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Instilling the Love of Learning by Reading

November 1, 2011 by Jaimi Erickson 7 Comments

Ready to have the ENERGY to be the best mom you can be? Get started! Thanks for stopping by!

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How do we teach our children to love learning? By reading to them when they are young. Reading with a parent teaches children to love learning.

Starting in infancy, when your child is home with you, you are able to devote so much one-on-one time to them and with them.  They learn that they are important; they learn that they have something to contribute to you.

I feel important when another adult takes the time to talk with me and focus on what I have to say; it is not different with children.

They relish the focus of a parent. The bond created is life-long. There are no other children to distract you from them (if it’s your first child), and even if you have other children, the sibling attention struggle is nothing compared to that of one adult in a room taking care of 10-12 children in child care centers. (Home daycares have a lower ratio.)  Also, siblings know they are on the ‘same team,  so to speak, despite the rivalry that shows at times.

When your children are home, you can start ‘teaching’ with their interest and expand the exploration far beyond what a curriculum guide would direct.

 

Lessons (aka areas of interest) can reach for depth as well.  There is no ‘curriculum guide’ for SAHMs.  This means your teaching at home can span and dive into as many topics and depths of study as you and your child desire.

 

When I was teaching, the children whose mothers stayed home were more ready to learn.  Many of their basic skills were ‘developing’ to ‘secure’ (knowledge of the alphabet, writing their name, counting, one-to-one-correspondence, taking turns, patience) at three years old.

 

I was teaching 4 year olds to read sight words rather than to cut paper, sing the ‘ABCs’ and point to a number when you say it (one-to-one correspondence) because their parents had taught them skills and lessons at home.  They followed the interests and skill levels of their children to explore as wide and deep into a subject as the child’s attention and cognitive ability allowed.

At home, you can turn the finding of an acorn into a research project.  There is no set scope for what your child can learn; there is no timeframe to teach other than your regular day in between meals and chores.

Most likely your research will involve reading about the topic of study, or item of interest. Your child may sit on your lap, or cuddle next to you on the couch.

Think of this association:  If reading stems from his/her interest, and reading a book involves the security and comfort of mom’s (or dad’s) lap, then books will be related to physical relaxation AND intellectual stimulation.

Once children realize that reading can open up knowledge, and be comforting, learning becomes a ‘love’ or a ‘want’ in a good way.  Forever your child will relate reading to fun and interesting times and not to forceful, stressful feelings.

Read to your children at an early age.
I started reading to each of my children the day we got home from the hospital. We were not reading or looking at a book for many minutes, just a few here and there in between feedings and naps.

 

My children truly love books.

 

Reading sparks interest and increases depth of knowledge teaching the joy of finding out what they do not yet know. When reading becomes a desire, there is increased capacity for learning.  You will have a little researcher before he/she even enters elementary school!

 

Board Books for Babies at Amazon:

Read to your child: instill the love of learning.

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Filed Under: activities, motherhood, parenting Tagged With: learning, pre-reading, reading

Trackbacks

  1. Teach Kids How to Make Friends | The Stay-at-Home-Mom Survival Guide says:
    March 15, 2021 at 4:08 pm

    […] can learn anything. That is a homeschool mom motto. I think it rings true now that I have learned how to teach children how to read and love […]

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  2. Chemistry Activities for Kids: Multi-Age Learning Unit | The Stay-at-Home-Mom Survival Guide says:
    September 6, 2020 at 10:59 am

    […] Reading to children helps make learning calm, fun, and can often explain big concepts in simple ways. I combined books we had, books I ordered for this learning unit, and books I found at the library to round out our learning. […]

    Reply
  3. Exposure to Print: Make a Word Wall - The Stay-at-Home-Mom Survival Guide says:
    November 23, 2016 at 3:19 pm

    […] stage of reading development.  They are seeing words, hearing words in conversation, being exposed to books and reading, magazines, catalogs, etc. These young children are learning the importance and necessity of […]

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  4. How Dads Can Connect with Kids - The Stay-at-Home-Mom Survival Guide says:
    June 9, 2016 at 2:34 pm

    […] own, but the younger two are still eager for lap time. It is such an important connection that reinforces a love of reading thanks to physical […]

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  5. 7 Tips to Encourage Reading and Writing Skills in Young Children - The Stay-at-Home-Mom Survival Guide says:
    January 20, 2016 at 12:54 pm

    […] to them. Lots. When you are reading to your child put your finger under each word. They will, of course, at the beginning, be looking at the […]

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  6. 20+ Toddler Activities to do at Home - The Stay-at-Home-Mom Survival Guide says:
    September 10, 2015 at 12:18 pm

    […] Some toddlers can sit and listen to books, so remember how important that is to instill the love of learning even at such a young […]

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  7. Crash Course in Child Development: Toddlers - The Stay-at-Home-Mom Survival Guide says:
    August 31, 2015 at 12:29 pm

    […] and activities for toddlers,  read these: 45+ Activities for Toddlers Instilling the Love of Learning by Reading Personalized Songs that […]

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I pictured myself as a mom of boys before having m I pictured myself as a mom of boys before having my babies. I have learned so much from all my children but having my girls is a blessing I never knew I needed. 

Want to eliminate mean girls? Raise daughters to do the opposite.

Want to teach women to better communicate with each other? Raise daughters to listen and articulate.

They are my own little girl group and I am grateful for it. They love me on my bad days and give me compliments I do not even deserve. 

I do love being the mom of girls (and boys). They both teach me so much. 

What are the top lessons you wish girls would learn before becoming adults? 

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Will you be spending time with family for Easter? Will you be spending time with family for Easter? 

My husband’s parents have arrived - adding one more big dog to our house and lots of crafts and fun. We have not seen them since June. Everyone is excited to spend time together.

Both of my big kids have birthdays and we will all get to spend time at the beach this month. Our school work will morph into field trips so we soak up every day we can being present with family. 

I am looking forward to making memories, soaking in time together and celebrating two milestone birthdays - one happening tomorrow. 💛 

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🌟The faces we make when a Costco run with all t 🌟The faces we make when a Costco run with all the kids actually goes well!!! 🌟 

Ice cream after helped of course. 😂

All prepped for my in-laws coming to visit us after not seeing them since our move last summer. Looking forward to some fun events ahead that will make my kids think they are on spring break but they will technically be field trip days. Check, check. 

Are you guys on spring break this week? What do you have planned?

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Some days you put on the 10 year old comfy jeans, Some days you put on the 10 year old comfy jeans, fill your mind with encouragement and just keep moving forward. 

Recovery days are not just for working out. They are for the mental state we walk around with too. Yesterday felt heavy. My God is a power lifter and takes the burden away. 

Today will be better.

Today we will rest and refocus.

Hooray for comfy jeans, motivational graphics and the Word to focus on through it all. 

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🌟That Face!!🌟 That little boy is soon to t 🌟That Face!!🌟 

That little boy is soon to turn 13, guys! I mean in a few weeks. 😅

This is a throwback but brings back so many fun memories. 

—————————————

I love creating activities and crafts on the fly. Always have even before my kids were here.

I noticed that my son did not have a lot of little toy people to play with while he was pretending one day. We have a few cylinder blocks in a set. We never used them when we built. I thought we could turn them into little DIY toy people. 

They were so cute and easy to make. It was a preschool art project for him. We made them together.

If you don’t have wooden cylindrical blocks at home, you can use pieces of wood dowel or even a few square blocks glued together. You can even make DIY toy people out of toilet paper tubes. 

🌟Full details through Blog link in bio 🌟

——————————————

I am so excited and yet in complete shock by how fast these little lives grow. I have never missed moments and I am so so grateful especially as we approach the teen years in my house. 💛 Soak up even the hard days of being a mom. TOTALLY worth it. 

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👌 There are a lot of parenting opinions out the 👌 There are a lot of parenting opinions out there. I try to ignore a lot of them. 😂 

My kids stay up later than most recommend, but so did I when I was a kid. 

She loves to read. She loves to write. Abby writes plays, journal entries, songs and on a bad day she will write her feelings about it all, in depth, no holds barred. 

This night she was trying to finish up a play - setting, character details, order of lines - for a play she made for her younger sister. 

I am so thankful that we can count her love of writing in her free time as school work. I am so thankful that how we do school allows this passion and talent to thrive. She has stacks of drawings, plays and writing blurbs. They are all precious to her.

There are days I question whether this choice or that choice is right or “approved,” but it does not matter when I see my children dive deep into the things they love. 

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Give me my people any day. Family time this Sund Give me my people any day. 

Family time this Sunday was a 5k fundraiser race. We helped raise 💵 for the spouses’ club scholarship fund. Scholarships will be awarded for post secondary education to military kids and spouses. 

If you can choose any action in life, choose to help others. Side bonus when it involves fun family time together.

Best day yet. 💛💛💛

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💛 Friday Introductions💛 It has been a while 💛 Friday Introductions💛

It has been a while since I did a good run-down here to give ya the cliffs notes (are those still a thing) version of me. 👋 

💛 Detroit-born a few blocks from where Eminem lived. The city is still my hometown despite moving away as a kid.

💛 I am a big believer in traditional values, but with a modern woman twist. My husband drives his career and I drive this household.

💛 We live in eastern NC 30 mins from the beach. I want to stay here forever, truly, but military life will come to an end some day...still don’t know specifically when that will be.

💛Born and raised to be a planner, Type A personality, having 4 kids beat that out of me 🤣 and I am very “day at a time” now. 

💛I was a teacher turned stay at home mom turned blogger turned entrepreneur that had to set it all on the back burner a bit to focus on homeschooling my kids. I can only have so much on my plate and complete it successfully. (When we listen, God guides and is loud and clear with His direction. 💛)

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💛I believe that true peace, value and love all come from Jesus. 

You will find me sharing the ups AND the downs of motherhood, wife life, homeschooling and being a Christian woman with the modern day pull to fight what that can mean. (There is def a force trying to convince us to push those values aside, my friends.)

👌What is the cliffs notes version of you? What do you want people to know/realize most of all?

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🌟Teaching Kids to Make Friends🌟 Often our c 🌟Teaching Kids to Make Friends🌟

Often our children learn hard lessons when they have to move to a new state or school. 

My kids have become all too familiar with this through military life. Every three years they have to make new friends.

It is not always simple.

As a child, my family moved a lot. We were not military, but in junior high I moved to a new state and had to make all new friends.

This was a challenging and even to some extent a traumatic time of life.

Being the new kid, is a humbling experience. Suddenly you are hoping that your peers will want to get to know you and like you. It creates some self-consciousness.

Reading is such a beneficial way to teach children about life lessons. It teaches much more than that. It teaches self esteem through the cuddle time. It teaches language skills, and it teaches children to use their minds to be creative.

As they have grown and navigated more friendships, books are a resource for us to discuss tough challenges. I have found a great series of books that present friendship challenges and help children learn to navigate them.

It just so happens that the author is my neighbor too! How cool is that?! Moms are amazing.

These books will be treasured by your family for their quality values. The @stingrayjelly series teach children how to make friends and navigate friendships to love others well and support them through shared similarities and recognized differences.

Author, Lauren Giannella is a military wife and my neighbor! Anna Perdue is the illustrator and also a military child. 

Read my blog post for details on each book and links to purchase through @barnesandnoble 

We love our military community and all they do to give back.

What are your favorite children’s books that teach children how to make friends or help them maneuver through tough life challenges?

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