How to Raise Good Readers

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It’s not hard to raise good readers when great books are available to us in so many ways. No longer we need to drive to the library or keep buying books galore.

In our family, we are obsessed with books! Audiobooks! Picture books! Chapter books! Board books! Great books! Classic books! We just love reading. But not all kids love books. In an age where kids are glued in front of the TVs and video games, how can we raise good readers?

Raise Good Readers By Making Reading Part of Your Daily Routine!

1 – Read aloud to your children as often as you can!

We read aloud as part of our morning routine, we love to imagine the stories and discuss it afterward. But I can read aloud to them all the time so we also listen to audiobooks during our lunch breaks, then we try to add some more reading late in the afternoons and we read before bedtime as well.

I believe I got my love for books from my dad who instead of reading me fairy tales often read me from an encyclopedia set! I am sure my love for books and history, in particular, came from hearing my dad reading me stories about Cleopatra, Napoleon, reading about the Seven Wonders of the World and the Suspended Gardens of Babylon, etc.

2 – Create A Mini Library For Your Children

Gather all the children books you have around the house and ask the children to help you create their own mini library. This will be an exciting family project. While you gather and sort the books, ask your children which ones are their favorite and why? Spark some conversation about books and even read some of the stories to them while they sort out their books.

Sort the books into subjects and themes. I find that my daughters love fairy tales while my son loves to read history and science related books. This will make it easy for your children to find where their favorite books are. It doesn’t have to be something fancy.

3 – Have Book Baskets Around The House.

We have a big book basket we call our “morning basket” right beside our couch in the living room. In it, I keep my youngest’s favorite readers, books I’ve been using to help her learn addition and how to tie her shoes, books that help us pray for different nations of the world and some other favorite books.

I also created a special basket for my youngest with the books we are using now for kindergarten in our homeschool.

4- Get a subscription of Epic! After All, You Don’t Need To Spend A Ton of Money To Raise Good Readers.

Buying books all the time is very costly and certainly not in our budget. Borrowing a ton of books from the library has cost me a lot too! As much as we love our library and try to go there as often as we can, I keep forgetting to return my books on time and keep paying for late fees. My last late fee was $46! Can anyone else can relate to it?? 😀

Almost two years ago we came across a children’s reading app called Epic! With Epic! we can read the best children’s books of all time from our laptop, desktop computer or from our smartphones and tablets anytime we want, 24/7 for a super affordable flat fee subscription and no late fees.

This is how the Epic! looks like on our iPads! –>

On Epic! each child have their own profile and the app select appropriate books for each of them according to their age and also allows you to set your preferences. All their reading is recorded. As a parent, I know who is reading what and how long they read each day, plus this pretty cool app gives the children badges as rewards for their reading time. What kid doesn’t like to be rewarded?

So, How Epic! Help Us Raise Good Readers?

Here’s a little more about Epic!:

• Kids on Epic! can read as much as they want, anytime, anywhere (unlimited reading on the Web, Android, and iOS devices).
• Kids discover new books they’ll love with personalized recommendations based on their reading level and interests. Badges and rewards offer extra motivation to read.
• Popular and award-winning books and series include Ramona, Big Nate, Flat Stanley, National Geographic, Disney, Goosebumps, Ella Enchanted, Fancy Nancy, Warriors, and more.
• A wide range of fiction and non-fiction titles in a variety of formats including picture books, early readers, chapter books, Read-to-Me’s and Audiobooks.
• Our library includes more than 500 Spanish and bilingual Spanish/English books.
• In a recent survey of 1,000 teachers who use Epic!, 98% of educators would recommend Epic!.

In addition to being awarded the Parent’s Choice Gold Award and Mom’s Choice Gold Award, Epic! has also been featured in Parent’s Magazine, CNet, Parenting.com, USA Today and more.

Think of Epic! as the Netflix of children’s books! Oh but these books are not just for leisure, they have amazing books and educational videos from Encyclopedia Britannica we use in our homeschool too! From Disney stories to history, science, biographies and much more, I absolutely love their content!

Epic! can be used in your homeschool or classroom. As a matter of fact, teachers can get Epic! FREE to use in their classrooms!

How Epic! Helps Us As Homeschoolers

Today in our homeschool we learned about Egypt and Picasso and I found tons of books and educational videos on Epic! for my kids to further their learning. Epic! makes reading books and learning fun for the kids and for the parents too! I also love reading their books or listening to their audiobooks.

Epic! has all the classics we love, like the Narnia series, Anne of Green Gables series, Boxcar Children series and a lot more. We can’t stop reading! You can try it free for 30 days and I doubt you won’t like it, or…

 

Your Turn: How do you make reading part of your routine? What are your kid’s favorite books? Have you tried Epic! yet?

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