Of all the homeschool activities that we include in our day, read aloud time trumps them all!! What a delight it is to cuddle up with my sweet boys and read together. I do not believe that we would have the time for this activity if they were enrolled in school. Oh how much we’d miss!! I feel so blessed and fortunate that we have had many years of reading together.
Since my children were little guys we’ve curled up with books and thoroughly enjoyed entering the world of the wonderful characters in our stories. Although there are many benefits to reading aloud such as vocabulary building, comprehension practice , narration practice, etc. to me the most wonderful benefit would have to be the family discussions. We talk about the characters, the lessons learned, the close calls, the spiritual meanings, the good guys, the bad guys, the men and women of character and the shallow wimpy ones too.
When my boys were pre-school age we would lie down to read and then drift off to sleep. As a tired mommy of pre-schoolers , this was my favorite time of the day. We’d have a nice lunch, pick out a wonderful book like Charlotte’s Web or The Trumpet of the swan and read on our big king size bed. My boys would drift off to sleep and I would as well. Then, after about 20 minutes, I’d very carefully get up….not making a sound…. and sneak into the family room. This was my time to plan dinner and tidy up the house a bit. Sometimes I’d light a candle and put on some soft music and begin cooking. Those days were so simple….so sweet…..but often exhausting as well. Reading books together and then napping gave us refreshment and strength to carry us through dinner hour, baths, and other evening activities.
