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Why Read Aloud

Why read aloud to your child? In particular GOOD literature?

Here are a few academic reasons adapted from an email by Mr Van Oostrum of the Pestalozzi Trust:

It teaches them to focus and develops concentration.

It develops auditory perception - to hear what is said.

It builds their vocabulary which helps when children start reading themselves later on.

It develops their grammar, as they hear familiar sentence structure as well as some different linguistic styles.

It gives them ideas to think about. Ideas are mind food!

Charlotte Mason says: "...children have no natural appetite for twaddle, and a special literature for children is probably far less necessary than the booksellers would have us suppose…What they want is to be brought into touch with living thought of the best, their intellectual life feeds upon it without meddling on our part.”

Due to the above, it develops their brain power.

"It develops their imagination. Imagination is the ability to produce many situations from one set of facts. That is creativity. Creativity is the basis of effective problem solving. Effective problem solving is necessary for entrepreneurship and every other endeavor that can not (easily) be computerized.

Charlotte Mason again: "The peculiar value of geography lies in its fitness to nourish the mind with ideas, and to furnish the imagination with pictures............but let him be at home in a single region - seeing the people at work, the flowers and fruits in their season, the animal in its habitat...let him follow the adventures of a traveler.”

In conjunction with narration, it teaches the skill to differentiate the significant ideas in the content from the less important and to place the important ideas in a logical sequence.

Reading and narration thus teaches the ability to formulate and express their thoughts about those ideas.

What does Charlotte Mason have to say about narration?

“But one who tries this method on himself will find that in the act of narrating every power of his mind comes into play.”

Why read aloud - unofficial reasons

You get to cuddle with your children while learning.

Reading is a non confrontational way to teach.

Children love stories.

Reading to your children is the first step in building family traditions.

Reading to them enables them to learn in an enjoyable format.

It encourages your children to become lifelong readers and thus lifelong learners.

Reading aloud to your children helps you to cover areas of study that you may be weak in, without much effort.

I have a host of children's book reviews to help you in this task of reading aloud to your children. Take a look at my Children's Living Books to get you "reading juices" going!

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