Thank God for two parent households

I am very thankful that we have two parents in our house. I primarily stay home with our two children. Homeschooling our oldest necessitates that he and I spend a lot of time together, and sometimes Mom needs a break! But what does this have to do with helping a child learn to read, you ask? A lot! When it's Dad's turn, and he is reading to the kids, he has a completely different approach. While I tend to ask questions like, "How does that character feel?" and "What do you think will happen next?" He tends to ask, "How many apples are on this page?" and "Can you find the frog?" In fact, research shows that children whose dads read to them tend to do better in math.

I'm also thankful for Dad because he has different interests than I do. When my son was two, his favorite book was the Home Depot Big Book of Tools. Lord help me, I hated reading that book. So it quickly became a father-son thing. Dad is a woodworker; that book was perfect for him to read. I refused. If I were the only parent in the house, I wouldn't have been able to hand off that task. And it is important to follow the child's lead and find books that interest them.

Funny books are always a hit with the kids in our household and they are my favorite to read. I love getting into character and using lots of expression to make my kids laugh. Oftentimes I end up laughing so hard that I can't get out the words. That is the sign of a really great book.  There are no better books for giggles than Mo Willem's Elephant and Piggie series. The kids ask for them so often that I watch for sales and now we own many of them. They are always checked out when we look for them at the library and we can never read them too many times. Another bonus is that they are easy readers written all in speech bubbles (what kid doesn't love speech bubbles?) We like to take turns being Elephant and Piggie. Check out all of Mo Willem's titles at http://www.pigeonpresents.com/books.aspx

Both of us read chapter books with the kids. We are on our second time through the Junie B. Jones series. There is something about her tendency to spout off and get herself in trouble that really resonates with four-year-olds. The stories bring up all sorts of topics that we can address before they get in a similar predicament, like cutting their own hair. Sometimes I make my son listen to a couple chapters of a book that he doesn't want to read, just because I want to read it. I let him make the decision after I read those chapters. I got him to read How To Eat Fried Worms with me that way. But he has refused to read Geronimo Stilton books. I figure at least I'm exposing him to different genres. He doesn't have to like them all. And neither do I. If I don't like it (think Bakugan or Lego Ninjago), he can read it on his own... or with Dad.