by Mary James

When was the last time you spent the evening reading aloud to your children? It could well be that you are able to say, "Last night — and the night before... we do this every night!" Many of my friends could answer my question that way. For years I envied these friends. I would hear them talk about all of the great books they were reading and I would think to myself, "How in the world do they manage that??" I just couldn't see how it could work in my family. If you are in the group that has worked read-aloud time into your schedule, you probably don't need this article. But I felt compelled to write because I know there are many families who have struggled with this issue, just as I have. It is my desire to give them some reassurance and, hopefully, some practical advice.

Does this describe you — you've been listening to Sally Clarkson, Carole Joy Seid, and others who explain the living book approach to education? You think, "oh, yes, this sounds great!" — and you go home determined to throw out all those nasty workbooks and just read to your kids?! But after a couple of days you begin to feel that slow panic... no workbooks? no textbooks? just read??? So the wonderful living books you bought in your enthusiasm go on a bookshelf somewhere in your house and just gather dust. If that sounds familiar, then this article is for you!

I come to bring you hope! It is possible for even the staunchest workbook fiend to escape the prison of fill-in-the-blank pages and be set free to discover the incredible beauty of a well-written book! I know because I speak from personal experience. I'd like to share a little of my own journey with you, in the hope that it will give you some ideas that you can incorporate into your own life.

As I said, I have long envied my friends who had successfully adopted a lifestyle of reading aloud. For more than a year, I pondered how I might make this a reality in my own home. It was something I wanted desperately — and I'm not ashamed to admit that I was more than a little idealistic about it. I pictured myself sitting by a roaring fire, surrounded by attentive children drinking cocoa and listening to every word as I shared with them the beautiful imagery of Dickens and Austen. I honestly think this idealistic tendency was what kept me from attaining the success for which I hungered. My sporadic attempts to read aloud were disastrous, to say the least. Fidgety children fighting over who would sit next to Mommy... toddlers climbing over everyone, grabbing for books, squealing and screaming... and cocoa all over the carpet! Argh! Surely this is not what an evening is like at Sally Clarkson's house! What was I doing wrong??

Well, I think I was doing several things wrong, and I didn't fix the situation overnight, but I am proud to say that evening read-aloud time is now a very fixed part of the James family schedule. The children still fight over who will sit next to Mommy, but we've worked out something of a schedule for that. I still have toddlers everywhere but, praise God, we've moved into a larger house so they aren't always right on top of us. And they are being raised to respect this evening ritual that calls for softer speech and minimal movement. (And when all else fails, Daddy takes them to another room for a game or a storybook of their own.) Cocoa is not allowed in the living room of the new house, but we did actually spend a few nights last winter by a roaring fire, drinking cocoa (while sitting on a blanket to protect the carpet!), reading Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." Wow... dreams really do come true!

Here are a few of the things I figured out on the road from Point A to Point B....