Reading At Home

Sorry Mom! Your first grader might be throwing you under the bus! As we go around to check in book selections we often hear, "My mom forgot to read this because , (Insert sports, family visits, we were too busy etc) and then I had to go to bed."

We understand the nights go way too fast and time is always going to be our enemy so we want to offer a few tips to keep your reader READING!

Reading should not be presented to children as a chore or duty. It should be offered to them as a precious gift. —Kate DiCamillo

• Help your child find those edge times, driving in the car, waiting at a sports practice, the doctors office, or even on a potty break! All these minutes add up and every minute spent engaging with books is time invested in their future.
  
• Keep books in your car and all around your house. Start a basket in the kitchen, the bathroom, the family room, the video room, and of course all the bedrooms! Keep books visible in your life.
• Make reading before bed a five minute habit! Bedtime is a precious time in the life of a parent and child and it doesn't last forever, take advantage now!
• Talk to your child about the plans for after school, if it's a busy night suggest they choose a shorter more independent book for reading. If its an open night suggest a longer book or one you can read to them, or maybe 2 books this night!
• Let them see you read! Back of cereal boxes, books, iPads, phones, newspapers it all counts!
• Start a family book club and talk about the book in the car on the way to …
• Visit book stores or the library regularly. (Cover To Cover is an A-Maz-ing children's bookstore! see photos below)
• Visit the Little Free Library in Lakewood Subdivision.

For more ideas, support and book list see Growing Readers by HCSD.