Read Aloud Challenge

     I love to read. My kids love to read. Not only do we each like to read on our own, we also spend time reading aloud. Well, usually mom reads aloud, everybody else listens.

     When I started homeschooling 11 years ago, I chose to use the Sonlight curriculum. I made this choice because I love the idea of a History Based Core program and because of all the wonderful books to read. One of the major aspects of Sonlight is the books scheduled for reading aloud. From the first day, I knew I had made the right choice. Matthew and I loved to sit and read together, a lot of times he would draw or play Legos and just absorb all the wonderful books.  So here we are 11 years later and still reading aloud. Since I have four kids, spread pretty far apart in age, I have read, then reread a lot of the books. It warms my heart every time I pull out a book for Ben and Rebekah and Matthew or Sarah pipe up, “Oh, I loved that book.”  Then they proceed to make sure they are in the room when I am reading so they can listen, too.

     But I will admit, that as much as I LOVE reading aloud, I will skip it at times. Sometimes we just get busy and lets face it, reading aloud takes time. I try not to feel too guilty that Matthew and Sarah had every book in the program read to them, and I sometimes skip a few for Ben and Rebekah. And summer, well it usually is just reading here and there. Then I read about a Read Aloud Challenge hosted by Debra at Footprints in the Butter. She is working on keeping herself accountable to reading aloud and letting us tag along.

     How have I done this week? I would say “fair to middling”. I am reading Little House in the Big Woods to Ben and Rebekah. We are about halfway through the book and they are really enjoying all the descriptions of life in the old days.  We read aloud so far about 4 times since last Thursday, which is when I first read about the challenge.  I am going to try and do better next week and get at least 5 days in.

     Don’t forget to visit Footprints in the Butter and read how others are faring with this challenge. And thanks, Debra, for hosting and reaffirming how much I like to read to my kids.