4 Ways to Strengthen Your Home Reading Routine

With busy work schedules, sports, afterschool activities, and a healthy balance of outdoor recreation, it can occasionally be tough for families to find the time for home reading. This is quite understandable, and most parents can relate to this. But balancing reading with other family activities is possible, with some basic strategies for success. Aside from daily reading expectations set by classroom teachers, there are many ways to encourage a strong home reading routine, especially over weekends and holidays. Outlined below are some tips and strategies to increase and support the reading practices you may already have in place.

Read Aloud and Model Good Reading Habits

Reading aloud with your young child on a daily basis is arguably the single most important thing you can do to improve your child’s academic success. Read regularly and make it a part of your child’s everyday experience. Allow time for talking about the pictures and characters and when possible, make connections between the story and real life. Reading with your child may spark great conversations that lead to deeper understanding about the world around them. If they are not yet reading, read to them. If they are learning to read, allow them to read to you, or take turns reading.

It is important for adults at home to model good reading habits and a love for literature. Talk to your kids about what you are reading and spend time reading each day. Kids who see their parents reading on a regular basis tend to become more avid readers.

Make Literature Available

Whenever there is time, stop at the bookstore and let your
 child select books that interest them. When on holiday, be
 sure to stock up on books in your child’s mother tongue,
 which may not be available in Bali. If hard copy books
 aren’t readily available, think about investing in an e-
reader or downloading e-books onto personal devices. The more books that are available, the more your child will read.

Correlations exist between parental actions and the frequency with which children read, so its important for everyone in the family to set aside time each day to read.

Take Advantage of Time Spent in Traffic

We all know that travelling from one place to another sometimes takes longer than expected. Take advantage of this time to listen to audio versions of children’s literature. Browse this list for titles you may want to download, and then pick up an auxiliary line, so you can connect your iPod to the car stereo.

Hopefully the above tips will help you to strengthen your home reading habits and encourage even more reading in your household. Enjoying literature as a family can be a great way to spend time together and foster thoughtful discussions. On an island with so many options for entertainment and recreation, it is easy to forget this simple fact.

Happy reading from the Learning Support Department!