Increased reading is one of the marvelous by-products of homeschooling your children.

Increased reading ALOUD, but also increased personal reading, have benefitted my life and my children's lives in so many ways.

Last night, as I began the latest book in my stack (one I've been waiting to get my hands on for several weeks now), it hit me what a blessing reading has been the past couple of years.

I'm a bit obsessed with books, y'all.

Last year's reading resolution went well. I changed my reading habits and completed 50 books in the year. I felt a change in my life, in my demeanor, attention span, and cravings. It was GOOD.

This year I'm on pace to read MANY more than that. I've officially caught the reading bug. Television, Pinterest, and other activities have gone by the wayside so I can make time for good books.

My life (and my family's life) is being enriched in so many ways.

“I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! — When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.”

— Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice

Why do we read?

More specifically, why does a HOMESCHOOL MOM (for whom time is in short supply and quite precious) devote so much time to books?

I've narrowed it down to three reasons - of course, there could be more, but these seem to encompass it for me.

We Read To Learn and Model Learning

Homeschool moms love learning (probably more than their children - ha!). We read to keep up with our children and to be able to expose them to new ideas. We want to have intelligent dinner table conversations, be able to answer our children's questions, and model that spirit of learning.

I have always strewn books around the house to inspire reading.

We Read to Make Memories and Form Connections

I read aloud A LOT to my children - they are teens and I STILL read aloud to them!

Yes, I count the books I read aloud to my children as my own personal reading. There is something about reading aloud that is very satisfying, don't you agree?

Today my 16-year-old was reading Two Ways of Seeing a River - an excerpt from a novel by Mark Twain. I asked her if I could read it aloud to her, and as I did we both were mesmerized by the beauty of the language and Twain's incredible ability to paint us a picture of a river with his words.

Earlier in the day, I had been reading Huckleberry Finn aloud to my 13-year-old. (Now there's something FUN to read aloud - give it a try!)

“It was a dreadful thing to see. Humans beings can be awful cruel to one another.”

— Huckleberry Finn ~Mark Twain

The memories and magic that come from reading aloud with our children are irreplaceable.

This gem of a book was one I found in my mother's things. She passed away last summer and finding this book was a gift.

Read it, and you'll know what I mean.

As I was visiting my dad, I took an afternoon to read this book. What a treasure this book - and that time - was to me.

Three Reasons to Read and Quarterly Reading Update

We Read to Become Better People

Well-chosen books have a way of increasing our awareness of others and their life situations. We develop empathy and compassion as we read about a wide variety of people and situations.

“Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another’s skin, another’s voice, another’s soul.”

— Joyce Carol Oates

Once again, so much of this comes back to my children. I read because I want to be better for THEM. I want to model these qualities for them. Homeschooling my children has refined me in so many ways - and my reading life is a by-product of that refinement.

Quarterly Reading Update

So, what have I read so far this year? Here's my list - I think it's a good mixture of classics, new releases, educational books, and just for fun, too.

And, in case you were wondering -- here are the top five of the year so far:

Peace Like a River

Gift From the Sea

The Remains of the Day

A my Snow

Consider This

What are you reading right now? Leave me a comment and I'll add it to my list!

Sometimes (ok, maybe a lot of the time) when you're in the homeschool trenches the last thing you are thinking is, "Gosh, are my kids having fun with their schoolwork today?"

I'm just being honest.

There were MANY a day when I just wanted to get through. We needed to do that math lesson, complete the history lesson, and check off the almighty boxes.

Who's with me?

Every now and then, however, I was reminded of this precious, important fact: homeschool is about the relationships. It is about wonder. It is about discovery. It is about FUN.

As I compiled this list I noticed each activity had something in common: none of them were part of a set "curriculum" we had been using. They were all interest led tangents (maybe related to something in our curriculum) where I simply followed my children's lead. If you give a child something to sink their teeth into I believe they will naturally want MORE.

It is in those moments that the real learning occurs, and in our homeschool it was where sweet memories were made.

As I asked my teens about this the other day, I asked them to tell me their FAVORITE things we'd done in our homeschool. Not only did this exercise do my heart good, but it motivated me to KEEP making those memories - and not to lose the wonder just because they are now teens.

I hope you can use a few of these in your own homeschool!

THUMBPRINT ART

All of the Ed Emberley art books have been a hit in our homeschool.

For some reason, however, the thumbprint drawing book was the favorite. (My kids STILL get this one out to use!)

Maybe it was the HUGE stamp pad I let them get, or maybe it was the fact that I could just leave them alone for several HOURS and they were completely happy. Whatever the case, I recommend having this activity on hand for a rainy day or when your day is going south and you just want to SALVAGE what's left of it!

(I'm so glad I've blogged through most of our homeschool journey because I have tons of cute pictures like this one!)

MAGNETIC SLIME

This activity had A LOT of educational value, plus it was just super fun.

When were studying the Periodic Table this was one of those things that was sitting on my Pinterest board to try... I RARELY try things from Pinterest, but this time I wanted to be the FUN MOM.

(I also think the Periodic Table Tiles I purchased were a HUGE hit - which my oldest is even using in Chemistry right now - a great investment.)

What I love about this was that we learned all about the Periodic Table first, and then used this as our culmination activity.

(And then of course we went down the magnet rabbit trail, which led to another rabbit trail, etc..., etc... You get the point!)

Science seems to lend itself to so many hands on activities, doesn't it?

CANDY SHOP MATH

We literally opened a candy shop for one afternoon. I invited a few of our neighbor kids to come over after school and told them they didn't have to bring any money (we handed out play money at the door).

It was a fabulous exercise in customer service, counting money, making change, and so much more!

Use these simple candy money cards and have fun!

We followed up with some books about money and more activities making change, etc... There is so much you can do with a play cash register and play money!

THE STORY ABOUT PING

Every book we read with Five in a Row proved to be a treasured memory. One of the selections that most stuck out to my children was The Story About Ping.

Looking back, I think it was the special time we took to GET OUTSIDE and learn that stuck with my kids.

During one of our days rowing the book we went to a local lake and read The Story About Ping, along with some other books about ducks. We fed the ducks, watched them PREEN themselves (preen was one of the vocabulary words from that unit which my kids will never forget the meaning of!), and drew pictures of the ducks.

We had a picnic lunch, played on the playground by the lake and just enjoyed learning.

I just remember the sweetness that went along with this particular day - singing "5 Little Ducks" and all of the giggles. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Homeschool at its very finest, yes?

UNIFIX CUBES

I consider it a huge success that a math activity made it into the top five of my children's homeschool memories!

God bless my sweet friend who dropped off a huge bag of Unifix Cubes she had picked up at a garage sale!

I began to research what we could do with these things (I had no idea at first) - and then I let my very creative third grader take it from there. Pretty soon she was teaching her 5 year old brother addition and subtraction. He was learning math facts and she was making her math facts more automatic by "quizzing" her little brother.

Perfect.

I cannot tell you how much we used those Unifix Cubes over the years - or how many hours my kids spent "playing math" with them and our various sets of flashcards.

Sometimes you just need to leave your children alone and they come up with the very best activities.

(Don't even get me going on the world of Unifix Cubes and activities - we could get lost in it for days!)

Three Reasons to Read - Quarterly Reading Update

Why do we read?

We Read To Learn and Model Learning

We Read to Make Memories and Form Connections

We Read to Become Better People