Reading Aloud - the homeschoolers tool of success

Every week or two I try to update the reading list I have for Laura.  Every week or two I am so proud to be able to put on a book or two that Laura has read, and a book or two that I have read to Laura.  It's the read aloud books that make me proud more than anything.  When I read to my daughter, I feel like she is truly learning. 

I've done some research on the benefits of reading aloud to your child.  Those benefits are numerous.  It's only when you see results from reading to your child that you begin to get passionate about the practice.  With my daughter, I have seen these results take shape. 

I have seen a love of reading return to her that I thought she'd lost somewhere along the way.  Now, she picks up and reads books as one of her first choices in activities, not as her last.  She reads to her baby sister.  She is developing a true love for books.

I have seen interests in her being sparked.  She tends to retain information so much easier if I read it to her.  One day I was busy and couldn't stop to read to my daughter.  I asked her to read the chapter to me.  She did, but when I got to the comprehension questions she struggled.  Then, I took the time and read the chapter to her.  Suddenly, the questions were easy.  She knew the answers not only then, but a few days later she knew them again during a review. 

Laura reads above level at reading on her own, but when she is read to she does even better.  She remembers things that I don't think she would have gotten if she had been reading herself. 

I haven't found anything that works as well in homeschooling as reading to my children... and I like to try lots of different things.  I have used all sorts of curriculum.  Laura may remember a project here and there.  She may get a good score on a worksheet or a workbook page.   What she truly retains and remembers are the stories we have read together.  She remembers the science or history or just fun stories that we have read together far more than anything else.

Some teachers in public school read to their students, but as the student gets older, being read to becomes non-existent.  It's ironic that test scores seem to go down with reading time.  Children perform better in every area of learning when they are read to a lot.  Maybe the standards for the schools shouldn't be test scores.  Maybe schools should be graded by how much their students are read to every day.   Schools in America push children to read earlier and earlier, often before children are ready to read.  Sadly, we are being outperformed by children in other countries that don't learn to read until a couple years later.  What do they do during those couple years?  They read to their children.

I read to Laura every day.  I read to Megan nearly every day.  The more I read and study on how children learn, the more I feel led to read to my children more and more.  I read to Laura only about 40 minutes a day.  I think that needs to increase.  I truly think I should be reading to her at least an hour per day if not more.

I have watched how awesome it is to read to children.  I have struggled with different curriculum and wondered if my child was learning.  The only time I haven't felt this way was when I was reading to my child.  Yes, I feel they should read on their own.  In fact, I feel that is very important.  But I honestly feel that reading to your child is more important.