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Summer is coming which means the kids are going to want to ditch everything educational and spend most of their outdoors, and honestly, I don’t blame them. If you live in the Midwest like we do, you know that summer doesn’t last very long here so we really do need to take advantage of the full-blown summer months.
My only issue with summer is that when summer vacation comes around from school, so much is forgotten because of the two month break. That is part of the reason why we decided to become year round homeschoolers, amongst other reasons. With us being year round homeschoolers, there are certain things that we don’t really stop during the summer months; reading is one of those.
As a family who thoroughly enjoys books and reading, I have prioritized reading in our home even during June and July when we are not homeschooling as rigidly as we normally do. Today I’m going to be sharing with you some ways that I’m intentional with summer reading and what has helped us not leave it in the back burner.
Tips For Summer Reading
1. Prioritize family read aloud
Whether you begin the day or end the day with a read aloud, prioritizing the family time in this is so important. When something becomes a part of your family culture, it naturally unites the family just a little bit more. We especially enjoy cuddling up for family read aloud at the end of the day, right before bed.
2. Listen to audiobooks
Sometimes reading aloud can be exhausting, or you just might not enjoy reading aloud as much as you thought you would. In that case, you can never go wrong with playing an audiobook. I like to play audiobooks during car rides or downtime while painting, playing Legos or coloring. I personally enjoy listening to audiobooks while in the shower and I’ve been considering doing the same for the kids.
3. Make reading part of your daily summer schedule
Set a specific time during the day to ensure that everyone sits to read for at least 20 minutes a day. Of course, there are moments in the day where my kids will grab a book and go read by their own choice but, as year round homeschoolers, I make sure that there is a set time each day where everyone sits to read for a few minutes.
4. Choose books based on interest
Reading can easily feel like a chore if it’s a book they are not really interested in. Taking them to the library or a bookstore and letting them pick out books they like will help them enjoy reading so much more. In my experience, graphic novels have been a hit with younger readers.
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5. Start a children’s book club
Grab a group of friends, choose a book and then get together to talk about how they all liked or disliked it. I’ve personally had success many times with adult book clubs, but I can guarantee that having a children’s book club will probably be more fun filled with the kids.
6. Lead by example
Find books that you would enjoy reading and pickup reading as a hobby. Start carving out more time throughout the day to read. A lot of time, as stay at home moms, we tend to spend hours throughout the day scrolling through our phones of binge watching tv. Instead of our kids seeing us waste time that way, they’ll see us doing something that not only is enjoyable but also helps broaden our own imagination. The more they see us pick up a book to read, the more they will do the same thing.
7. Watch movie adaptations
After you finish reading the book, have a movie night and watch the adaptation. We love to read a good book and then watch the movie. For some reason, we all just enjoy the movie so much more when we remember a scene in the movie being in the book. It’s also a good educational time to talk about the differences between the two and find out which one they enjoy the most.
A few years ago, I hosted a collab on YouTube with other homeschool moms with some tips on how to get our kids to read during the summertime – that’s where I got the inspo for this post. Be sure to check out the video and subscribe to my channel for more homeschool videos!
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