Reading Aloud

On Monday I attended a seminar on writing by Andrew Pudewa and Andrew Kern.

 It was really a seminar on language and even more generally on homeschooling. But one (of the many) things that I got out of it was the importance of reading aloud to your children. As a Sonlight Curriculum user I have been reading aloud for years but it was nice to reaffirm the importance of doing it. Because of the busyness of life our Read-Aloud had been pushed to the bottom of the "get-done" list. So yesterday I told the kids to get a quiet activity and we read aloud for hours! This is what they did:

Annie colored, drew and made a friendship anklet.

Timothy played with his magnetix and created a windmill and a ferris wheel.

What did we read you wonder? Caddie Woodlawn's Family. It's the sequal to Caddie Woodlawn which is a part of our curriculum. I cried at just about every chapter! Of course that's just me! I cry easily.

And why is reading aloud so important? According to the two Andrews it raises a child's reading comprehension, listening comprehension and therefore their reading level! Not to mention their vocabulary and the ability to read aloud themselves. It's just good! And they said to keep reading to them, no matter their age. Don't stop once they can read for themselves. So I'm off to read some more. I encourage you to do the same!