The Sequoia Breeze

Rebecca: You may have tangible wealth untold caskets of jewels and coffers of gold richer than I you can never be I had a mother who read to Me welcome listeners, to this episode of the Sequoia Breeze Podcast, a breath of fresh air for your home school. I am your host, Rebecca LaSavio. The day has finally come when we are going to talk about reading aloud to your kids, a subject that is near and dear to my heart and that I have been looking forward to sharing with you for a long time.

Peter: Hello, this is Peter Savio.

Rebecca: How old are you?

Peter: Five.

Rebecca: Peter, do you like it when we read aloud together?

Aimee: Yes.

Rebecca: Why? What do you like?

Peter: Because I just like sitting next to.

Rebecca: You, like cuddling together? Yeah. What's one of your favorite books to read? Billy goes gruffs graph. I want to start off with a quote. I actually just heard from Andrew Pudewa, the creator of the Institute for Excellence in Writing, and he said, I really believe if you wanted to do something to try and improve education in the United States, the first thing you would do is teach parents how to read with their kids every day. Because that's at the core of everything else that'll happen. I agree. I think that no matter whether your kids are little or big, that reading aloud changes so much and provides so many opportunities. It's also said that reading aloud with children is known to be the single most important activity for building the knowledge and skills they will eventually require for learning to read. So if your kids are little, that's the best thing you can do for them because it will provide them with such an understanding of words and language and sentences and then expand their vocabulary, begin to recognize when they're very little, first they understand about turning the page. They will start to notice all of the different words on the page. And as they begin to actually learn their letters, they can identify those. Plus, in the early days, they can recognize the sequence of a story through the pictures. There's so many skills that are learned simply through reading aloud. For beginning readers, J. K. Rawling said, I will defend the importance of bedtime stories to my last gasp. And I think that touches on more than just the academic aspect of reading aloud, but some of the social and relational benefits that come from it. And so I'd like to talk about a lot of those different things today, and I will try and give it to you in as organized away as I can. So Aimee, you are almost twelve.

Aimee: Yes.

Rebecca: And we've been reading aloud for your whole life.

Aimee: Yeah.

Rebecca: Do you enjoy doing that together?

Aimee: Yeah, I really do.

Rebecca: Did I tell you you had to say that?

Aimee: No.

Rebecca: So why do you think it's important for you and our family?

Aimee: Because sometimes our lives are really hectic and I really enjoy just being able to sit down and count on having this one thing every day and being able to read aloud together and have some time together.

Rebecca: So why do I get so excited about reading aloud? Some of the benefits include vocabulary. Kids can learn words and understand words and speak words that they won't be able to read for a long time, long before they are able to read those words on a page. They can know what they mean, and as they get older and start to read, they can find a word that might look complicated and realize, oh, I know this word, and it can really increase their understanding and their ability to express themselves. My kids pop out with big vocabulary words all the time, and it still surprises me. And sometimes they get them wrong. Sometimes they use a word incorrectly, and that just gives us a chance first. It often gives us a big laugh, but it can then also give us a chance to correct that word. And now they have two new words in their vocabulary that they understand more thoroughly. One of the other things I love about reading aloud is how much it can expand the world of your kids while you're reading. And if we're honest, it can expand our own world because we are also participating in these stories that might be about different cultures and different places and different times and different people and how people think that aren't us and we can understand so much more of what is out there and what is available to us. Mark, do you enjoy reading aloud as a family? Is that important to you?

Mark: Sometimes I really, really enjoy it. Sometimes there's a book that I kind of get bored and don't really understand very much. But yeah, most of the time I enjoy it.

Rebecca: Why is it important to you? What is it about reading aloud together that matters?

Mark: When the books are interesting, I really love to listen to them. I love to hear the story.

Rebecca: And would you rather listen to a book on a recorded book or listen to me read it?

Mark: I think I'd rather listen to you.

Rebecca: Why?

Mark: Because I like you better than YouTubers.

Rebecca: Do you think you've learned a lot from the books that we read aloud?

Mark: Well, the ones when you've just the couch time, sometimes I learn things, but when we just do core, which is when you read to me, I just enjoy the stories. I don't really.

Rebecca: When we read Red Sales to Capri, did you learn anything from that book? Did you already know about Capri and the surprise that island holds?

Mark: No, I did not know about that.

Rebecca: Could you have imagined a boy's life being like his life before you read that story?

Mark: No, not really.

Rebecca: So maybe while you enjoyed the story, you learned something yup.

Mark: Without realizing it.

Rebecca: And so what was been one of your favorite books that we've read.

Mark: I'm not sure I've enjoyed, like, all of them.

Rebecca: Name one. It doesn't have to be your favoriteest ever, but just one you've enjoyed.

Mark I like Wheel on the School a lot. That was a fun one.

Rebecca: That was a good one, wasn't it? And another one where we probably couldn't have imagined those kids lives before we read that living in that little Dutch village. Yeah, and their whole life revolves around the sea on the other side of the dyke. That was pretty interesting, wasn't it? Through that, one of my favorite reasons to read aloud is the connection time. And I'm confident that that's my kids favorite part about it as well. They love stories, they love books, they read on their own, but they love to read aloud. It's their favorite part of home schooling, and it's mine too. If we are too busy one day or something goes wrong and we haven't read aloud together, I feel it. I usually feel that that day didn't feel like a successful day of school or it felt chaotic because the time that we spend on the couch reading together is a time when all of us relax and sort of come down from the rush. And I try not to let my phone interrupt us. I try not to let the kids interrupt and we all just can go and take this adventure or hear this story together. While I don't think there's anything wrong with audio books, I tend to avoid them most of the time because I know myself, because I know that if we're listening to an audiobook together, I will fold laundry or clean the kitchen or make dinner or do something else while we're listening. And I know that they need and I need me to sit down and be present with them and be on the couch together. And so most of the time I try to pick up the book myself and read it. There are times when it makes more sense to listen to that audiobook together. Sometimes we've done that on a road trip. Right now we're actually listening to a guy on YouTube read aloud a book during lunch. I've heard lots of people say, read when your kids are mouths are busy and read over lunch or read over breakfast. And I've always kind of wondered when mom gets to eat lunch if you do that. So right now it just makes practical sense that we're doing that. So those are some other options. But I also really, really value the time that comes with the connection of sitting down together to read those books. One of the main social emotional benefits to reading books together is the empathy that that can develop in your kids as they have a chance to see what life is like through the eyes of somebody else. To realize that somebody else's life can look completely different from mine in a completely different place. And yet they feel the same things that I feel their ability to empathize with others around them grows tremendously. It's not so hard for them to imagine what somebody else might feel when they've been inside the story of somebody else's life so many times and seeing how somebody else might feel the same thing and react differently, or somebody else might react poorly to a situation, not because of that situation, but because of something that's happening in the background. And it all just helps kids grow emotionally and grow empathetically to understand those around them so much better. I keep saying that each of these different benefits to reading aloud is my favorite, but they are. Another of my favorite benefits to reading aloud is how it gives us words and context for our own experiences. It can help our kids learn words to express or things that they are feeling or to be able to ask about things that are happening around them. Sometimes kids feel and notice things, but they don't have the vocabulary to put into words why is this happening to me? Or Why are they upset about that? Or I feel like this because of this. And they just don't have the vocabulary to describe what can be really big emotions inside of them. And that often can happen to us as adults as well. We all go through times that we just don't understand why we're so upset about something or what to do now that this other thing has happened. There are so many times when particularly when we run across a situation of grief. Grief is really hard to get our minds around. It doesn't fit inside our lives, it doesn't fit inside our feelings, it doesn't fit inside of our minds. So what are we supposed to do with that? And because it's such a large and difficult topic, it's not hard to find books where grief plays a significant role. Because the reality is none of us are going to avoid grief all of our lives. And so I have found books with my kids to be a really valuable tool for that. My kids have experienced various forms of grief in their lives and so reading books together has allowed us to put words to a lot of that or to even just to sometimes there aren't words and sometimes you can just listen to somebody else's experience and nod and cry a little and give each other a hug and know that somebody else has been there. Somebody else has felt these big feelings. Somebody else has struggled with that thing. And that helps because we all want to know that we aren't alone. For a large part of my girl's childhood, my husband and I were working with some kids who had experience various and extreme forms of abuse. And while my kids do not know the details of that, they felt it in the kids behavior, in their reactions to things. And we discovered the book the war that Saved My Life, which is a great chapter book about a girl who experienced significant abuse at the hands of her mother and then found an escape. And much of the book is actually about her attempt to try and understand the rest of life through her abused lens. And my girls and I listen to that on a road trip and I would pause it frequently and say, oh, she didn't understand the words that people were using in that situation because she hadn't ever gone to school. And so she misunderstood. And do you see how she reacted like that? And remember when so and so did that, or because nobody has ever cared for her and loved her the way that they're supposed to? She didn't respond well. She responded with anger instead of giving the love she actually wants to back. And we were able to put words to things that the My Girls had seen and felt but didn't really understand, even without going into nittygritty details of things. So books can really help articulate big things in small children's lives. So, Anna, you are 14 now. Do you still enjoy reading aloud together as a family?

Anna: I do, very much.

Rebecca: Yeah. Even though you're fully capable of reading your own books? And I've read plenty of them.

Anna: Yeah.

Rebecca: Why do you enjoy reading aloud? Or rather being read too?

Anna: I really enjoy the stories that we read. I never would have picked any of those up on my own, and so that's really fun. Yeah, the stories are all just really good.

Rebecca: Do you think our family would be different if we didn't read aloud together?

Anna: Probably, yeah. I think that reading aloud just like, has us together and gets us used.

Rebecca: To each other, sort of gives us quality time together.

Anna: Yeah, that's it.

Rebecca: So what are some of the stories that you have really enjoyed?

Anna: Two of my favorites are probably the Shadow Spinner. The shadow spinner and I wrote a horse of milkwide jade So both of.

Rebecca: Those we read in the same year. And they are both about very old times, aren't they? The Shadow Spinner is about the tales of Shahrazad in ancient Arabia. And I wrote a horse of milk. White Jade was Mongolia, I believe. Mongolia, yeah. I think in the time of one of the cons, but I don't remember which one. Do you think you've learned a lot through the books that we've read over the years?

Anna: Yeah, I've learned a lot about different cultures.

Rebecca: And do you think that you have learned to understand feelings better? Like found ways to explain how you feel because somebody in a book felt a similar way?

Anna: Maybe. I can't think of any times right now, but that's possible. Yeah. Another book I just remembered that I really liked was the war that saved my life. I remember that one, too.

Rebecca: That was a long time ago. It was a while ago. What do you remember about that. What stands out to you about the war that saved my life?

Anna: I don't really know. The story was just really compelling, and I think that we knew some people who were going through the same thing that she was, right?

Rebecca: Yeah. I think it helped us understand better, or it helped you guys specifically understand better why some of the kids around you behaved the way that they did, didn't it?

Anna: Yeah.

Rebecca: I remember that road trip when we read that being pretty influential. When my kids are grown, I hope that they will say that our home school gave them a solid education. But I hope even more that the memory of math teachers will fade and that they'll hold as precious the hours that we spent together on the couch, exploring the world, learning about those that came before us, having adventures and occasionally even crying. I hope they will never question the ability to come to me and talk about difficult things in their lives or issues that they might be confused about, because we will already have talked about so many situations and topics that arose in the books that we read. Instead of droning on myself for an entire half an hour, I also thought that it would be wonderful to hear from my fellow family liaison, Morgan Stout, about her experience with reading aloud with her kids on their home school journey. Welcome, Morgan. Why do you read aloud with your kids?

Morgan: It started because my oldest son heats worksheets, but he loves to read with me. So when I found out there was a history curriculum that we could incorporate reading, I was really curious how it would work. But it's been absolutely wonderful, and it's a new way to learn about science and history for us. How it works before history, is there's a more technical book, like an encyclopedia in a nonfiction chapter book or a picture book, and you read stories, and then you go back and study the lifestyle and times of the characters. And then we also have a timeline in a globe to record when and where these events are happening. I really wish that I had this style of learning when I was in school because it's hard to remember dates, but it's easy to remember people's personal stories. I think it gets to the heart of history, where you are thankful for the ideas and the hard things that people did to get us to where we are today. And we can also develop empathy by placing ourselves in their shoes. When we talk about science, reading is visual, and it helps my kids to grasp those abstract ideas, and you compare them with videos and discussion worksheets as well.

Rebecca: So you spend a lot of time in your house, not just reading because, hey, let's read a book, but it has a real point to it. You have a goal in mind, right?

Morgan: I think we do a little bit of both, but reading for a purpose has been great for home school.

Rebecca: What benefits have you seen in your family through this experience, aside from the academic piece?

Morgan: I think reading together helps us to bond as a family. My boys and I have been staying up later to read together after my toddler has gone to bed, and I think it brings us closer sometimes. As a mom, I'm tapped out by the end of the day, but I really want to spend time with my kids, and it's a great way to wind down and do something enjoyable together without a lot of effort from me.

Rebecca: So you're getting some of your school time in disguised as cuddle time, and it's not during eight to two school day, right?

Morgan: Exactly.

Rebecca: That seems like a win win. Have you had any struggles with reading aloud with your kids?

Morgan: I think the only struggles that I have is from me if I'm really so tired that I don't feel like reading. And sometimes we get really into the book and they want me to keep reading, so by the third or fourth chapter, I'm pretty much done.

Rebecca: So is it worth it?

Morgan: I think it's worth it. They'll remember this, I think. I remember the times that I read with my mom and I remember my favorite books and it was such a treasured time. And I think if you know how to read well, you can expose yourself to all sorts of ideas and you can learn anything you want to learn, and so I think it's worth it.

Rebecca: Do you find that the books that your kids might pull off the shelf to read you are different than the books that you choose to read with your kids?

Morgan: I think almost always I gravitate towards the books that have deeper lessons, and they usually choose something bright and something that is on their interests. But I think it's important to choose books that they wouldn't choose, since it helps them develop empathy and learn about things they wouldn't otherwise gravitate towards.

Rebecca: Do they resist you when you choose different books?

Morgan: No, not usually.

Rebecca: Have you found that you might choose a book and they're like but then once you've read it, they've loved it?

Morgan: Definitely. It usually sparks conversations and they pull things from the book that they're interested in, for example, for reading a historical fiction, and they're really interested in The Viking Boat or how the children live during that time, and they get really invested and by the end they're glad that they read it.

Rebecca: Thank you, Morgan, for sharing your thoughts and experience with us about reading aloud with your kids in your home school. I always value your opinion and your perspective, so we got to hear how much Morgan enjoys reading with her boys. But her boys wouldn't let me leave without sharing with us how they felt about reading aloud as well. Micah, how old are you?

Micah: I'm eight years old.

Rebecca: And do you and your mum and your brother read together a lot?

Micah: Yeah, we do.

Rebecca: Do you like reading with your mom?

Micah: Yeah.

Rebecca: Why do you like it when your mom reads aloud, too?

Micah: Because I like relaxing with her.

Rebecca: Do you guys get to spend a lot time together that way?

Micah: Yeah.

Rebecca: Do you have any favorite books that you've read?

Micah: Dog man.

Rebecca: Dog man?

Micah: Yeah.

Rebecca: Cool. Do you think that when your mom reads aloud to you, that you learn things sometimes? Yeah. When your mom reads aloud to you, do you play with things quietly, or do you just sit and listen?

Micah: Sit and listen.

Rebecca: Are you anxious for it to end, or do you want her to keep going and read more?

Micah: Keep going and read more.

Rebecca: What else do you want to tell me about reading aloud with your mom?

Micah: I like spending time with her. We sit on the couch and we just relax and read.

Rebecca: Love it.

Rebecca: Are you glad that you get to do school reading books instead of maybe sitting at the table writing on papers?

Micah: Yes.

Rebecca: Awesome.

Micah: Great.

Rebecca: Thank you, sir. You're welcome, IRA. How old are you?

Ira: Six.

Rebecca: You're six years old? Yes. Would you like it when your mom reads out loud to you?

Ira: Yes.

Rebecca: Do you have a favorite book that she reads to you?

Ira: It's a book called Truck is Stuck and I really like it.

Rebecca: Truck is stuck. Yes. That sounds like a book that my guy would like, too. Is reading aloud with your mom one of your favorite parts of the day?

Ira: Yes.

Rebecca: Why do you like to read aloud with your mom?

Ira: Because I get to spend time with my mom.

Rebecca: Thank you, IRA. So if you have little people, I want to encourage you to make sitting down with them once or twice a day to read a book or two, part of your family DNA. Grab a book. Let them grab a book and read them together. Often I will let a child choose one book and I'll choose the other. Little kids will often choose the same book over and over and over, and there is benefit to that. But I also want them to maybe grab one that the cover isn't naturally attractive to them, and I want them to try something new. So they'll get one and I'll get one, and we both get to have a choice in that as they get older. Keep reading, keep reading, keep reading. And if you think, oh, my teenager would never listen to me, I would challenge you. Maybe you could start with audiobooks. I would challenge you to try it. You really might be surprised. And even if at first they roll their eyes a little, pretty soon they'll probably be asking you to read another chapter. It might be a learned skill for your kids to sit quietly and listen, but try it for ten minutes for a day, and then you can extend it as they get used to it. I will let my kids color or do quiet activities that don't require a lot of thought while they listen. I don't allow Legos because they are so loud, but if that works for you, then go for it. But you choose a few couple of activities that might be allowed for them to keep their hands busy without making noise. Sometimes I'm reading to my older kids, and my little guy can't quite track. As long as he's quiet, that's okay with me. But I will have discovered that he often knows more about what's going on than I give him credit for. So he may not understand the whole overarching story, but he'll catch different pieces and he's still catching the cadence of the words and the vocabulary that's in them. And so I try to balance between my different age group of kids. And what always gets me is when I'm reading a book that's at his level and sitting down and reading picture books. Inevitably the big ones will start to come up behind the couch and look over my shoulder and see what's going on. Or they'll start shouting from the hallway. Wait for me. I'm almost done with putting away my clothes. Or whatever. And they want to be a part of those books as well. So the more you do it, the more your kids will really enjoy it and love it. And you don't have to be a master reader. You don't have to do all the voices. They just want time with you, and they get the benefit of all the reasons why reading aloud is a good idea. Do you think people with teenagers should read aloud?

Anna: I think so.

Rebecca: Do you think you'll outgrow it?

Anna: No, I really don't think so.

Rebecca: Oh, I know what you want. I want you to tell me about you and your sister.

Anna: Yeah, she has this book series that she really likes. That's an understatement. And for a long time I was not interested in it at all, and she really wanted me to read this book series, and so she was like, Fine, I will read it aloud to you. And she started reading it aloud, and those books are like three inches thick, and we are in book number five right now, and I'm actually starting to really enjoy it.

Rebecca: It took you five books.

Anna: To express it? I just didn't want to express it.

Rebecca: You didn't want to admit to her that you liked her books?

Anna: Yeah, but I really like it. I've liked it pretty much since book one, but I haven't really said it.

Rebecca: So you guys have spent a lot of time reading aloud to each other?

Anna: Yeah, mostly she reads to me because I don't like to read to her because then I can't color or do whatever I'm doing while she reads to me.

Rebecca: So that's a good point. Of the four kids, you are the most likely to have busy hands while I'm reading out loud. Talk to me about that.

Anna: While I'm listening. I just like to move my hands. And if I'm listening to a sermon or something like that, I also like to color or even just like fidget with my bracelet or something. I can't just sit still while I listen to stuff.

Rebecca: But you've drawn numerous you've improved your art skills greatly while listening to stories. How did you done lots and lots of coloring and learned about shading and you get your colored pencils and paper out when I start to read. And that's what you really enjoy doing.

Anna: Yeah.

Rebecca: And you've done this for years now.

Anna: I have. I have a little notebook that I drew, little like circles with legs and heads on.

Rebecca: It was like five or something.

Anna: I remember having that notebook in church in Albania.

Rebecca: Do you feel like your understanding of sort of the bigness of the world is increased because of some of the stories that we read?

Anna: Yeah, I mean, we read stories about places all over the world, so I do think so.

Rebecca: Do you think that teenagers that might not be used to it should give it a shot?

Anna: I do. Yeah. I think that it might not sound very fun, but it is.

Rebecca: Thank you. So for a minute I want to camp on picture books. I love picture books. I don't impulse buy very often and for most things, and 99% of the time if I do, it's a book. And even then it's often a picture book. I'm such a sucker for a beautiful picture book. I get ridiculously excited about them, especially when they contain beautiful and thoughtful art, a touching or clever story, creative uses of words. And picture books have to tell a story with so many fewer words than a novel does that I often find the creative use of language to just be amazing. A couple of my impulse buys recently have been one called Home in the woods, which is about a family in the 20s or 30s who lost their father and has to start life over. And at the beginning it's dark and there's not a lot of color and everybody is sad and they start to work together and they get some glimmers of hope and a little bit of color comes into the pictures and mom's working hard and the kids are pulling together and there's a little more color and a little more color. And by the end they've made a new life for themselves and they've deepened their relationship with one another and forged hope for the future. And there's so much more color and the art is beautiful and the story is really poignant and I've really enjoyed that book and not regretted buying it. Another is because which is a creative departure by Mo Willems, all about the cause and effect of life because somebody got sick, they couldn't go to an orchestra concert. And so. Somebody else got to go instead. And because they got to hear that music, they were inspired to learn an instrument and then they practiced and practiced. In the end, that person gets to give a concert and the colors that represent the music throughout are beautiful. And I really enjoy that book a lot. I've also begun collecting books written by Patricia Palaco and Tommy De Paul's. They both cover so many different American experiences from many different perspectives of Americans. They often bring in other cultures as well. And they're just they're all really well done. They each have their very distinct art style and they're really special books. Jan Brett that I love. You will discover something new in her illustrations every time you reread the book. So I could go on and on about all kinds of books that I love, chapter books that I love as well, things that you can start out reading to your kindergartner. First grader, second grader like My Father's Dragon, that they will get really excited about, or Adventures with Waffles, that is for absolutely everybody. So I will try to wrap this up with one last little read aloud topic before I close this podcast, because I can sit here and talk about all the books that I love for a really long time. So one of the things that I want to point out is that reading books aloud with our kids is an opportunity not just to read a good story, but so many books actually cover the topics that we want to cover in school. You can read aloud from a picture book about math called Circumference and The First Roundtable, or Bedtime Math, which is a short little silly story, and then asks different math questions for each of the kids. And they love doing it and don't actually think they're doing math, or they do, but they don't care because it's fun. I've already mentioned a couple of books that can be about music. You can find picture books about various composers. There are lots of books about art that can make things really interesting as you move into chapter books. There are also books that will cover all kinds of different topics. Goonybird Green is a silly book for about a second or third grader. They probably could read it on their own, but you might as well read it together because you'll laugh together. And interestingly enough, it's mostly a story about how to write a good story and keeps you laughing hysterically all the way through. Another book about writing is called The School Story. There are so many great ones. Historical fiction can be an really important and valuable tool for understanding a time period that you were reading about. We read a couple of years, a great story set in like medieval Korea, I think, a time period I've really given very little thought to about two brothers, and it's called The Kite Fighters, and it's not a difficult story, and it was fascinating and opened my eyes to a time and a place I hadn't really considered. Do you think that reading the books that we read has taught you some things?

Aimee: Yes, I do.

Rebecca: What kind of things do you think that's taught you?

Aimee: I think I've learned some cultural stuff about people who used to be around but aren't anymore.

Rebecca: Do you remember when we read Kite Fighters?

Aimee: Yeah, I remember that one.

Rebecca: Was that pretty different than anything you'd thought of or read about until that point?

Aimee: Yeah, we hadn't really covered that area of the world yet.

Rebecca: About boys in Korea a few hundred years ago.

Aimee: Yes.

Rebecca: What has been one of your favorite books or a book that's really stood out to you?

Aimee: Well, I really like Detectives and Togas, but I think my favorite right now is probably the Bronze Bow, because we're still in the process of reading it.

Rebecca: So those are both kind of about the same era, right? Yeah, the Roman era. Yeah. We just have a few chapters left of Bronze Bow. We have to find out what happened.

Aimee: Yeah, I'm really excited about that.

Rebecca: Is there anything else you want to say about reading aloud? Do you think other family should try it?

Aimee: Yeah, I do.

Rebecca: Okay, thank you.

Aimee: You didn't tell me to say that.

Rebecca: I can go on about books that I love for a really long time, but instead what I'm going to do is link to some great resources on the show notes. But since one of my favorite things another one is to enthusiastically shove a book that I'm excited about into other people's hands, nervously hoping that they'll love it as much as I do. And since I can't reach all of you, I'm going to use the Internet to do it for me. Besides all of the links that I'm going to give you, including an article I wrote about this a while ago that has a whole bunch of book suggestions broken down by topic. So if you're looking for books about science or math or music or art or whatever, you can get some ideas there. I'm also, for a time, for at least the next several weeks, I will post a favorite book recommendation on the school's IG pages. So if you aren't already following Clarksville Feather River or Lake View on Instagram, I would do that so that you can see recommendations to various books that I love each week. The first book I've already put up today, and that is The Year of Ms. Agnes by Patrick Hill. I really enjoy this book because, again, it's another little corner of the world that maybe we haven't thought very much about. It's set in early 19 hundreds, Alaska, and primarily about native Alaskan kids who can't keep a teacher. The village they live in is so remote and fairly unpleasant, and so teachers just don't want to stay until Ms. Agnes comes along and teaches them that they are valuable and that there is more than one way to learn and to grow. And she taps into the unique talents and strengths of each kid. And it's such a sweet story and in many ways deals with the kids the way we want to as homeschool parents. Many of the kids that are being homeschooled within the Sequoia Grove schools are there because public school wasn't working for them. And that's essentially what was happening here, that they weren't being valued individually. And Miss Agnes comes along and reaches out and shows the kids their individual strengths. And it's really a beautiful and encouraging and motivational story for whoever is reading the story as well as for the kids. So as you peruse the ideas that I've given you and look at the recommendations that I am going to put up on Instagram, you don't have to love the books that I love. I hope you do. I really want you to, and I'd love to talk to you about them.

Rebecca: But you don't have to. But just keep reading. Mostly, I want you to love the books that I suggest because I want you to get as excited as I am about sharing these stories with your kids. If a different story hits your family in the field, that's great. We all are at different places with different experiences, and some stories will just hit us, right? And another family will be like, that was kind of boring, and it can hurt a little, but that's because we all are at different places, and that's fine. We can all love different books at different times in our lives. And the important thing is to just keep reading. Keep reading with your kids. Expose them to new ideas, expose them to new vocabulary, get them talking, and don't expect them to be able to articulate everything after one book. This is a process, and it's slow, but it's so worthwhile. Don't stop just because your kids are now able to read on their own. Continue to read together as a family or with each individual kid, and I think that you will discover that even your older kids don't want you to stop. They'd like to keep going, and that can be a really valuable time together as a family. Do you have a favorite book that you want me to know about? Please don't be shy. I would love to get an email from you at podcasts at Sequoia Grove.org. Friends, I hope that you have enjoyed talking with me about reading aloud to your kids as much as I have. I hope that you are inspired to pick up a book and spend some quality time with your precious kiddos. Please don't hesitate to call. Contact me. I'd love to hear from you. I hope that today's episode has been a breath of fresh air for your home school. I am your host, Rebecca LaSavio.