3 Tricks to Turn Your Kids into Bookworms

Reading is an important part of any child’s education. It opens doors into the past, the future, and even the other side of the world. Children who love reading have a huge advantage. They’ve absorbed advanced vocabulary and grammar without even realizing it.

As a homeschool parent, you have great leverage to turn your children into bookworms. Here are three simple tricks to impart the book loving gene.

1. Make Reading Pleasurable

Reading shouldn’t be a miserable affair; it should be pleasant. Kids should have a reading fort or at least comfortable chairs with soft pillows and cozy blankets to curl up on. The chairs should beckon kids to them, draw them in like the Pied Piper, and call them to spend an afternoon reading a good book.

In addition make certain there’s good lighting next to the chairs. Nothing is worse than spending an afternoon valiantly striving to make out letter after letter in dim light. It creates eye strain and gives kids headaches. Instead, place a quality reading lamp beside your cozy reading chairs.

Encourage your children to pour a glass of lemonade or iced tea to drink as they read. A plate of cookies or sliced apples also goes a long way toward making reading pleasurable as well. They can nibble, sip, and read the afternoon away.

Above all, present reading as a fun recreational pastime not as an academic assignment. Nothing sucks the life out of something fun as much as requiring it and documenting it. Let them read for the sheer joy of it.

Spend a few minutes thinking about the best ways to make reading pleasurable for your children, and you’ll be well on your way to creating your very own bookworms.

2. Strew Great Books around the House

Have you ever started a wonderful series and then found out it’s going to be weeks before you’re able to read the second book? It’s a dreadful feeling and highly discouraging. It will turn kids off reading before you can say bookworm.

Prevent it from happening by making certain you have the next books in the series waiting at home along with other books by the author. Find similar books and casually leave them around the house.

Also remember that a bored child will pick up any book near at hand and begin reading it. Simply make certain it’s a book designed to enrapture them from the start and you’ll soon have avid readers on your hands. Your children will come to you, begging you to find the next book in this awesome series.

Use the BookShark catalog to find the best books!

3. Don’t Disturb the Reading Child

Nothing is a frustrating as being disturbed when you're engrossed in a good book. First it’s a forgotten chore, then you’re asked to help set the table, finally a sibling wants to chat. Your book is constantly being opened and closed with no chance to find out if your favorite character lives or dies.

Do your best not to disturb your children when they’re reading. Allow them to sink into the story and lose themselves in another world. Give them time to wander the universe and travel to other lands. Allow your child the opportunity to read as long as they want—even for several hours—without being disturbed.

With these three simple tricks you’ll soon find your children adore reading.

About the Author

Sara Dennis is a homeschooling mother of 6 children ages 5 through 19. After much research into homeschooling in 2000, she and her husband fell in love with classical education and used it as the foundation for their homeschool.  Sara Dennis blogs at Classically Homeschooling.