three| school ready :: read aloud

"Children are made readers on the laps of their parents."

— Emilie Buchwald

Reading aloud to your child is one of the greatest gifts you could give him or her. Our human instincts naturally crave story. We search for myth, meaning in almost all we do, so it is wonderful when we share stories and books with our children. My husband and I have been reading with our boys everyday since they were born. It is a part of their night-time ritual. They must hear spoken words strung together in story or they find it impossible to find sleep. In fact my youngest still falls asleep as we read.  Once, in a silly mood I calculated the hours we have read to the boys. The hours really added up (one-two hours a night for 13years = many hours), when I told my husband the number, he asked if we get a medal. The answer is of course, no, but we had a good laugh none the less.  Reading aloud has also created a desire in our children to know books. Knowing spoken stories, having exposure to a wide variety of words and use of language at a young age becomes the stepping stone on which children in general become readers themselves. So after all I said about love (still so important!) last week, I would have to say that reading aloud is the next step in helping our children become life long lovers of learning.  You also become their mentor, their guide when they start to read themselves. When they begin the task of sounding out words and taking a turn at reading aloud to you everyday.

As some of you may know, my middle has a learning disability. For him reading aloud is a chore, a most difficult one in fact. However, he hungers for stories and listens to hours and hours of books on CD's.  Be it as it may, he still needs to practice reading aloud. Every morning this summer, I have been struggling with him to get him to read out loud to me. Somedays it is pulling teeth, others days it goes a bit smoother. Yesterday was a particularly difficult morning and he flat out refused to read to me. So at lunch I told him and his brother this made up story: There once was a little girl who wasn't very good at running at all. "Mommy is this about you?" asked the youngest. "No," I said, "just listen." She was quite slow in fact, but she signed up to run in a race so that she could practice running. However, as the day approached to the big race, she became more and more anxious. Then my middle interjected, "Mom is this a true story? Are you sure it is not about you?" "Shhh, I said, it doesn't matter." Until the night before she was to supposed to run, she decided she just wasn't going to do it after all. She wouldn't run and pretend that the race wasn't happening. Then that night, she had a dream about a little wren caught in a storm on a mountainside. This wren was trying to desperately get back to her nest and her babies; and even though she was being torn apart, she kept on trying to fly back to her nest, because she knew it wasn't just about her, it was about something much bigger. The next morning, when the sun creaked in through her windows the girl woke up and knew. She knew she was, even with her self-doubt and fears, going to run in the race after all. She knew that there are some things in life that are just bigger than her.

After the story ended the younger two got quiet, mulling it all over, finishing up lunch.  I then asked the middle if he was ready to read now. "No," he replied, "I didn't sign up to read. but I do need to play this game, it keeps getting harder and harder. In fact, its much, much bigger than me. I feel like I am a wren in a storm and if I quit now I will never be able to do anything again." Then he giggled and tried to sneak away.

What a stinker.

little life lesson backfire. xxoo

Here is delightful link for children's books! I have found it to be a wonderful resource for all sorts of books, especially if I am looking for something different or there is project needed to be done.