Welcome, friends, to this episode of the Everyday Educator podcast. I'm your host, Lisa Bailey, and I'm excited to spend some time with you today as we learn together, encourage one another, and ponder the delights and challenges that make homeschooling the adventure of a lifetime. Now, whether you're just considering this homeschooling possibility or deep into the daily delight of family learning, I believe you'll enjoy thinking along with us.

But don't forget, although our online community is awesome, you'll find even closer support in a local CC community. So go to classicalconversations.com and find a community near you today. Well, ladies, I am excited to have you join me today as we talk to our lovely listeners about active reading.

I've got Delise and Kelly both with me. Kelly Wilt, thank you for joining me and Delise today on the podcast. Oh, it's my pleasure. And talking about reading is one of my favorite things. I know, I know. And I'm going to explore that with you in just a second.

I want people to know what you've been working on. Delise, I know that you are a bookworm like me. So I think this will be fun for you too. Yeah, I'm excited. This is going to be a blast. We're coming into the summer months, okay? One of the things that I remember the most about summertime was that I had more time to read.

I was a bookworm as a child. But one of the things I remember about reading in the summertime is that almost everywhere had a summer book club or a summer reading program. I can remember our local library did, our church library did. I came, I'm telling my age, I came from the era that Pizza Hut had a summer reading program and you could earn a personal pan pizza for reading books, which was for me a slam dunk because I was going to read even if somebody didn't give me a pizza.

But I wondered about you guys, did you love or did you do a summer reading program when you were a kid? And what was your favorite part of summer reading programs? Kelly, let me ask you first. Oh my. Well, you know that I did because any opportunity to capitalize on what I was already going to be doing was fabulous.

And I too am of the era of Pizza Hut book it. Like we feasted like kings and queens on this little pizza. And so summer reading club was always a part of my relaxing activities once the academic year concluded because it was time for me to finally get my hands on the big stack of books that I had been accumulating throughout the school year and hadn't quite gotten to yet.

So, oh yes. Delise, what about you? Well, this is so funny to me because I'm like, okay, well, when did they stop it? Because I could be Lisa's daughter. And my favorite thing was pepper and pizza. Yes, yes. Yes, I absolutely loved it. We would do it at the library.

And you know what? When you mentioned church, I forgot about that. But there was a quaker church down the street from where we lived that we loved. And we were very involved in that church as well as our home church. And I think we got Krispy Kreme donuts from that one.

Because we lived in, you know, the land of Krispy Kreme when I was a kid. Yes. And so those two things, like literally making reading sweet, were really important. And I always loved books. But I was never a fast reader as a child. Okay. And so, yeah, I struggled with it.

But I wanted the content. And so the summer was this just incredible opportunity for me to take my interests and to not have the pressure to read quickly. Because, of course, during the school year, you've got to finish the book with the right paper. Just there are more goals attached to the reading.

But this time, it was just read the books, get your pizza, make sure your brothers don't make fun of you at the end of the year. Yes. Yes. I love that. I love that you said, like, summer reading clubs are not just for fast readers. Yeah. Because I know, like, I was a super competitive firstborn readaholic child.

And so, for me, part of it, my personal thing was, can I read more books this year than I read last year? But I love it. And we're going to come back to it. Not every child is a read a book as fast as you can. And not every child is super competitive.

And not every child can read that fast and enjoy it. So we can come back to that. What do you do with kids who would not naturally choose reading as the fun thing to do this summer? We'll talk about that. Kelly, do you remember a book that you fell in love with as a kid?

Oh, my goodness. During the summer, it wasn't just one book. It was a series. Okay. During the summertime, like Delise was saying, I felt like I had the flexibility to just luxuriate in the words that I was reading. And so, probably, I think it was the summer that I was nine or ten, I discovered the Little House on the Prairie series.

And I spent a summer alongside Laura Ingalls Wilder, you know, thinking about all things Pioneer. I think I slept under my bed a couple of times that summer pretending that I was a covered wagon. My mom probably walked in and wondered, what on earth? But, you know, I just, it was a time for me to just dwell in that land, you know, that fictional land of that book.

And to enjoy making it my own. And shortly after that, another summer, you know, I discovered the Anne of Green Cables series. And I'm going to say I plowed through it because it sounds horrible. But I just, I was voracious. Like, I just wanted to see what came next to me with that character.

And I think I did the same thing with the Chronicles of Narnia. Just summer was the time for series. And almost this bittersweet goodbye at the end of the summer when I would reach the end of the author's words in a particular series. Because I wasn't quite ready to let go of those characters I had come to love.

But summer for me was always the time of a series and not just a standalone book. That's really good. And that's a great encouragement. Parents, if you're looking for something with some longevity. I know that there were books that my kids loved and they wanted the next one. And some books don't have sequels.

And so that was a hard conversation. You know, I'm sorry, there's not another one. And so sometimes they would. And I will admit this. I'm not going to tell the author in case they come after me. But, like, I took some picture books and just took the character and made up my own stories because my kids were so affronted that there was not another one.

But the series, the series thing is great. And you're right. You have the time to do that. Delise, what book did you fall in love with as a kid? Yeah, I will say, to piggyback, the series thing is great. And I know sometimes parents say that they have challenges with their boys wanting to read.

And my brothers were obsessed with Redwall. So if you're looking for a- Oh, yes. My son-in-law. Awesome. Yeah, Heroes series. And there are so many of them. We have them because my brother now lives in Japan from my brother's childhood. So that's a really good recommendation. But to get to your question, two come to mind.

One is a miniseries. And I actually, for the first time, read it to Leo last night. Oh, awesome. And those were just Amelia Bedelia. When I was little, I just thought she was the most hilarious thing. And it was very fun helping my three-year-old to navigate the wordplay. Yes.

Because he's like right on the edge. Some of them were very funny to them. Some of them were terms we don't use anymore, you know, like to draw the drapes. And so that was fun for me to describe to him why it was funny. Why it's funny. Exactly. So I definitely liked little books like that when I was very small.

And then reaching to high school, I remember falling in love. I think this was the first large book I read on my own volition. I fell in love with Gone with the Wind. And I had my mother's copy. And I just remember looking at the book and thinking it was beautiful.

And knowing, I love old films. So I knew the story. I'd seen that film, that original one that won all the Oscars a million times. And I thought, you know, how did, why is it so long? It's over a thousand pages. Why is it so long? There must be something missing.

It could not be that long. Exactly. And so I read it and I read that book very quickly. And I just fell in love with period pieces after that. It really sparked a curiosity for me for history. So then I wanted more things like Jane Austen or just things that would bring me back in time.

So those are two books I really loved. That's really cool. You know, I was thinking, oh, what would I say if I was going to answer this question? And, you know, you guys have taken a lot of my answers because I loved those same kinds of books. But I remember our church had a summer reading club and it must have been the year I was in, the third or fourth grade.

It was right along in there. And the summer reading club that year was arranged around the presidents. So like you read a book, like for every three books, you got to put a sticker of a president up. And so I decided I would read some biographies of some presidents.

We didn't have a biography of every president in our church library, but I did some. And then I got hooked on biographies. So that whole summer I spent, I read about Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton. I read so many, Mary Todd Lincoln. I read all kinds of biographies. And that was the kind of book I had never read before, really.

And so parents, if you're looking, if you have a student who really doesn't like make-believe. Now, like, that's kind of hard for me. Like, I love make-believe and my kids like to make-believe. But some kids don't like to read make-believe. They like to read about real things. Try a biography.

They might actually love it. But I do wonder, what are you guys? You said you were introducing Leo to Amelia Medillo, which I think is awesome. What is Leo's favorite kind of thing to read with you? And what does he like best about reading with you? Right now, we like musical books.

And I think that comes from my background. Yes, you love music. Yes, I love music. And I was also a music and movement teacher for that sweet spot, that age range where he is right now. So I have a lot of musical books that I can read. Okay, so talk about that.

What are musical books? Yeah, so a lot of folktales from around the world. I'm trying to think of an American one. I apologize. I'll keep thinking about that. Oh, that's okay. One's from Africa and Asia. I tend to have a song that goes with it, culturally speaking. And so, like, for example, we love The Laughing River is one that we read.

And it has a number of different greetings. I think there are four songs in that book. And so... Is the song part of the book? And how do you know how to sing it? And in a lot of the books that I have from the 90s, they have it written in the book.

Like, if you don't know how the song goes, you can just flip to the page and read the music and you will know. But for the ones that I have, for example, Winnie the Pooh has a lot of little songs in it. Nobody knows how they go. So I just make up a balance.

You just make it up. Yes. We know how it goes, you know. Exactly. Daddy, because he knows how it goes. And if there is a story that we like and it has a really good rhythm and I appreciate the rhythm. I was a song grading major in college, so I will often make it a song, even if it's not a song.

Yes. Just because I find little children gravitate toward music. I love it. And it really helps them to feel that they can identify and remember. Right. The problem comes, though, when you make it up that other people don't know it. And my kids would say a lot of times, that's not how it goes.

Oh, yeah. Or Gideon, my grandson, my daughter, I would make a little song while I'm telling the story. And he would go home and my daughter would read him the book and she would try to sing it. And he would just look at her and go, no, no, no.

It is fun to make up songs. You're right. I love it. That's great. I should have guessed that you would do that with your background. Kelly, what did your kids like to read with you? And what did they love the most about reading time that you did with them?

I think just being close, holding them close. Okay. Having just a time where we just shut everything else in the world off for a few moments and just were together in that world of imagination made it special. My kids also love for me to sing and to use different voices and narrate different types of people.

I still remember we read Bread and Jam for Frances by Jan Hoban. These little tunes that Frances sings as she describes how much she loves jam on toast and how she hates soft eggs and all these things. I don't like jam. That's right. I had a tune that I sang for that.

We also read tons when they were small, tons of Sandra Boynton books, which are hilarious little books. And there was one called Snuggle Puppy. And I came up with a tune for the Snuggle Puppy song. And even just recently, I was just standing in the kitchen cooking and I started singing Snuggle Puppy song.

And my 19 year old turns around and like, he looked like he had like a tear in the corner of his eye. I haven't heard the Snuggle Puppy song in years. He's like, give me a hug. And he's like, oh, thanks for reminding me of that. And it was just so precious.

That's so sweet. You know, I think that now that they're older, though, like, you know, when they were young, we would have this shared experience. But now that they're older, a lot of times we'll read books separately and then come together and have conversations. And I think that's especially sweet for my 16 year old daughter.

You know, I'll just make some coffee and we'll sit down and we'll talk about Pride and Prejudice or we'll talk about the Screwtape Letters or whichever book. She's a huge mystery reader and she loves mystery books, kind of like her mom did at that age. I remember one summer was the summer of Agatha Christie.

And so that was probably one summer. That was probably four or five summers. But we'll get together and we'll talk. And, you know, that closeness has evolved as my children have gotten older. And it still is a precious time for us to be able to share together. So it doesn't stop.

It just changes as they get older. You're right. You're right. You're right. And that is that closeness stays apart. And it is what draws lots of families to reading. But I also know that there are lots of families whose kids are not naturally drawn to reading or who, fine, I'll sit down and read for 30 minutes a day.

But mostly I want to do stuff in the summer. So I titled this podcast active reading because I know some people only think that reading is the quiet time or what you do in the half hour between eating lunch and going back to the swimming pool or whatever. But reading can be so much more than that.

And I really want us to help families think of ways to make reading fun for all of our kids, even our active kids this summer. So let's brainstorm for a minute. What is one way that reading could be active and not a passive activity? So, Delise, what do you think?

I know you've got little Leo, who is only three, and so passive is probably not in his vocabulary, at least not for very long at a time. How do you make reading active for somebody little like Leo? Yeah, if we're talking about someone small, and I remember my mother did this so well just throughout our years.

But if I was just thinking of a person, say, under the age of six, anything that can make it physical is key. So, you know, if you need physical and quiet, I used to keep scarves while we were reading books. And you can act out the story with your scarf, you know, the characters move slowly or making something.

A scarf can do so many different things. Yes, they can. So that's an easy way for them to have their hands busy, but productive and really internalizing. And you can tell, even with a very small child, if they are actually understanding what you're reading, by what their hands do, because some children, it takes them longer to articulate their understanding, but they can express it.

So that has been fun. And of course, if you don't have a scarf, you could use a little toy or figurine and say, let's pretend this character and you be this character and I'll be this other character. And every time we read a page. Um, and even just asking really good questions, you know, the older they get is sometimes you're working on emotional literacy and, and so you're looking at the book and before I read the page that tells you how the character feels, I'll say, Hey, how do you think this person is feeling right now?

And why do you think that? And then maybe have you ever felt that way? And let's find out or ask them to guess, you know, instead of just reading them the whole story, say, okay, what do you think is going to happen next? Why do you think that's going to happen next?

Okay, let's see. And then you turn the page. So it kind of gives them a chance to interact with the book and they can, they can get up and do that, or they can just talk to you about it. I have a very talkative one. He's fine with just telling me a little story.

Um, so there's that, but then, I mean, depending on what you're reading, there are activities that are built in to the story. Like what we mentioned earlier, the, how to, how to bake an apple pie and see the world. I mean, literally it's right there on the top. Go ahead and bake your apple pie.

Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. There's lots of things that you can do. Kelly, what, what are some things that you did? I know you've got two boys and a girl. So I suspect that some of the times that you wanted to do reading with your boys, especially like Delise said, when they were little, they wanted to be moving or active.

What are some things you did to keep reading active? Oh my goodness. Yes. We had some eras where we had to be very active in order to keep engaging all three of them at once. I remember there were several summers where I would just choose a book and we would make a certain time of day reading time.

And we would make it special because I would, I would take all four of our chairs at our table and I would lay like this huge rainbow knit Afghan over the chairs and we would make a reading. Oh, a tent. We would, we would all lay under our fort that would work better for my boys.

My daughter liked, they liked fort. Um, and we would all lay on our bellies with a book and I would read to them. And there was something magical about that or them. And I remember one summer I undertook the idea of reading Alice in Wonderland to them out loud, which, you know, we, we had some, some parts that like Delise was describing Amelia Bedelia, where they just, they loved all of the language, but they didn't always connect what was going on.

And so I would have to stop and explain, you know, but when we got to the end of the book, I told them, I said, guys, we're going to celebrate. We read this book together and we had our own tea party. Tea party. Yep. Perfect. We played card games and we decorated the table with cards and we pulled like out of the pantry and we made them into hats and we all sat down.

And I think, you know, I just had cookies and we drank lemonade, but to them it was the Mad Hatter's tea party and it made it special because we were doing it together and I have pictures of them when they were little, we would do that with different books throughout the year and in the summer.

I have pictures of all three of them sitting on our couch, eating their bread and jam because we did that for bread and jam for Francis and, you know, different, different books. It gave them different experiences because reading, you know, when reading becomes a part of who you are, reading leads to doing like you want to take ownership of whatever's happening in that book.

So I remember the summer of Little House on the Prairie, like I really wanted to learn how to knit. I mean, desperate. Oh, yes. And so there were things that I saw Ma doing in the book or, you know, Pa doing. Now, I didn't want to take an ax and go out and chop down trees and build a cabin.

Yeah, maybe not. Maybe not shoot a panther, but okay. That's right. But there were certain things that I looked at and went, well, that sounds like fun. I want to learn how to make flapjacks and, you know, I want to learn these things. And so I think that's a huge part of making summer reading active reading because as you're reading, you should be thinking about the things that are happening in that book.

And, you know, obviously there are some books where this doesn't hold true, but in a lot of them, there are things that you can encourage your child to learn more about, participate in that make the book even more real. Because like Delise said, you are cultivating emotional educational literacy as they're taking in those words and they're thinking about what they mean and about the plot and the setting and the character.

So it really is a rich time where during the academic year, you know, you might just not have as much time because you do have, you know, I guess, you know, windows of time where certain things need to be accomplished. And in the summer, you might have a little bit more luxury to be able to spend more time.

Yeah. To spend more time enjoying those types of activities as we read. And, you know, I think my children, it was always a wonderful time whenever I would say, all right, you know, we're going to go and do this thing because they knew that the reading would lead to doing.

And so for active little boys and an active little girl, that was like magical for me to say. Yeah. Yeah. That's so good. Now, I suspect, guys, that there are some moms out here who are thinking, but nobody in my family ever really read to me. And, you know, they may be thinking my family read to me, but now I don't remember the names of the books.

How am I supposed to go find a book that would lead to an activity? I mean, people are probably furiously writing down Little House on the Prairie and, you know, all these things that y'all have brought up. But where, if you are a young mom or if you're a grandma listening to this and you think, I don't have those books anymore.

I don't know what to look for. I want to mention one resource that I used as a young mom. And in talking to Delise, I know that she has plans to use this, too. It's a book. It's a series called Five in a Row. It's a curriculum that will advocate you reading the same book.

And lots of times it's a picture book. So even your youngest listeners are going to be drawn to it. They advocate that you read this book every day for five or six days. And then they give you tons of activities that would make reading this book active. I can remember reading the story of Ping with my little girls.

I remembered it from when I was little, but I was so excited to read it to them because then we did geography. Like we found where China was and we made a pen and we put it in China and we looked and we put a piece of yarn between China and where we lived in the United States.

And so we talked about distance and we talked about the kinds of boats they have in China. The wise-eyed boat, which was his home on the Yangtze River that Ping followed every day. We did science things. We talked about buoyancy like Ping floats. What else will float? We did all kinds of things and I didn't have to think of all of the good activities myself because like my brain was spent just trying to keep these little humans alive and the house running and stuff.

And so that is one resource. If you're thinking, yeah, I love this book, but I don't know what I would do with it. I mean, get some help at first because once you kind of get your juices going, once you see what somebody else has thought about doing with the book, you'll start thinking that way too.

Yeah. Yeah. Delise, what do you think? What's, what are some environments? So we could all read wherever we wanted to. And like Kelly read, you know, in a fort. We read a lot of times outside under a tree. Where are, what are some environments that lead themselves to active reading?

Well, I loved when you mentioned, Kelly, that you guys had the same place, that you returned to the same place every time. Because again, you guys will just have to forgive me. If you don't care about how the brain works, that's okay. Just nod and smile. I care. I think it's fascinating the way that God's made it.

And in the same way that people like to have their Bible study chair and they just feel like they need the Lord better in a specific spot. That's not on accident. Your brain actually does. Yeah. If it doesn't have to be elaborate is what I'm saying. It does need to be repeated, especially if you have a child who, who isn't as interested in the book, you can help them to learn, to explore and learn, to love learning by just putting them in the same place.

When that's good, I'll give you some ideas, but yeah, the repeating the spot is, is I think that little sweet secret that a lot of people sometimes do, but if you want to dive into it headfirst, you'll find that it's very rewarding. I love outside. I know that's controversial for some people, but there is something really beautiful and calming about reading outside.

And there's no reason in the summer, usually that you can't just take that same thing you were doing inside when the weather wasn't as nice outside. So I would highly recommend that one, especially again, if you were like me as a child, reading made you very drowsy. So being outside and helping them to maybe wake up and get a little more sunlight could help them read longer.

And so anywhere, hammock, you know, you can put them on, on the top of the playground if you want and just tell them you can come down when you're done. A couch, somewhere that you can make noise, especially for younger children. But honestly, for me, I find myself laughing out loud in public places.

Oh my gosh, yeah. I'm reading a book that is hilarious. So being able to ask questions of it, of the book, and ask questions of the people around you is really helpful. And just going back to what I was saying, with the books I'm reading with Leo, sometimes we'll have a shaker or we'll have rhythm sticks.

So if the person is walking, you know, we're padding out that. So a place that has space to move so that you don't feel like you have to be still while you're internalizing the information is a really good spot for you. That's good. I like that. You want your children to be free to move around.

And, you know, I think a lot of us, when we thought about read aloud time with our kids, we imagined a sweet little child snuggled up in our lap, just happy to listen to all the things we say. But then you get the child that has a question about every fourth word.

And what does that mean? And what is that? And why did they do that? And what are they going to do next? And you're just like, okay, if you'll just let me get through the story, we'll all know the answers. But that's active reading. That is your child entering into the world of that character and asking questions.

So just like, let your plans go. Let your thoughts loose. And then just explore the beauty that reading with your real child can be with them asking you questions. Maybe you will even stop and ask them some questions. Well, what would you do? Or like Dele said, what do you think it, what do you think he, the sound he would make when he walks?

Well, what, what would the bear sound with the bear make when he walks? Or what about the lizard? And so you explore all kinds, you teach them how to imagine. And so we have to say that we agree with that. But I suspect that all of us really do.

But why, why is reading in the summer an important activity? Kelly, why do you think? Why is summer reading important? Well, I know a lot of people refer to summer and the lack of activity in the summer as being the summer slide where, you know, you just, you kind of lose all of, you know, a little bit of the sharpening of the skills that we practice in the academic year.

Make sure you use your, lose your academic edge. It's like the slide into losing your skills. Okay. Gotcha. And so one of the reasons why, you know, I know that reading during the summer months is good is that it helps keep your child's brain active. Yeah. You keep pursuing knowledge.

You keep building on your experiences during the homeschool year. And so there's not as much recouping when those things start to, you know, begin again in the fall. And when the community begins to come together and maybe you're memorizing, you know, memory work again. You're still helping your child to just keep momentum, momentum, you know, during the summer months.

I think also one of the reasons why summer reading is good for you is that, you know, you're continuing to build family culture, a family culture of learning even during those months. So I think sometimes, you know, those of us who maybe weren't home educated, we fall into this.

Okay, these are the academic months of the year and then the summer. These are the resting months or the playing months. That's right. And really as homeschoolers, you know, life is learning and learning is life. And so maybe summer reading, you know, might look a little different, but, you know, it's still good for your brain.

It's good for your family to engage together. I was thinking, Lisa, about what you said earlier in the podcast about how some students, you know, they want to engage in the practical and a learning environment that maybe we didn't mention because Delise mentioned a bunch of wonderful learning environments.

The kitchen is also a great reading environment. So I'm thinking about like in the summer, that's the time when sometimes I'll pull out recipes and I'll have my daughter read them to me. And so we're practicing sequencing skills and real life application. But that reading during the summer is also a time to maybe do some lower stakes reading that will continue to reinforce those skills that you've sharpened during your academic homeschool year.

So, yeah, lots of good things. Delise, what about you? I know there are some things that you can add, too. Was reading good for you in the summer? I couldn't agree with you more. I'm so glad that you brought up just those practical aspects. I mean, reading is very practical.

It's practical. It is. Good for the brain. You really hope that your scientist has an imagination, you know. Yes. You can picture what's happening beyond, et cetera. But if I had to just say, why is it good for you? I would say it helps you to stay inspired and curious.

I thought about that phrase people say, how the idle hands are the devil's playground. But I would even take it so far as to say idle mind is just as bad. And so, you know, when Paul is talking to the church in Philippi and he's telling them to think on good things and he gives this list.

He kind of gives that list, you know, whatever's good, whatever's true, whatever's lovely, you all know this, with the understanding that they would have a point of reference. And I think that's something that sometimes we take for granted with our children, that they have that point of reference. You have to have, as my mom would say, good schema.

You've got to have something in there to refer to in order to meditate on good things and then act on good things to cultivate a beautiful life, to have good culture. And so I just think it's the best way to feed a healthy curiosity. And I was that kid.

You know, it's funny. It didn't occur to me. Sometimes people do change, but I think God makes you a specific way in a lot of aspects. And I've always loved nonfiction. I've always been very curious about the tactile arts. And so when I was a child and you sent me into the library for my summer reading program, I headed to the adult nonfiction.

And I wanted to learn books about either biology, my fish tank. I wanted to learn about decorating. I mean, I wanted to learn how to cook. I wanted to learn about fashion. And my mom let me pick out, you know, the Bobby Brown book. And I wasn't allowed to wear makeup, but I sure could contour your face and see what all the time, you know, all kinds of stuff like that.

But it made me, it changed the way that I looked at the world. But you're right. It was lower stakes reading. Yes. So I didn't have to, I didn't have to plow through it, but I was able to internalize it. And frankly, that's the same reason we would sit and read the encyclopedia for hours.

We were just wanting to take in. You're just interested. Yeah. In bite-sized pizzas. So yeah, I love it. I love it. And I really wanted to make the point that it's not just our children who are learning to read that shouldn't take the summer off, like Kelly was saying, or it'll be the slow slide.

And to losing your skills. It's not just the kids who are learning to read. It's older students. For the reasons that you two have just given. In the summer, you can read what you're interested in. And you can read a little bit of this to quench your thirst for answering a certain question.

I know one of my daughters just loved to read. And she loved the summer because she could indulge her imagination. She saw the world through books. So she read books that were set in faraway lands, in distant times. And it taught her. It gave her a great moral imagination because she solved lots of dilemmas that she would never personally be faced with.

Because they happened far away or long ago. But it built in her a character of resiliency. What would I do in that same situation? Or how did that work for that character? And so she got to know who she could be or who she might be by exploring the world through books.

And for me, that's what I did. I lived a thousand lifetimes before I graduated from high school because of all the books that I read. And the little things that you pick up become part of who you are. Give your children the freedom to explore the world with books.

And I'm not saying don't steer them toward good things to read because, of course, you want to have good things input. But let them be like Delisa's mom and let them read decorating books or makeup books or how to fix the lawnmower books, even if you don't have a lawnmower.

Whatever that child is interested in. And you know what? They may not be interested in it for more than a week at a time, but that's okay. All right. I want to suspend. I actually thought about setting a timer, but I'm not going to do it because that just is too schoolish.

But we're going to take 60 seconds and brainstorm. I want you to brainstorm. How can moms and dads make reading an active experience this summer? Okay. So you just call out ways to make reading active. Go. I'll start. I'm waiting for this question. For foundations families, I would say this.

Revisit the past cycle of memory work and take note if there was anything that your child was like wanting to know more about. What did they wonder about? Make a list of those topics. And if you do have a child that's interested in nonfiction, that might be a great jumping off place because you're tying some of that reading to things that they've already experienced during that previous cycle.

And I would also say this. One of the fun ways that I encourage as a challenge director for my challenge students to prepare for the upcoming year is I make a bingo board. And there's something about a bingo board that just makes them want to prepare because it's a lot more fun to cross things off a bingo board than it is to cross them off a list.

And so there are lots of bingo templates online. Find a bingo template and think about all the different types of things that you could read together as a family and just start filling in the boxes. And together, yeah, have a book bingo summer where you just mark things off as you experience them together.

And it can be a lot of fun because you're working together to achieve a common goal. I love it that you said lots of different kinds of things. So if I was making a bingo board, I would put a song. We're going to read song lyrics. We're going to read some poems.

We're going to read a political speech or maybe one of the farewell addresses or the inauguration speeches of a president. But also, we're going to find a manual. We're going to look for one of our manuals and we're going to read through the how-to and find words that you don't know.

I also love the active reading that you can do when you, like Kelly was saying, read a cookbook and make something from that. Or, you know, we used to say, okay, we're going to go to the library and you find a title that starts with, and I would give both of the girls a letter.

And it doesn't matter what it is and we're going to read it and we're going to see what that book is. And what could we, is there a game we can play from that? Is there something we could draw for that? Or is it just really a bummer? You picked a book that we all hated.

We can rally around that, that that was a bad book. We'll never read it again. Just things that bring your family together that you can read together. Delise, what are some good active reading ideas? Well, I know, I think I've mentioned on the show before, we always had books that were in the category of things to make and do.

Oh, yeah. Back in the day, you know, when they used to bring the encyclopedia to your doorstep, you had this. Oh, my word. Yes. In your collection. However, that's not a thing anymore. I know. But that's fun because in those books, you'll find things like arts and crafts or science.

And you can go deeper. Let's say your kid picks out paper airplanes. They're obsessed with paper airplanes. All they want to do is paper airplanes. Well, let's talk about flight. And then you could read books that go deeper down that. Or let's talk about why a thing flies. Let's go through the science brain, not just the historical brain.

Or another thing that you could definitely do would be the cooking. But you could also build something. You know, build something. Yes. Make a family process. See if you can recreate a scene from one of the books and keep it up. You know, we used to take those big refrigerator boxes.

A lot of the hardware stores will give you those leftover boxes. You make a playhouse out of it. Yeah, make a playhouse. Make one of those worlds that you've always wanted to go to. Okay, well, let's see if we can make it with our own materials or things we can reference.

Then there's also just painting. I mean, I know a lot of kids just like to illustrate what they're seeing in their mind. And that can be really helpful for you to know, okay, this is how this child is interpreting this story. So letting them all draw it out is a really beautiful opportunity as well.

I know some girls like to sew. And that's another really fun thing, especially if you're in different period pieces. You can make something that looks like it came from that era. And this is the last one. I have so many ideas, but the last one I'll share for today is also exploring different points in time.

So a child's book that was written in the 20s. I always like to look like it's very different than a children's book that was written in the 80s. And if for an older child, that might sound like, okay, this is cool for a younger child. But for an older child, they may be able to pick up on some of those narratives and some of the things of what was going on in the world at that time.

And why were they emphasizing things the way they were? Yes. Or even what was expected of children. And if I have looked in old books and think, wow, that would never have been the job of an eight-year-old today. But in the 20s, it was. Or in the 40s, it was this way.

Or in the 60s, this is what they were expected to do. Yeah, that's really interesting. It's fun. And it's a good art study, too. Like, if you wanted materials, if it's a picture book, what was available to them? And why were they using it that way? Or who were they inspired by?

I mean, I could go on and on. But there are lots of ways. Well, you know what? One thing that we could take from this, all of us can take from this, is that get interested in these books and in these stories yourself. The questions that you have, you can absolutely share that wonder with your children when you ask questions about what you're reading.

Or when you want to do something with what you are reading together, it gives them the idea that, oh, we don't have to just sit here and read the story. We could then act out the story. I had one daughter who loved, who wanted to act out a story.

She actually wanted, in all fairness, she wanted to write a story and then have all her friends act out the story. And so we had to explore the fact that not everybody would know the story. This is not a story everybody knows. And everybody does not necessarily want you to tell them what they have to do.

She was young enough that she just needed to work on that. So what we did was we picked a really familiar story. We took the story of the little red hen and we adapted it because she said, well, none of my friends will want to be a chicken. And so we adapted it.

And so it was the brave little princess. And I said, okay, but it has to, the lines have to be predictable so that we don't have a lot of time to practice. This is the summer. We're not good, you know, the costumes have to be easy. So we scripted because of who was going to be involved.

We scripted. So we had the brave little princess. We had the littlest princess. We had the pretty, pretty princess. We had the court guard. And we had the court jester. And it was kind of like, who will help me bake this cake instead of who will help me plant this corn.

But anyway, you can find what your child loves, what they are motivated to spend their time on, and show them how reading a book together can make what they want to do possible. Can give them a framework for exploring something that they are eager to pursue. And reading can be active.

And that's what we wanted to leave you guys with today. Summer reading, yes, it's a thing. It's still a thing. It's a thing again. But active reading, maybe that could be your new summer fun this year. Kelly and Delise, thank you so much. I appreciate it. What's your parting word?

What's your parting salvo for this podcast for families who want to pursue active reading? Oh, I think mine would be parents, challenge yourself to be a cultivator of curiosity this summer. I like that. If you are cultivating curiosity, then you're going to have a beautiful garden for the imagination for your child to play in.

That's lovely, Kelly. Good. Delise. I think I would encourage parents to do this. for themselves as well. Kind of like putting your own oxygen on. Make sure that you're reading something that makes you curious. Do you need a highlighter when you're reading that book? If not, you know, maybe find something more challenging sometimes.

Encourage yourself to dive deeper. Because I think once you remember what it's like to learn and to do things for the first time, it makes you a much more empathetic teacher. Yeah. So staying in that position of cultivating your own curiosity will really help you to recognize those sparks in your kids so that you can create that culture in your family.

That's really good. That's really good. That's really good. We are trying to cultivate a family culture of learning and doing it all together makes that fun. All right. Families, as you're looking forward to next year already, well, you may be planning. The Math Map series by Classical Conversations offers a unique Christ-centered approach to mathematics.

It's time to think about teaching math this year. And this is something great for you guys to consider. It emphasizes the language of math in the natural learning environment. This is really good. The Math Map provides scaffolding math instruction across multiple levels. So all of your children are going to be exploring the same concept, but at their level.

So right now we have digits, we have integers, fractions. These are designed for different age groups, but every level, this is the best part, every level builds on your previous one. So it helps students progressively master these concepts from basic digits, and this is like five-year-olds up, to integers, to fractions.

So this curriculum is great. It is an entire family schoolhouse approach. And the booklets will allow your children to work on concepts at their level while you as the parent are teaching everybody together. So discover how your family can celebrate, really, celebrate God's design for mathematics. You can visit classicalconversations.com, the math map today, and find out more about it, okay?

So you guys go and actively read this summer, and maybe drop us a line and let us know, what are you reading, and how is it going? What are you doing to be active with your reading? We would love to hear from you, so go forth and read and let us know.

All right. See you guys next time. Bye-bye. you you you you you you you Thank you.