During my time teaching in public school, I spent many years teaching Ancient World History. There were five basic themes within our history curriculum: culture, history, economics, geograhy, and human-environmental interaction. Honesty, I absolutely loved what I taught. Why? Well, because the curriculum was interesting! We studied world religions, migration patterns, the music and art of different cultures, the economic and political systems of various societies and how they affected quality of life.  We talked about how the environment and climate of a region impacted people, and how people in turn, affected the environment. I think the reason that I actually found the curriculum so interesting is that I WAS LEARNING WITH MY STUDENTS. 

I was one of those kids who always like school and I think I payed attention most of the time. But, I don’t think that I ever learned most of the ancient history that I later taught….until I was actually studying it and teaching it! 

I quickly realized that the absolute best way to learn something is to teach it.

We used this little strategy called “turn and teach” in the classroom. After listening to me present a new concept, I’d ask the kids to then “turn and teach” it to their partners, in their own words. By doing that, they were processing the information they had just heard, paraphrasing into their own words, and explaining it out loud. They were learning through teaching.

My point in all of this (finally, right?) is that when we read to our kids, we become the teachers. When we read books to them about kindness, we are reminded how important it is for us as adults to be kind to others. When we read books about friendship, we may be reminded to reach out to a friend who has been on our mind lately.  When we read to them about how much God loves them, we are reminded ourselves that the very message we are teaching applies to us as well. We are loved too. “Booking time with our kids” is a way of teaching them about things that we value as important. It’s also a way to learn/re-learn some of the invaluable lessons of life that we personally might need to hear just as much as they do.

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