Summer Reading
As temperatures soar during the summer, many people prefer to remain indoors in the cool air conditioning. Unfortunately, that means children and teens will be spending more time in front of a screen and less time using their minds. Encourage your children to plan for summer reading to keep their minds sharp.
Is your child a reluctant reader? Did they struggle during the school year? There are some things that you can do to help them learn to love reading. Before starting on the ideas, however, you may want to have your child’s vision checked.
Many children love learning until they actually start school. In some cases the reason they don’t like school is because they have problems seeing the chalk or white board. Take them to the eye doctor to rule out a vision problem.
One way to instill a love of reading within your child is to let them see you reading and enjoying it. If you enjoy reading, your child will see that it can be something they can do for entertainment as well as learning. Of course, if they’re entertained while they learn, that’s quite alright.
Instead of watching television each night, why not have a family summer reading hour. Choose a book that everyone will enjoy and then take turns reading the story out loud. Make the book come alive by reading the parts with different voices. Perhaps you could act the parts out without the book for a change of pace.
Most city libraries have a summer reading program. Sign your child up and encourage them to actually compete in the program. Some libraries have a contest for children reading the most books during the summer, and many give away books at the end of the program.
Before going to the library, find out some things your child is interested in. Go to the card catalog, if your library hasn’t entered the 21st century, and look up several books about that topic on your child’s reading level. If they are very reluctant to read, you may consider allowing them to choose a book that is much lower than what you feel they are able to read. Reading a lower level book would be better than not reading at all.
Let them read comic books instead of chapter books. Some children, especially those that are struggling, prefer comic books because the text is large, the sentences are short, and the entire story isn’t that long. They feel they actually can read and understand comics better because the artwork helps tell the story.
The library is a great source of information. Whether your child is looking for books, magazines, or reference materials, they’re sure to find what they’re looking for. Help your child plan summer reading to keep their reading skills sharp or improve them.
