If you’ve been around the homeschooling world for a while, you’ve likely celebrated National Reading Day to coincide with Dr. Seuss’s birthday and Read Across America Day. But reading is about more than spinning it into a day or even week’s worth of celebrations.
It’s about generating a love of learning, stories, and new ideas that are hard to mimic in other media. Sure, your child can watch a movie or a YouTube short, listen to a podcast, or watch a TikTok. But losing themselves in a world of imagination really begins with reading.
Whether you have a kindergartener or older elementary school child, or your middle school student is knocking on the door of full-on teen years, we’ve got good news. Implementing one of these three small adjustments to your daily or nightly routine can transform their love of learning. (Yes, even in seventh grade.)
1. Begin (again) by reading aloud as a family.
You’ve heard this before, and it’s so easy to let slide as kids get older. But even if you’re not a homeschooling family anymore, there are simple shifts you can make to add read-alouds back into your family rhythms. But first: Why is reading aloud so vital to a love of learning?
One study suggests that a child-centered approach to a semi-quantitative way of researching how children ages 9-12 process what they read is key to understanding the latest outcomes about why some children transfer early reading to later in life, and some don’t. While just one study can’t tell us everything, some of its findings reveal that children don’t just process while they’re reading; they develop empathy, make text-to-self connections, and continue to think about storylines and characters long after the reading is complete.
In other words, children who are exposed to fiction and non-fiction texts through read-alouds and on their own are more apt to develop deep-seated interests because of reading, even if these interests don’t relate to what they’ve read. One aspect of research shows that students identify different means of losing themselves in stories. One kind of reader needs to stay in a specific “joy lane” or not veer from already-developed interests in order to enjoy the learning process.
You might recognize this reader in your home during National Reading Month (or any time of the year) as a child who enjoys trains, for example, reads novels and non-fiction books about the inner workings of trains, main character trains, and the train routes so crucial to U.S. transport and trade.
Other readers need to be found in their reading: they develop emotional connections to a character, relate to a plot point because it mirrors something in their own life, or expand their interests because of a character. These students may be more inclined to read suspense-based stories or stories where world-building is almost its own character.
Start small by reading for 10 minutes while one parent cleans up from dinner, or make Saturday mornings a non-negotiable half hour of reading together as a family.
2. Let your child or teen read what they want to read.
We know there’s a line here, and we’re not suggesting throwing out all moral compasses. But when your tween comes home and wants to read the latest fantasy series that all their friends are reading, it’s wise to compromise, even if it means having to read the series alongside him and discuss some of the elements that aren’t in line with your beliefs or values.
Is it more work to do that? Absolutely. You’ll be reading a series you probably wouldn’t have picked up if it were not for your tween’s friends.
But the benefit of saying yes to your middle schooler’s desire to read is that he or she may rediscover a lost love of reading, or they may develop a love of story that’s never been ignited. It can even boost a student’s motivation to soldier through difficult schoolwork if they have a book series waiting for them over lunch or at the end of the day. This is when looking at the big picture is far more important than a few subplots that you’d prefer weren’t in the books. Developing a lifelong love of learning is tied to a lifelong love of reading.
According to the International Literary Association, getting to choose what they read, at least some of the time, is a strong determinant of developing a reading lifestyle that extends into adulthood.
3. Pair books your child might read for school with something similar that corresponds to what they enjoy.
While more schools are tending away from classics, your child may still be encouraged to (or assigned to) read a few classics between kindergarten and sixth or seventh grade. And if not, trying one as a read-aloud for National Reading Month could be a fun family endeavor. However, when your child does get assigned a classic, make sure to discuss these books with them, find out which aspects they enjoy, and collect some modern-day matchups to put around the house.
Going back to the child’s ability to choose, we’ve got to factor in the elephant in the room: technology. While this article isn’t about whether tech is ruining students’ love of reading, we do know that having a wide variety of books in the home, parents who read regularly, and boundaries around tech use are all habits that can inspire a love of reading.
On that note, here are some books you might pick up that relate to classics your child could be asked to read for school.
| If your child enjoyed reading about King Arthur… | The Once and Future King (earlier books for elementary ages and later books for middle school) by T.H. White, Tuesdays at the Castle (The Glower series) by Jessica Day George, The Squire’s Tale by Gerald Morris, or The Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop |
| If your child enjoyed reading The Secret Garden or other magical books… | The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart, The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill, or Wonder by R.J. Palacio |
| If your child enjoyed reading The Wind and the Willows or other nature-inspired books… | The Wild Robot by Peter Brown, The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary, or The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden. |
| If your child enjoyed reading about Greek mythology… | Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan or The Myth of Monsters series by Katherine Marsh |
| If your child enjoyed reading Sherlock Holmes or other mysteries… | Enola Holmes by Nancy Springer, City Spies by James Ponti, The Swifts by Beth Lincoln, The Rembrandt Conspiracy by Deron Hicks or The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. |
| If your child enjoyed reading Treasure Island or 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea… | The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander, the FunJungle series by Stuart Gibbs, The Redwall Series by Brian Jacques, the City of Ember series by Jeanne DuPrau or the Wings of Fire series by Tui T. Sutherland. |
| If your child enjoyed reading Anne of Green Gables… | The Penderwicks series by Jeanne Birdsall, The Vanderbeekers series by Karina Yan Glaser or The Mother-Daughter Book Club series by Heather Vogel Frederick. |
| If your child enjoyed reading Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland… | The Night Gardener or Sweep by Jonathan Auxier |
If you would like to have a louder voice in what your child reads or in letting your child read books they choose as part of their education, you might enjoy learning about the programs Learnwell Collective offers.
First, Learnwell North Georgia is a hybrid school in the north Alpharetta, Georgia, area serving students in K-12th grade. Second, the Learnwell Navigator Program serves families of students in kindergarten through seventh grade, located anywhere in the world, who want to homeschool with help; this way, parents, tutors, or grandparents get to do the fun part of homeschooling without the headache of lesson planning and mapping out a student’s educational plan.
We welcome your questions about either option. Just connect with our admissions team at [email protected] or 678-395-6772.