- When our three children were young, my husband and I read to them for at least an hour every night.
- My first grader's teacher asked what we did to help our kids get so smart; my answer was reading.
I should have known I was on to something with my children when my daughter's first-grade teacher — who also taught my son the year before — pulled me aside. "I've been wanting to ask you: What did you do to help your kids become so smart and be such strong readers?"
I was flattered and proud but didn't have an answer for her other than "reading." I told her how my husband and I read to our children every night, at least three books for each of them. With three kids, that meant at least an hour's worth of reading to get through 10 or so books.
Because my husband and I loved reading, the library became one of our family's favorite haunts. Librarians used to gape at the hefty piles of books we checked out, often 40 to 50 books at a time. "Are you going to read all that?" they'd ask in surprise. "Yep, we'll read them all, probably multiple times," my husband and I said.
We didn't set out to read strategically to help our kids achieve academic success
We simply loved to read and grew to love our nightly reading times, with all five of us gathered on the couch, cuddling and quietly absorbing the stories and each other.
Then, 11 years after my daughter's teacher asked us to share our secrets, just as my daughter was preparing to graduate from high school and my son was preparing to receive both his high school diploma and his associate's degree from our county's early college high school program, I knew for sure I was right about being on to something special.
My oldest, who made it through high school with straight A's, may have been valedictorian, too. We don't know because he attended the prestigious North Carolina School of Science and Math, a boarding school for high school juniors and seniors. The kids there are all smart, so the school doesn't publish class ranks.
Now that all three of my kids are in college, looking back, I see several things we did beyond nightly reading to help our kids become successful in school.
Subscribe to kids' magazines
My kids loved it when their National Geographic Kids and Highlights magazines arrived in the mail. As they got older, they'd take turns having "first dibs" at the magazine, writing on the next month's wall calendar who'd get it first next month.
Subscribe to monthly mail-order kits designed for kids.
Whether your child is a foodie, a music lover, an athlete, or a crafter, there's likely a subscription box for them. When my kids were young, I signed them up for Which Way USA, a service that teaches about the US states. Each month, they'd receive an activity booklet, a kid-friendly state map, and other state-related goodies.
I also signed my oldest up for a monthly subscription box for would-be spies because he was into cryptography. If my kids were growing up today, I'd sign them up for Little Passports World Edition so they could learn about a new country and culture each month.
Sign your kids up for educational summer programs
We live near the University of North Carolina at Asheville, which for years offered a summer program called Super Saturday for kids from third to eighth grade. We signed our kids up for several years so they could take classes on interesting topics like magic, building a website, chess, drawing, physics, creative writing, photography, model rocketry, and more.
Those classes opened my kids' eyes to topics usually reserved for older children. And because the classes were held on the UNCA campus, my kids became familiar with being on college grounds and around kids and adults who shared their interests.
Similar programs may exist in your area; check with your local high schools and colleges, as well as with your library, symphony, and arts council.
Help your child explore their interests
Whenever my children expressed interest in a new topic, I often went "all in" to foster their curiosity. In middle school, my oldest wanted to create new games and languages, so I bought him books on those topics.
When my middle child was in seventh grade, he wanted to build a computer, so we bought him the parts and watched in amazement as he did exactly that.
My youngest wanted to play the viola when she started sixth grade, so we rented her an instrument. Today, she holds a bachelor's degree in music performance and is pursuing her master's in the same field.
Over the years and between them, my kids dabbled in baseball, soccer, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, cycling, camping, hiking, coding, stamp collecting, painting, and more. Let them dabble, and see what sticks.
Travel near and, if you can, far
I've always preferred experiences over money, which means I'd rather have less money in the bank and more photos and memories. That's why I traveled with my kids whenever I could.
We loved visiting local museums, parks, zoos, and farther destinations, like Washington, D.C., Auckland, New Zealand, and many cruise ports, including New Orleans, Miami, and the Cayman Islands.
Travel opened my kids' eyes to the fact that the "world" is much bigger than us and where we live. This appreciation for the world turned them into kind souls — in this mom's mind, even more important than academic success.
Even though reading physical books may seem strange and ancient to today's kids, it won't be ancient if you introduce books and reading early. I speak from experience: Your kids will love the extra time and attention, and their minds and spirits will soar.