The Reading Hour

2012 happens to be The National Year of Reading! So what better chance to get your kids excited about books? Better yet, what a great chance to get yourself excited about reading books?

Some of us are book worms; I am reading 3 books at the moment, a comedy novel, a drama novel and a professional development book. But others of us aren't so interested in reading. My husband would not say he is an avid reading; but he is absolutely fascinated by Australian history and brewing so he actually reads quite a lot of books about history and beer. He will tell you that over the past 10 years his reading his improved dramatically just from reading books about topics he is interested in.

So why don't we use this theory more often with our kids? If they are interested in science or nature, how about we encourage them to read books about bugs and animals and technology? If they are mad keen sports fanatics, encourage them to read books about sporting heroes, famous teams, chronologies of sporting history and so on. You would be surprised how much you can learn from sports - maths, statistics, averages, countries, cities, cultures and so much more. If magazines are more their style provide them with good quality magazines that have age appropriate content and puzzles, games, articles, glossy pictures to attract their attention.

Basically, no matter what they are reading, so long as they are reading, they are learning! Encourage them to read the back of the weeties box at breakfast time, read articles from the newspaper, read advertisements, catalogues, signs and posters.

But Saturday the 25th of August 2012 as part of the National Year of Reading there is a special event that you can have in your own living room for free! The Reading Hour. This week, try to spend 10 minutes a day reading with each of your children. And then on Saturday grab some fabulous books that your kids will love and set aside 60 minutes to snuggle up together and participate in the national event! Put on your best voice and get excited about the books you have chosen. You could even choose to read some chapters from a book that also has a movie...and finish the night with the movie version? Harry Potter, The Witches, Narnia, Charlotte's Web and the list goes on.

You've got one week to head down to the library and grab some great books or find some to borrow from a friend. Get some snacks and set up your special spot in the house and let the kids know that this fun time is coming up. Ask at your school if there are any events that they are running that you could also be a part of?

To find out more about the events through out the year, competitions, ideas for schools and families head to the National Year of Reading website:
http://www.love2read.org.au/

And for more information about The Reading Hour head to:
http://www.thereadinghour.org.au/

Happy Reading!