Recently, a young mom asked me about the family read-a-loud. Though an avid reader herself, no one read to her as a child and it was a foreign concept to her. When she first heard the idea and tried it at home, she wasn't met with success. The kids fidgeted and grumbled. Instead of the happy environment she imagined, anarchy ruled!
 
Perhaps you've had a similar experience and wonder if reading aloud is worth the effort. I'd like to share why I believe a family read aloud time is important and how to help children adjust to and enjoy this precious time.

Looking at the big picture, fostering literary reading is important for the health of our culture. "America can no longer take active and engaged literacy for granted," according to National Endowments chairman, Dana Gioia. "As more Americans lose this capability, our nation becomes less informed, active, and independent minded. These are not qualities that a free, innovative, or productive society can afford to lose."

Bringing it home, there are several good reasons for creating a literary environment by reading to your child. First, reading together fosters relationship and encourages skill development. There's something special about cradling a child on your lap and reading a good book. When a child equates reading with parental affection, he is transferring a positive feeling to an important skill and is more likely to want to read himself.

Second, when you read aloud to your children, you can read books above their reading level. This develops the child's vocabulary. She is more likely to read a new word later when it is part of her receptive vocabulary, even if is has not been previously introduced in her reading studies. Language is first receptive. You hear it. Then you speak it, reproducing it verbally. It is only after these two stages are completed that you can read language or produce it on the written page. Developing your child's vocabulary through reading good literature increases their reading and writing skills.

Third, reading good literature shapes a child's beliefs about themselves, God, and the world. When you read together, you have an opportunity to discuss themes of the story and impart to your child your own schemata of life. Things like compassion and morality come through in a good story with much more impact than a lecture ever could. Some of the best discussions I've had with my children about life and God and the big issues of our world have come as we've read a good book.

Recently, I attended a conference in which Sarah Clarkson, who graduated from homeschool a few years ago, shared the impact literature has had upon her life. She talked about how reading Tolkein had helped her find her own passion and step into God's calling for her life. "Books help us believe in the epic spiritual story," she said.

My own daughter tells me that while some Bible stories have become mundane, God has met her with the same passions and deepened understanding of the Bible stories she's memorized as she's experienced similar themes in literature. My sons, too, have been greatly impacted by the family read a loud time. It's amazing to me how they will bring up scenes or themes from the books we read earlier in the day when I tuck them in bed at night. I love it that they've spent the day processing and want to think it through with me before they go to sleep.