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Encourage Reading with Teens

Are you having trouble encouraging your middle school or high school child to read? It can be so difficult to find suitable books for a pre-teen or teenager! Never fear; you CAN encourage reading with teens! Let me help with ideas and free resources for you.

Make Reading Fun

Encourage fun by using real, quality literature. If you're having trouble finding suitable books, you might like my handy Printable Middle School Reading List PDF to help you get started. For older teens, or more advance readings, click here for a Printable College Bound Reading List.

Kids won't like reading if they only read school books, so make reading FUN in your homeschool! Create a reading-friendly atmosphere, and allow alternatives to formal literary analysis. Reading for pleasure is an important skill too, and not every book needs to be dissected under a microscope. For more ideas, check out 7 Ways to Encourage Reading in Middle School for some tips for young teens.

It's important to encourage reading, but that doesn't mean you need to read only literary fiction. You can include (classic) literature reading, historical reading, and reading just for fun. Especially when you use a literature-based curriculum, the boundaries between books for English class, books for history, and reading for fun can get blurry. Check out my post, Literature-based Curriculum on the Reading List: Venn Diagram for examples of how books can overlap in multiple subject areas.

For Reluctant Readers

For reluctant readers or auditory learners, audio books can be a big help as well, and can give Mom a break from reading aloud. Here are 20 Popular High School Books Available as Free eBooks & Audio Books for you to download.

What are your favorite tips to encourage reading? Which books are a big hit with your middle schooler? Please share!