Help your Homeschooler Love to Read

July 17, 2008 on 3:39 am | In Family |
by Diane Noble

Homeschooling parents often worry about their children`s reading skills because reading skills are such an important part of a person`s education. We need reading skills for far more than just getting good grades in English class. Reading skills are important for success in all subject areas. Due to this fact, homeschooling parents should also incorporate reading lessons into all subjects. For example, during a history lesson, you can ask your child to summarize the events of historical event as a way to practice their comprehension and summarizing skills. Parents should also encourage their children to read outside of what is required for school work because developing reading as a habit will do wonders for a child`s education.

One of the great benefits of homeschooing, flexibility, comes in really handy when parents are trying to teach reading skills. This flexibility allows parents to work on reading skills any time of day. Reading skills don`t have to be confined to study hours. For example, you can read to your child before bed or have them read to you and that can be their reading lesson for the day. Or you can ask your child to retell a story they read earlier as you cook dinner and that can be their comprehension lesson for the day. This flexibility allows homeschooled children to fulfill their reading potential more quickly than public schooled children. Standardized reading tests for children often show that homeschoolers are better readers than public schooled children.

Reading as a habit is not only important for developing reading skills, but also for improving vocabulary and writing skills and establishing a child`s knowledge base. Encourage your child to read a wide range of material. Fictional stories are great for a child`s imagination, while non-fiction is important for accumulating important facts and information. Try to have your child read both fiction and non-fiction from an early age in order to develop this into a life long habit.

One of the easiest ways to indirectly prod your children into reading is to make sure there are many interesting books lying around the house where the kids can see and reach them. Kids are curious creatures. If they see books everyday, they will eventually pick one up and leaf through it. At that point, you can jump in and give them positive attention for picking up the book and reading it. This will reinforce that behavior in the child and they will be more likely to pick up a book a second time.

The best education for a child is a well-rounded one, but no matter which method of educating you choose for child, reading will always be an important part of it. This is because reading is a building block necessary for all forms of higher education. Make sure you begin to instill a love for reading in your children from a young age to ensure that they develop reading as a habit and enjoy it`s many benefits for years to come.

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