Home schooling is growing at a remarkable pace. More parents are choosing to home school their kids for a variety of reasons. One of these is to direct the choice of curriculum materials that children use for learning purposes.
Parents who home school are not usually teachers, though some have taught in public or private school systems previously. Home schooled students are often expected to learn through a program of self-study that requires frequent reading assignments followed by problem solving and writing activities. Students who read well tend to excel, while those who are weak readers may struggle to work through a home schooling education program.
It is important for students enrolled in a home school curriculum to demonstrate mastery of strong reading comprehension and vocabulary skills. If you are uncertain about whether your child has developed reading competence that will lead to success in other disciplinary studies, here are a few activities you can add to your child's curriculum to ensure that he or she becomes a skilled reader.
1. Slow your child's pace. If he or she is rushing through the reading assignments and scoring lower than expected, encourage a slower reading pace. You may even want the material to be read twice to ensure comprehension. Ask your son or daughter if the meaning is clear before moving on to the next assignment.
2. Discuss the reading assignment. Prepare a few questions about the assigned story or reading. When your child completes the reading portion, ask the questions to see if he or she truly understands what has been read. If not, discuss main points and themes to help your student get a feel for what to look for next time.
3. Suggest the two-way reading method. You may want to recommend that your child skim the material first for topic points or main ideas. Perhaps these should be written down for reference afterward. Then suggest a second reading to allow your child to fill in some of the details about each main point. Creating an outline can help a reader grasp the overall structure and supporting details.
4. Provide supplemental reading materials. Buy or borrow fun, easy to understand books from the bookstore or library. You can assign these as extra credit or pay your child a penny or two a page to read them. Hopefully the reading habit will become so enjoyable that payment will not be required for long.
5. Use visual supplements. Link reading assignments to pictures, posters, or film as visual support. Some kids are visual learners, meaning they can process ideas better when they are linked to a spatial or visible form. Have your child read an assignment and then draw a picture to depict a scene or character.
6. Model a reading habit. Let your children catch you reading books or magazines as well as Web ezines or online material. Speak highly, if casually, of reading in adult life. Take them to the library or to book fairs. Establish a family reading time where one reads aloud to the others or each reads an individual item. Discuss your latest reads over dinner.
Home schooled children often become strong readers because so much of your learning depends on reading workbooks and home-based materials. Give your child a solid foundation in reading skills by planning a few activities like those above to enrich his or her appreciation for ideas in print form.
