Studies support that reading aloud to children enhances literacy development.  Our guest poster Leah Courtney share ideas on making reading aloud easier. Hope you enjoy.

Four Simple Ways to Make Reading Aloud Part of Your Family Routine

By Leah Courtney

You probably know that reading to your children is important. You’ve heard the message from the time you were pregnant.

You know that reading to your babies and toddlers can encourage their interest in books and reading and can encourage them to become avid readers. You know that reading to your preschoolers can build their vocabulary and help them learn to recognize letters and words. You know that reading to your school-aged kids can continue to increase their vocabulary and their comprehension because you can read to them from books they can’t quite read for themselves yet. And you might even know that continuing to read to your older kids is a wonderful way to have awesome conversations about books they may not choose to pick up on their own.

You know all of this. But finding time to read to your kids every day sometimes seems overwhelming. Caught up in the day to day hustle and bustle- caring for kids, cleaning the house, cooking for the family, working either at home or away from home- you think it’s impossible to add one more thing you need to do. But reading to the kids doesn’t have to be a difficult or time consuming process. There are some simple ways that you can include reading with the kids in your daily activities.

Start small.

If you are trying to establish a time of reading to your kids, and you try to begin with reading thirty minutes every day, chances are your efforts won’t succeed. Really little children don’t even have the attention span for long reading sessions and will probably do better starting with a short reading time.

Begin with the goal of ten minutes a day. You’ll be surprised at how quickly the kids- and you- will come to love your read aloud times. And chances are you’ll be spending more and more time as you go on.

Read at mealtime.

Want the kids to sit quietly at the table during lunch time? Read to them. This works best with kindergartners or older. By this time they’re past the age where you are cutting up food or feeding them. They’re eating independently. After everyone has their food and is settled at the table. Read to the family.

We’ve always enjoyed reading at lunch time. We’ll have a chapter book going, and I’ll read a chapter or two each day. It’s a great time to read when the kids are already doing something else. I’ve known families to include reading with dinnertime as well so that dads can be home and be a part of the read aloud time.

Read at bedtime.

This is often one of the best times to read to really little ones. Add reading to your bedtime routine. For small children, just read a short book or two. For older kids have a chapter book going and read a chapter each night. Reading at bedtime can help kids to settle in before time to go to sleep.

Make reading routine.

I’ve heard that it takes thirty days to create a lasting habit. With children, my experience is that some habits can be established much more quickly because many children appreciate and respond well to routines. If you can find ten minutes in your day to begin reading with your children every day, it will become a part of your routine.

Ten minutes in the morning as you start your day, ten minutes after lunch to help kids settle down and have some time to rest, ten minutes at bedtime as kids settle to sleep- if you can do it consistently, reading will become a part of your routine. Once reading is routine, the kids won’t let you skip it. I promise.

Reading aloud with your children has so many benefits- for the kids and for you. These simple ways can help you make reading aloud part of your family’s routine. How do you read aloud to your children?  Please share your ideas on making reading aloud part of your daily routine in the comments’ area at the end of this post.

Leah Courtney is a homeschooling mom of four. Her days are filled with being a mom, homemaker, and teacher. In her (very rare) free time, she enjoys blogging, reading, and reviewing books and curricula. These days she’s learning the joys of being a mom of teens. You can read about her family and homeschooling life at As We Walk Along the Road. You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google+.

Be sure to visit Courtney post today for more information about literacy.

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An important announcement:  We will take a break next week for the Fourth of July holiday. I hope everyone enjoys fireworks and picnics as we celebrate our nation’s birthday.

Now on to our weekly Literacy Musing Monday’s linkup where we link up posts about what inspires you in reading, writing, blogging, and even share our written Bible devotions.

First,  let’s

 

 

Leslie@Forever Joyful  Blog/Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest/Google+Gayl@Words, Photos, and ArtBlog/Facebook/Instagram/Pinterest/TwitterMary @Maryandering Creatively  Blog/Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest/ Instagram/Google+Tami @ThisMomsDelight    Blog/Facebook/Pinterest/Twitter/Instagram/Google Plus 

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Now let’s celebrate reading and learning by reviewing:

Last Week’s Top Clicked Post!

5 Picture Books That Make History Interesting Again

By Carolyn at House Full of Book Worms

Carolyn is a regular at the Literacy Musing Mondays. Her posts are always popular. I love her suggested titles in this post. You can count on finding many books to add to your To Be Read lists. Be sure to check it out!

My Favorite Post of the Week:

9 FANTASTIC SUMMER READS THAT MOMS WILL LOVE

BY ALICIA MICHELLE at Your Vibrant Family

Alicia’s list is a not miss of some great books. I found some I want to put on my Kindle now. Be sure to check this post!

Remember to check out other hosts’  blogs to see which posts from last week were their favorites. Want to be the next to be featured! Just link up a post and if you are read the most, we will feature you. Also please make sure you link back to us so others will know about our link up and join in. We try to make it worth your while to linkup with us by promoting your posts across our social media networks. We also pin our most clicked and featured posts to our Pinterest Board each week!

Follow Mary Hill’s board Literacy Musing Mondays Linkup on Pinterest.  

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Now, it is time to link up to the Literacy Musing Mondays hop! You will have until Saturdays at 12 p.m. now to link up! So come back often.

Linkup Rules:

1. Include a link back or the blog hop button linked to this hop on your posts.
2. Link up the urls to your posts not to your blog.
3. Please remember this is a family-friendly linkup. Although we believe in the right for adults to read whatever they want to read, we prefer to read wholesome posts that feature literature that edify and uplift families. We reserve the right to delete any posts that are not family friendly. We love all kinds of literature and genres including family-friendly inspirational romances, fantasy, or science fiction. We do not welcome posts featuring books or writing with excessive violence, sexual content, or cursing. These posts will be deleted.
4. We also want to be loving community by supporting one another. Please make a point to do this this week! Visit the two posts before yours and at least one other blogger’s post of your choice! I want to see lots of clicks on everyone’s posts. Remember it is also nice to follow them on their social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook.
5. Follow your hosts and co-hosts on their social media.
6. Tweet about the link up too.

[tweetthis]Come join the fun! Link up your family-friendly, book- or literacy-related posts at #LMMLinkup ![/tweetthis]

Let’s Celebrate Reading and Learning together this week at Literacy Musing Mondays!

 

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Linking up with blog hops on my Linkup Parties page.