HOMESCHOOLING BEGINS WITH HOME
Reading to Children

Preschool and Early Elementary

Reading to children is included in this series of Christian Homeschooling Articles which addresses the following themes:

1. Relationship
2. Stewardship
3. Scholarship
   • Skills and Knowledge
   • Family Reading, Preschool and Early Elementary
     (This article)
   • Your Child’s Portfolio
4. Easy Recordkeeping

For continuity, please read this overview first.

Let the Spirit renew your mind about the purpose of reading to children, especially preschoolers and those of early elementary age. If we set out to read to young children to cram knowledge into their heads, we will miss the opportunity of building relationship as we read.

Building a loving relationship with our children at the early stages of their lives can be quite challenging at times because, let’s face it, young children are often hard to parent. They don’t always cooperate with our ideas as readily and willingly as we moms had hoped.

That’s why setting up a short period of time to just sit together with your child in your lap begins the routine of cuddling and sharing in a non-threatening way.

• Establish a reading routine. Determine a time that fits your routine and mark it on your homeschool planner. I found that immediately before or after lunch (depending on if the child still naps) was a good time to set up this routine for wee ones.
  • Call your child to you and then hold this precious one in your lap.

  • If he is calm, begin reading from a picture storybook—perhaps only pointing to the pictures rather than reading the words.

  • If he is not calm or does not want to read, just hold him. Stroke his little back and let him know that you love him. Perhaps he will only sit for a few minutes (or seconds!) at first. But if you establish this time routinely, he will begin to respond and come to you willingly and quietly over time.

  

• Begin reading together. Once your child comes to you willingly—and routinely—and sits with you quietly, read with her as long as possible. When my oldest was a preschooler, our reading time grew into hours instead of minutes.
  • Read picture books together, and allow the child to point to the pictures and ask questions or tell stories to you. (This is the beginning of learning to observe, draw conclusions, and narrate. As you establish this time, you will find just how observant your children are. They see things in pictures that you miss.)

  • Make reading an enjoyable experience as you change voices during your reading.

  • Act out passages from the Bible and from other history books, making history come alive.

  • Acquire basic knowledge together. (You will be amazed at what you, Mom, will learn from simple storybooks and children’s historical fiction. This time will be the beginning of your education as well.)

  • Provide for their needs—to be loved and understood—rather than force a scope and sequence. Let them share with you in their child-like way what they understand about the story you’re reading together.

Consider establishing a family reading time to draw your children’s hearts to you and to each other.

When your children are young, learn to discern the Voice of the Lord as you grow in wisdom for your particular relationships and circumstances:

• Discern when a book is too advanced; put it down and come back to it later.

  In 1999, my son was around going on six years old. I wondered if he was ready for moving away from picture books to just sitting while I read more advanced books out lout to him and his sister. One day I tried a little experiment. I began reading William Tell out loud to him only, as he sat on the floor near my rocker. He stared with wide eyes as I read with animation about the father and son relating to each other as they walked to the town and then the father placing the apple on his son’s head. I had read about ten pages from this story, repeating the name William Tell: William Tell did this and William Tell did that. Then I asked my son, “And what do you think William Tell was thinking when he lifted that bow and pointed the arrow at the apple on his son’s head?” When my son replied, “Who is William Tell?” I knew he wasn’t quite ready to give up picture books!

• Use your library system avidly, which helps your homeschool budget and sets you on the path of learning to discern exactly what a good book is.

  I order at least 20 books each week (sometimes up to 40) as well as videos, all for free! The wonderful thing about library books is that if we don’t like them or find them too advanced, we can always send them back. If I notice that we keep ordering the same book over a period of time, I know it’s time to buy it for our collection.

• Provide for your child’s needs, by expanding their breadth of knowledge—and yours—without textbook boredom.

  Science books written especially for young children—books that explain how their food is digested, how their heart works, how the earth spins, how a flower grows from seed to bloom—offer various ideas for setting up projects that will help your young ones to experiment with real life. Cookbooks are another fine way to learn about continents and countries as you cook your way through the world. It was such fun and so educational to learn about geography in this hands-on way. Historical fiction for young children opens their imaginations to worlds unknown as well as introduces subject matter they may want to pursue further. For example, my boys read about the American Indians when they were five and seven and walked into our woods and made trail markers like the Indians did. We also began to identify wildflowers that the Indians used for food.

Developing the tool of home first by staying home and establishing a “reading to children” routine will

• set the stage for developing loving relationships and memory-making that you and your children will cherish.

• provide ideas on which you can build naturally in the areas of science, geography, and history.

• begin the process of your whole-person education, Mom, as you learn to discern the Voice of the Lord for your particular relationships and circumstances, thus lifting the burdens associated with religiously following a scope-and-sequence.

I would strongly recommend that you establish your “reading to children” routine as early as possible. I guarantee it will become one of your most cherished times as you journey on with the Lord through homeschooling your precious children.

Five additional articles to encourage you:

• Reading to elementary and junior high school children

• 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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