My oldest convinced me to teach her to read when she was four. I thought she was too young, but she was persistent. By the time she was in first grade, she was inhaling novels like Little House on the Prairie. My son, on the other hand, is a different story.
He has always loved books and for that I am grateful, but the actual process of learning to read was daunting to him. I never wanted his frustration to quell his love for stories so I waited until he was a full six to even propose that we begin sounding out words.
It was a slow and steady process, teaching him to read, but by Christmas time of his kindergarten year, he was reading simple sentences and so proud of himself. I was beaming with pride too. After my daughter practically taught herself, it felt like a real accomplishment to have guided a child through the magical steps of bringing letters to life.
But once the basics are established, practice is required
Forever, truly. I still feel like I am practicing my reading skills – inflection, vocabulary, and the like. There's always something to learn. I try to lead by example in this regard by reading aloud often and having my children see me read my own novels.
And yet, I still add daily reading practice to my kids' to-do list. After all, reading practice isn't every kid's favorite. I should know — I have a resistant one. Despite this, through the years, I've found a trick for helping my kids LOVE reading practice.
Best of all, it's something they can do completely solo! Which, right now, is a breath of fresh air.
Here's the scoop...
We choose a book – sometimes one I want, sometimes one they want. Next, we find a quiet space and I set their tablet or computer to video record. Then I hand over their read-aloud book and press play!
I slip away and they proceed to read aloud and show pictures to the camera, chatting away as if they were a YouTube star. Then, we gather their siblings around and watch their recording all together.
The joy they exude from seeing themselves on screen facilitating storytime is just the best. And since implementing this reading practice hack, my son asks to record a story daily. Yes, every single day he eagerly asks to practice his reading skills. So much so, that at this point, recording a storytime is a privilege he earns from completing all his other schoolwork with a good attitude.
Talk about a win-win
Sometimes I'll upload his video recording to Facebook for family and friends to see via an unlisted YouTube link or share them with his teachers. His teachers have all commended his practice and it has been a fun way for them to connect throughout virtual learning.
Not all of my attempted mom hacks have been a success, but this one has hands-down been a runaway hit — and we moms need to take all the wins we can get.
