Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Story Time

Everyone likes to hear a story!
Maybe that's why story time is one of the best parts of our day.
Every day, (currently this happens right after lunch, but we occasionally rearrange our schedule for variety and simplicity) we put aside personal school work and gather everyone together. The children often bring clip boards and paper so they can draw, or yarn for crafts.  I bring a big file box.  We get cozy and story time begins. 

Story time is when we learn together.  It's when we enjoy great literature together.  It's also when the children narrate. 

First we recite the memory scripture or poem that we are all learning together.  Right now we are memorizing The Living Christ, so we recite the new part--and on Mondays we recite the whole thing before adding another new part.

Next we spend a little while reading from a variety of books, and right now, it's grammar on Monday, music history and poetry on Tues, geography on Wed, etc.

Then we read our science books.  The children do alot of science research on their own and then on Fridays they share and we experiment, but daily we read a little on the science topic to engender enthusiasm and give them a broad understanding in preparation for their own more in-depth studies.

Lastly we read history.  This is the part that can go on and on--because we love it.  We usually have an overview of the era- type-book that we are reading, a couple of picture books for the little children to enjoy, and then our historical novel.  The little ones sometimes wander away by then, but if the book is good most everyone wants to be there.  The children take turns narrating back what we've read after everything but our novel--that's supposed to be pure fun, though we're actually learning lots there, too.

Sharing these books together unifies us.  Though the children are also reading history books on their own, we feel like we are all learning together because we're on the same topic and sharing some of the same books.

One more thing we are adding now to our story time is a few minutes for the children to share what they've written that day.

I don't think anyone's too old to be read to. When my husband happens to be around for story time he has a hard time leaving and getting back to work! Story time could happen anytime of day, and you could read about any topic.  But don't miss the opportunity of sharing books together, no matter how old your children are.