Helping Your Children with Reading and Writing at Home

Book excerpt: Helping Your Children with Reading and Writing at Home By Mary Ann Colbert & Dr. William P. Colbert There really is no place like home when it comes to developing competent readers and writers. And with the aid of our new world changing guide the process and the goal of developing lifelong readers and writers will be greatly facilitated. Many years ago we set about finding out what type of reading and writing help parents and other adults were giving children and how it was working, We asked everyone and anyone who would talk with us and we came up with some rather startling information to share in our guide. Now talking with parents, grandparents. adults and children about the reading and writing activities they have experienced at home is second nature to us. Through the years, we have discovered that a great many things arc happening in American homes relative to helping children in these areas and even greater things are possible. The purpose of our book (We like to call it a guide.) is to awaken parents. grandparents and other adults, who work with children, to the great possibilities that are open to them that will revolutionize learning now and for future generations. The ideas, suggestions and strategies in our guide step off from the interests of the learners (which are the best indicators of what the children are ready and able to learn next) as opposed to curriculums and textbooks which often have an iron grip on what is available for young students to learn. We show our readers how to take advantage of the great knowledge they have about their children and how to use it to guide their children’s learning., and, more especially. to identify what is the next appropriate step for their children to take in their learning. All this is done in the home setting with family members participating and sharing the fruits of their learning labors. Besides giant leaps in learning, families can expect outstanding growth in family interpersonal relationships. The family is actually drawn closer together by sharing their diverse interests.. At the onset of the guide adults are asked to compare their thinking on reading and writing learning with some of the experts in the field via a true-false checklist. This technique totally involves parents with the book from the start. and parents are often surprised to see how their thinking coincides with experts in the field. The next section contains three case studies that illustrate, in detail, exactly what some very effective adults did to further the reading and writing skills of the children with whom they worked. The third sections contain some precise strategies that parents and other adults can begin using today with their children. The next sections identifies what children see as effective reading and writing strategies that are used by parents and their teachers. Section five is a summary of some ideas of some great teachers of reading and writing. The ideas here are undergirded by some sound learning principles which every adult, who works with children, will want to know about. The final section ends much like the guide begins with a checklist of some true - false items that will help guide parents and other adults to increasing success in helping their children with reading and writing at home.