“Right after lunch Josiah, Kara, and I picked out our stories for story time. We snuggled on the couch with Mommy and read them. I was so happy ‘coz it was my day, and I got to pick two stories today. I picked Curious George and a book about astronauts. Story time is my favorite time of the day.”
“Jonathan’s Journal”
As my children were growing up, we had several read-aloud periods—often in one day. And we had various names for all of them through the years: morning read aloud, content reading, subject reading, history reading, devotional reading, character reading, breakfast reading, family read aloud, lunchtime reading, unit studies reading, story time, matching sweat suit day reading (corny, but we loved it!), read all day reading, story time, bedtime stories, and yes, even more.
Now we have just a few reading times. I will list these below and will detail them in the coming week, including some suggested titles for them and book reviews!
1. Morning reading—for us, this is like our “school devotional extended.” We have this morning reading time after morning routines and morning chores—three or four days a week (“more often than not”).
2. History read aloud—two or three days a week, I do history reading with the kids. I have never been one to get my pre-high school kids a bunch of science, social studies, health, etc. text books. I have always used our read-aloud times and assigned reading of real books as their primary sources for these subjects. We have been doing American history for the past couple of years, slowly making our way through various read aloud sources, audio books, assigned readers, and more.
3. Family read aloud books—We enjoy listening together as a family to radio dramas (especially Adventures in Odyssey!), audio books, Christian discipleship type books, biographies, and occasionally, fiction books. For example, we have recently read Mercy Ships (about the ministry of the medical/surgical ships that go around the world) and Being a Christian in a Brave New World by Joni Ereckson Tada. Unfortunately, the older the boys get, the harder it is to get us all together long enough to read lengthy books; however, audio books are something we can do while we do other things, so we try to utilize those whenever possible.
4. Story time—Jakie and I are the only ones who regularly enjoy story time nowadays (sniff, sniff). However, sometimes we can talk Josiah into joining us, and occasionally, if we are reading a chapter book, Jonathan will listen from the dining room as he does school or works on a project. Story time is one thing that I for sure do not regret spending the hours upon hours in over the past twenty-seven years of parenting. When I had several small children, we would get the babies to sleep then cuddle in Mommy’s bed and read for one to two hours, then drift off for afternoon naps (including Mom!). My first reaction to that is “How did I ever find time for that nearly every weekday afternoon?” And my answer is that I found the time because it was a priority to me. We find the time for everything that is truly important to us. (And I found the time for the nap because it was essential during the fourteen out of seventeen years that I was nursing and/or pregnant!) I stayed home most days and just invested in my kids and home—and I don’t regret it at all!
The next few days will include story time tips, suggested story time books, starting chapter books aloud, and more!
*For the complete story of “Jonathan’s Journal, follow this link: https://positiveparenting3-6-5.blogspot.com/2010/03/day-seventy-eight-introducing-jonathans.html
