A Guide for Parents to School our Kids at Home – Part I – Language and Reading
If you have kids at home, no matter what their age, you know the wonder and amazement they experience when they learn something new. Oftentimes, there is a bright-eyed response that may be followed with squealing, and a general ruckus to let the world know that they are now master of one more skill. I can see my toddler laughing and clapping his hands when he learned how to open the pantry door. Not exactly my favorite skill, since I now have to keep a lock on the door else I find my can goods becoming bombs for the cats to dodge, but a new skill nonetheless.
We take it upon ourselves as parents to teach our children how sit, stand, speak; how to dress and tie their shoes; how to use the potty and zipper their coat. However, we also have to remember that we are the primary source of education to our kids, long before they go to school.
We’ve all heard the mantras of reading to our kids every day to help them learn our language and become familiar with the idea of reading for fun. Did you know that the benefits of regular reading go much further than just entertainment and language skills?
Children who read regularly have higher comprehension levels in all areas of life. They are able to process conversations easier and can understand instructions on school projects and work without assistance.
These same kids use their strong comprehension and language skills in their writing. There has been a refocus on writing skills in schools due to a lack of writing skills in college-level students over the last few decades. Writing skills are important in both an academic and a real-life setting – giving the advantage for creating strong resumes and cover letters to those with stronger language skills and the ability to comprehend what a potential employer wants to hear.
What about imagination? Familiar with the uses of imagery in the books they read, as well as continually improving their visualization skills, readers can also excel in imagination-based efforts like art class, or other extracurricular activities.
Keeping all of the above in mind, how can you create a reader in your home? Help you children acquire all of these strong skills by:
• Reading to them every day from their infancy, even for just a few minutes. It helps with early brain development and gets them into a routine of using books as entertainment.
• Setting aside reading time every day for them. Don’t just give in to the video games or the TV. Have your kids go to their room, get into a comfy position and take a half hour (at least) to read whatever book catches their fancy.
• Letting them see you read. You have more influence on your kids likes and dislikes that you think, or than they’re likely to admit. If they see you reading for fun during the day, they are much more likely to taking time to do it themselves.
• Talking with them about what they’re reading. Ask them to give you an overview of their book, and once their reading time is done, find out how the story is progressing, what they like most and least about it and what they think will happen next.
Build your child’s love of reading and they will enter school with a significant advantage.
Posted By: Paul Adams
Saturday, March 6th 2010 at 1:44PM
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