Whatever the reason, every child deserves to have the world open up to them through the world of books. If you have a reluctant reader, here is a round-up of articles with excellent tips to help you motivate them to read. The tips include reading aloud, reading graphic novels and audio books, letting them choose books according to their interests, visiting the library and many more.

Enjoy:

7 Ways to Encourage Reluctant Readers by Steve Reifman

Help For Reluctant Readers by HodgePodge Mom

Eleven Ways to Engage Reluctant Readers from Education Rethink

Help For Struggling Readers by Simple Kids

Tips for Reluctant Readers from Great Schools

How I Help My Reluctant Reader Enjoy Reading by Katie Frances

So how is it even possible that I have children who are performing at or above grade level in many areas? We used reading A LOT as the foundation for our homeschooling. We read about everything and then we talk about it. It doesn’t matter what the topic is, our first approach is to read about it. unfortunately for my kids, my idea of a hands-on learning experience is usually to send them out into the yard to play or I send them to a class or camp where one of those hands-on type people can help them out

So in a nutshell, this is what our most productive homeschool weeks look like:

1. We do math every day.

2. We go to the library and check out 8 – 10 books on our current science/history subject, example WWII. These are the kinds of books that you would find in the children’s section of the library. They are usually about 50 – 100 pages long.

3. We also check out related works of fiction or biographies of people who are important to the topic that we are studying. We even check out books about math like the Sir Cumference series.

4. We read. I will read aloud some, but for the most part, the kids will read all the books on their own – this usually takes about 2 hours of reading everyday for a week. The works of fiction are reserved for them to read on their own at bedtime.

After about the sixth book, the kids begin to notice the overlapping information and they discover areas of the topic that are of interest to them. They begin to point these things out to me and the discussions begin. We talk in depth about these interesting details of the topic. Sometimes we end up doing more research online or at the library.

Finally, they write a couple of reports, or write and deliver a short speech on the topic and we are done.

That’s it! Doing this consistently for years has worked for us in our homeschool. My children have gained a wide breadth of knowledge about many topics in history, science and social studies this way. We do participate in many other things using curriculum, labs, field trips and extra classes, but the process I outlined above is the core of how we homeschool.

This would never have worked if my children did not know how to read early and well.

Blessings,

Sade

When we began to homeschool, I switched our reading program over to Jessie Wise’s Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading. The book contains 200 lessons starting from letter sounds all the way to reading multi-syllable words. I loved this book because unlike Hooked on Phonics and other reading programs I had encountered, I was assured that when we were done with the book, we would be DONE with the building blocks of reading.

I started my daughter about halfway through the book and my son started at the beginning and we slogged our way through it one lesson at a time. I wouldn’t say that our lessons were particularly fun. I kept the lessons to 30 minutes and worked hard to keep everyone on track. We only did math and reading that first year, so we had plenty of time for exploration and more fun activities.

In addition to the Ordinary Parent’s Guide, I supplemented their reading practice with word lists from Why Johnny Can’t Read by Rudolph Flesch and Alpha-Phonics by Samuel Blumenfeld. These lists gave the children the opportunity to practice extra words with the new sounds that they were learning.

Once they were done with the books, they could sound out large words like “progression” even though they did not know what the words meant. I did not do any work on reading comprehension while teaching them to read. My goal was simply for them to be able to read any material that they encountered. I still read aloud to them every morning and evening and we talked about what I read. I figured that was enough reading comprehension for now.

Within six months, my daughter had completed reading through the Ordinary Parent’s Guide and the word lists. It took my son a year to complete the reading program since he had no prior reading. Along the way, they had begun to read simple readers and small chapter books on their own.

Once they were done, I transitioned our reading lessons over to the most difficult book I could find – the KJV Bible . They would read aloud from it to me. They did not understand it and neither did I ask them if they did. I just wanted them to be able to sound out the words.

After about six months of reading aloud to me (about age 7 for each child), we were done with reading lessons and they have been avid readers ever since. This is because they are not intimidated by any book they encounter. They still have books and genres that they prefer over others and they find some books boring or the material requiring more effort than they would like to put in . But I can rest assured that they can read.

Tomorrow, I will talk about how I used their ability to read to facilitate all our other homeschool subjects – science, math, grammar, history etc.

Blessings,

Sade

This week I will be participating in a Summer Homeschooling Blog Hop with the iHomeschool Network. For the next five days, I will discuss How to Get Your Children to Love Reading. I will tell you all about how we made reading the major foundation stone of our homeschool, how/when to teach reading, how to make it fun, what to do when you hit rough spots and how to make the most of the books your children read.

Hope to see you here all week. Here are the links to the posts:

Day 1 – Finding Books for Your Avid Reader

Day 2 – How I Taught My Children to Read

Day 3 – How To Raise Your Child’s Reading Level

Day 4 – Reading – The Foundation of Our Homeschool

Day 5 -

Please visit the other wonderful ladies participating in this blog hop here:

http://www.ihomeschoolnetwork.com/summer-hopscotch-2013/

When you face those tough days, don’t be discouraged or put yourself down because you’re having a difficult moment. Every homeschool mom has those difficult days AND there are difficult days in public/private schools also.

On the other hand, you want to be prepared to make the most of the good days so that you can weather the bad days better. Here are 8 tips to help you capture the days when there is no crisis and you can enjoy a smooth homeschooling day. As these tips become habits, you’ll find that you are having more and more good days and fewer bad days.

1. PLAN YOUR DAY

This starts with having at least a rough plan of what you intend to cover at the beginning of the school year. Then take your year-long plan and break it down into days. You are not obligated to follow your plan rigidly, but it gives you something to work with on a day to day basis. If you are an unschooler who lets your child’s current interests determine what you learn, your plan may be more of a weekly or daily plan based on what your child is focused on.

Either way, to make the most of each day, consult your homeschooling goals for an outline of what you would like to accomplish with the school day. Meals, chores, errands, projects, and schoolwork are all things you should plan at the beginning of the day. Having a plan written or printed out will keep you on track throughout the day, help you not get frazzled if things go awry, and let you know where to pick back up when you eventually recover.

2. SHARE YOUR PLAN WITH YOUR CHILD

Once you know what you would like to accomplish with the day, share your plan with your child. I like to do this because it creates a shared team for the family. Whether you like it or not, your child is an individual and his or her idea of how to spend a day may be really different from yours, creating a situation where you are pulling in different directions. Sharing your plan with your child gives him an opportunity to give you feedback or input. You can also address any concerns that they may have before the day starts.

Often, my children will remind me of appointments and tasks previously scheduled for that day that I had totally forgotten to take into account when planning. If your child is older, you may want to give them a printed copy of the plan so that they can work independently on their schoolwork.

3. WAKE UP EARLY AND TAKE TIME FOR YOURSELF

I am a morning person, so this tip may or may not work for the night owls who may be reading this. My best homeschool days are usually days when I wake up early and take some time alone to prepare myself spiritually, mentally and physically for the day. I try to pray, read the Bible, journal and do stretching exercises before anyone else in the house wakes up. Taking this time helps me stay focused on what is truly important in life and reminds me why I am doing what I do. I encourage myself to be loving and gentle and not get frustrated with the kids no matter what happens during the day!

4. PREP ALL YOUR MEALS FOR THE DAY IN THE MORNING

If your family is anything like mine, they always want three square meals plus snacks! Really, people? To avoid interrupting teachable moments to go and chop vegetables, I cram as much meal prep for all meals during breakfast time. So while frying eggs and bacon, I will take a moment to put something in the crockpot for dinner or chop vegetables and defrost the chicken for lunch.

5. DO EVENING CHORES

My children will usually do chores in the morning before starting with schoolwork. However, I have found that it helps our homeschool day if we clean things up the night before so that there is little to clean in the morning and we can hit the books right away. Many times, they are ready for a long play break after chores in the morning and it prevents them from focusing on schoolwork. My solution? I try to lighten that load for them whenever I can by asking them to perform chores just before bedtime instead of first thing in the morning. This is especially helpful with dishes, laundry and tidying up.

6. STAY OFF THE PHONE AND INTERNET

To have a smooth homeschool day, it is crucial to fend off distractions that try to hijack your day and stay focused on giving priority and focus to your children and their learning. I am fairly distractible, so this is an area where I have to learn to do better. A “quick” look at my facebook news feed can easily turn into an hour of surfing. A “quick” phone call to a friend can turn into 2 hours of chatting. Those cumulative hours over the school year spell many, many missed learning opportunities.

To keep distractions out of your homeschool day, block off a period of time in which you will not go online or take any phone calls so that you can focus on learning. It is easy to be tempted to take a moment to go online or make a phone call when it appears that your children are all settled and focused on their work. However, your call can make you unavailable to them if they have a question or issue that they need your help with. Even worse, while you’re distracted, the children may take a cue from you and decide to find something more fun to do than schoolwork and that will lead to the end of your successful homeschool day.

When your children are focused on work, set an example by doing some reading or writing of your own or do housework in the same room. Better still, sit with them and participate in the learning process.

7. PROVIDE SNACKS AND FREQUENT BREAKS

Sometimes a child is just too hungry to stay focused on what you are teaching. I am often taken unawares by a growth spurt in one of my children that makes them appear uncooperative during school. I try to make some form of nutrition available roughly every 2 hours during the school day to help keep them going. Crackers, fruit and nuts are great for this.

In addition to snacks, frequent breaks are also a great way to let your child clear their head and get the wiggles out before returning to schoolwork.

8. SMILE, HUG AND PAT YOUR CHILDREN OFTEN

As much as you are able, try to set a cheerful and loving tone for your homeschool. Keep a smile on your face. Hug and pat your children as they work. Give them words of praise for their accomplishment and correct them gently where they need to improve. Check on them regularly if you know that they are having a hard time and encourage them to persevere.

I know too well that this is easier said than done. However, you will be amazed at how positively your children will respond to your love and praise. This response will show up in improvements in their schoolwork. Children are happy to know that they are pleasing their parents and a pleasant environment will keep them excited about learning. If you are grumpy, negative or stressed out, it will affect the attitude with which your children approach the homeschool day and their schoolwork.

FINAL WORDS

Remember that you will not do any of these things perfectly and that no matter how hard you try, there will be those days when it just doesn’t come together. Whatever happens, remember that it is your relationship with your children that matters most, not how much information you can cram in their brains. So, if it all falls apart, take a deep breath and try again tomorrow.

August 28, 1828 ushered in one of the most famous homeschoolers into the world.

Leo Tolstoy was born in Russia to aristocratic parents, Countess Mariya Volkonskaya and Count Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy. Leo was homeschooled until he until age 16, when he began studying law and oriental languages at Kazan University.

Two of his most famous books are War and Peace and Anna Karenina.

Leo Tolstoy Cheat Sheet

Born: August 28, 1828

Birth Home:  Yasnaya Polyana, 8 miles south west  of Tula, Russia.

Siblings:  Three older brothers, Nikolai, Sergei and Dmitiri. One younger sister, Marya.

Parental Involvement:  His mother died when Leo was 2 and his father died when he was 9.  He was raised by relatives after that.

Interesting Fact: Tolstoy once took gymnastics lessons because he wanted to become the strongest man in the world.

Love: Tolstoy married Sophia Behrs who was instrumental in proof-reading his manuscripts

Children:  Tolstoy had 13 children

Death: Tolstoy died in 1910 from pneumonia.

Happy Birthday, Leo Tolstoy!

For more August birthdays, check out the iHomeschool Network August Birthdays Blog Hop.

As I worked on this Mother-Daughter post, it dawned on me that a lot of my parenting comes from filtering out the special moments I had with my own parents and trying to recreate them for my children with the consistency that I did not have because my parents were divorced.

I am not a crafty person AT ALL. I am not a very good housekeeper either – at least not as good as I would like to be. However, I do work on crafts with my daughter. Not because I do a good job, but because it is an opportunity for us to share something. My mother taught me to knit and crochet. A few weeks before my father picked me up at school without her consent, she taught me the basic stitches. I made little 2 inch by 2 inch squares of knitting, purling, single crochet and double crochet stitches and mounted them on little index cards. I was so proud of my work.

Unfortunately, that was the extent of what she was able to teach me. I spent the next year and a half with my father. When I returned to live with my mother, she was too busy trying to make ends meet to resume our lessons. I think that feeling of pride and connection that I had with my mother fuels my desire to be the one to teach my daughter how to keep a home and how to crochet.

So far, we’ve developed our crochet skills together. We’ve recently learned how to scrapbook and are making a scrapbook of her first 10 years. My daughter loves this! As we look through baby and toddler pictures, I tell her what she was like and what our life was like when she was younger. She was such a sweet baby and I love reminder her of it. We’ve learned to cook several new vegetables and how to paint a room. It is interesting what topics come up for discussion when you are working together with your hands. We’ve discussed everything from dating/courtship to saving money and eschewing debt.

Beyond just the bond that working and talking together creates, you need to realized that just like homemaking is a huge part of your life, it is going to be a huge part of your daughter’s life. It doesn’t matter what the psychologists say. Women still carry the babies in the womb. The day men start doing that, we can begin to discuss gender neutrality. So, you can be a huge blessing to your daughter by giving her skills she will need. You will make her path in life smoother if you give as much attention to her ability to cook, clean and nurture children as you do to her SAT scores.

Blessings!

Sade

Be sure to join all the other ladies at the iHomeschool Network for our 5 Days of…Summer Series!

• 5 Days of Homesteading

from Connie at Smockity Frocks

• 5 Days of Decluttering

from Lisa at Chaos Appreciation

• 5 Days of Homeschooling for the Busy Family

from Jenilee at Our Goodwin Journey

• 5 Days of Homeschooling Pre-K

from Lauren at Mama’s Learning Corner

• 5 Days of Homeschooling in the Military

from Aadel at These Temporary Tents

• 5 Days of Kindle in the Classroom

from Jodi at Granola Mom 4 God

• 5 Days of Return of the Routine

from Tricia at Hodge Podge

• 5 Days of Homeschooling a Special Needs Child

from LaToya at Christian Momma

• 5 Days of Crafts

from Rebecca at Mom’s Mustard Seeds

• 5 Days of Oven-Free Dinners

from Tabitha at Meet Penny

• 5 Days of Freezer Cooking

from Stacie at Motherhood on a Dime

• 5 Days of Family Games

from Christine at Fruit in Season

• 5 Days of Camping Tips

from Jenny at Planner Perfect

• 5 Days of Educational Apps

from Kim at Not Consumed

• 5 Days of Real-World Math

from Joan at Our School at Home

• 5 Days of Summer Un-School

from Jamie at Unlikely Homeschool

• 5 Days of Using Your Slow Cooker

from Sarah at Sidetracked Sarah

• 5 Days of Summer Survival

from Susann at Momma Hopper

• 5 Days of Creative Co-op Classes

from Ami at Walking by the Way

My topic is “5 Days of Bonding with Your Daughter.” I will share tips and ideas for making your relationship with your daughter a close one, both now and throughout your lifetimes. Read the previous post here.

Marie, October 2007

So, in talking about bonding with our daughters this week, let’s start from the very beginning, a very good place to start . When and where did your mother-daughter relationship start? Not at the birth of your daughter, not at conception, not even when you got married. Your relationship with your daughter began in the heart of God before the beginning of time.

Ephesians 1:4 (New Living Translation (©2007)”
Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.

So before you were born, God knew you would have a daughter. He has a plan for you. He has a plan for your daughter. He has a plan and purpose for your relationship. Therefore, you want to set the foundation of your relationship with your daughter in your relationship with God.

It’s important for you to introduce your daughter to the Lord. This assumes that you have a relationship with Him yourself and that you are nurturing and developing that relationship through the Bible and prayer.

As your relationship with the Lord grows, you will overcome obstacles, fall and get up, make mistakes and learn so much. Your daughter is a woman-in-the-making, so she’s going to go through exactly the same process in her relationship with God. What a blessing it will be to her to have her mother walking alongside her, mentoring and supporting her through the challenges of the Christian walk!

Your daughter’s relationship with God also goes beyond what you both experience into the next generation. With the spiritual foundation that you give her, she than gets to pass the faith on to her own children, your grandchildren. With a solid foundation, you can feel confident that she can weather anything life throws at her because she knows how to lean on God for everything she needs. She is less likely to adopt a false religion or rely on pop-psychology for answers because she knows how to find answers in the Word of God.

The first step in bonding with your daughter in her relationship with God is to pray for her. Instead of laying all your hopes and expectation for her on her little shoulders, lay them on God’s broad shoulders. Pray for her education, her relationships, her marriage and her future. Pray for her privately and pray for her when you wake up, at the table, and when you tuck her in to bed. As she gets older, you can begin to teach her how to articulate her own needs to God. Remind her constantly that God loves her. I always tell my children that my love, as great as it is for them, is still imperfect. Only God loves perfectly. Teach her to take her insecurities and challenges to God.

Next, let her see you reading and learning the Bible. Naturally, there’ll be a struggle with finding time to do this. Let your daughter see you overcoming schedule challenges to make time for God to come first. It will teach her the importance of spiritual discipline.

With your godly example in place, teach your daughter to read the Bible for herself. I started my daughter reading the Bible as soon as she began reading multi-syllable words. It became a natural progression in her education and God has used that foundation in amazing ways. Now she has her own blog called Bible Talks with Marie.

All of this praying and Bible reading and study will naturally lead to lots of questions and discussions with your daughter about every imaginable topic under the sun. The Bible talks about money, sex, friends, education, hard work, gluttony, depression and anger. I love being able to refer to the Bible when my children ask a question because it shows that I don’t have all the answers and I am learning also. I always let them know that I am subject to God’s Word as well.

Finally, help your daughter apply the Word of God to her life. Just as an alcoholic or drug addict needs a support system to stay
clean, your daughter needs your support to overcome sin. She needs you to help her keep her commitments to God. She needs you keep her accountable and to assure her of God’s grace and forgiveness when she falls.

Does all this sound like a tall order? It is! And this is where I remind you that you need all of the things that I am encouraging you to do for your daughter. You need the Word, you need prayer, you need people to support you, you need God’s grace and forgiveness. And He is faithful to provide!

As you take the time to build a relationship with God and your daughter, you will find your level of intimacy with her growing. You can’t talk about God’s unconditional love without your love for each other growing. When she sees for herself what the Bible says about life’s issues, she will catch a glimpse into your point of view as a parent, reducing your conflicts. As your daughter grows more confident in her relationship with God, you will have a lot less female drama, because she too will realize that she isn’t the Beginning and the End and she doesn’t have to be perfect or in control. She can lay her anxieties and insecurities on God’s broad shoulders.

Blessings!

Sade

Be sure to join all the other ladies at the iHomeschool Network for our 5 Days of…Summer Series!

• 5 Days of Homesteading

from Connie at Smockity Frocks

• 5 Days of Decluttering

from Lisa at Chaos Appreciation

• 5 Days of Homeschooling for the Busy Family

from Jenilee at Our Goodwin Journey

• 5 Days of Homeschooling Pre-K

from Lauren at Mama’s Learning Corner

• 5 Days of Homeschooling in the Military

from Aadel at These Temporary Tents

• 5 Days of Kindle in the Classroom

from Jodi at Granola Mom 4 God

• 5 Days of Return of the Routine

from Tricia at Hodge Podge

• 5 Days of Homeschooling a Special Needs Child

from LaToya at Christian Momma

• 5 Days of Crafts

from Rebecca at Mom’s Mustard Seeds

• 5 Days of Oven-Free Dinners

from Tabitha at Meet Penny

• 5 Days of Freezer Cooking

from Stacie at Motherhood on a Dime

• 5 Days of Family Games

from Christine at Fruit in Season

• 5 Days of Camping Tips

from Jenny at Planner Perfect

• 5 Days of Educational Apps

from Kim at Not Consumed

• 5 Days of Real-World Math

from Joan at Our School at Home

• 5 Days of Summer Un-School

from Jamie at Unlikely Homeschool

• 5 Days of Using Your Slow Cooker

from Sarah at Sidetracked Sarah

• 5 Days of Summer Survival

from Susann at Momma Hopper

• 5 Days of Creative Co-op Classes

from Ami at Walking by the Way

Here are the 12 habits I am working to keep my joy where it needs to be, no matter what circumstances I’m facing:

For details, watch the video below.

Blessings!

Sade

This year, we decided to break up our summer learning activities into camps instead of homeschooling year round. So far, we’ve done a cycling camp, typing camp, and video blogging camp. We’re having fun! Have you ever tried a camp at home?