I have taught four of my five children to read. My eldest really resisted reading. In fact she didn’t read well until the middle of second grade, but one day it was like a someone flipped a switch. It just clicked, and ever since I can hardly catch her without a book in her hand.
While I know all my children are different, it still always comes as a surprise when things don’t happen the same with the next child. You’d think I would have learned that lesson by now! Learning to read was a breeze for Joy, my ten year old. I had it made! Piece of cake! Then I realized one morning, that while she had no trouble learning to read, she had not caught that love of reading like Faith had. Joy dutifully would read her assigned school reading, and then never pick up another book.
As a family we read books together and listen to many books on CD, so I know my daughter is hearing lots of great literature, but I had been looking for ways to get her excited about reading on her own. I had thought about a Kindle for my children before, but I had concerns about monitoring what my children read. I was so excited to learn about FreeTime Unlimited!
Amazon FreeTime Unlimited is a great resource that encourages kids to read – an all in one subscription starting at $2.99 per month, FreeTime Unlimited offers unlimited access to hundreds of hand-picked chapter books and early readers, all curated for age-appropriateness.
Still concerned? I was. What if I don’t want my child to read some of those books? Will they leave the app and find inappropriate reading material? Let me tell you. I love this app! Parents can password protect their child’s profile. Once they are logged in, they cannot leave their own profile without the password. I love that! As far as books on the app you may not want your child reading–no problem! Just go through the list and remove any books you don’t want your child reading. It’s that simple! You can also set reading goals and time limits!
At $79 the Kindle e-reader is the perfect gift for kids starting to read chapter books, and is designed to make great books as accessible and engaging as possible.
With Kindle, children can:
- Look up definitions as they read to build their vocabulary and increase the font size for easier reading.
- Use features like Vocabulary Builder – which stores words that kids look up and allows them to quiz themselves with flash cards – or Word Wise, which provides short and simple definitions above difficult words as they’re reading along.
- Read thousands of books for free, including classics like Treasure Island and eBooks from their local library
- Easily take their books with them without loading up a heavy backpack, helping to increase the amount of books they read – when one book finishes, they can start the next one right away!
Joy is so excited about reading on her Kindle! I love finding her reading, without having to ask her to do so. “Mom can I just read these books for school instead of the other ones?” Ha ha. Nice try! The main problem with her Kindle, as it turns out, is keeping it away from her book loving elder sister!
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
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