For those who know me well, it is no surprise that I truly value education. As a current university professor teaching Master’s and Doctoral level students and a previous high school teacher and K-12 credentialed substitute teacher, learning is key to my life. And now, I have the privilege and honor to educate my own children.
I was their “first” teacher and even though both of them have other teachers at their respective schools now, I still supplement as much as I can with their learning experiences. And this year I have really stepped in with being their elementary virtual learning teacher at home and preschool homeschool teacher at home. I am always looking for innovative ways to teach them and ingrain a passion for reading and books.
I have preached the importance of reading and being read to for years. I started reading to both of my children as soon as I found out I was pregnant with each of them. I asked for books instead of cards at both of their baby showers and have an endless amount of books in their bookcases easily available to them day and night. It has been part of our daily ritual to read at least two books together each day, usually before bed as part of our bedtime routine, and it is something they look forward to each and everyday! And now, my daughter has been in her top reading group for the last two years at school, and was one of the first to finish learning her site words in her entire class, and constantly achieves accolades from her teacher at school whenever she completes a reading assessment as she is well above her reading grade level. I certainly do not say this to gloat, but say this because that’s how powerful books and reading can be for children! Reading is the gateway to a child’s education and should be a priority in every family with young children.
As a child therapist who currently works exclusively with children on the Autism Spectrum, many of my clients are non-verbal or have a language delay. I include reading as a goal on many of their treatment plans and even have created goals for the parents to read to their child at least two books each day to help enhance thier child’s speech and language.
Reading is the gateway to a child’s education and should be a priority in every family with young children.
Benefits of Reading
Reading has so many benefits including some that are not just educationally based. Did you know that reading can not only help language and literacy development, but also increase memory, vocabulary, communication skills, social emotional skills, peer development, and academic skills? Reading even improves math scores! That’s right! Reading and or being read to on a regular basis, as early as you can start in their life, will enhance their overall success in school and later in childhood as they start learning new, more developmentally complex cognitive skills.
In fact, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) a division of the U.S. Department of Education, 26% of young children who were read to 3-4 times a day by a family member recognized all letters of the alphabet compared to 14% fo children who were read to less frequently. More than 50% of children who were read to more frequently could also count to 20 or higher, write their own names, and read or at least pretend read. The greater opportunity a child has to read or be read to, including having more books readily available to them in their home, the higher the children are in reading proficiency.
And an added bonus to reading to your child at a young age is you grow a stronger emotional attachment between you and your child. I recommend starting to read to your child while they are still in the womb. Your growing child can start to hear sounds from the outside world as early as 23 weeks. According to child trends.org, “children develop literacy skills and an overall awareness of language long before they are able to read.
The Value of Vooks
I have been a fan of Vooks as soon as first heard about them early on into quarantine earlier this year. I started partnering with them over the summer and have continued a relationship with them because I truly value their site and what they offer to parents and children.
If you aren’t familiar with Vooks yet, let me introduce you to your new best friend. Vooks is a streaming library of ad-free, kid-safe animated read-aloud storybooks! They even have take-home resources you can use to help keep your children reading for 20 minutes a day! Millions of children around the world listen to the books every week and now so can your children! Right now Vooks is offering a ONE MONTH FREE SUBSCRIPTION to all parents worldwide!! No purchase necessary! And you can even join their new affiliate program and get paid for every new 30 day trial subscriber you sign up! Get all the info here!
You can sort and search for books by alphabetical order, release date, or title and or browse by age or genre. They have book selections for New Releases, Popular Titles, Seasonal, Elementary, Preschool, Animals, Friendship, Bedtime, and more! And one of the reasons I love Vooks is because of the way the books come to life. Each book is animated and intriguing for children of all ages. The animation in each book moves along in real time with the narration of the book. And the words on each page is bolded when it is narrated so children can easily follow along – helping them learn new vocabulary, site words, and language. Plus, this type of narration helps children learn how to use inflection, tone, pitch, intonation, and more about how to read a book.
But what I value the most is their lesson plans! Yes, you heard me right! They have lesson plans to go along with their book titles to help enhance comprehension, drawing, writing, and other skills. Vooks also have activities like coloring pages and crafts to go along with the book titles!
Since it’s Thanksgiving this week, we are reading Happy Thanksgiving, Curious George and we will be making a Handprint Turkey, and a fun coloring page! Then I will ask my children some of the comprehension question prompts like “What do you think George is thankful for?” or “What are the foods George is having for his Thanksgiving meal?” and “What is your favorite Thanksgiving tradition?” This also gives me the opportunity to go beyond the book and teach my children about gratitude, share what I am grateful for, and learn what they are grateful for. I can’t even tell you how much I love their resources section and all the learning tools they offer along with the book titles!
As a parent, I try to be with my children when they are reading their Vooks books because I truly enjoy listening and watching the stories come to life and it’s a great way for us to bond and spend valuable time together! But Vooks also is a special way my kids can bond together when I have to work and they are so enthralled with the books, I can get a lot done while they spend time learning and reading together, which is a total mom win! And, since the books are narrated, you don’t have to feel compelled to physically read to your children on days you just can’t fit it in. Vooks will graciously do the work for you.
I love that Vooks has a variety of book titles on a variety of topics. They also have multiple titles fit for every season, whether it’s a book about voting or a book about Thanksgiving! Some of our favorite Vooks titles are:
-Unicorn (And Horse)
-The Day Punctuation Came to Town
-Monster Be Good
-Inventors Who Changed the World
-Courageous People
-Our Class is a Family
-Let’s Be Friends
We use Vooks and incorporate it into our virtual learning and homeschool learning experience to help my children spend at least 20 minutes a day reading! This is especially important during the holidays (or summer), when school isn’t in and my children have less structured learning time. Children need to make reading a priority and a constant in their lives, even when school is out for a break. And since both of my children, especially my daughter since she already has learned to read, loves having a “book club” with friends and she shares Vooks with her friends too!
So what are you waiting for? Sign up for FREE for the first 30 days today!
This post is sponsored by Vooks but all photos and opinions are my own. This post may obtain an affiliate link.
#vooks #betterscreentime #vookspartner
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