Promoting Reading

Selena has been reading since before she turned 3 years old. Though she can read and understand what she is reading very well, she is quite a bit like myself and isn't often found with her nose buried in books. We do a lot of together reading and shared reading but don't expect to find Selena reading full chapter books just on her own, that just is not her thing.

In an attempt to incorporate more reading in our home I had to become quite creative. Selena has a great passion for music. She also loves to sing, and spends a lot of time listening to music on YouTube. She especially loves when she can find videos with the words. This gave me an idea to incorporate both in our homeschool days.

I pick several songs, from new music that Selena enjoys to all genres, and work hard to find songs she has never heard, which is becoming harder. Selena is expected to spend as much time as she can in karaoke time a week. I will pick slow beat songs to fast beat songs. The idea is that she has to read the words to the song while singing it.

This has increased the amount of time that I find her reading but it is also introducing her to all different types of music. She has fun with this activity and spends far more then the required time on this activity. One never knows what she will be singing anymore, of course we make sure of the language used and content, but if this is going to promote more reading along with grow her love for music then I am all for it.

She isn't as reluctant anymore to read from her school books anymore, which I know was that perfectionism side that drove her to worry about making mistakes. She is even willing to read more to us, such as at Christmas she read "A Visit From St Nicholas" to us, this was the first time she heard the poem as well as to read it.

I say what ever you can find that works to promote reading just go for it. If you find something that engages your child and promotes a healthy reading love then why worry about rather they are sitting with their nose buried in a book. Sure we love seeing the times she is reading her books but we also know that the time she spends combining with her true passion of music she is enjoying it more.