During this period in which many of us are sheltering at home during the corona virus pandemic, I have been asked by friends who know that I have always homeschooled my boys, what advice I can offer to the parents that find themselves suddenly thrust into having to supplement or direct their children’s education from home?  I will tell you what I have told them, and for that matter, what I tell new homeschooling parents who have asked me the same thing over the years. 

When you are learning how to navigate school from home, one of the most valuable things you can do (and hopefully it will become a continued practice into the future) is to read aloud with your children. It doesn’t matter what their ages are—if they are little then read picture books, if they are teens then read novels. Read a mixture of fiction and non-fiction. We especially love historical fiction, because then there is a combination of the fiction and non-fiction elements. 

In the process of sharing a story or book together, you will have so many opportunities to stop and discuss points of the story, asking your children how the story or a situation in the story makes them feel, what they think of the actions of the protagonists and what they would do the same or differently, discuss the implications and outcomes of the story, discuss whether they can relate to what is happening, and so on. It opens up the door to experiencing and learning about other’s cultures and life circumstances in an emotive way that can help your children to develop an empathy for someone in circumstances very different from their own. It can build up tolerance and love for people your children haven’t had the opportunity to be exposed to in real life. There is SO much richness in sharing stories with your children.

The many levels to the learning that will take place in reading aloud with your children include—reading proficiency, vocabulary and spelling improvement, history, geography, grammar, creativity, empathy, expression, diction, life skills, expanding cultural and world views, learning to partake in meaningful conversations, learning to see the relationship between actions and outcomes, the list could go on and on! But the key that makes reading aloud with your children so effective in achieving all of the learning I just listed—is that it is not forced, boring, or dry textbook learning; it is a parent lovingly sitting down with their child(ren) to share an enjoyable experience that increases closeness and togetherness while learning is happening without even being noticed or brought to their attention.

If your child doesn’t like to just sit and read, then let them draw or build lego, work with clay, knit, whatever they enjoy that can be done while listening to a story. For some children this will actually improve their listening skills. And if you don’t like reading aloud, take turns with your older children or spouse, or loan audiobooks from your local library and you can all listen together and just hit pause when a moment for discussion arises. 

Reading aloud has been an integral part of our homeschool and family life since our boys were born (actually, full disclosure, we started reading prayers and scripture out loud even when I was pregnant, to develop a familiar comfort to the sound of reading together), and those stories have become some of our favorite shared moments together. They have woven into the language, inside jokes, and shared experiences of our family life,  offering a richness to it that I will forever be grateful for.

Click here for a recommended reading list.