Hearing words spoken aloud is necessary for a child’s early development, and reading to your child can be a beautiful shared experience for both of you. Parents are usually already aware of the importance of reading to a child until they can read on their own, but Cindy Miller argues that this practice should be continued throughout a child’s education. She recounts five main benefits of reading aloud, drawing from The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease, and shares how this has enriched her own family’s homeschooling experience. Cindy also provides a list of titles and resources to help you find good books for reading aloud, available here.
| 1. | Jenny Ginter’s Introduction |  |
| 2. | Cindy Miller’s Introduction | |
| 3. | Reading at the Miller House | |
| 4. | Early Development | |
| 5. | Continued Benefits of Reading Aloud | |
| 6. | BENEFIT 1 Empathy | |
| 7. | BENEFIT 2 Academic Performance | |
| 8. | BENEFIT 3 Fluency and Expression | |
| 9. | BENEFIT 4 Community | |
| 10. | BENEFIT 5 Enriched Time | |
| 11. | Q&A How do I find engaging books? | |
| 12. | Q&A What if my kids are different ages? | |
| 13. | Q&A Christianity and choosing books | |
| 14. | Q&A What about poetry? | |
| 15. | Q&A What about writing? | |
| 16. | Q&A Do you ask your kids to read aloud? | |
| 17. | Q&A How much time do you spend reading aloud? | |
| 18. | Conclusion | |
Cindy Miller
Even before she had reached kindergarten, Cindy Miller had become a voracious reader and a lover of the written word. That love for reading has come in handy as she’s taught her own nine children over the past 28 years. For 16 of those years she has shared her passion for literature and writing with the homeschool community through teaching in co-ops and in the One Day Enrichment program.