As moms, we can’t do everything ourselves. I’ve tried and I just end up burned out and overwhelmed. All of our children are required to read (or be read to) 20-30 min each night for school. In my case, I can’t listen/read to 6 children every night. I know how to run a large classroom, and that’s what our household often feels like, so I often incorporate strategies I used in my classroom at home.
Every Friday I had the 6th graders help with my 3rd graders taking turns reading to each other. Both groups benefited from this interaction; they made new friends, gave service and I got to be efficient with my time. So, why not put this into action in my own home? This week I started having the older kids take turns reading to the younger kids. We started out with a 15 minute time limit (they weren’t super-excited about my hair-brained idea) and read short stories from Highlights Magazine or our church magazine, The Friend. When the timer went off, they surprisingly kept reading. I sat down and supervised to keep them on task and listen in, but how awesome is it that I just saved a ton of time, my kids get to build relationships with one another and they become better readers in the end?
1 comment:
That is SUCH a great idea! I'm going to use it.
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