We have had a family reading time established since 1992.

Now that my children are no longer preschoolers, this time has developed over the years into a time of child training, discussion, and just plain fun as we acquire knowledge together.

As you begin family read-aloud times with your children and make these times enjoyable, you will find that the bulk of your afternoons and sometimes evenings will be spent reading together.

The purpose of family reading time during this season is three-fold:

• to introduce new subject matter that perhaps your children haven't encountered in their daily activities (this is especially true of history);

• to open doors for communication among you and your children so you can develop healthy relationships with each other; and

• to think together as you prayerfully develop discernment about worldviews and Biblical principles.

As you read good books together, you can

Prepare prayerfully.

The only preparation you, Mom, need to do for reading time is seek the Lord on what subject matter to choose.

Read enthusiastically.

Then read the book with your children and let the Spirit lead.

He is the faithful One that will lead you in choosing subject matter as He prepares hearts and circumstances to receive from Him.

During this late elementary and early junior high school season of reading to children,

• Continue to build relationship.

• Introduce new topics that children may not have discovered on their own. As you get to know your children, you will be able to discern what topics to introduce as you prayerfully observe their lives.
  • Discuss the worldviews of the author within the context of a Biblical worldview.

    As you continue to educate yourself through the Word and your own personal education, you will begin to discern worldviews that you can then share with your children.

    As they mature, they will then discern various things that they will share with you as well.

  • Draw out your children’s thoughts as you read through questioning: What would you do in this situation? For an example, click here.

    Think with them as you teach them to think and listen to them, and they will desire to think with you and listen to you as they mature.

• Use a spine for history, building line upon line and precept upon precept, as you acquire knowledge together. Then build upon the areas that interest your children.

• Introduce new vocabulary in a natural way within the context of your reading as you encourage your children to question unfamiliar words.

• Compare and contrast time periods within history to current-day events.

When I first began homeschooling, I myself was not prepared to impart much knowledge to my children because my own education had been so weak. Throughout my personal learning process, I tried to apply various methods—unit studies, Charlotte Mason, the principle approach, lifestyle of learning, unschooling, for example—to our school life.

I found that I did build relationship with my children while sharing what I had learned during my preparation and research; but all the preparation required so much time. It became exhausting just trying to keep up.

Looking back, I see now that really I was educating myself through the preparation; I was developing the tool of research in my own life. Now I can identify and encourage that process in my children’s lives.

But as far as imparting academic knowledge to my children… well, honestly they didn’t retain much, mainly because they were so young. Yes, I could write a wonderful report for the system about what I had taught, but that report did not necessarily reflect what my children had learned.

I don’t advocate throwing out the educational philosophies; rather, I advocate learning to discern what principles to apply to your particular relationships and circumstances from each of the philosophies—Biblical, Life-giving principles that build up relationships and empower children with His Life and love which will serve them as they serve Him.

In fact, I find that I myself look forward to these reading times perhaps more than my children do… although, they too do look forward to this daily routine. They work on art projects, painting by number, needlework, or drawing while I read out loud to them.

As I read to my children routinely and daily, they find all sorts of things that interest them and then experiment with their own interests, developing the tool of research in practical ways:

• My oldest son usually researches something new, like a character in history or something science-related, on the computer or through personal reading.

• My children may play-act something exciting from the history we read together.

• Sometimes they discover a new type of clothing they would like to try to make from our play-clothes box. They’ve been pirates, kings or queens, Romans, pony express riders, among other things.

• They also like to share what they remember at the supper table with Poppy, as they lovingly call their dad/my husband, when he gets home. This practice encourages narration in a natural way.

Because my children love learning, they also read on their own and share with each other; therefore, we also all learn from one another.

Instead of teaching a body of knowledge to them, I simply read with them—giving them a framework from which to branch off into what interests them—and let them acquire their own knowledge at their own pace.

Reading together gives us a framework so we can branch out into other areas of interest in practical ways. As they share their interests with me,

The gift of teaching. As a little sidenote, I have found that the gift of teaching is really—like all the other gifts of the Spirit—simply the outpouring of the love of something; in this case, the gift of teaching stems from a love of learning.

Let us encourage our children to develop that love of learning as we build relationships with them through family reading times and prepare them to become gifted teachers because they love to learn—teachers of the next generation of homeschoolers, as they excel in the gifts that build up His Body, the Church.

Five additional articles to encourage you:

• Setting up “reading to children” routines

• Reading to children of various ages

• Identifying quality books for your season

• Validating a young child

• Dialoguing with an older child

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