One of the best things you can for your child is teach them to not only listen to what you read to them but also
teach them to make it a practice to comprehend what they are reading. This can be done through narration exercises. Once your child has read something in history, science or whatever it may be - have them give you a few sentences (
one for younger children) of what they remember about the material. You can write their narration down on a piece of paper and file it under the subject that it correlates with. Older children can write their own narrations down.
We have made this a practice from the beginning of this year's homeschool and I must say that my daughter has not only been able to listen and comprehend, but it has taught her what a complete sentence is. I don't let her answer with just anything - she must answer in a complete sentence, allowing grammar to be implemented into narration as well.
You will be amazed at what your little one is capable of, cause I sure have been! We don't practice narration with everything we read, such as "fun" books, but with history, science and books that correlate with subjects we are studying, we do.
You can train your child's mind to comprehend/understand as they read! You will notice they will start to listen more closely because they know they will have to give a summary at the end and answer questions. You have to give them a reason to want to listen!
Here is an example of a narration my daughter did today after I read to her a passage from history about the Nomads. I wrote it down as she said it to me - it is K's remembrance of the lesson and what stood out to her:
"They didn't have houses and no stores. They had to move somewhere else if they ran out of food. A little girl was watching the stars until she fell asleep."
Her favorite part was about the little nomad girl who slept under the stars at night because they didn't have houses back then! Her least favorite was that the girl and her family ate lizards lol.
Your child will feel a sense of accomplishment as well, once they fill up a folder with their narrations. Halfway through the year, you can review whatever subject you were studying, by reading back to your child, their narrations!
