This is how we roll

In our home school we read a TON!  Once a child can read they can learn anything.   Although they are capable readers I still enjoy reading out loud to them.

We are reading a wonderful book called "Hoot" right now.  It's by Carl Hiaasen.

When I read to them I look for opportunities to teach about different topics and to teach new vocabulary.   Mostly the kids learn through the use of books.  We use some workbooks but primarily I want them to read, read, read!

For example, from Hoot the girls have learned about:

• burrowing owls
• cottonmouth snakes
• truancy (what it means and why we aren't truant for home-schooling)
• rabies (what animals mostly cause rabies in humans in the U.S., how it is treated, how many people die from the disease)
• watching the movie "Hoot" and comparing and contrasting between book and movie
• what it means to moon someone
• vocabulary like prone, survey, epilogue

We also talked about how you would not want to talk to a police officer without a lawyer present. Sometimes the police will manage to get you to say things that are untrue. Police officers, like regular old people, are not all good. The girls now know to tell a police officer "I want a lawyer.  I won't talk to you until I have one".  

There are so many teachable opportunities through reading to your children.