Mike Smith:
While our kids text message and play video games, good books are getting dusty on the shelf. With me today is author and speaker Richard Grant, who is trying to reinforce his family’s love of reading. Thank you for joining me on Home School Heartbeat, Richard!

Richard Grant:
Mike, it is wonderful being with you today. Thank you for having me!

Mike:
Well, you’re welcome. Richard, you’ve come up with a few ways parents can increase their children’s love of reading—can you name a few?

Richard:
One of the most important gifts a parent can give a child is the love of reading. If a student loves to read, virtually the whole world is open to them. The way to instill a love of reading is by reading.

There are a number of things a parent can do. Parents can read aloud to their children. I call this SOR: sustained oral reading. Parents can schedule family times where everybody reads—Mom, Dad, the kids, everybody. I call this USSR: uninterrupted silent sustained reading. Parents can go to the library and find books on subjects that already interest their kids. For instance, if their kids love sports, choose books about sports.

When my kids were younger, I made a point of reading aloud to them every night and telling them stories. They especially loved the stories. Those stories have been published now as a two-book series called Silverglade, and a three-book series called Goldenrod. These books are the kind of books you can use to give your kids a love of reading simply by reading.

Mike:
Well, Richard, those are great ideas! Thank you for sharing them. Until next time, I’m Mike Smith.