why I don't read my own books. I spend a lot of time during the day reading to her that I don't have the interest.

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We keep lots of books in the house, we read to them, we let them see us reading. . .but also I limit screen time and devices.

So out of boredom, they will read at times when other kids might be on a tablet or phone or watching T.V. It warmed my heart the other day to see my kids reading during a flight while all of the kids and grownups around them were plugged into one thing or another.

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10 hours ago, hollyhock2 said:

The only things I've ever done are read out loud to them and buy a lot of books. I'm not sure what I can credit for why all my kids (so far) are readers, but those are the only things I consciously did.

 

I do wonder if some kids are just readers and others are not. I have always hoped that my kids would share my love of books though and I've tried to gently encourage it without being forceful. We'll see if that works with my boys...

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10 hours ago, Momto4inSoCal said:

 

I do wonder if some kids are just readers and others are not. I have always hoped that my kids would share my love of books though and I've tried to gently encourage it without being forceful. We'll see if that works with my boys...

 

I also wonder that, because I have occasionally seen posts where parents do everything they can to encourage reading and some of the kids just don't like to read. Maybe it's partially personality or natural interest.

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In addition to what I mentioned above, I also take my kids to the library a lot, weekly if I can.

And this is not me, but the grandparents on both sides have always read to them, and when the kids learn to read the grandparents  ( our parents) and especially my husband’s grandmother, are always happy to have the kids show off their reading aloud skills, and praise them.

I carry books with me in the car and pretty much everywhere I go in case I have time to read, and it’s defini a habit they’ve picked up from me.

Middle son reads constantly, like me, but even DD, who used to hate reading because of the pressure that public school put on her with the AR program, loves it since we started homeschooling. DS is still public schooled, and AR with its points system taps into his competitive side and it spurs him on, but reading came easier for him anyway. AR had the exact opposite effect on DD.

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Many of the things we did have already been mentioned:

Reading aloud from infancy on.

Very VERY limited television, DVD, and computer time.

Frequent trips to the library (multiple times per week).

An abundant supply of audiobooks.

Adults also reading for pleasure and necessity.

Books as gifts.

Regards,

Kareni

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