Episode Details

Should you still be reading aloud to your kids after they can read on their own? It turns out this is one of the most settled questions in all of education — and the answer has been sitting in a government report since 1985. Homeschool expert Christy-Faith walks through what the research actually says about reading aloud to kids, why it never expires, and why the book on your couch may outrank half of what's on your lesson plan.

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In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why reading aloud to kids is called the single most important activity for building a reader
• What the million word gap study found about read-alouds before kindergarten
• Why the rare words in books almost never show up in everyday conversation
• What MRI scans revealed about a child's brain during a read-aloud
• How animated screens do the imagining that a book leaves to your child
• Why reading aloud to older kids does NOT make them lazy readers
• The difference between constrained and unconstrained reading skills
• What kids themselves say they want most from being read to

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Resources mentioned:

• Free Quote of the Week Notecard — the Emilie Buchwald quote from this episode, ready to print
• My Curriculum Recommendations — the free list, by subject
• All of Christy-Faith's free homeschool resources
• The Christy-Faith List — Find homeschool-friendly providers
• Thrive Homeschool Community
• Homeschool Rising — Christy-Faith's book

Related episodes:

• Ep. 107 — How to Reduce Screen Time for Kids
• Ep. 61 — Are Schools Killing a Love of Learning?