Welcome to the second week of the Virtual Curriculum Fair. I am so excited for this week because language is probably one of our favorite things. Whether we are reading, playing games, writing or learning another language there are so many ways to have fun, and learn, with languages! The possibilities are endless I tell you.
I always LOVED to read when I was younger. And its still what I would rather do than anything else. I have books everywhere (to my husband’s chagrin! Lol) and I still have a wishlist a mile long on Amazon. Maybe two miles long. LOL
But with four kids ranging in age from 11 years to 20 months old, only one an independent reader and a very reluctant one at that, it seems a challenge to find time to really enjoy all those good books. There are the classic ones I grew up on and then the new one that I see and hear about from others…..So many good reads. How can we possibly enjoy them all?
I am convinced that the story formed childhood my parents gave me was one of the greatest gifts I have ever received.”
– Sarah Clarkson, Caught Up in a Story (p. 6)
My mother instilled such a love of literature in me when I was little; I want that for my children. Even though I know my oldest may never love these books that line our home as dearly as I do, I know that he cherishes that time when I am reading aloud. And I love to hear him ask me, as he has come to do, when we are going to read together!
In fact I read the other day, at Simple Homeschool that:
“… if you read aloud for just five minutes a day (and not a minute more!), you will read more than 30 hours over the course of a year.”
That’s a lot of reading aloud! Thats all of the Chronicles of Narnia, David Copperfield, the whole collection of Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, hundreds of picture books….I imagine all of the things that are learned from that time. History, science, geography, grammar, art and music, languages…..Ah the languages…
Have I mentioned we even enjoy reading in foreign tongues? My oldest loves languages and has learned Chinese, Spanish, French…..Is still learning them. One our favorite ways to encourage learning is by reading books in those languages. When you read the right stuff, you are never just reading a story! ❤
I have found a TON of inspiration at the Read Aloud Revival where there are so may great tools to help you become inspired and accountable to reading aloud every day with your children. Here you can find a wonderful guide to help you engage in conversation about whatever you happen to be reading! And for us there are always a variety of materials we are reading.
As my children get older I think it is especially important for us to read, every day, a bit on our own and a bit together. There is nothing better either than seeing the four kids all curled up under a home made fort, together, with a pile of books. The older ones read to the younger, the younger learn to read as they enjoy story time. And then they read to their younger siblings.
Words are so important. I think of the scriptures which often remind us to be “slow to speak.” How we are reminded of the power of our words to give life or death. With language comes inspiration; a love for learning. It grows our curiosity and our imagination. When our children have these, in great strength too, there is nothing that they cannot learn. Let us always seek to build them up!
A "Peace" of Mind 
Our church has encouraged everyone to read the Bible for at least 5 minutes a day. That will be 30 hours of Bible reading! 🙂
Wonderful post and Bible verse, too. My mother also gave me a love of reading, and read aloud to us, even though we wen’t homeschooled.
🙂 Reading aloud is SO important. It’s been a family practice for use since the boys were babies. Now that they’re older and involved in more activities, it’s getting harder to do every evening as a family, and we miss it! We still read our common school work aloud together – so much more discussion gets started. We really do enjoy it!
We actually have a nice, growing, collection of audio books. Because we too have to run more, as the kids get older, so at least this way we can still enjoy stories together as we ride. And a dear church friend was so good as to copy a bunch of old radio shows onto CD’s for us. So fun!
ah, I just enjoyed reading your post. Made me heart smile for some reason. 🙂 read on eh!
Glad we could bring a smile to your face 🙂
You sound just like us. We love reading over here and especially love seeing all three curled up together listening while I read. Great memories being made!