Let’s start with the facts before we continue another moment. Reading is of critical importance to every single human being. The list of benefits could go on forever. When people, especially children, don’t read or get read to, there are lasting consequences. According to the Department of Education, the more students read or are read to for fun on their own time and at home, the higher their reading scores. This is one of the many reasons that Creating A Valuable Home Library is so important to your family.
We must make a conscious effort to display books in every room of our homes. This can be decorative, on bookshelves, in baskets, book stacks, or bins. Our families must have access to books and books about varied subject matters to facilitate reading. If your books are hidden away in a closet there are no visual cues to read. My suggestion is to hide the television in a large armoire and make sure to close the doors. Bring the books out…
Reading and being read aloud has an impact that extends beyond just hearing stories. Books enrich our lives, allow us to travel to places in our imagination, and encourage us to create. C.S. Lewis says it best though, “We read to know we are not alone.”. A home library is valuable for our growth as created beings. Even collecting rare vintage books no longer in publication adds to the beauty of a reading life.
Creating A Valuable Home Library
Isn’t it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about?
It just makes me feel glad to be alive–it’s such an interesting world. It wouldn’t
be half so interesting if we knew all about everything, would it?
There’d be no scope for imagination then, would there?
-Anne of Green Gables
I read in a book once that a rose
by any other name would smell as sweet,
but I’ve never been able to believe it. I don’t believe
a rose WOULD be as nice if it was called
a thistle or a skunk cabbage.
– Anne of Green Gables
Here are just a few statistics from the Literacy Project…
- The number of books in the home correlates significantly with higher reading scores for children.
- Students who choose what they read and have an informal environment in which to read tend to be more motivated, read more, and show greater language and literacy development.
- Children who are read to at least three times a week by a family member are almost twice as likely to score in the top 25% in reading compared to children who are read to less than 3 times a week.
- Higher reading exposure was 95% positively correlated with a growing region supporting semantic language processing in the brain.
- The most important aspect of parent talk is its amount. Mothers who frequently speak to their infants have their children learn almost 300 more words by age 2 than children whose mothers rarely speak to them. Simultaneously, children learn the grammatical syntax and the social nuances around communication in their community.
Are you looking for book recommendations? Please click HERE!
YOUR TURN…
I would love to hear your ideas about creating your own Home Library.
Peacefully Yours,
Janelle
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