College Countdown
College Countdown
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Parents on Reading
Ask
your teen’s guidance counselor and reading teacher for help. Then follow
through with the suggestions. Go to parent-teacher conferences. If you can’t
go due to work, have someone else go for you. Make sure your teen attends school
regularly and does his/her homework. Have
books in your home. Have a newspaper in the home if possible. If not, get the
free neighborhood one. Make reading an expected normal family activity. One
of the best ways to help your child read is to read to our child. It doesn’t
matter what age he/she is or what reading level he/she is at – read. Even if
it is just 5 minutes a day, it’s progress and it will help. Take the time.
Make the effort. If you are not home when your kids are, find someone who will
read to them for you. The
Center for the Study of Reading, state in their 1985 report, “Becoming A
Nation of Readers” that “The single most important activity for building the
knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to
children.” Have
your child retell the story to you. Read
the same book your teen is for English or Reading class. Talk about it! It’s a
way to keep your teen reading and communicating and it’s a way to build a
bridge for both of you. Don’t
make reading aloud and silent reading times a choice between reading and the TV.
The TV needs to be turned off during these times. Share
with your kids that reading has a purpose besides for taking tests. You can’t
get a job that means anything without reading. Share with your kids that reading
is fun. Just by opening a book, think of all the places you can go with your
child or the stories you will share. Reading allows you to learn to play a game,
do a puzzle, follow a recipe. Have
books around as much as possible. Public libraries are free to use. Have paper,
pencils, drawing supplies available for your teen, because writing and drawing
follow reading. Make a corner or a spot in your home that is just for reading.
It can be just a chair – but make a special place. Children
learn reading more readily in a constructive environment rather than in a
negative, constant correcting environment. Talk
with your children. They will learn language from hearing you speak, so there
needs to be conversations about anything and everything. Conversation and dialog
also means that everyone needs to learn how to truly listen – not just to the
words, but to the meanings behind the words. Write
notes to your children. Kids need to read in all different formats and sources. Remember
that the goal is not just for your teen to learn to read, but to help your teen
to become a reader. Often,
being able to read is a family issue, not just the issue of the teen. There are
places to help the entire family – some of which are listed at the end of this
section. Your first stop may be your child’s reading teacher or the librarian
at your local library. Literacy programs are free. Make
sure everyone in the family has their own library card – it’s free and so is
the borrowing. If you know how to read but you know of a child/family who is struggling, offer to help. It may just take reading aloud to a child a few minutes a day to make the difference.
 See Chapter 1 for more information and instructions. Click here for more information
Copyright © 2005 [Wildwood Country Press]. All rights reserved.
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