A week of daily encouragement...

With many families coming into a new year of home education, I’ll be posting some short notes of encouragement/advice in the coming week.

What are Living Books?

Books that are well written and full of living ideas about its subject. They should be the best books, written by someone who is deeply interested in their subject. They may be fiction or non-fiction.

Living books are literary and the writing is of excellent quality. Non-Fiction books that are living are usually written in a narrative or story form. They should spark the imagination and make an impact on the reader's mind.

Introducing Children to Living Books

One way to introduce living books to your child is to start reading one aloud to them. Start with one chapter a day. Ideally, you want your children to develop their own good reading habits, but you can introduce them to books they probably wouldn’t pick up for themselves or could be too challenging for them at present and give them a taste for quality literature. Just because they can’t read a book for themselves shouldn’t restrict them to books that are beneath them intellectually.

Reading aloud helped my late reader transition to reading on his own and at the same time created wonderful, shared memories for all of us to look back on. It has enriched my own education and has been one of the highlights of our home educational journey.

Something to think about:

Am I a reader? Your children will pick up your attitude to books.

Something to do:

If you're new to the idea of 'living books,' try reading a chapter of a book you have or borrowed and ask yourself - Is the writing of good quality? Does it stir (or as Jane Austen said, 'warm') your imagination? Could you narrate it (i.e. tell back what you've read) to yourself?

Some authors to consider for reading aloud to children of a variety of ages:

Hilda van Stockum

Rosemary Sutcliff

Constance Savery

Meindert de Jong

Colin Thiele

Elizabeth Yates