Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
There is nothing more important in our homeschooling efforts than teaching a child to read
and teaching a child to love to read. Elizabeth Hardwick years ago said, The greatest gift is
a passion for reading. I think she is right on the mark. A passion for reading is a foundation
for much in life, especially with the competing electronics that are enveloping so many in
our society. Groucho Marx had something to say on the topic of electronics, specifically
televisions: I must say that I find television very educational. The minute somebody turns
it on, I go to the library and read a book. And there was C. S. Lewis who said, We read to
know we are not alone. Reading is so very important.
Examining the statistics and whats relevant when it comes to reading, I am not going to
focus on the homeschooling data but rather will take a look at all the data. Sometimes I
think we get caught up in homeschooling-specific data when whats really important is data
pertaining to children.
Research shows that children who grow up in homes where books are plentiful tend to go,
on average, three years further in school than those who do not. When children have access
to books at home, children with low-education families do as well on standardized tests as
children with high-education families.3 Children in classrooms without literature collections
read 50% less than children in classrooms with such collections.4 Children typically learn
4,000 to 12,000 new words yearly as a result of reading books.5 And the performance
advantage among children whose parents read to them in their early school years is evident
regardless of the familys socio-economic background.6
What do the statistics show for children who do not learn to read and read well? Children
who do not read proficiently by third grade are four times more likely to leave school
without a diploma when compared to proficient readers. The number rises when those
children also come from poverty.7 Every school day in the United States, 3,000 children
drop out, and the majority of those children are poor readers. Children with below-gradelevel reading skills are twice as likely to drop out of school as those who can read on or
above grade level.8 Nearly one-third of all college freshmen had to take a remedial course in
reading in 20072008, and following that remedial course, each had only a 17% chance of
graduating.9
What a difference reading makes in the life of a child. And what a gift you will have given
your child when you teach the love of reading.
Heather and her husband, Steve, live in Edgewood, New Mexico, where they have
homeschooled their five children, Edward (19), Joseph (17), Emily (14), Hana (8), and
Ezekiel (8), for the last fourteen years. When not homeschooling, doing things with her
family, or writing for TOS, Heather works as a Human Factors Engineer in her home-based
consulting business. Please visit their website: www.hippityhooves.com.
Endnotes:
1
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave with
related documents. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2003.
2
Welty, Eudora & Bausch, Richard (Introduction). (March 23, 2011). On Writing. Modern
Library. ISBN: 0679642706.
3
Evans, M. D. R., Kelley, Jonathan, Sikora, J., and Treiman, D. J. (June, 2010). Family
scholarly Culture and Educational Success: Books and Schooling in 27 Nations. Research in
Social Stratification and Mobility. Vol. 28, Issue 2, pgs.171197.