How do I encourage my kids to love reading?
How one simple system turned my kids into lovers of books.
This school year is quickly approaching an end and with all things in life, retrospection is necessary to evaluate where you’ve come from and how you got here. As I sit and ponder the highs and lows from our year, one part seems to stand out among the rest— how my two older children became lovers of books.
Let me preface this thought by saying a year ago, I questioned if this would ever be possible. Every child has his or her personality strengths, educational gifts, and preferences. But independent reading and picking up a book just for fun was not one of my 8-year-old daughter’s strengths (until now).
As a previous first graded teacher, now turned homeschooling mama, I prioritize a home filled with quality literature stored in baskets and bookshelves, able to be grabbed in a second.
With a literature-rich learning style at the forefront of our homeschooling philosophy, I could’t understand why my daughter resisted reading independently when one of her favorite things to do was to sit and listen to me read aloud. “It’s too hard to read all those words on my own” or “I just like to better when you read to me” were common complaints I heard as she protested her daily independent reading time.
Again, I took time to think retrospectively. What’s worked in the past to motivate this particular child to do hard things? How can I encourage her to read age-appropriate chapter books on her own so she can find the joy in reading like I do?
That was the key. Finding what motivated her.
So I dug through my stash of easy chapter books, gave her a selection of a few titles, and offered her something I knew she wouldn’t turn down…
Gifts are one of her love languages (both giving and receiving them). “How about we plan a special movie night and sleepover, just the two of us, if you can read two of these chapter books?”. The smile that lit up her face at the thought of a sleepover with me was enough to send her off to crack open that first book.
She began reading, and since it was an age-appropriate chapter book it took her no time to realize that she can actually read all the words and understand the story. An hour later, she proudly marched out of her bedroom gleaming from ear to ear— “I read the whole thing!”. So I looked up a brief quiz on Chat GPT to see if she indeed got the gist of it.
That second chapter book was read, we had our sleepover, and the ball began rolling. She realized she could read chapter books on her own. The next step was teaching her how to build stamina and eventually make this process intrinsically motivating, not just extrinsically (ex. a fun sleepover as a reward).
2 Key Parts in Creating a Lifelong Reader
Some kids catch onto and acquire the love of reading at a young age. However, if this initial enjoyment doesn’t happen, my theory is that it takes two key parts that can turn any child into a reader…
First- the books need to be age-appropriate. Meaning, independent reading should take place at the child’s independent level, not their instructional level. They should be able to read at least 95% of the words with ease— this helps them to comprehend the story instead of spending time trying to decode words.
Second- The “reward” needs to be great enough to encourage the child to stick with it until a habit is formed. Like my story above, my daughter needed to be encouraged by what motivated her to do hard things. This can be whatever works for you— special time with a parent, a treat, extra screen time, etc…
Our Simple Reading Reward System
I knew I needed to keep this habit of daily independent reading alive and sustainable for my daughter as I saw it benefitting both her academic success and stamina to do hard things.
That’s when the idea struck, and it’s honestly been one of those “game changers” for our homeschool journey. It’s called Book Club Bonanza (the title was decided on a whim but the pithy name of our club is a big hit with my kids!).
Here’s how it works for us…
At the start of the month, I give the kids a bookmark that has a reading challenge on it. This month, their goal is to read 30 hours independently. Each time they read for a 30-minute period, they color in a box on their bookmark. This allows them to pace themselves throughout the month and stay motivated as they see how many hours they have left.
At the end of the month if they’ve completed the challenge, they get the reward— a visit to the candy store, ice cream shop, out for breakfast, or another fun treat that seems like a big deal!
How to Implement This At Home
My husband and I have a motto that we’ve gained from our college cross country coach, which even years later we still apply to many areas of life…
It’s not rocket science, it’s consistency.
There’s no magic formula to turn your kids into lifelong readers— just a bit of consistency and the two key parts mentioned above (age-appropriate books + motivation). If encouraging resistant readers to do more independent reading is something you’re looking to implement, I’d suggest creating a reading club with a challenge similar to ours by following these steps…
Pick a name for your “club”. It makes it more fun to refer to it throughout the month!
Find age-appropriate books for your kids (practice the 5-finger rule…if 5 or more words on a page are too hard for them, they need an easier book)
Determine a realistic but challenging goal (# of books read per month, pages read per month, hours read per month)
Have some way of tracking this goal (a bookmark works great)
Make the reward something small but motivating
Starting a new habit doesn’t happen overnight but if you’re consistent with these steps, I guarantee that your child will come closer to thinking of books the way we do— as companions, guides, and a gateway into a world of imagination.
Go ahead and celebrate each small step of achievement towards their goal, model how to read your own book in the same room, and talk at dinner about the characters who surprised you today. Momentum lives in little daily rituals. A month of consistent efforts begins to plant seeds that in months or years from now will feel like second nature, where in time, they’ll discover the joy of reading a great book and discover that they indeed are a reader. One monthly reading challenge at a time.