Homeschool Helper - January 2009 - (Page 4)

FEATURE ARTICLE CONT. (continued from p. 3) Read with feeling—put yourself into it! The more dramatic you are, the more enjoyable for the child listening. It also can help you hold your child’s attention. Don’t be afraid to be uninhibited. If a character coughs— you cough as you read. If a character cries— you read their lines as if you are crying. When something is grrREAT BIG—you say it grrREAT BIG! Use variety in tones and pitches. Use different voices for the different characters. Use variety in volume— something can be LOUD, or you can use an intense whisper. Stop—listen to yourself. Would you enjoy listening to yourself read this story? A special compliment I received one year from one of my elementary students was when he told his mom, “When Mrs. Leatherwood reads to us, it is like we are there!” That should be the goal each time we read aloud. As you read aloud, look for teachable moments. With extremely young children look for lots of opportunities to count and identify: “Let’s count the butterflies on this page. What color are these butterflies? Where is the red one? How about the blue one? Which butterfly is over the tree?” Look for opportunities to teach and discuss right and wrong with your child. “Was that a very kind thing for that boy to do? How do you think God would feel about what that boy did? What should he have done? What would you have done?” Make reading aloud with your child an active time, not just a passive one. Engage your child mentally by asking lots of questions. “What do you think will happen next?” “How would you feel if you came home and found a bear in your bed?” Don’t rush through a book. Have dialogue with your child and thoroughly enjoy the experience. Engage your child physically. This is especially applicable for younger children. If the goat is “trip-trapping” over the bridge, you and your child can “trip-trap” with your hands on your laps. If Moses’ mother is weaving a basket bed, you and your child can pretend to weave. Make reading aloud with your child an active time, not just a passive one. Engage your child mentally by asking lots of questions. Engage your child to respond vocally. He can make the sounds of the animals you may be reading about or count aloud the trees in the picture before you turn the page. Kids love stories with predictable refrains. Encourage your child to anticipate the refrain in the story and to say it with you. In The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle your younger children will anticipate being able to say, “He was still hungry!”3 In Millions of Cats by Wanda Gág, older children will laugh and giggle as they repeat, “Hundreds of cats, thousands of cats, millions and billions and trillions of cats.”4 Don’t stop reading aloud to your children when they have mastered reading for themselves. Older children benefit from your reading aloud to them as well. (continued on p. 6) 4

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Homeschool Helper - January 2009

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