I have a lot of material at the blog about reading aloud to your kids—unit studies, morning read aloud, Bible time, story time, family read aloud, and more. We did them all…nearly every day for twenty-five years….and I wouldn’t trade those hours for anything!

But there are logistics…especially if you are trying to do this with a large family…multiple ages and interests, etc.

Those are some of the things that I tackled in my latest Facebook Live video about Read Aloud Time!

Check it out…..and check out the links below for some fun readers and a darling chapter book!

Click on the pictures below to see my Sound it Out, and Read a Chapter beginning reader books!

PIN IT FOR LATER!

Sound It Out, Baloo!

PIN IT FOR LATER!

Read a Chapter, Mowgli!

Save

Save

The post Read Aloud Tips (Video!) appeared first on Character Ink.

(Subscribe to the newsletter to receive our Freebie Fridays–including one of our December 2015 ones, Annotated Christmas Stories booklet.)

One of the recent Christmas stories that I have shared was one of our student’s version of The Gift of the Magi (original story by O’ Henry). That is a popular story about the true meaning of giving—and the selflessness in putting others’ desires ahead of our own.

In my Meaningful Composition series of writing books for students, I have a type of project called “the twice-told tale” in which students rewrite a classic story in a different setting with different characters. This is a popular assignment, and we love seeing students’ creativity through this project.

One student in particular had a somewhat comical, modern twist on O’Henry’s tale that I think families with teens and young adults would especially get a kick out of…so here it is, Michaela Miller’s spin on The Gift of the Magi. In this twist, our student has her characters doing the opposite of what O’Henry’s characters did—they sell the other person’s greatest possession in an effort to hurt the other person, not bless the other person. However, the results were not what either one expected….

The Gift of the Magi: Retold

Eight hundred and eighty-nine dollars and ninety-nine cents. That was the sale price of Tracey Jepson’s 55 inch Samsung LED HD TV. Camped outside of Best Buy one year on Black Friday, she tore through the doors and beat her way through crowds to lay her hands on man’s greatest invention.
Anyone brave enough to try to pry it from her claws would have savagely lost their arms. There was nothing Tracey was more passionate about than her soap operas- except maybe the hatred she felt for her husband.

Tracey couldn’t remember the last time she and Erik had been close to each other. She couldn’t remember why she had married him. What she did know was that their favorite pastimes clashed magnificently, and spurred an ongoing war between the two.

Erik’s most beloved possession was his electric guitar. A Gibson Custom Les Paul 1959 Murphy Electric guitar with Bigsby Aged Sunburst. He came home every day from work, locked himself in his cave, and spewed earsplitting squeals and screeches until bed time. Nothing drove Tracey crazier. Especially since the painful noise made it difficult to hear her favorite soap operas. Oftentimes, she would turn the television up louder, causing Erik to complain about interference with his concentration and Zen. The night continued as a competition to see who could be louder, finally ending with a house that was a battleground of cacophony.

With one arm lazily propping her head, Tracey sighed and flipped through the channels absentmindedly. With nothing good on, she tossed the remote aside and gazed through the window. Snow was falling with peaceful grace, reminding Tracey of that annoying holiday that comes once a year: Christmas.

Early on in their marriage she used to take great pride and pleasure from buying Erik gifts. She would spend hours looking for the perfect present. A guitar stand. A new tuner. A spider capo. And she always basked in the anticipation of what he would get her.

Once they realized how much they disliked each other, Christmas was more like a bitter pill. He put no thought into her gift, so she put none in his.

Around 5:15, the door opened, letting in the frigid snow and Erik. Tracey sauteed onions in a
pan and the delicious smell of garlic and rosemary chicken wafted from the oven. A small candle of hope flickered up in Tracey that Erik would notice her effort.

“Hello.” said Erik.

“Hello. How was work?”

“It was good,” he said blandly and tossed his suitcase in a chair before hanging up his coat and disappearing to his room.

The small candle of hope was immediately snuffed, and Tracey chided herself for entertaining the possibility that Erik might notice her. And her heart took its normal stony form once again.

When Erik stepped into his music cave, he could already feel the stress leaving him. As he hooked a chord from his guitar to his amp, he tried not to dwell on what he had done to make Tracey so cold.
He provided for her. He bought her stupid TV. She much preferred that inanimate object over him, and the thought was painful. Erik grabbed his pick and began his evening routine: numbing himself by getting lost in music.

That evening after supper, Tracey curled up on the couch for her favorite hour of the day: the next episode of These Days of Our Lives. Why couldn’t Erik be romantic like Dani’s husband? Always buying flowers, smothering her with gifts, and working on his six pack? This thought took a sharp turn to pure anger when Erik’s guitar hit a long squealing note that stopped her from hearing an important line in the show. Two can play at that game, she thought, and turned the volume up to one hundred.

In response, Erik’s amplifier started blasting so loud the china was shaking in its cabinets.

Tracey had had enough. This Christmas she would buy him a gift and put in lots of thought. A plot that would end the aggravating noisy, turmoil.

Tracey and Erik went to bed early on Christmas Eve. She lay wide awake until she was convinced by Erik’s even breathing that he was asleep. Carefully and quietly, she got out of bed, slipping on boots and gloves before stealthily exiting the bedroom. Her first stop was Erik’s music cave where she glanced around until her eyes fell upon her unlucky victim: the Gibson guitar. She packed it up and stole from the house like a sly thief. She drove to Guitar Center and sold the guitar for close to ten thousand dollars. She hadn’t realized how valuable it was but managed to force down the small pang of guilt when she remembered how much angst this object had caused her.

“Would you like to look at our Epiphone selection?” asked the tatted-up owner.

“I would like…” Tracey thought for a moment. What was something she could buy Erik that would seem like a gift but actually solve her problem? What was an instrument he couldn’t play or annoy her with?

“Where are your ukeleles?” she blurted.

A ukelele! Of course! Perfect. It can’t be hooked up to an amplifier, and Erik doesn’t know how to play it. Tracey chose one adorned with tacky blue and white Hawaiian flowers and eight strings just to be safe. She bought the most expensive one just to get under his skin.

Tracey drove home gleefully and stumbled through the door exhausted. She placed the wrapped present under the tree, next to a small rectangular box with a bow.

Erik’s present for me, thought Tracey bitterly. It’s probably more Soft Scrub and spatulas.

The room was so dark she had to find her way by memory before sliding under the covers next to Erik and dreaming about tattoos.

When Tracey awoke the next morning, the bed covers were open like a lip, revealing the empty spot next to her. Erik was clearly awake. She could smell bacon, eggs, and toast.

Rubbing her eyes, she trudged in a sleepy stupor to the living room. She first spotted Erik on the couch eating. The her eyes darted to the empty wall in front of him. Her pupils dilated in horror.

The TV was gone.

“What- what…?

“Tracey…”

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?”

Erik looked at her defiantly. “I disposed of a mind-rotting irritant to get you your Christmas
present.”

“You did- you did- what?” Her hands were on her hips and her head jutted out accusatorily.

“I had to be able to afford you present,” he said simply.

Fury overtook her when she realized she had done the same thing.

“You’re just trying to get back at me!” she shouted.

“Get back at you?” he barked, obviously confused.

His fake bewilderment made her livid.

“Yes. For selling your guitar!”

“YOU SOLD MY GUITAR?” So he didn’t know.

“For- your- Christmas present,” she hissed, jabbing a finger in his chest.

His eyes flashed, then almost in a whisper he spoke, “Well, then, we better like our presents.”

“Yes!” She wailed hysterically. “We better.” She grabbed her box and tore viciously at the wrapping.

She slipped her hands between the box flaps and pulled so hard the box split in half. Something silky spilled to the ground.

Tracey froze and stared at the pile. Her eyes flickered to Erik then back to the blue silk. Slowly, her fingers clasped the fabric and pulled it up to eye level, revealing a knee length party dress. Most would have found the dress unattractive, but this wasn’t any dress.

This dress was the dress that Dani had worn on the first episode of These Days of Our Lives. This was priceless! This was…

“The best Christmas present I could have asked for.” Tracey clutched the dress to her heart and started to tear up.

“Tracey, why are you crying?” asked Erik, placing a loving hand on her shoulder.

“Just open your present and you’ll understand.”

Erik took the remaining package from under the tree and held it gingerly. He slowly tore the
wrapping and slid the tacky blue ukelele from its case.

He just stared. Tracey’s heart plummeted when she realized what she had done. She had sold her husband’s most treasured item for a selfish, petty reason.

“I’m so sorry,” Tracey sobbed.

Erik’s face shot up, but instead of disappointment or anger, his eyes were full of compassion. Then a boyish grin spread over his face.

“How did you know I could play the ukelele?” he asked.

Tracey about choked. “I didn’t- you never- what?”

Erik traced a flower with his finger before tenderly replying, “It was the first instrument I ever
learned. I just kind of- stopped… but this is such good quality… and I miss its sound…”

And sure enough he could play. He played a song that reminded Tracey of palm trees and oceans, sand and peace.

Tracey and Erik held each other for a long time, vowing that things would be different. And they were. From that moment on they took great care in each others’ comfort and always showed affection.

Tracey knew she was wrong when she said the dress was her greatest Christmas present: it was the love she had regained from and for her husband.

Save

Save

Save

The post Christmas Read Alouds: The Gift of the Magi Retold–A Modern Twist appeared first on Character Ink.

Donna, of Character Ink Publishing and Raising Kids With Character parenting seminars, answers a young mom’s questions about how to handle story time with multiple ages–handling disruptive toddlers, developing a love for story time and books in all ages, making it a special time, and more!

Subscribe to our Wondering Wednesday podcasts in iTunes.

The post Wondering Wednesday Podcast: Story Time Questions appeared first on Character Ink.

I have a question about reading to my young kids! I have a 4, 2, and 1 year old. The 1 year old hardly sits still to be read to, but my question is specifically about the 2 year old. He is always asking me to stop reading as he has questions about everything on the page, or wants to ‘count’ something, or he is flipping back through pages wanting to talk about what we just talked about. Again. What do I do? Let him be in charge of how we go through the book and what we talk about – possibly never finishing the book? Or ask him to wait until the end of each set of pages and then not let him turn them back? OR tell him to be quiet the whole time?! Any feedback and suggestions are welcomed

Story Time Questions

I treated story time much like I treated unit studies (or “subject reading” as Joshua used to call it when he was five!). Here are some basics for that first:

(1) Story time is a privilege that is earned…not something you automatically get to do (as were unit studies). Thus, there was a readiness that was needed in order to join story time: the ability to lie in the bed with everybody without moving too much, getting up, etc. (We used to do a two hour story time in bed followed by a two hour nap…even me! For real! Amazing, huh? Ray worked twelve or thirteen hours a day, and I seldom went anywhere…plenty of time to get everything done, read for hours, AND take a nap! LOL) This pretty much eliminated anybody under two joining our regular story time. If these guidelines were not met, the child just went to bed for his nap (with books in his bed and one side of a story tape), and he could try again later in a few days (not a bunch of back and forth and in and out)….this takes me to my next “basic.”

(2) We always taught to the oldest. Everything we did at first was based on our oldest two kids—the others could always join, but we emphasized our older kids for sure. This is often opposite of what families with untrained littles do. They often do not see how they can focus on the olders when they continue to let one, two, and three year olds be too high need. Just my two cents… 😉

(3) In light of always teaching to the oldest, we wanted unit studies and story time to be the most effective that they could be for the older kids. If we allowed a two year old (or one year old) to monopolize that time, this simply wasn’t happening.

(4) That is not to say that we did not do things with the littles or that we didn’t consider their needs. But we didn’t let their “wants” keep us from meeting our older kids’ needs (educationally, spiritual training, fun times, etc.).

Specifically Story Time

(1) Children who were not old enough (i.e. not “ready”) to join story time every day had their own story time. Those older kids that we spent so much time with and on cleaned the kitchen after lunch each day while I rocked, read to, and did rhymes and stories with the toddler. (This was actually the beginning of weaning for us—replacing the noon nursing with the toddler’s own story time!) This allowed the toddler to learn to enjoy reading without interrupting the olders’ story time. It also signaled a change in schedule, slowing down, etc. And it provided routine so that the toddler knew what was next. (After his story time, he got “dropped off at the bus stop” (carrying the bus stop approach to unit studies into the story time example)—his crib for his looonnng (three to four hour!) nap. (How else was I going to do a two hour story time and two hour nap for myself!?) Note: This was ten minutes long tops.

(2) Children who were old enough gathered their books. Whoever’s day it was did the following: (a) get the book basket with our ongoing books (Family Bible Library or whatever ongoing Bible study that we didn’t already do for unit studies—I did two a day besides devoes; chapter book; poetry or hymn books; longer picture books (especially our Answers in Genesis picture books, which were longer), nature book/magazines, sometimes biographies, but these were usually done in the mornings, etc.); (b) got two books from the bookcase or library basket; and came to my room with those things. Everybody else got their one book choice. The person whose day it was got to sit closest—and his books were the first and last read. (Who says you can’t make things special when you have so many kids or do things more “individualized”????)

(3) We always kept book markers (or “picks” as my kids called them) in our ongoing books and just picked up where we had left off the day before. Eventually, we got through tons of chapter books, nature books, etc., using this method.

(4) If a child was able to come to story time but necessarily for the whole two hours, we used the “bus stop approach” that you have heard me talk about with our unit studies. In that way, we would do all of the picture books first (shorter books with pictures like the Five in a Row books, children’s classics, whatever they picked. Then, just like in unit studies, the two or three year old would be dropped off at the bus station (i.e. beds for naps). More often than not, they would just fall asleep before we got to the harder books. If we did story time on the sofa, I would send them to bed for their naps when they were getting too fidgety or tired. (And they could have one side of a story tape once they got there.) Note: For unit studies, I did the same thing—started with easy materials then moved to harder ones. At a certain point, the littles could be dropped off at the bus station—but instead of going to bed for naps, they could stay in the room and play quietly on the floor, which they almost always chose to do. (At some point in unit studies, the littles would often have room time that we had set up ahead of time.)

(5) Then once the littles were asleep or in bed, we would move onto the ongoing books and chapter books. I tried not to make it a repeat of unit studies, but my kids often picked the creation books, nature books, etc. I did try to save the more fun books for story time, generally speaking.

So what does this mean in answer to your questions specifically?

(1) If your two year old isn’t ready even for the easy part of story time, I would do the short story time alone with the two year old and one year old.

(2) If the two year old is ready, but the only problem is the questions, I would consider any of the following ideas:
a. Let him choose the first book and tell him this is his “question book.” For this book only, we can stop a lot, answer questions, etc. (Oh…those interactive books that the two year olds had to do everything to…..brutal!) This is his story, and you can use it as a quality teaching time for him.
b. For the rest of the books that he stays for, tell him he can have one “excuse me.” This is one time that he can have you flip back, answer a question, etc.
c. Let him take the books that he has the most questions or that you know he wants to know more about to bed with him—and tell him after his nap he can bring the book to you for more questions.
d. If he can’t do the one “excuse me,” just let him be interactive on the first book only until he can handle it. (Always match privilege with responsibility in all aspects of parenting.)

(3) While you are trying to find what is comfortable for your family, always keep in mind the olders. Don’t let story time turn into something they dread or something that they do not benefit from by letting littles (even though they are amazing and sweet) monopolize it.

Hope this helps! I have to end with a cute story time story. When Joshua (our oldest) was around ten, he decided that he was too old for story time. (They never outgrew unit studies but eventually did story time.) So on the day he decided to not come to story time, I was lying in bed with four other littles reading away when I heard a noise in the hallway. He was sitting on the floor in the hallway listening. I told him he could join us, but he said he was just resting. Next thing I knew, he was sitting in the doorway. Then on the floor beside the bed. The, of course, across the foot of the bed! The next day he joined us for quite some time thereafter! 🙂

The post Q & A: Story Time With Toddlers, Preschoolers, and Olders appeared first on Character Ink.