FAMILY READING CHALLENGE DAY 4: Guest Post &Giveaway

  

I've been thinking a lot about what separates a reader from a non-reader. Is it just a natural preference? Do school experiences or upbringing make a difference? My mother was an avid reader but I don't think i 've ever seen my father read more then the daily newspaper. It was my Mother who first took me to the library. It was a Saturday ritual with my sister, we were required to check out at least one book every week. For me it would be barely ten minutes before I had the maximum amount of books available (7). Then it was the waiting game as my sister and mother butted heads. My sister never enjoyed books. She did go through a phase where she read Archie comics but it didn't last long. It was a weekly battle of wills as my sister angrily refused to pick a book and my mother stated she wasn't leaving till she picked one.

I would play the peacekeeper in the situation dragging my sister down the aisles showing her good books, anxious to get home . In the end she would pick the thinnest book she could find and she would never read it.My mother eventually gave up and soon I was old enough to go to the library alone so our weekly traditions stopped.

My sister is now the mother of five children : 4 boys and 1 girl. With the exception of magazines none of my nieces and nephew's are readers. I influenced them a little when the were children reading them picture books but they never took to it as teens and now Adults. I often wonder if it would be different if my sister loved books.





I'm so happy to have Carrie of BOOKS AND MOVIES  Give her thoughts on encouraging reading in her children's lives .  I met Carrie through the Armchair BEA event and when I found out she home schools her children I knew she would have some great advice! Enjoy and then check out today's giveaway:


Carrie Kitzmiller
Books and Movies







As a single woman, voracious reader, and lover of books, one of the things I looked forward to most about having kids was sharing books with them. I had vague, enchanting daydreams about sitting in our cozy living room, my future husband and I reading aloud to our children, who would be flocked around us, perfectly attentive and entranced by the story unfolding to their ears. Lovely picture, isn't it?






Then, reality happened. I married a wonderful man who loves me and our children, but who isn't nearly as enthused about reading and books as I am. I have four children: Natalie, 14; Noah, 13; Jonathan, 11; and Josiah, 9. Of the four, Natalie is a book lover. The boys think reading is an okay activity on which to spend school time, but outside of school, reading is not their recreational activity of choice. I haven't given up hope that, one day, this will change.






In spite of not being avid independent readers, the three boys do love to be read aloud to, and this is a tradition that started when they were very small. I try to make read-aloud time part of every school day and every weekday during the summer. It doesn't always happen, but I do read aloud to them an average of 3 to 4 mornings a week. And my oldest son, Noah, has started to read aloud to his younger brothers at bedtime, something which I gladly allow them to stay up a bit later for.






While my efforts to create readers in my family have been a bit mixed, there are some things that I did - and that I think all parents can do - to help encourage the reading bug.






~ Treat a visit to the library like a magnificent adventure. When they were young, my kids adored our weekly trips to the library to bring home another stack of picture books. For each of them, age 10 became magic - the age at which they could get their very own library card.






~ Don't use the library to simply check out books. Yes, that is the best part of the library - but libraries are so much more! When they were younger, we attended story time. As they grew older, we took part each year in Summer Reading, and each child was thrilled with the idea of earning a free book simply by logging their reading time - something they were already doing.






~ Don't treat reading like schoolwork. This is one area in which I haven't been entirely successful, but my kids do know that even though we take the summer off of our studies, reading is something that happens year-round at our house.






~ Have books at home. To a book blogger and book lover, this seems like an obvious thing, but you would be surprised at the number of children who are growing up in homes without books. We have tons of books - more than my husband would like - but when one of my kids asks a question that I can't answer, they know that we'll probably find the answer in one of the books on the shelves.






~ Variety is important. I love to read fiction and so does my daughter, but reading tastes are as varied and eclectic as people are themselves. We have every kind of book on our shelves that you can imagine: atlases, cookbooks, arts and crafts books, fiction, science books, encyclopedias, dictionaries, picture books, chapter books, drawing books, superhero books, animal books, etc.






~ Read aloud to your children long after they are old enough to read to themselves. As well as a love of books, this encourages listening skills and allows kids to enjoy a book that may be more advanced than their independent reading age. Some of the best memories my kids and I share are of our hours spent reading aloud - and especially the days when, close to the end of a particularly engrossing book, we stayed in our pajamas long after school time should have started - just so we could find out how it ended. As homeschoolers, we are lucky to have the liberty to take that time, but everyone can find fifteen minutes a few times a week to spend reading together.




While doing these things won't guarantee that you have a houseful of book-lovers, it will certainly point your kiddos in the right direction. And the time you spend in enjoying books with your children is always time well spent.


Such great advice Carrie THANK YOU!!!


So today's theme is lead by example. I have three great books that are fun summer reads. Enjoy them pass them on. If you have children  escape to he park and have a reading afternoon. Summer time is made for a good book and a shady tree:) Here are the books:




  

 RULES USA ONLYCONTEST ENDS 7/2/11 LEAVE A COMMENT & E-MAIL TO ENTER