Read-Aloud Revival ®

Join us for RAR's Summer Adventure. 

One of the very best ways to travel with your children is through books.
Physically travelling as a family isn’t always possible for a variety of reasons, but by reading with our kids, we give them the gift of windows into unfamiliar worlds. Stories develop empathy and invite us to engage with another’s experiences in ways that can even go deeper than visiting a place in real life. 
Today, RAR’s Creative Director (and my eldest daughter) Audrey is with me to talk about the power of books to take us places, even when we’re not able to go far from home ourselves. 
In this episode, you’ll hear: 
How stories help us engage with creativity, community, and our Creator
How books can give us deeper connections to the places we do travel
How reading–and especially reading aloud!–cultivates curiosity and wonder

Learn more about Sarah Mackenzie:
Read-Aloud Revival
Waxwing Books
Subscribe to the Newsletter
Find the rest of the show notes at: readaloudrevival.com/books-take-us-places

Join us for RAR's Summer Adventure. 

 What would happen if you decided to be your child's mentor rather than their teacher? 
What if you awakened their wonder and curiosity so that they became the kind of people who thirst for knowledge and understanding?
Today, I’m revisiting a conversation about those very questions that I had a few years ago with Sally Clarkson. I’m lucky to count Sally as a dear friend and I know that her work has been transformational for me and for so many of you.
In this episode, Sally shares how we can inspire our kids to become lifelong readers and learners right in our own homes.
In this episode, you’ll hear: 
How to make your homeschool a place of resources for your unique children
What is different about being your child’s mentor, rather than their teacher
Why modeling curiosity and excitement about learning in your homeschool matters more than any curriculum

Learn more about Sarah Mackenzie:
Read-Aloud Revival
Waxwing Books
Subscribe to the Newsletter
Find the rest of the show notes at: readaloudrevival.com/becoming-your-childs-mentor

Join us for RAR's Summer Adventure. 

What is your calling in life? 
For poet, songwriter, and academic, Malcolm Guite, it’s unequivocally clear–to be a storyteller. 
Today on the podcast Audrey and I chat with Malcolm about the first volume in his new retelling of the classic King Arthur stories, Galahad and the Grail, illustrated by the incredible Stephen Crotts and published by our friends over at Rabbit Room Press. 
Not only is Malcolm adapting the legends of King Arthur, he’s doing it in poetic ballad form, which means they are basically designed to be read aloud. 
In our conversation, he tells us about the epic journey he and his publisher and illustrator undertook to visit sites connected to the Arthurian legends, how a childhood surrounded by books and stories led him to his lifelong love and study of literature and poetry, and the impact his own mother had on his journey to becoming a poet and storyteller. 
In this episode, you’ll hear: 
Why Malcolm chose to write this story in ballad form 
How woodland walks inspire Malcolm’s writing and why he knew it was time to “take up the tale”
What elements and parallels of Biblical stories Malcolm wanted to restore that have often been left out of modern Arthurian retellings
Learn more about Sarah Mackenzie:
Read-Aloud Revival
Waxwing Books
Subscribe to the Newsletter
Find the rest of the show notes at: readaloudrevival.com/malcolm-guite

Join us for RAR's Summer Adventure. 

Learning to read can be hard. And when our kids are still learning to read fluently and well, helping them fall in love with books can feel impossible.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Today on the show, I’m sharing some strategies to help hook your developing reader. And of course, I have some suggestions for books that they won’t be able to resist.

In this episode, you’ll hear: 
Why helping your kids fall in love with story is the the key to helping them fall in love with reading 
The way short, frequent phonics and reading sessions propel budding readers toward fluency and ease
How to become a book-matchmaker for your child 

Learn more about Sarah Mackenzie:
Read-Aloud Revival
Waxwing Books
Subscribe to the Newsletter
Find the rest of the show notes at: readaloudrevival.com/child-resists-reading

Join us for RAR's Summer Adventure. 

We all want to build those meaningful and lasting connections with our kids. 
Around here, we’re usually talking about doing that through books and reading aloud. But how do we extend these connections into our everyday, ordinary parenting moments?  
Today, I’m talking to one of my favorite people to listen to when it comes to relationships. Dr Matthew Breuninger is a clinical psychologist and author of Finding Freedom in Christ: Healing Life’s Hurts and in this episode he shares how safe, secure attachment forms the foundation of close relationships with our kids and how to repair them when we inevitably mess up. 
He also unpacks the very common tendency a lot of us have to view our children’s behavior as a reflection on us, and offers a beautiful reminder of where our deepest identity as parents comes from (spoiler alert: it’s not your performance. ❤️)
In this episode, you’ll hear: 

What foundational perspective parents can offer to shape our kids relationships with us and others
Why ruptures are inevitable in all our relationships, and how we can approach repair
How our kids become mirrors for the wounds and self-protection strategies we need to work on in ourselves

Learn more about Sarah Mackenzie:
Read-Aloud Revival
Waxwing Books
Subscribe to the Newsletter
Find the rest of the show notes at: readaloudrevival.com/connecting-with-your-kids/