Homeschool Helper - January 2009 - (Page 2)

FEATURE ARTICLE CONT. Bible. Look at picture books together—picture books with large, bright, colorful objects and very simple text are great books to start with. Even before they can talk, Even before they can talk, babies are learning language as they hear you identify objects in the pictures and as you read the simple text. focus outside of himself. He must learn to listen and focus on what you are saying as you read. A child who is read to learns to develop a longer attention span. It will be an advantage for your child if he has developed good listening and focusing skills as well as a good attention span before he begins his formal academic training. Remember that children never tire of their favorite books and stories—even though we quickly do! There is much for a young child to learn as a book is repeated. As children hear a story again, they are gaining better comprehension of the text. Understanding the sequence of events in a story and anticipating what comes next are valuable prereading skills. Hearing a familiar story helps a child by strengthening his vocabulary as he hears the words in context. It also improves his memory. Those of you who have read to a child who has a favorite book know that you had better not leave out Executive Editor: Steven N. Skaggs, M.Ed. Assistant Editor: Bonnie Detwiler Homeschool Consultant: Emily Largent Creative Director: Elly Kalagayan Art Director: Rita Golden Layout Artist: Michael Boone Ad Coordinator: JoEllen DeLuca Photos: © 2009 iStockphoto Inc. 1, 2 BJU Press © 2009 BJU Press, Greenville, SC 29614-0060 Homeschool Helper is published quarterly. US subscriptions are free. All rights reserved. Send all correspondence and changes of address to Homeschool Helper, BJU Press, Greenville, SC 29614-0060 or to hshelper@bjupress.com. babies are learning language as they hear you identify objects in the pictures and as you read the simple text. They are developing vocal recognition as they learn to discriminate the sounds and words that they are hearing. When you look at picture books with babies, you are helping them with visual recognition as well. They are learning that objects have names. That “round thing” in the picture is called a ball. This is crucial in learning language. Very young children also enjoy nursery rhyme books. They can learn much from the sing-song rhyme schemes and patterns. The Importance of Focusing Another benefit of reading aloud to your child is the fact that he must learn to 2

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Homeschool Helper - January 2009

Homeschool Helper - January 2009

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