Recently I was asked how I instill a love of reading in my kids, especially with a book heavy curriculum like Tapestry of Grace.  I was a bookworm while growing up and that was my number one drive to become a teacher. When I was a college student I put a large badge on my backpack, "If you can read this, thank a teacher." I felt if I could teach kids not only how to read, but also how to enjoy reading, the sky would be the limit for them.  That has always been my motto, so I was pleasantly surprised to see a similar saying at the Library of Congress last summer.

      Using a classical curriculum has built upon this idea. Because there is no time to read all of the Classics in 4 years of high school, the hope is to lay a foundation of not only understanding, but enjoyment of learning, for the student to pursue reading the Classics throughout adulthood.  Does this not encompass the dream of every teacher? 

      However, before teaching the Classics at the Rhetoric level, I need to instill the basic love of reading.  Most every parent knows that this begins when children are very young with read alouds. What can be better than cuddling up with children and reading books out loud, living out adventures from days of yore around the world?  My kids loved books so much growing up, that whenever one of the grandmas or aunts came to visit, they were asked required to read books out loud for hours on end.  Our visitors would tell us that they had dreams at night that at the airport, they had to go through a special inspection station where they were required to correctly answer questions about the books they had read to the kids. In the dreams I guess they feared whether they could get the process straight about how water is cleaned in water treatment plants from all the times they read The Magic Schoolbus at the Waterworks. (Gotta love Ms. Frizzle!)  That was the year I had enrolled them in the summer reading program at the public library. When awards were given, they got the one for most hours read.  Everyone was astounded over how many hours they had been read to!  Thanks to the aunt and grandma who read many hours to the kids, on top of the hours my husband and I were reading to them! 

      I know a lot of homeschool moms who are concerned about the independent reading load in Tapestry of Grace, because they have read aloud all the history and literature books to their kids for years. These kids are not fans of silent independent reading, so that is basically what spurred this post. It is concerning when kids do not enjoy independent reading and are reliant on Mom to do all the reading for them. At some point in time a transition to independent reading needs to be made. After all, Mom won't always be around to read everything aloud. Whether college is in the future or not, the child grows up and must eventually face reading independently. Hopefully they can approach it with anticipation and pleasure. Parents in this boat might be surprised to read my suggestion to keep reading aloud!  The difference is that not everything should be read aloud. When a student reaches Upper Grammar years, about grades 4-6, they should be learning how to read independently.  By Dialectic and Rhetoric years, try to keep the read aloud to one book.  Keep that special time, but don't let it become the focus. It should become the treat.  Meanwhile, turn off the television, video games and other electronic entertainment. Focus on old fashioned entertainment like outdoor play and open ended toys like tinker toys, legos, marbleworks, etc. For more on this subject, locate a copy of The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease. In it, he makes the case for minimizing electronic entertainment, perhaps one show a week, and maximizing books, puzzles, board games, outdoor play, etc.  In the back of the book are booklists of great read alouds, with a synopsis of recommended books. I have had comments from one of the aunts and grandma that when my kids watch a lot of television, they become comotose.  Not only that but they struggle more in school when they get too much electronic entertainment.   

     Sometimes the challenge with older students enjoying independent reading is the transition from picture books to chapter books.  I first faced this as a public school teacher of third grade students. I knew part of the hurdle was to inspire them with great literature.  I deliberated over which set of books to read to my third graders. A continuing series would be great. Since I probably would not be able to finish the series in nine months, they would hopefully be inspired to complete the series on their own. What would be fascinating, yet different? What would prepare them for the future? Hmmm, how were my previous fifth graders least prepared when I taught them?  Hmmmm, sadly, American history.  How could I best prepare my third graders, in an interesting way, for American history in fifth grade?  Then I hit upon a favorite from my childhood, The Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I knew a lot of background information that I could easily incorporate into unit studies. Also, I've actually been to her husband, Almonzo's house,  in upstate New York near the Canadian border.  I had plans to bring  to life the story of a pioneer girl who lived in the Big Woods of Wisconsin, then traveled by covered wagon to Indian Territory, Minnesota and South Dakota. She endured plagues, blizzards, and saw a railroad and a town built from scratch. She has inspired me to have the Declaration of Independence read aloud every July 4th, like in the Independence Day celebrations she attended.   

     My new class of third graders arrived and I quickly saw that they were terrified of chapter books. It didn't help that the new school librarian told them they could only check out picture books, because they were not old enough to read chapter books. That was preposterous!   I told the students they COULD read chapter books. They merely contain more words on the page and fewer pictures.  That meant there was more of an adventure to savor! I opened Little House in the Big Woods (Book 1 in the series) and reeled them in to the historic past. By the time we were halfway through Little House on the Prairie(Book 2 in the series), they were enthralled. They started asking the librarian to allow them to check out the Little House books.  She insisted they couldn't possibly read the chapter books. They insisted they definitely could.  She insisted they could not.  They wore her down. Starting in late September, 99% of my students had 1-2 Little House chapter books stacked on the corners of their desks every day to savor when they had completed seat work.  Interestingly, that school year, the Scholastic book club offered a Little House book in each month's order.  My students bought the entire series!  We did related art projects, which I'd post on the wall outside the classroom for all to see. Above the art work I made a USA map with a moveable Conestoga Wagon that traced Laura's journeys throughout the Midwest. I put the titles of the books at the locations where they occured.  This got the other students in the school excited! I had other teachers tell me that their students were jealous of my students who had fun traveling with Laura.  When the third grade received money to purchase classroom sets of books, the lead teacher looked at me and said, "Laurie, since you teach the Little House books, why don't we order classroom sets of the first two books in the series?"  Those books were often checked out by the other teachers in the school. By the end of the year, we got halfway through The Long Winter.  Sadly we said goodbye at the end of the year.  I gave them a synopsis of the rest of the series and eagerly they went home to begin summer reading, completing the series!

     Many homeschool moms already do this type of thing.  Perhaps the one key point I'd like to pull out, is the difference in outlook between the librarian and myself. She made it impossible. All I did was make it possible. Our greatest role as teachers is to be the students' greatest cheerleader. They need to know that they can.  Our outlook can make all the difference. If we make it exciting, if we say "they can", if we help them through the process, the students are more likely to try...and "accidentally" enjoy.

     That leads me to my own kids.  My daughter struggled with learning to read, yet finally got a handle on oral reading. My younger son practically taught himself to read.  During their early school years, we had our read aloud snuggle time with the Little House books.  These books were highly enjoyed and brought up a lot of conversation.  The time came to transition my kids from picture books to chapter books. I looked for books that would match not only their interests, but also their reading ability. My son enjoyed trains, so I introduced him to The Boxcar Children. When he first saw them he wanted me to read them out loud to him. No, I wanted him to read it independently.  He said it was too many words and not enough pictures. I replied that's because it had more adventure. Curious, he finally read the first book and got hooked. In fact, he got so hooked, he would read nothing but The Boxcar Children. His favorite character was a boy in the story who has the same name he does. These kids became his motivation for everything. If the Boxcar Children did something, he had to do it. If the Boxcar Children said it, it was so.  I began to worry. I had created a monster! How to motivate him to read something else? He was open to my reading other books aloud, but he'd only read the Boxcar Children. When we started Tapestry of Grace, I feared he would mutiny on reading the literature books. Remember I said we are the students' greatest cheerleader? In private I worried; in public I excitedly talked about the books. His first TOG literature book was The Golden Goblet. It was a hit! Every year I ask him what his favorite literature book is. Every year he tells me, all of them. Except this year. When we studied Napolean, he was not a fan of this man.  For literature he was supposed to read an actual primary source account of the Napoleonic Wars, called The Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier.  Because this book was building a wall, I took it off his reading list. That is the first time I have done that. (Remember that TOG is flexible and be careful to choose your battles. Adjust the book choices to fit your kids, but keep an element of challenge.)  Now that we know that my son's favorite actor at Colonial Williamsburg portrays Napoleon in his "free time", and we've seen him portray Napoleon at Poplar Forest with Thomas Jefferson, I am hoping my son might be more open minded in reading this book over the summer. The Napoleonic Wars were huge in history. I told my kids that we had to learn about Napoleon because they will never stop hearing about him.  I don't think a single week has gone by in school (Year 3), when he hasn't come up. I don't think we've watched a single movie about the 1800's that did not mention him. Friday nights are usually movie nights around here, and we usually watch a movie related to the historical era we are studying. Every week it seems we hear about Napoleon and we all laugh, "There he is again!"  Because Napoleon was a major influence on the world, for better or for worse, I'd like my son to read this book...at least someday.

     For my daughter, I chose the American Girl series which she is still a fan of.  However, she didn't read independently. I did everything I could think of to motivate her to read silently.  Despairing, I finally thought of DEAR (Drop Everything and Read).  One afternoon I called the kids down to the living room with a book they'd enjoy reading for 30 minutes.  I set the timer. (Can't argue with a timer.)  They were not allowed to leave for any reason during that time. They could not leave to get a drink, or go to the bathroom, or to get another book.  They had to stay in the living room with me, the entire time, reading the book. It could not be a school book. It had to be a non-school book. (I would not allow comic books either. The point is to have them read chapter books.  Of course younger children can enjoy picture books.)  Oh, and here is the key to DEAR, I read a book too!  Not a school related book. Not a magazine. Not a newspaper.  Not the computer. A chapter book!  I could not leave the room during DEAR anymore than my kids could.  I ignored the telephone. I read. This is an opportunity to model that Mom reads for fun. How often do the kids see me reading things that I HAVE to read?  How rarely do they see me reading a book for pure enjoyment?  In truth, I have done very little of that since before college. This became my favorite time of the day. It was incredibly soothing and relaxing in the midst of a busy day to pull apart from a hectic schedule to lay down on the sofa and enjoy a trip to other lands in other times.  My son quickly got engrossed in his book. My daughter tried to avoid the book for the first two days. When she saw that I was firm, and she realized she could be forever bored out of her gourd 30 minutes a day unless she read a book, she started reading independently. Today, she and my son both rarely go anywhere without a book in hand to read silently.  Another important rule is that no comprehension questions may be asked by the teacher to the students.  The students need to have reading material they can enjoy without worrying about "measuring up."   If comprehension questions are asked of every single book they read, they are likely to quit reading for fun.    

     How about transitioning readers of any type into the numerous historical books that are used in the TOG curriculum?  For months before we began TOG, I raved over the historical books being more interesting than dry textbooks.  My daughter is compliant, eager to please me, so she willingly dove into the historical books, answering the accountability and thinking questions at the Dialectic level. She has needed some guidance in making connections between historical facts during our Socratic Discussions, but she has progressed. Although my son is a deep thinker, quickly makes connections and is an excellent reader, the historical books are not his favorite. He tends to stall on them. Some books he likes better than others so he reads them more avidly. Nevertheless, he finds a few of them sheer drudgery to read, which slows him down. For that, I help him to focus on the big picture. 

        To motivate my kids in the details of school, I have them look at the big picture.  What do they want to be when they grow up? Of course this may change, but their desires now can help them work their way through things that may not be fun to them now.  My daughter wants to be a teacher and my son wants to be a lawyer.  Both of those require college.  Where would they like to go to college?  What are the requirements? I line up their coarse work to help them achieve their goals. They know that. Also we look at motivating Bible verses.  They have hearts to obey God, so verses are the most impacting to them. Then I had them make posters of pictures of their career goals, college of their choice and verses of their choice. Now my son, in particular, has motivation to do the difficult things.  Furthermore, he was greatly encouraged by one of the actors at Colonial Williamsburg last summer, and that has helped him to persevere.  Despite not enjoying certain history books, he likes the new found knowledge. He is a regular junior Patrick Henry, expounding at great length aboaut his ideas, whenever he has a captive audience.  I often wish I could go back in time to visit with Patrick Henry's mother to compare notes. 

     My kids are still learning to love reading.  When we pile up in the car, they always have books with them, usually school books if they have school work to do. However if school work is caught up, they always bring a fun book to enjoy on the drive. As long as they keep doing that, I feel as though we are making progress. Hopefully they have a love of reading that will last a lifetime.