Family Reading
We read a lot in our house.
We read daily, we read in the bathroom, in the bedroom, in the garden, before Church, in the queue at the Supermarket or Post Office, whilst waiting for let out at after School Clubs, whilst waiting for our meals to be served... any time we have a spare minute we read.
And it's lush.
As a Child, I read ALL the time. I was known as a bookworm and so having two children that are also happy to read all the time cheers me up no end.
I read with the Children when they get in with School.
Dan Jon Jr reads to me first, we discuss what's going on in the story or book, I ask him about the structure of the page, the number of paragraphs, powerful verbs, the use of adjectives, the way the author encourages us to read more and more.
Then when Top Ender get in she reads. She is the one that starts drawing comparisons to other books, highlighting the use of language that has caught her eye and sparked her imagination.
We go about our business for the rest of the evening. Squeezing in a few minutes more reading here and there between our Chores and after school activities.
Every night the Children spend thirty minutes reading before they go to sleep. Daddy reads to them or is read to by them and together they discuss plot developments and what they think is about to happen in the story.
I then read to them for a few minutes. Dan Jon Jr has two books he likes me to read with him. A book of Bible stories for Children and a 365 Stories book, one for each day of the year (well apart from leap years!). A mixture of poems, nursery rhymes and short stories. Both are designed for children much younger than Dan Jon, but he still loves them.
And I thought that was it.
Until a few weeks back, when I "caught" Top Ender sitting on Dan Jon's bed and they were reading together. Top Ender had pulled out The Parent Agency by David Baddiel a book she had been given almost exactly a year before and had figured that Dan Jon would like.
Every morning, after they have finished getting ready for School they sit down together on the sofa and read a couple more pages together. I know in a few days they are going to finish this book but I'm not worried that they are going to stop this new habit of theirs because I've heard them discussing the next book they want to read together and possibly the one after that too.
I love this family trait of reading and long may it continue!
We read daily, we read in the bathroom, in the bedroom, in the garden, before Church, in the queue at the Supermarket or Post Office, whilst waiting for let out at after School Clubs, whilst waiting for our meals to be served... any time we have a spare minute we read.
And it's lush.
As a Child, I read ALL the time. I was known as a bookworm and so having two children that are also happy to read all the time cheers me up no end.
I read with the Children when they get in with School.
Dan Jon Jr reads to me first, we discuss what's going on in the story or book, I ask him about the structure of the page, the number of paragraphs, powerful verbs, the use of adjectives, the way the author encourages us to read more and more.
Then when Top Ender get in she reads. She is the one that starts drawing comparisons to other books, highlighting the use of language that has caught her eye and sparked her imagination.
We go about our business for the rest of the evening. Squeezing in a few minutes more reading here and there between our Chores and after school activities.
Every night the Children spend thirty minutes reading before they go to sleep. Daddy reads to them or is read to by them and together they discuss plot developments and what they think is about to happen in the story.
I then read to them for a few minutes. Dan Jon Jr has two books he likes me to read with him. A book of Bible stories for Children and a 365 Stories book, one for each day of the year (well apart from leap years!). A mixture of poems, nursery rhymes and short stories. Both are designed for children much younger than Dan Jon, but he still loves them.
And I thought that was it.
Until a few weeks back, when I "caught" Top Ender sitting on Dan Jon's bed and they were reading together. Top Ender had pulled out The Parent Agency by David Baddiel a book she had been given almost exactly a year before and had figured that Dan Jon would like.
Every morning, after they have finished getting ready for School they sit down together on the sofa and read a couple more pages together. I know in a few days they are going to finish this book but I'm not worried that they are going to stop this new habit of theirs because I've heard them discussing the next book they want to read together and possibly the one after that too.
I love this family trait of reading and long may it continue!