How to Help Your Homeschooler Focus for Read-Alouds

Read alouds are a great way to help your children fall in love with books. Getting them to sit still and listen to the book can be a challenge that leaves parents frustrated.

​This common problem is easier to fix than you think. Sometimes it can be stressful watching our children fidget while we try to read to them but the truth is a little fidgeting can help them pay better attention to the story you are reading to them and sit still longer for the reading than they could if they tried to just sit still and listen.
 
Offer your child a sensory activity to help them focus. This is a great way to get more into your day. Sensory play helps kids gather themselves so they can focus better the rest of the day. Opt for simple activities like homemade slime, or playdough that can help calm and soothe while they listen allowing them to perform better on other lessons.
 
Keep hands busy without distracting minds. Activities like coloring is a great read-aloud project. Give them coloring pages that go along with the book you are reading to help connect the two. Coloring doesn't take much thought but keeps the hands busy allowing children to focus their attention on you reading to them.
 
If your child needs to be a bit more physical to focus give a peddler or exercise bike a try. This will give them something physical to burn off excess energy to help them all day long and give their body something to do so their mind can focus on your reading aloud to them.
 
If you have an extra copy of the book you are reading aloud, have them read along and take over reading out loud once in a while. No matter what method you use to help your child focus during reading aloud, you can take advantage of asking your child questions to see if they are truly focused. This also helps them work on reading comprehension and retention skills.

 

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