The Benefits Of Reading Aloud And Why It’s Important

Thank you for sharing!

It’s my firm belief that reading aloud to our children is one of the most important things we can do for them. A time investment that will yield amazing benefits, both now and in the future. I’d like to share our experience of becoming a read-aloud family, the benefits of reading aloud, and why it’s important. 

Starting Out

As new parents with young children, we regularly had story time. On some days our reading time was sprinkled throughout the day, on others it was only at bedtime. We started out with picture books, and read them over and over to the tune of “just one more”(as little ones tend to do.) While we were concerned about healthy brain development and language skills, we certainly weren’t thinking about things like phonemic awareness, reading comprehension, or the other cognitive benefits of reading. It was really much simpler than any of those things; just a great way to spend time with our children. Ryan and I both have always loved to read, and sitting down with a good book is one of our favorite things to do. 

The Power of Consistency

We continued the habit of reading aloud as our children grew. We noticed the younger ones learning new words while their listening skills improved. Even our wiggliest little boy has a longer attention span during read aloud sessions. I didn’t know much about Charlotte Mason and narration back then, but the children naturally did it anyway. Little ones love to tell their favorite stories back to you again and again! As time went on, the older kids became good readers and did a fair amount of silent reading also. 

Fitting It In

If you homeschool like we do, one of the best ways to read together is during the school day. We don’t put much emphasis on grade levels around here, and the younger students often listen in on the older students’ lessons. Likewise, the teenagers enjoy listening to me read familiar stories to the young kids that I read to them when they were little. They read to them quite a bit also! We no longer have babies, toddlers, or preschool age children in our homeschool, but having seven children from first grade up through high school means we have a real life one-room schoolhouse. 

Some Benefits of Reading Aloud

Children develop literacy skills at a rapid pace, and it’s always exciting to watch them learn and grow! As a homeschool mom, I have taught all seven of our children to read, and that has been one of the most rewarding things in our homeschool journey. All children learn differently, have different strengths and weaknesses, and are not usually on the same timeline. Regardless of their differences, there are some similarities we noticed in all of them.

*Letter and Word Recognition- Board books are a wonderful way for little ones to learn letters and specific words that go with specific pictures. They are often read over and over, and favorite words are soon seen in other places. I’ll never forget the time our first little daughter spotted an “A” on the bottom of Daddy’s shoe because of the way the lines intersected.

*Communication Skills- Listening to proper grammar, speech, and punctuation through a well read book is one of the best ways for children to learn how to communicate. Just as copy work from great works of literature teaches good writing skills, listening to it read aloud teaches good speaking skills. 

*A Well Developed Vocabulary- When you are exposed to unfamiliar words during read alouds, you can usually figure out what the meaning of those words are based on the context of the story. Our children often use words that seem advanced and I catch myself thinking, “Where did you learn that?”

*Comprehension Skills- The habit of attention develops through sitting still, listening, thinking about, and understanding what you hear. Narration is a wonderful way to encourage this in younger children. You can do this by simply having them retell a story that you just read to them to see how much they can remember. Some good ways to gauge an older child’s comprehension is by asking questions, having a discussion, or assigning a written narration.

Why It’s Important

All of the benefits of reading aloud listed above are important, but there is another far greater that is something else entirely. In this age of families being fractured and divided, we need to purposefully cultivate habits of togetherness. The simple act of everyone sitting in the same room, listening to the same story, and creating a shared experience forms a powerful anchor in your home. I really cannot stress this enough. When all members of a family have different habits, preferences, hobbies, or listen to different music, or watch different shows on separate devices, the results are never going to be good. An easy way to combat this pull of division is to become a read-aloud family. 

Our Routine

In our house Daddy is the favorite orator, and I am not mad about it because he’s my favorite too. He has such a nice voice, and we often tell him that he should record audiobooks. We usually read one book at a time together, but sometimes we have a couple going at once.

On the evenings he is home, everyone gathers ’round after supper and listens to things such as the pioneering adventures of Olive A. Frederickson, the plight of Robinson Crusoe, the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, or the expeditions of Cyrus, Xerxes, and Alexander the Great. Likewise, when it’s just me and the children, I will read things like history and science lessons, Bible studies, books for the younger ones, or historical fiction and fantasy chapter books for the older ones. Many wonderful discussions follow our time of reading together. Sometimes on the topic at hand, but often we find ourselves meandering down rabbit trails. The thing that is so important to me is that we all stay on the same path, together.

Another Thing

The pattern of family read alouds naturally flows over to the children’s independent reading selections also. The older four always read the same books at the same time because they love discussing them with each other. This is not something that we have required, or even suggested. They just love to read, and love to share experiences with each other. Which makes me pretty proud as their mother and homeschool teacher. The same principle applies in other areas as well, such as personal hobbies and extracurriculars. We make choices based on how these things will affect our family as a whole instead of allowing every person to do separate activities. This works very well for us, and provides time for the children to develop deep friendships with one another in addition to strengthening our bond as a family. 

How to start

If you want to begin reading aloud together as a family, the best way is to pick a time of day when everyone can sit down together… and just start! You could make it the same time every day or have a special snack planned or buy a new book. The most important thing about this is that you just make it happen, so plan something that is doable and consistent. Little ones will readily take to a new routine, but if you have older children who balk at the idea, don’t give up hope. I’d be willing to bet that after a couple weeks it will become one of their favorite parts of the day! Especially if Daddy participates. (And bonus points for different character voices.) 

What about audiobooks?

I would say to try and fit in as much real life reading as you can, but beyond that, audiobooks are a great opportunity and provide several of the same benefits of reading aloud. We have enjoyed many hours of listening to books during trips to town, at teatime on Fridays, and when my voice just wasn’t up to it. Our all-time favorite audiobooks are The Lord of The Rings trilogy and The Hobbit narrated by Andy Serkis (who plays Gollum in the movies.)

Book Recommendations

There are many different types of books that are suited for reading aloud, and the ones that you choose will depend on your individual family. Some questions to consider when choosing books are:

What is your favorite genre?

What is the age range of listeners?

Who are your favorite authors? 

How much time per day can you devote to reading aloud?

What length of book do you want to tackle?

Some of our favorite books for little ones are:

Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey

All Beatrix Potter books

Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney

All the Dr. Seuss books

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault

The Little Blue Truck series by Alice Schertle

The younger children also like to listen to more mature books for the older ones, including:

Silence Of The North by Olive A. Frederickson

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

The Old Man And The Boy by Robert Ruark 

The Old Man And The Sea by Ernest Hemingway

The Winter King by Christine Cohen

Animal Farm by George Orwell

The Makers of History Series by Jacob Abbott

Genevieve Foster’s “World” books 

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

The independent readers enjoy:

The 100 Cupboards Series by N.D. Wilson

Ashtown Burials Series by N.D. Wilson

The Outlaws of Time Series by N.D. Wilson

All other books by N.D. Wilson 🙂

The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson

The Wilderking Trilogy by Jonathan Rogers

The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Sinking City by Christine Cohen

All books by Gary Paulsen, Rosemary Sutcliff, Roland Smith, and Mary Ray

There are many others on these lists, and I will do a more thorough post on them soon!

The Best Benefits Of Reading Aloud

A lifelong love of reading is one of the best gifts we can pass on to our children. As the years go by and the number of books you read together grows longer, the fruit of your labor of love will be evident.

Some of my favorite things about this time we spend together are all of the bantering quips, inside jokes, and brilliant quotes that constantly get tossed around throughout the day. Granted, I am in the dark regarding a fair amount of these because I just haven’t got around to reading all of the books the children have. I am determined to change that this year though, so that I’ll be able to understand all of their witty references, too. 🙂 As I type this, the first book of The Wingfeather Saga sits on the dresser beside my bed because our 12 year old daughter put it there while emphatically stating, “You need to read this, Mom!”

Thank you sweet girl, I believe I will.  

Thank you for sharing!