Reading matters
I’ve often wondered how much money we save by using the library so much. Apparently, its value to us is somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,000.00 a month! Of course we’d never spend that much on books every month, but I guess the point is that the library permits extravagant habits.
Try this calculator to find out the value of your library use. It’s from a spreadsheet developed by the Massachusetts Library Association, adapted for the web by the Chelmsford Public Library.
Speaking of books, I’ve been musing over the question of how to teach reading, now that my 8-year-old has the basic skills.
Vision-casting: Yesterday, I posted this as my “food for thought” quote:
If you want to build a ship, don’t herd people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea. (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
How do I do that with reading? How do I teach longing for “the endless immensity” of the imaginative world? It’s really not about loving books, but loving certain things that books afford:
- private, timeless, inward reflection;
- who we are, against the different backdrops books provide in ideas and situations;
- submissiveness to, and respect for, another’s train of thought.
I could go on and on, but these are at the top of my list at the moment.
We’ve always read lots of stories aloud, and I continue to do so. There’s a love for stories successfully taking root in both kids. The question is how to begin fostering some reading independence in Older Daughter. Last year, I enforced silent reading for 30 minutes a day in the afternoon, then again at bedtime. She could keep the light on, as long as she was reading.
Free vs. required reading: I’m thinking maybe I should use that daytime reading period to “assign” a book — or offer a group of books for her to choose from, maybe ones that relate to what we’re doing in history or science…? Everything I’ve read stresses the importance of giving students a choice for their “free reading” time, and not assigning books. But maybe the bedtime reading should be “free,” and the daytime reading “assigned.” This would ensure that during some of her reading time, she’s getting something that will stretch her and build some skill, and not just reading the simplest picture books. It would also give me a chance to make sure she’s really reading, not skipping through and reading only the interesting parts.
Journal: We make narration pages for about two books a week, though we read more than that. Maybe I could set a loose guideline that one of these can be a pure-pleasure book, perhaps a picture book, and the other needs to be a chapter book…? Or should I stay out of the way?
Reading aloud: I also wonder if she should be doing more reading aloud. Growing up in public school, this is what we did, at least through second grade. So far this year, I’ve been having her read aloud the texts in science and writing, which are written for a third grade level. Only once so far has she told me I’m torturing her. (Why? She reads beautifully.)
Seeing Past Z impressed on me the importance of giving kids space in these matters. Not everyone will become a book lover. But I’m unsure how that works out with a child who loves stories, but not necessarily wrestling her way through a book on her own. There needs to be encouragement and development of skill, but the question is just how to make it happen without transforming “longing for the endless immensity of the sea” into mere “tasks and work.”
