Back in the Homeschool Classroom: Reading Out Loud to Our Children

My kids and I spent much more than 15 minutes a day reading out loud over the 16 years that I had the wonderful opportunity to educate them at home.

Today’ it’s cool and rainy, a perfect autumn day for reading to little ones, and I found myself savoring the sweet memories of those days when my now-grown children would snuggle close to enjoy the many adventures found on the pages of a book.

During those days, we read countless books out loud at home by the wood stove in winter and outdoors in the yard during the summer, while picnicking and camping along the Skyline Drive and Blue Ridge Parkway, at the Outer Banks, traveling across the country to Colorado and Wyoming — anywhere and everywhere. The memories are priceless.

While in kindergarten and elementary school, our trips to the local public library — I considered it another room of our house — resulted in an armload of books for each child. They were curious about a variety of subjects so it was interesting to see what was chosen.

When planning road trips, the kids would find books about the places where we would visit, about nearby historic sites, trees, fun areas, animals — whatever they considered interesting.

Sitting at a picnic table along Skyline Drive or the Blue Ridge Parkway, we would read of Virginia and American history, or perhaps about historical figures specific to the area. During our North Carolina years, Daniel Boone was a favorite as we sat in the shadow of where he had explored and blazed through the thick laurel thickets in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Poetry was another favorite to read aloud. Biographies. Science. History. Those years were priceless.

Read. Learn. Bond.

—–
Lynn Mitchell educated her children at home for 16 years and was part of leadership in North Carolina’s Iredell County Home Educators (ICHE) and Virginia’s Parent Educators of Augusta County Homes (PEACH). Her son graduated from Harrisonburg’s James Madison University (JMU) in 2007 with a BS in Computer Science and a minor in Creative Writing. Her daughter graduated from Staunton’s Mary Baldwin College in 2012 with a BS in Sustainable Business and a minor in Marketing. Lynn and her husband live in Augusta County located in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. The story of how she began her homeschool journey can be found here (see Back in the homeschool classroom: Blazing new trails).

Other titles in the “Back in the homeschool classroom” series by Lynn R. Mitchell:

– Did Terry McAuliffe understand the ‘Tebow Bill’ he vetoed? (April 2015)
– The Virginian-Pilot is wrong about homeschool sports ‘entitlement’ (February 2015)
– ’50 reasons homeschooled kids love being homeschooled’
– Rob Bell’s ‘Tebow Bill’ (September 2014)
– Grown son’s first home (April 2014)
– Support group vs Co-op (February 2014)
– Where it all began … blazing new trails (January 2013)
– Grown son’s first home (July 2013)
– Staying in touch with homeschool friends (July 2013)
– New Year’s Eve (December 2012)
– More sleep = homeschoolers happier, healthier than public school students? (April 2013)
– Using Shenandoah National Park as your classroom (March 2013)
– Autumn (October 2012)
– The rain rain rain came down down down (April 2012)
– Why we teach our own (April 2012)
– Casey (April 2012)
– The wedding … letting go (September 2012)
– The pain of grief (August 2012)
– When faced with a challenge … no whining (April 2012)
– The simple wisdom of Winnie the Pooh (August 2012)
– First day of school (September 2012)
– The rise of homeschooling (February 2012)
– Hot summer days (July 2011)
– Constitutional lessons and the Judicial branch of government (March 2012)
– Rainy days (May 2013)
– A chance encounter (June 2013)
– Mary Baldwin commencement 2012 … SWAC Daughter graduates with honors (May 2012)