Latest / 5–Minute Parenting: Tips to Help You Raise Competent, Godly Kids. / Tips to GROW young readers w/author Christy Smith

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Tips to GROW young readers w/author Christy Smith · 5–Minute Parenting: Tips to Help You Raise Competent, Godly Kids.

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to another episode of the Five Minute Parenting Podcast.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Karen Ferguson, wife, mom, grandmom, and children's book author with a background in K-8 education and a passion for equipping parents to raise confident and God-confident kids.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: In this podcast, we'll cover parenting practices for both a practical view and a biblical view.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Our goal is to help you raise kids with a positive, godly self-image so they can become all they were created to be.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: I know you're busy, so we'll keep it short.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Let's take just five minutes and dive in.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome back to Five-Minute Parenting, tips to help you raise competent and God-confident kids.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Today I have the pleasure of talking with Christy Smith, the author of It Begins With a Book: An Everyday Guide to Growing Young Readers.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: She's here to share the importance of reading and tips for making it fun.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Christy is a former educator with 23 years of classroom experience and a relentless passion for literacy.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: She delights in sharing ways to incorporate books into everyday life and create home environments where literacy can thrive.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Her heart for littles and literacy is profound.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: She believes every child deserves to love reading.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the show, Christine.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: I'm thrilled to be here.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: I am so glad you're here.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I had the privilege of reading your book, and I can't say enough good things about it.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I am glad you're here today.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: You're going to be sharing an acronym from your book that's useful to promote literacy in the home and make reading fun.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's called Grow.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: But before I let you dive right in, I do want to share a quote from your book that stood out to me.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: It says, When we can make a moment a memory, we plant something inside our children that keeps their interest blooming.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: And that's really what your book is all about making the most of every moment with our kids and grandkids.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: So, Christy, please share what you have with listeners today.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, it begins with a book was born from a heart of literacy and love of littles and a love of books.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: And as a former educator, I had a chance to experience literacy in a classroom setting for 23 years.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I loved every moment of that with reading and reading intervention and reading instruction and read alouds as a really pivotal point of our day.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: And then once I was not teaching anymore, I had the privilege of doing a lot of those same activities with my grandson.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I thought that parents would benefit from having a resource that was hands-on, easy to navigate, with short chapters and takeaways at the end of each chapter that would make reading accessible to them and their littles, and additionally to make reading fun.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: So as I designed the book, I broke it up into four sections.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: As you mentioned, the acronym GROW, which stands for Get Started Early, Read, Read, Read, Optimize Opportunities, and Wonder Whimsy Wishes.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: And although they go kind of in chronological sequence for age, they this the book doesn't have to be read cover to cover.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: It can be segmented as families are reading through and finding pieces that are important for where they are with their little ones.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: So with that said, I'll jump right into the acronym starting with Get Started Early.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: So one of the things I think is so important is that families start reading with their littles beginning at birth.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: So in that section of the book, I talk a little bit about the importance of reading, some data, some statistics, and then how we can build a home library with our little ones right at the very beginning.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: So primarily that would look like board books, but the different variety that we can pull in with our board books for our little ones so that we are teaching some skills at the very beginning without being so explicit in the instruction, but just by the variety that we put in our in our home libraries.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: So that's kind of the start off to the book, uh get started early.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um the next section is read, read, read.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: And in that part of the book, um, it's focused on ways that we can um set up our books, book organization, um, book baskets, take along totes.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um I really want to encourage families to um have books in many different places.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: So a lot of times we'll have books in on a bookshelf.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um we often will read at bedtime and nap time, and that's fantastic.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: But books can be in so many different spaces and places.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the delights of that chapter for me is immersive play and books that we're bringing in as we are playing with our children or as grandparents interacting with our kids.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: So when they're very little, like toddlers, um, their attention span is short, but we could still bring in some of those books during our playtime.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: So, for example, if we're doing um playing with our our little farm and we have our little plastic animals, we can pull in a book about the farm and we can read along while we're playing.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so finding spaces where we can take our books with us, if we're going on a picnic or we're going to um maybe to a children's museum and we're gonna learn about something, finding a book that we can take so our littles are connected with them as toddl and preschoolers.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then also in that section is building a home library that now starts to introduce picture books.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because after we've read board books and our littles are growing, um becoming more adept at holding books and turning pages, we really want to dive into the world of picture books because there's so much to offer in that realm as well.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: I agree.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: And then additionally with that, the same idea as the board books when we're building a home library is to have a wide variety of what we're choosing for our kids and then allowing them to choose as well.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that kind of crosses the board for their interests, whether it's animals, colors, um, whether it's learning about um the world around us, our nonfiction, our faith-based books.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: For many of us, faith is a really pivotal part of our lives and something we're instilling into our children and grandchildren.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: And picture books are a beautiful way for us to share that with our kids, um, our faith, our beliefs.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: And um I'm thrilled to say there are so many fantastic Christian children's authors who are putting out beautiful resources, both in their wording and their illustrations alike.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so it's a fantastic, um, fantastic time to be sharing our faith with our children and using books as that bridge to help them as they're learning and growing.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: As we move into the next section, optimize opportunities.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: This part of the book is focused on our independent and not so independent readers.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so there's tips for and suggestions for how we can continue to encourage our readers, um, continue to stay connected with the books that our children are reading when they get to that independent phase, um, asking questions, showing interest in what they're interested in, um, and then encouragement for those who haven't quite unlocked the magic of reading yet, and they're still working on the decoding skills and the comprehension, um, and then some ways to do some shared reading experiences so that as a family or as parents or as siblings, um, the children are still uh being encouraged to uh read and be supported in their reading as well.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: And then my probably my favorite section is the last section that's titled uh Wonder Whimsy Wishes.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: That's the W.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: And that section is dedicated to creative literacy.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: So making reading fun, a place where we can build the excitement, build the energy, and hopefully instill the joy and love of reading in our little ones so that that becomes a lifelong habit for them.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: And so in those four sections, um, that part particularly the the Wonder Whimsy Wishes offers suggestions for books and baking um activities that we can do with our kids, some extensions for reading for maybe some homeschool families, maybe some summer vacation or winter breaks when children are out of school, but we still want to keep them plugged in with literacy.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, another chapter that I absolutely love is titled Getting Grandparents Involved.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: So ways that grandparents can set up um FaceTime Read Alouds if they're not living in the same city, perhaps, or um a Zoom book club for those who are maybe in a picture book or a chapter book that they can do um with their grandparents.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um so that that part is um adds just a little bit more whimsy to what we're doing as we are helping facilitate the love of reading for our little ones.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: And um I think the thing that's um so important and one of the things that I love about literacy is that every time we add a book to our home library and each time we're reading with our little ones, we're increasing the opportunity for them to love reading.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: And that's kind of my heart behind this this book and the passion that I try to share with my with my readers.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and I consider you know reading with our kids and grandkids.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's a wonderful time of bonding too, you know?
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so if we can make it fun, that's that's what's really going to create those warm memories and um that perspective on reading.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: But no, I just I just love this book.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's really packed with just tips and creative ideas that will help parents promote literacy in the home.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I it's I consider it like one of those books that you have at your fingertips, you know, that you can refer to often for some fresh ideas and just to have fun with your kids and grandkids.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I just highly recommend it.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: Where is the best place to find it online, Christy?
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: The best place to find it online, what's available on Amazon, you can also go to it beginswithabook.com.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: You can order it through there.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so those would be the two best places to get the book.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we will have links to that in the show notes.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: And you also have a newsletter.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, can you tell us a little bit about that?
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I would love to tell you about that.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: My newsletter is called It Begins with a book, and it generally highlights uh the different sections of reading.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I always start out with uh a little blurb about whatever the either the season that we're we're in or the month that we're that we're celebrating.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's geared towards families with a special heart for mamas because they tend to be my my strongest reader group, um, although you know reading is is great for across the board.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um I I love to highlight um a picture book, and often that's a faith-based picture book for families.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's all also often a new release, so something that either is out or will be coming out soon.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um I I love to book launch for authors, so I have the opportunity to get a sneak peek at some of the stories that are coming out, so I try to highlight those.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, additionally, I will add in a books and baking section.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it will usually have a recipe that parents can make with their kiddos.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: I try to make it kid friendly and usually not too labor-intensive so that um it creates a moment of joy.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: And that's generally in my newsletter as well as um I'm trying to pull in some books for families as well.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, this past month I was able to add in um a new release that's two new releases that are prayer books, um, and those were for adults.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: And then um, so I have a book look, books and baking, um, and then I usually uh I always have a verse at the end, so that's my word from the good book.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I'm my hope is that it will bring about a resource for families, something that will spark joy, and then um something helpful for them, and then an inspiration and a faith-based takeaway.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: Sounds wonderful.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Christy, you are such a fantastic resource for for parents.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I just encourage you, listeners, be sure to check the show notes.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: We will have links to Christy's website.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I can link directly to her newsletter perhaps as well to make it even easier to sign up for that.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: It sounds fantastic.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: And to her book.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so be sure to check that out.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: And Christy, thank you again for being here.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: This has been a real treat.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: And listeners, thank you for joining us.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: Be sure to come back next week for another episode of Five Minute Parenting.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: Be sure to like and subscribe so you never miss an episode and share this one with a parent who you want to encourage.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: And until next week, have a blessed week.