I'm a English major and from a early age I had a passion for reading!
This is something I've tried very hard to pass onto my children.
However, if you want children to read - you must give them high quality
literature and lots of reading material!!
I fought continually with the school my children were at about getting
into their hands good literature and using their library time
effectively! My oldest child's goal, when he went to the school library
was to find the biggest and largest book to check out. Our librarian
never gave suggestions, helped kids find good books at their reading
level, or any of those wonderful things you should do to encourage young
readers!
So when we began homeschooling, I knew one of my goals for our school
was getting good literature in my kids hands. Since we are small in
space and I don't have a unlimited budget, I used the library a lot. We
would haul big stacks of books home and audio books; then we would read
away!
Then winter hit.....
Our first winter homeschooling was cold and it snowed a lot! Jan and
February we spent the entire two months in negative digits and our
library was closed "due to weather" more days than it was open. The few
days it was open, frankly it was too cold to haul kiddos out (not to
mention if the car would even start!). I was struggling to get any
literature into my kiddos hands and they were eating through our library
several times over. Then Amazon ran a great deal on Kindles so I
decided we would give them a try. I have to say, I really enjoy having
them as part of our homeschooling tools.
Reasons Why We Like Our Kindles
1. Easy of getting materials!
Our library has a large selection of digital materials. A couple of
clicks and my kids have new reading material in their hands! I don't
have to leave the house, haul to the library, and pay for parking!
2. No LATE FEES!!!
I think late fee are the bane of all homeschooling moms! I know some
moms have a line item in their budget for library late fees! Our library
doesn't charge late fees for digital books! That is some serious
savings!!
3. The Reduced Cost of Books
If the library doesn't have the book my child wants to read (either in
digital or paperback) and they REALLY want to read it, I've enjoyed most
digital titles are at a reduced cost vs. buying them off the shelve.
When you got readers (myself included) those $3-$5 saving adds up fast!
4. Space!!
We are limited on space around here - so buying a stack of books means
they get read and then sit piled on the bookshelves. Yes, piled because
our bookshelves are already full (and then some) and since we don't have
room for more book selves, they go where we can find room. With digital
books, they aren't piled around.
5. One book - Multiple Readers
Since all our e-reader devices are linked to the same account, I
purchase one book and both my older kids can read it at the same time.
No more fighting over books, yelling to "hurry up and read", and the
whining that the current reader "reads to slow!".
6. Audio Books
Again, we are really lucky our library has a pretty good selection of
digital audio books. So a couple clicks and downloaded book (with no
skips or scratch CD) is a really nice perk!
I will close with not all the books my children like to read are
available via digital format so we currently do a mix of paper and
digital. I personally feel this is a good balance as there is mixed
research on digital reading.
Is digital reader apart of your homeschool tools? Loved to hear if others have enjoyed (or disliked it!)
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