When our kids’ are little, it is usually pretty easy to get them to curl up with us and listen to a story. Have you considered including read-aloud with your older kids, too? There are many benefits of read-aloud with our older kids. You’d be surprised what they get out of it. It will look a little different than when they were three, but it is still just as important.
You’re probably wondering why to bother with read-aloud with older kids, though. After all, they should be pretty competent readers by middle school and high school, right?!
Most middle school and high school kids are fluent readers. That’s true. They certainly shouldn’t need us to teach them the rhythm of our language or how to properly read a page from left to right. However, our preteens and early teens have different things they get out of read-aloud time.
So, what are the benefits of including read-aloud with our older kids?
Let’s take a look!
Top Benefits of Read Aloud with Older Kids
Benefit #1- Building Comprehension
I love using read-aloud with older kids to help build their comprehension skills. You can take a challenging book and work through it together. They can enjoy a hard book because you discuss it while reading, not after they have struggled through an assignment on it by themselves.
Another awesome thing about read-aloud with older kids is you can SHOW your kids how people make sense of their reading. I don’t know if it is a habit I picked up from teaching, or if it is natural, but I constantly say out loud what is going through my head while I read. If I come to a part of the book that is confusing, I might slow down and reread it to help make sense of it. I may read another part and comment on how this relates to something in my life or another book.
Talking through a book is so beneficial for our older kids. It reinforces the reading comprehension skills we try and teach them. They see us using them in a real situation.
Benefit #2- Exposure to New Genres
Do you have a kid that will only read dragon books or another that will only read about horses? Maybe you have a kid that insists poetry is lame.
Family read-aloud time is a great way to introduce different genres in a fun way. Maybe you have one of the great classics you want your kids to read, but you know if you assign it, they won’t give it a chance. Your daily read-aloud time can help.
My kids have often balked at certain books. However, once I started reading the book, they wanted me to keep reading more. Reading a book alone and with others is a totally different experience. You can get your kids involved with asking questions, showing excitement, and reading with a lot of feeling and bring the characters to life.
Once your kids are listening to a genre they had no interest in, just maybe, they may look into similar books on their own. I know my kids have. It really can work. Try using read-aloud with your older kids to expose them to different genres and see how it goes.
If you need help finding some fun books, I have a list of read aloud books for the middle school-aged kids. Check out 10 Fun Books to Read to Your Older Kids. For your high school kiddos, you might find a book on this list of 10 Great Living Books for Your High School Kids to Read this Summer.
Benefit #3- Build Vocabulary (and word pronunciation)
Older kids spend a lot of time in reading assignments working on vocabulary. They look up the word, and hopefully, they remember the meaning when they come across it while they are reading.
I love that read-aloud time is the perfect opportunity to talk about vocabulary WHILE reading together. Just think, you’re reading along and you come to a word you think they don’t know. If the kids were reading by themselves, do you think they’d stop to look it up? Mmm, probably not. When you read together, though, you can stop and explain the word in context so they truly understand the word.
Another benefit that kind of goes with building vocabulary is building word pronunciation skills. It is not only important our kids understand new vocabulary, but also they need to know how to pronounce those bigger words.
I’ve also found this is very true with names. My daughter is infamous for mispronouncing names. One day she was talking about a character named “Lay” in her story. It took me a minute before I realized the name was L-e-i-g-h. She wasn’t familiar with this spelling, but she was familiar with Princess Leia. Well, Leia begins the same way as Leigh, so she pronounced it the same.
While reading, take some time to go over vocabulary and let them see how different words are spelled and pronounced. It is a good way of incorporating some useful reading skills.
Benefit #4- Family Time
As our kids get older, it seems they want to spend more time alone. My kids often grab the school work they can do by themselves and hide in their rooms. Read-aloud with older kids is a perfect way to spend time together.
Books are a great way to connect as a family. You can laugh together, experience new books, and learn how to discuss books with others in an informal setting. It’s like having a family book club. I just wouldn’t call it that to your kids, or they may think it is lame.
What Does Read Aloud Look Like with Older Kids?
Are you all going to climb in bed while you read? Probably not. Will you sit in the living room in the morning while people wake up or after dinner in the evening? You might, especially if you don’t have little ones.
If read aloud hasn’t been a habit in your family or you stopped because your kids were “too old”, your kids might not be open to the idea about you reading to them. I understand. I got away from read aloud with my older kids and needed to sneak it back in. Here are some things to try.
- Incorporate read aloud during downtime in your day. As mentioned above, your family may lay around waking up in the morning, or maybe you find yourselves hanging out after dinner before everyone goes about their night. Find some natural lulls where you can add it in.
- Find a book you know they will love. To start off, get a highly appealing book to them. Do they love Star Wars? Maybe read one of the Star Wars novels. Perhaps, your kids are excited about a new movie out in the theaters, and there is a book it is based on. Read the book. The key to getting started is finding something they are less likely to turn their nose up to.
- Take turns reading. One way to enjoy read aloud can be to take turns reading. Maybe you read a few nights but then one of your kids reads to you.
- Read while the kids do mindless activities. Maybe your kids would be open to read aloud if they are doing other tasks at the same time. While the kids scroll through sites on their phones/computers, work on a drawing, or other mindless tasks, maybe they’ll be willing to listen while you read out loud from a fun engaging story. You’d be surprised how much they are listening.
I think as our kids get older, we tend to think they don’t need some of the things they did when they were younger. Just because our kids can read for themselves doesn’t mean our older kiddos don’t need read aloud. It is a fabulous way for them to learn to discuss books and get far more out of their reading when doing it together as a family.
Take a look at your day and see where you can add in read aloud time. Your next step is to find a great book your kids will love! Start building the read aloud habit and take advantage of all the benefits it has to offer.
