Begin again and rejoice

Robert Louis Stevenson said, "Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant."

Each day is a new beginning...a new opportunity...a fresh start. Each day for your kids can be a time to regroup, rethink, relearn and re-establish their weak reading skills and habits. If your kids are experiencing difficulties make it a daily effort to read to them, have them read to you, have them read to other family members or even their pets. Each day provides an opportunity and challenge to read a new book, create dialogue and excitement about being able to read and press on with the next book. Make reading fun and interesting with your kids. Talk about their favourite character in the book, the plot, their favourite part and why they liked it the best, and especially about the pictures that their eyes behold. Illustrators are such an important part of a books component and even if your kids have difficulty reading the text they orally can explain to you about the pictures. Literature encompasses reading and deciphering any information that you can glean from a book. You can read the book out loud to them, have them read the book to you or do shared reading where you read one page (or a sentence here and there) and they read the rest. After you finish have them tell the story orally back to you. Make reading a priority in your home. Stack books everywhere. Show your kids that you are a reader too.
Turn off the radio and television set and turn your kid on to good literature. Turn your child around and expose them to adventures, learning and the pleasures that reading a good book can bring. Daily plant those seeds of reading and watch the harvest that you will reap in a well-educated, successful child. Read on.