Read-aloud Revival

This isn’t rocket science, Carole Joy Seid tells us in today’s episode of the Read-Aloud Revival podcast. It’s really very simple – read good books. The end. :)In this episode, you’ll hear: fabulous book recommendations simple, practical strategies to help us make reading aloud a pillar of family life calming encouragement from a mom who has made it to the other side of homeschooling! Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/22/.

Check out our updated booklists at readaloudrevival.com/recommends, or text BOOKS to 33777 and we'll send them straight to your phone.If you read nothing else to your kids this year, read The Green Ember. This is a book that will steep your family’s imagination in the good, true, and beautiful.The characters encounter tremendous difficulty and face them with indomitable courage. You will laugh, cry, and find your heart racing. You will wonder if you could possibly live up to the nobility and fortitude Heather and Picket.You will, in short, fall down a rabbit hole. :)I stumbled across The Green Ember during some random late night clicking and had no idea I had found such a treasure. After reading it with my kids, I started shouting about it from the rooftops and wrote to the author, asking if he’d please-pretty-please come on the podcast.Guess what? He said yes.In this episode, you’ll hear:  heroic virtue holy imagination in children’s literature and why I fell head-over-heels for this book Find the rest of th

We know we should start reading aloud to toddlers when they are still small, but somehow the logistics of doing just that are really difficult! Today I’d like you to meet Haley and Sarah from Aslan’s Library–a blog I love. Haley and Sarah focus most of their blog writing about beautiful and true theological books for kids.In this episode, you’ll hear: the nitty gritty of reading aloud with toddlers- a formidable age group to approach with a read-aloud, no doubt. :) how to power through the rocky spots why it’s worth it I’ve got a pack of toddlers in hand at the moment, so this episode is especially relevant to me.Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/19/.

If you only listen to one episode of the Read-Aloud Revival podcast, let this one be it. This episode is the humdinger of them all, if I do say so myself. ;)I have been dying to talk to Sarah Clarkson since the Read-Aloud Revival was born! She’s a busy student at Oxford, though, and it took a bit of finagling to get our schedules to play nicely together. Over the Christmas break we made it happen, and now I’m ready to share it with you!This episode is guaranteed to make your heart rate speed up and energize every single aspect of your read-aloud culture in your home.In this episode, you’ll hear:  why the Read-Aloud Revival exists why it’s so important to build your family culture around books and what’s really at stake Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/17/.

Check out our updated booklists at readaloudrevival.com/recommends, or text BOOKS to 33777 and we'll send them straight to your phone.I never do this--record a podcast episode on the fly just because I’m so excited I can’t help myself. :) But today is the last day of 2014 and I want to make sure we head into 2015 and make it count by forming deep and meaningful connections with our kids.In this episode, you’ll hear: how you can start a reading streak in your home TODAY how this one step will make a difference in your family for the whole year through how it really can be easy (pinkie swear!) to read-aloud each day Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/16/. Order While Everyone is Sleeping at waxwingbooks.com

Caroline Starr Rose has written entire books in verse. Now don’t be intimidated. Her book, May B, has been described as part Hatchet, part Little House on the Prairie, and part Out of the Dust.In this episode, you’ll hear:  her books, of course! how to get started with poetry even if it’s as intimidating to you as it is to me her booklist (a-mazing!) I can’t believe how many of Caroline’s favorite books I hadn’t heard of before Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/15/.

Do you enjoy reading aloud? I know a whole lot of people who don’t. But just because you don’t enjoy reading aloud doesn’t mean you can’t build your family culture around books.Today on the Read-Aloud Revival podcast, I chat with Mystie Winckler about how audio books can make a huge difference in your family’s habit of shared reading.This episode isn’t just for those who don’t enjoy reading aloud, though -- it’s for anyone curious about how to use audio books to leverage more read-aloud time in your home.In this episode, you’ll hear:  where she gets them how she finds them for cheap (especially during Audible’s Listener Rewards Month) and which devices her kids use to listen to them Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/14/.

Reading aloud plays a major role in a child’s life as he or she is learning to read--especially if he or she is struggling to learn to read!In this episode, you’ll hear:  how often to read aloud how much to prioritize it and which books are best for struggling readers Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/13/.

Alice Ozma is the author of The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared. If you read nothing else this year, read this book. I mean it.I swallowed it and immediately knew I had to have Alice on the show. The book is moving, funny, heart-wrenching, and is a big huge kick in the pants. There is no way you can finish it without being completely motivated to read read read to your kids.In this episode, you’ll hear:  the power of reading aloud every single day for eight years how it formed a bond between her father and herself how you can work in reading aloud into the smallest spaces of your day (or night!) Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/12/.

What keeps you from making the best use of your local library? For me, it’s the likelihood of losing my sanity. :)On this episode of the Read-Aloud Revival, Jamie Martin- editor of Simple Homeschool and blogger at Steady Mom– shares a perspective that we can use the library in any way that fits our family right now, in the season we’re in.In this episode, you’ll hear:  some strategies she’s used for using the library without getting overwhelmed how she’s formed a relationship between her kids and her local librarians and about how the way we use the library can change and evolve over time Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/11/.

Heidi Scovel admits that she isn’t a read-aloud superstar. Reading aloud can be hard to fit in when you’re a busy mother of four! But she does know how to choose great books and has had a lot of success starting a book club for her kids called the Book Detectives.In this episode, you’ll hear:  her kids’ favorite books how she developed her taste for the best literature and the ins and outs of her successful Book Detectives group You’re going to love her. :)Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/10/. 

What can a university professor say about the value of reading aloud for future academic and relational success?A lot, actually. If that professor is also a mother of many, she’ll lend a perspective on fitting read-aloud time into busy family life, and the value of even five minutes a day spent diving into a story with your kids.In today’s episode, I talk with Dr. Catherine Pakaluk from Ave Maria University.In this episode, you’ll hear:  why students who have been read aloud to fare better than their peers in college how she carves out time to make reading aloud a priority as a working mother of seven and why even five minutes a day can add up to a whole heck of a lot of reading Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/9/.

Did you know that every book is a mystery, and all readers are detectives?In this episode of the Read-Aloud Revival Podcast, I chat with Lawrence Goldstone, author of Deconstructing Penguins: Parents, Kids, and the Bond of Reading.In this episode, you’ll hear:  why you become a sleuth when you pick any book of the shelf how ordinary parents can start parent child book clubs some surprising things about the relationships forged when parents and kids share books together Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/8/.

When I think of someone who fully embraces a family culture built around books, Melissa Wiley comes to mind right away. As a mother of six and author of several children’s books, she has managed to make reading aloud a central part of family life in her home.In this episode, you’ll hear:  what creating a family culture around books looks like in a busy household how she considers read-alouds as she’s writing children’s books her own (super helpful) tip for remembering accents and dialects Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/7-melissa-wiley/.

Are you intimidated by Shakespeare? Do you wonder how you can introduce the bard’s work to your kids if you aren’t all that familiar with it yourself? Ah yes. You’ve come to the right place. :)I am a huge (HUGE!) fan of Ken Ludwig‘s book, How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare and I invited him onto the show to inspire and encourage you.In this episode, you’ll hear:  how Shakespeare helps our children to be more human his thoughts about watching a movie or see a performance before reading a play his favorite adaptions we can share with our kids Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/6/.

We got to hear from Jim Weiss about tips and tricks for character voices and how to be skilled storytellers in episode 4 of the podcast. Now listen in as he tells us that it doesn’t need to be done perfectly (and why we shouldn’t even try to make it so). I was rather caught off guard by how inspiring and encouraging this conversation was. I know you’re going to love it. :)In this episode, you’ll hear:  the increased value of reading aloud in an age of media overwhelm using stories to teach morals how to create lifelong learners instead of perfectionists Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/5/.

You very likely know and love him already, so listen in while I chat with Jim Weiss about tips and tricks for reading aloud.This was such an awesome conversation that I split it into two episodes!In this episode, you’ll hear:  gives the scoop on creating great character voices to engage your kids shares how to keep your voice strong when you read aloud a LOT! even tells us what to do when we’re feeling drowsy (not that parents ever get drowsy while reading aloud, right? Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/4/.

I ‘m really excited about today’s podcast! I got to chat with Tsh Oxenreider from The Art of Simple.Reading plays a major role in Tsh’s family life, and she has a down-to- earth perspective on life and books to share with us.In this episode, you’ll hear:  the ebb and flow of family life and its impact on reading aloud how her family makes reading aloud a priority even while traveling around the world how books are basically comfort food. :) Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/3/.

Are you hesitant to talk to your kids about books because you don’t know how to do it? In this episode of the Read-Aloud Revival podcast, I chat with Adam Andrews from the Center for Lit. He gives us some simple tools to help us have better, more engaging conversations with our children about the books we’re reading together.In this episode, you’ll hear:  approaching literature from a Socratic perspective how to ask the right questions when reading Adam’s proven method for discovering an author’s intent and widening our understanding of books Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/2/.

Welcome to the first episode of the Read-Aloud Revival Podcast! In this very first episode of the podcast, I talk with Andrew Pudewa from the Institute for Excellence in Writing. In this episode, you’ll hear:  why reading aloud to kids who are old enough to read to themselves is so critically important how you aren’t making a mistake in reading to your struggling reader how to engage your kids in great conversations about books Find the rest of the show notes at https://readaloudrevival.com/1/.