Read-Aloud Revival ®

In the last couple of episodes, we’ve discussed the importance of fairy tales, especially in the development of the hearts and minds of our children. And you might be wondering . . . now that you know about the Gospel connections and symbolism of fairy tales, do you need to dissect every story and present all of the details to your kids? Experts say no. But it can be incredibly edifying for you as...

How can our families cultivate healthy relationships with technology?  We’re all trying to impose limits on how, when, and why our kids interact with technology. But in our increasingly tech-driven world, it can be hard to navigate. Writer Erin Loechner is joining me on the podcast to discuss her new book, The Opt-Out Family , and to offer her life-giving take on building lasting connections with...

Fairy tales are the stories that shape so many of our childhoods, but they are more than just whimsical tales for children. They can hold deep, gospel truth and offer profound insight into the Christian life. They have the power to inspire hope, ignite courage, and spark delight in not only our children, but in us, too.  Fairy tales aren’t merely stories, they’re vessels of light in our modern wor...

A picture book is an art gallery for the lap. 📚 That’s something we say all the time here at Read-Aloud Revival, and today we’re going to introduce you to one of our absolute favorite examples of this.   We're diving into the enchanting world of illustrated picture books with Scott Gustafson, the master illustrator behind the breathtaking illustrations in the beloved Classic Fairy Tales picture b...

Summer is fast approaching, and here's what we propose: a relaxed and simple summer that offers just enough structure to keep those long sticky days from melting into chaos... and just enough fun to keep your kids asking for more. Also: Fairy Tales.  Last week, I did a couple of live workshops on three simple steps to have a Fairy Tale Summer with your kids, no matter how old they are. In today’s...

Are you intimidated by the thought of teaching Shakespeare?  You’re not alone.  A lot of people struggle to connect to Shakespeare’s work, even if they really want their kids to be familiar with his plays.  What if I told you there's a way to make teaching Shakespeare to your kids enjoyable for them… …AND delightful for you?  In today’s episode, Ken Ludwig, celebrated playwright and author of How...

Can you believe it? The Read-Aloud Revival Podcast is ten years old!! That means it’s time for a party! 🥳🥳 Ten years is a long time to have a podcast, but we’re not slowing down anytime soon. We’re having WAY too much fun for that. In honor of this milestone, I’ve got a Casey Kasem-style countdown for you of the top ten episodes from the first ten years of Read Aloud Revival. And as a way to say...

When you hear the name Max Lucado, what comes to mind for you? Max Lucado is best known as a pastor, speaker, best-selling inspirational author, and, in many Christian families, he’s a household name. His books are written for everyone—especially those who are hurting, lonely, and discouraged. In his writing, he constantly points his readers back to the truth: that God loves you and you should let...

Do you ever find yourself wishing you had more time to read?   Oh, every day? (Yeah, we get that.) We’re pretty confident that every mom wishes she had more time to read.  Carving out a little time to enjoy your own reading life is worthwhile, even in those seasons when you think it’s impossible. (Sarah has six kids, and when three of them were babies age one and under, it definitely felt like an...

We all want our kids to read, right? If you’re listening to this podcast, it’s probably safe to say that you want your kids to grow up to read more often than the average adult does. We want them to be lifelong learners and avid readers who read for pleasure. So it’s worth considering how we can cultivate the habits of real adult readers in our kids so that they grow up to be the readers we want t...

Today, I’m sharing two recent episodes from my weekly coaching podcast, Circle with Sarah, that is available exclusively to members of RAR Premium. I wanted to share them with all of you because I think the message applies to most of us. A lot of us have this funny habit of focusing on getting DONE with the thing we most want to do. Of getting it over with and checking it off the list. It’s maybe...

This year at Read Aloud Revival, we’re focusing on reading for joy. It’s so easy for reading to become another thing on your to-do list, but when we make reading a source of joy, of respite from our busy lives, it’s like running into a clear creek on a hot, dusty hike. Nurturing your reading life nurtures you, which in turn helps us be better moms, better homeschoolers, better parents, better wome...

There is something kind of tragic that happens when our kids become readers of their own right. It doesn’t always happen, of course, and there are ways for us to prevent it. But it’s awfully common. That thing I’m talking about? When reading starts to feel like school. It happens to all of us at one point or another, and it’s very common especially at this time of year when school is well underway...

What are fairy tales? Why do we love them so much? And why do these stories continue to capture the imaginations of countless generations? To help me answer those questions, I’m welcoming author Sarah Arthur to the podcast. Personally, I fell in love with Sarah’s writing through A Light So Lovely , on the spiritual legacy of Madeleine L’Engle. And when I found out she was working on a young adult...

Today, I’ve got another Best Of RAR episode for you. I wanted to revisit this episode because it feels extra relevant this time of year as we’re thinking about setting goals and resolutions for the year ahead. Personally, I tend to feel a little overwhelmed by it and I bet some of you can relate. And when it comes to books and goals for our reading lives, one of the things we hear at Read Aloud Re...

Today we’re airing one of my favorite episodes from last year, all about Jolabokaflod, which is a Christmas “book flood,” in the Icelandic tradition. What if I told you this tradition makes your life easier, not harder?  During Jolabokaflod, you gift members of your family with new books, and everyone drinks hot cocoa and spends the whole of Christmas Eve reading. If I didn’t get your attention be...

I know that if you’re an RAR Family, you are raising kids who love to read, because that’s what we do around here! And with a love of reading often comes the inspiration to write. And those young writers will come to you looking for feedback on their stories. But what if we, as parents, don’t see ourselves as experts or writers and feel like we don’t have much to offer in the way of feedback? It h...

I want to introduce you to one of my new favorite authors. She's younger than most published authors. In fact, she says she decided to publish her first book at nine years old. When she was 10, she attended her first writing conference. When she was 13, she self published her first book. She was homeschooled. You probably could have already guessed that. And she has been on a roll ever since. Now...

On today’s Best of Read Aloud Revival episode, I’m replaying one of our most popular episodes. Without fail, at every homeschool conference, at least one person comes up to me and says, “Dyslexia was not even on my radar until I listened to the episode with Marianne Sunderland.” And that’s because most of us don’t understand what dyslexia really is and the signals to look for in our kids. And we d...

By far the most popular episode we’ve ever done here on Read Aloud Revival is the episode with my oldest daughter, Audrey, when we looked back together on homeschooling from her vantage point as a sophomore in college. We discussed what worked, what didn’t, and about our homeschool experience in general. And last spring, at the Great Homeschool Conventions, you all kept asking me when Audrey would...

There is one question that plagues us, that we all ask, and that we ask all the time: Am I doing enough? When we constantly ask ourselves if we’re doing enough in our homeschool, it makes it difficult to stay present and engaged and actually enjoy it. Whether you’re relatively new to homeschooling or a seasoned veteran, we all wonder. Today, I'm sharing the last of my sessions from The GHC Confere...

Today, I’m sharing another session from the Great Homeschool Conventions in 2023 all about homeschooling with babies and toddlers. If you are homeschooling with babies and toddlers underfoot, this one's for you. Or if you have a friend who is homeschool with babies and toddlers, this one's for her, so please share it! Full disclosure: My favorite part about going to the Great Homeschool Convention...

Are you struggling with how to tackle reading in your homeschool? Maybe you have a child who’s a later reader or is having a tough time connecting with reading. Or maybe you have a kid who’s an advanced reader and they’re outpacing books that fit their emotional and social development. Either way, it can be hard to know what to do to help your child build a strong relationship with reading that th...

During my hardest year of homeschooling, I had a 12, 10, 8, and 1 year old, and twin newborns. Life was… a little chaotic. One week, a friend of mine who had homeschooled all three of her kids asked, “So how's homeschooling going?” And naturally, I burst into tears. I’m not sure she saw that coming. But then, maybe she did.  Anyway, she asked me how I was keeping the kids on track for their school...

Imagine that your child is grown up, and his or her reading life looks a lot like yours does right now. How do you feel about that?  Is your reading life something you want your kids to emulate when they’re adults?  What if we built for ourselves the kind of reading life that we’d be delighted for our own kids to imitate?  Novelist Katherine Paterson once wrote that “a fondness for books is catchi...