Reading & Writing Feed Each Other
[su_dropcap style=”simple” size=”1″]L[/su_dropcap]in-Manuel Miranda is pretty famous in my house. Our oldest loves all things related to Hamilton the Musical, the hugely successful cultural phenomenon. She loves the soundtrack, the other soundtrack, the calendar that she got for Christmas and has even begun reading through the book that the play is based off of. I don’t pretend to understand the obsession, but then I am old and that’s okay. I actually first saw Mr. Miranda years before Hamilton when he was a part of the cast of The Electric Company. This was an educational show that some of the kids watched that combined music with education in ways that were very memorable. Silent is a Ninja was a favorite of all or ours and it was performed by Lin-Manuel.
All of this background is to say that he is fantastically creative mind and creator of art that reaches people. Earlier today, I saw the below quote by him.
[su_pullquote]”Writing makes you a better reader and reading makes you a better writer. These things feed each other.” ~ Lin-Manuel Miranda[/su_pullquote]
That is such a simple concept but one that seems to elude so many in this time of short attention spans and 140 character limit tweets. The fact is, many parent just don’t take the time to read much more than short articles that are posted online and this leads to less reading and writing in their kids as well. I mean, who has the time to read books or write daily anymore? Well, as homeschooling families, we certainly should make the time for it and in our home, it has become an area of focus for us this year for sure. But, it does take persistent dedication because it is so easy to push it off to another time when we get busy with life and we shouldn’t, not any longer.
So, parents, buck up and read to your kids, Read in front of your kids so they see you doing it and follow your example. Find them interesting and well written stories to read and encourage them to write often. They won’t be writing the next great novels yet, but they don’t have to. They simply need to have the freedom to create, with words and to feed that creative side, they need to read. If you won’t listen to me, then listen to one of the most creative people working today, Lin-Manuel Miranda.
