Read-Aloud Revival ®

Do your kids read for fun in high school? According to Dr. Daniel Willingham in Raising Kids Who Read, the average high schooler reads 6 minutes per day for pleasure. What that really means, he explains, is that a few kids read for pleasure quite a lot… and most don’t read for pleasure at all.Karen recently called in to ask me what my own kids read for fun in high school… and I’ve got lots of suggestions in this post!In this episode, you’ll hear:deciding what goal you have for your high schooler’s reading lifewhether high school reading should be “hard”tons of recommendations from my teens and adult children (weird, I now have 2 of those!)Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/203/.

If you have a child who struggles with sad stories…a child who gets really uncomfortable when bad things happen and wants you to stop reading (or wants to stop reading themselves)… then this episode is for you.And actually, it’s for them, too! In fact, it’s an episode you might like to listen to with your kids.In this episode, you’ll hear:What to do if your kids get upset while reading sad storiesWhy you can predict what terrible thing might be coming (and when in the story it’ll happen)What the author is doing and whyHow to help your kids hang on to the story, and get all the way through to the hopeFind the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/202/.

Are you or your kids feeling overwhelmed by a long book list? Today I’m sharing how reading fewer books (yup!) can help our kids love books more.Yep. We’re going to talk about reading fewer books. What could it mean for your kids’ reading lives (and yours too!), to focus on reading fewer books and making the time spent reading them more enjoyable and richer?Maybe even to have a reading life that is rich, relaxed, and leisurely? If you or your kids are overwhelmed by a long book list, this sounds pretty great, right?Tune in or read on to hear:The difference between reading a book and completing a bookWhy my own kids don’t track the number of books readHow to make time for (quite possibly) the best kind of readingFind the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/201/.

We’re just a little excited here at RAR this week.First, it’s our 200th episode! 🥳And second, it’s March, which here in the northern hemisphere meets *melting*. It also means a new season, and it’s a great time to name what matters, and set some intentions for how we want to finish out this homeschool year.This week, the whole team will walk you through a simple process we’ve been using here at RAR in order to name what matters – and how to get there.In this episode, you’ll hear:How to name what matters most this spring Your FREE cheat sheet to making a plan for your own homeschool that’s doableAnd … what we’re reading this spring! 📚🌱Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/200/.

Every year, our Read-Aloud Revival Team watches the American Library Association Youth Media Awards together.These are the official awards of ALA. Some you’ll recognize, like the Caldecott, the Newbery and the Coretta Scott King Awards. But others are not quite as well known …The ALA Youth Media Awards honor books that have been published in the previous year, so this year’s awards ceremony in January 2022 was honoring books that had been published in the year 2021 only.For this episode the RAR team gathered together to talk about the announcements that made us cheer, the familiar faces that we loved seeing win, and … …just a few books that we think should have gotten some ALA love. 😉Tune in to hear:about our favorite book winners and people who took home honorsother books published in 2021 that the RAR team lovestons of book recommendations! (Don’t worry – they’re all linked below!)Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/199/.

“Which curriculum should I use?” It’s the question I get asked most often. I suspect there’s another layer just underneath the surface of that question. A layer that sounds a bit like, “I’m tired. I’m overwhelmed. I don’t want to screw this up. Can you just tell me which curriculum is the best, so I don’t mess this really important thing up?”At least, that’s the kind of thing that went through my mind back in my early homeschooling days, when I asked that question myself.I’m answering this very question on today’s podcast episode. Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/198/.

If you’re reading this, I’m guessing you want to read more, but are struggling to do it as much as you’d like. It can be a real challenge to find time to read for pleasure in your already busy day. I get it!On today’s episode of the Read-Aloud Revival, I’m sharing all my best tips to help you read more, ditch the guilt (this is part of your job, right?), and fall back in love with your own reading life.In this episode you’ll hear…what to do when you’re in a season of it feeling impossible to cultivate your own reading lifehow to find time to read (really!)how to get some recommendations from me Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/197/.

Shouldn’t helping our kids love reading be the point of literature education? So why is it that most kids enjoy reading less and less, the further they get into their school years? And why do we insist on using literature curriculum when we know it doesn’t help our kids fall more in love with books? Today I want to share an easier, simpler, more delightful (and less expensive!) path to giving our kids a fantastic and enjoyable literary education.On today’s podcast, I dive into why it’s OK to ditch formal literature curriculum, and a better model for moving forwardIn this episode: our true goal for a solid literary educationwhat I do instead of using a literature curriculumwhy reading for academic ‘success’ is kind of defeating the purposeFind the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/196/.

Stressed about getting to all the books you want to read? Wondering how you can possibly read as many books as you’d like to with your kids? On today’s episode of the Read-Aloud Revival, I’m talking about that all-too-familiar feeling of “So many books, so little time!” If you’ve ever felt that way, this one is for you!In this episode you’ll hear…how many books should we be aiming for, anyway?what’s the best way to prioritize what to read next?is re-reading worth the time, when there are still so many books we haven’t ever read?Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/195/.

If your inbox is anything like mine, you might be experiencing a little “you-need-to-buy-this-for-Christmas” fatigue.I always like to remind myself that Christmas will come and the Baby King will be born, no matter what I buy or don’t. No matter what I get checked off on my merry-making list . . .. . . or don’t.No. Matter. What.Goodness, what good news that is. 🥰Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/blessings-pressed-down-shaken-together/.