Model It

Habits are “caught, more than taught,” right? Show your family the joy of reading by enjoying it yourself.

You could do this together with them, choosing a family read aloud, or by yourself. Pick up that book on the weekend or in the evenings. Choose to lead in the benefits of relaxing with a good book.

Dig into deeper research about a topic you want to learn about. Maybe it’s that new bird in the backyard. Taking the time to look it up with your kids in a nature study book or on an app might be the spark that lights the fire of a lifetime birdwatcher. Invest in a strategy book to finally beat your oldest at chess 🙂 or just to learn alongside him.

Personally, I love to read right before bed or early in the morning, before the chaos begins. I keep different books in the car, in my diaper bag, by my bed and by the couch in the living room. This makes it easier to find time to read, rather than spending that time hunting for a book.

Set Aside Special Time For Family Reading

Life comes in seasons. There will be seasons reading comes more naturally to your family.

Some times that have worked well for us in different season to read as a family.

• Before Bed – whether that’s a board book with your toddler or a chapter in a family read aloud book. It’s a natural time to wind down with reading. Even before my children learned to read for themselves, they started taking a favorite book to bed.
• Afternoon Quiet Time – Some seasons, mostly to keep my older children quiet during naps (Haha!), we have a forced 30 minutes of reading after lunch.
• Early Morning Reading – My early birds often come read with me, we’ll have a hot cup of something and read quietly at the table together. This holds special memories for me because many times this is when I’m reading my Bible. They will join me at the table with theirs.
• Vacation Reading – If we have a vacation coming up, I will try to think intentionally about a family read aloud that we can share together for this special time. Sometimes this is an audiobook for the longer drives or a read-aloud for that before bed in a new room time. It’s a home comfort we can take anywhere.
• Breakfast/Morning Basket Time – We try to start off our days with the Bible. Currently, we are working our way through the One-Year Bible audiobook, only takes about 12-20 minutes. In some seasons, we will also fit in a page or two of a homeschool book about a composer, artist or subject of nature study.

Make Reading Fun

Not all of us can do the voices while we read, right? if you can, you’re probably set. But if not, try some of these other things to make it fun.

Talk about books and the memories they give you. Because of our family’s love for the Burgess’ animal book series, squirrels are always named “Happy Jack” or “Chatterer.” One of my son’s favorite quotes of history comes out all the time, “I have not yet begun to fight!” And of course, when instructing where to walk, my husband often quotes Gandalf’s “You shall not pass!”

Use incentive programs. You can make your own. We use M is for Mama’s penny reward system for more than just reading, but if my child finishes an age appropriate reading book, they get to add a penny to their jar. For younger kids, have a coloring page where a book gets colored in every time they finish one. Utilize your local library’s summer reading program. Or find other reading incentive programs near you. Pizza Hut’s BOOK IT! Program and Braum’s Book Buddy have been favorites with my boys for years.

Movie Night Rewards. When one of my children finishes a book, we try to see if we can find a movie based off the book for a family movie night. This have a two-fold reward. We get to make a family memory of sharing in my child’s reading success and it adds value to reading the book version because they almost always say “THE BOOK WAS WAY BETTER THAN THE MOVIE!”

Get Help

At the time of writing this post, I have (almost) 7 kids. 4 school-age. Different interests, different levels. We can connect on a good family read aloud, but there are going to be times where they need personalized reading. And as much as I want to, I can’t do it all by myself. Here are some practical helps, if you find yourself in a similar season.

Use an audiobook. Audiobooks make reading a book of any level accessible, without the same time constraints conventional reading can bring. I have seen my children’s vocabulary grow and reading pronunciation greatly improve simply because they are reading along with an audiobook.

Delegate to a sibling. All of my school-age children have “read to a younger sibling” on their daily school checklist. This gold-mine of a tip was shared with me by an older homeschool mom. This gives my kids an opportunity to practice their reading skills and help a younger sibling, while growing their one-on-one friendship. It makes my preschoolers feel included in homeschool and helps a younger school age child get through their work faster, because they are not waiting for just mom to help them. They have their pick of tutors.

Get A Family Member Involved. My husband has introduced our children to J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. And our children have a special attachments to these books because they know their dad does, too. Does grandma live far away? Ask if she would want to help with your child’s love for reading. Set up a weekly video chat where your child and grandma read a chapter a week together. Books are for sharing.

Whatever you do, just start.

You won’t regret it. I promise.