5 Reasons Homeschool Families Love Read-Aloud - and You Will Too

We are homeschooling in a fabulous time. We get to choose from curriculum, co-ops, and classes galore: gym, art, fencing, robotics, science, cooking, ceramics, golf, writing, woodworking, archery, and more. There might be more homeschool classes available than there are merit badges in Scouting. One of the side effects is that homeschool families are busier than ever. In the whirlwind of busy schedules, read-alouds make for memorable family time that builds relationships, reading skills, and a love for literature, all at the same time.

Here are five reasons homeschool families love read-alouds, and why you will want to include them in your homeschooling too.

Read-alouds are one of the most effective ways to advance your child's literacy skills. The best time to start reading to your child is from the very beginning, even as a baby, but it is never too late to start.

Creating a daily family reading habit gives your child a meaningful boost. If you start at about six months and read just one book per day, your child will have been exposed to about 1,600 books by kindergarten.

Start with cloth books for babies (they hold up to chewing), then board books and picture books for toddlers, then the library is your oyster. As little hands are ready, involve them in page-turning. Once your child is a toddler, move your finger along underneath the words as you read. This trains left-to-right eye tracking and helps the physical mechanics of reading become second nature long before formal instruction begins.

Grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins can all be included in family reading time. Not practical outside of an occasional visit? An extended family member can help make the reading selections, sharing interests, history, and even family stories through books.

Maybe grandmom takes the kids to the library to choose books, then the kids share about the story on their next visit. Or grandpop sends a favorite book from across the country and discusses it via phone or video call. These extended family discussions naturally refine reading comprehension and storytelling skills, and family reading time becomes associated with special relationships.

ShillerLearning recommends allowing your child to repeat an activity over and over until they have closure on their own terms. Children are always happy to let us know when they are ready to move on. The same is true for books. If your child wants you to read the same book 300 out of 365 days this year, that is perfectly fine.

Not every child will memorize entire books, but in rereading, they will memorize favorite passages. Eventually, rereading leads to recognizing words, often without consciously trying. It builds an understanding of what fluent reading sounds like. Add phonics to that foundation and watch them take off.

Time spent reading together as a family is a long-term investment in vocabulary exposure. The reading selections in ShillerLearning Language Arts Kits A and B were made with this in mind. Family reading time gives children the chance to ask questions about words they do not understand, which leads to more effective reading, important for both beginners and experienced readers.

Vocabulary is an important and sometimes overlooked pre-reading skill. Children with limited vocabulary will have more challenges when learning to read, because they need to understand most of the words they are trying to decode in order to comprehend the story. You can see how exposure to 1,600 books before kindergarten pays dividends here.

Get excited when your child discovers an unknown word. Pause to see if the meaning can be discerned from context clues. If you have multiple children and one knows the definition, let them share. Then look it up in the dictionary together. You might even keep a running list of new words and definitions for each book. Literature is one of the best ways for children to build a rich, broad vocabulary.

Family reading time does not have to stop once your child is an independent reader, or even a teenager. Homeschool parents want to help their children develop a lifelong love of learning and reading, and continuing to read aloud furthers that goal at every age.

Try having the kids take turns reading paragraphs or chapters with you. As your child moves into middle and high school, reading selections could be on lifestyle, faith, travel, or current events. You can also move into a book club model: pick a book to read independently and meet to read aloud favorite passages, discuss, or do book-related activities.

Family read-aloud time may shorten or become less frequent as children come of age, but do not completely set it aside. You may find it a lifelong way of promoting the love of literacy and family.

Curriculum That Builds on the Love of Reading

ShillerLearning's Language Arts Kits are designed to complement the love of reading you are building through read-alouds, with multisensory lessons, songs, and activities for every learner. Math Kit I is included because children encounter a great deal of new language there too.

Math Kit I
Pre-K to 3rd Grade

View Kit

Language Arts Kit A
Pre-K to 1st Grade

View Kit

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