3 Ways to Help Your Child Cultivate of Love of Reading

 

I was born a bibliophile. A lover of books, reading, and a collector of knowledge. This is something that I just imagined I would always easily pass on to my children. But, as you might already know, it takes more intentionality to help some children to cultivate a love of reading than others. 

Just because I have a natural passion for reading didn’t mean all three of my children inherited the same love of books. I learned that I had to not only be intentional in helping my children cultivate of love of reading, but I also have to be creative. 

My oldest will graduate this year, and we tried many different ways to incorporate more reading over the years. Luckily, she, too, is an avid reader and has excellent comprehension skills from all of our reading through the years. But it took a bit of cultivating to get there. So, I have three suggestions that worked for us and might work for you, too, when it comes to helping your children love to read. 

3 Ways You Can Help Your Child Cultivate a Love of Reading at Home

Read Aloud at Home

If you aren’t reading aloud daily in your homeschool, I highly recommend it. Reading aloud is a fantastic way to help your children begin to love books. Once they fall in love with the right book or story, that is usually the beginning of an emerging book lover. If your student seems uninterested in everything you have tried to read, try something that includes a similar interest for them. For example, try reading a Little House book if your child loves the pioneer days. Or, if your child loves the outdoors and animals, try reading something that brings that to life for them. Many parents try reading a new book and give up after the first chapter or two; if their child seems uninterested but they should keep going. You have to allow enough time to let the story begin to develop; hang in there. With time, you can find a book your child enjoys, and reading will become easier and more exciting. You will see that your child will begin to anticipate each day’s read-aloud time. 

Reading aloud to your children will eventually help them move to the next step. You may want your children to become independent learners and read assigned reading on their own. That can and will happen once you have set the proper foundation for them by consistently reading quality books at home. 

Also, let your child use their hands if they need to while you read aloud. Your student may want to build Legos, make a friendship bracelet, or color as you read. They can and will still listen, but this may help with a child who fidgets or needs to move a bit.

Tip: Use Audible for Reading Aloud

So many parents that I consult with refuse to use Audible or audio books. I have heard many interesting reasons parents don’t utilize this excellent resource. The most popular reason is that parents think it is cheating if their child listens to the book instead of visually reading it themselves. 

If you can identify with this logic, I would give you these two points to consider:

1. Do you know your child’s learning style? If your child is more of a visual or auditory learner, you are missing out on what could be a wonderful resource in their corner to help them consume books and information. Why not allow them to consume information in a way that better enables them to comprehend it? 
2. Many listeners are captivated by a story based on the reader. The reader’s voice, tone, and ability to retell the story can really make listening to an audiobook a delightful experience. So, if you, the parent, want to instill a love of books in your child, why not let them hear a story told by a voice that brings life to a book? 

Try Audible FREE HERE

Make Reading Fun and Exciting with Online Book Clubs

If you want to help your child cultivate a love of reading, add an element of fun and excitement. No child is challenged educationally with mundane and boring. We must ignite a spark in our children to get them excited to learn and read. Too often, parents think that if fun is involved, it can’t be fully considered educational. But that is not true! The fun and excitement are the components of their education that will keep them ready to learn more. So please, when in doubt, make it fun. 

And that is where book clubs from Literary Adventures for Kids come in. Boy, they are good at turning a book into an experience! The book clubs are self-paced, so there is no pressure, and you can work through them whenever it works for you. 

Book clubs with Literary Adventures for Kids include all kinds of built-in fun. If there is an animal in a book, you might dive into learning all about it. If the book is culturally rich, you might make a recipe from the country it is set in. You might be painting something beautiful from one of the books. It will never be boring, and there is always something new to ignite that fire and cultivate a love of books! I told you, they make an experience out of each book club. 

It is also a load off mom’s plate when you use Literary Adventured for Kids because they carefully curate each book. No more coming up with book lists or choosing the right book for your student to read; just choose a book club and get started. 

The online book clubs from Literary Adventures are also a great way to begin to prepare a child to learn more independently. For most parents, that in itself is an important goal. We want our children to be able to evolve into students that can navigate their way, and online book clubs are perfect for that. 

If you haven’t experienced one of their book clubs yet, you need to try one. And you are in luck; they even have a few free book clubs to test drive before you buy. Make sure you sign up for one today! They have so many book clubs to choose from, for ages elementary through high school. 

Truly, the membership is the best value for the online book clubs at Literary Adventures for Kids. Rather than purchasing a few book clubs for all of your children here and there, I recommend the membership option. It’s affordable, packed with educational value, and definitely something I would add to your homeschool.

See the entire Literary Adventures for Kids course and book club catalog here. 

 

Model Reading if You Want to Cultivate a Reader 

I know some of you may not want to hear it, but it’s true. To help your child cultivate a love of reading, they need to see you read too. That may mean reading more to them or reading more in front of them, depending on your unique family. But honestly, it is difficult to tell our children what to do if we aren’t practicing our own advice. My children are much more likely to read on their own for pleasure if they see my husband or me doing so. But I can’t tell them to love reading if I don’t model reading for enjoyment at home. 

If you struggle reading at home in front of your children, or you haven’t created a habit of reading aloud at home – I encourage you to start with the book clubs from Literary Adventures for Kids or use Audible. Allow someone else to help your children fall in love with books as you begin to implement new reading habits at home for the family. 

No matter what ages your children are or if you have never read at home together, you can start cultivating a love of reading by creating a small habit of reading for just a few minutes each day. Or use one of the resources above to help your child cultivate a love of reading. Whatever you choose, read more books together, and your children will remember the stories and the moments with you fondly.