Can you believe it? The Read-Aloud Revival Podcast is ten years old!!

That means it’s time for a party! 🥳🥳

Ten years is a long time to have a podcast, but we’re not slowing down anytime soon. We’re having WAY too much fun for that.

In honor of this milestone, I’ve got a Casey Kasem-style countdown for you of the top ten episodes from the first ten years of Read Aloud Revival.

And as a way to say thank you to YOU for listening, if you leave us a review before April 30, 2024, you’ll be entered into our raffle to be one of ten winners of an exclusive, all-around fabulous RAR tote bag (these currently aren’t for sale, so don’t miss your chance to win!) 

Ready to party?

In this episode, you’ll hear: 

• Some of my all-time FAVORITE pieces of wisdom from our guests
• How the RAR team developed a few of our best resources for homeschoolers
• Essential advice for teaching from rest

Learn more about Sarah Mackenzie:

• Read-Aloud Revival
• Waxwing Books
• Subscribe to the Newsletter

Find the rest of the show notes at: readaloudrevival.com/top-10-in-10

Join Sarah for the FREE Workshop: 3 Simple Steps to A Fairy Tale Summer

When you hear the name Max Lucado, what comes to mind for you?

Max Lucado is best known as a pastor, speaker, best-selling inspirational author, and, in many Christian families, he’s a household name.

His books are written for everyone—especially those who are hurting, lonely, and discouraged. In his writing, he constantly points his readers back to the truth: that God loves you and you should let Him love you. 

Max is also an author of children’s books, several of which are favorites around here. 😊

Sarah invited him to Read-Aloud Revival to discuss his newest picture book, Just in Case You Ever Feel Alone, illustrated by Eve Tharlet. It’s a cozy, gentle book, perfect for snuggling up and sharing with your kiddos.

How are stories uniquely positioned to help readers feel seen and understood? Which books did Max Lucado love as a child? And what does he hope his books will do in the lives of his readers, young and old? We dig into all of it.

Listen in to hear: 

• The power of stories to meet people where they are and touch their hearts
• Why Max Lucado wanted to write a book about loneliness
• How reading with your kids builds their sense of comfort and safety

Learn more about Sarah Mackenzie:

• Read-Aloud Revival
• Waxwing Books
• Subscribe to the newsletter

Find the rest of the show notes at: readaloudrevival.com/max-lucado

Join Sarah for the FREE Workshop: 3 Simple Steps to A Fairy Tale Summer

Do you ever find yourself wishing you had more time to read?  

Oh, every day? (Yeah, we get that.)

We’re pretty confident that every mom wishes she had more time to read. 

Carving out a little time to enjoy your own reading life is worthwhile, even in those seasons when you think it’s impossible. (Sarah has six kids, and when three of them were babies age one and under, it definitely felt like an impossible season!)

But reading makes us better humans, better mamas, and better women. It also makes us happier. And that matters. 

Why? Because the key to a successful homeschool is a peaceful, happy mother. 

When you know you can count on your reading life to be a source of joy and refreshment regardless of how tough the day is, you just might find yourself being a little happier. A little lighter. A little more joyful.

On today’s show, we’re talking about how to make time for your own reading life, even when it feels like you don’t have five minutes to spare. 

Listen in for:

• Ideas for sneaking in time to read (even on your busiest days)
• How to make the most of surprise pockets of time
• Strategies for handling interruptions, prioritizing your reading, and finding time to pick up a book even when you’re exhausted

Learn more about Sarah Mackenzie:

• Read-Aloud Revival
• Waxwing Books
• Subscribe to the Newsletter

Find the rest of the show notes at: readaloudrevival.com/make-time-for-reading

Join Sarah for the FREE Workshop: 3 Simple Steps to A Fairy Tale Summer

We all want our kids to read, right?

If you’re listening to this podcast, it’s probably safe to say that you want your kids to grow up to read more often than the average adult does. We want them to be lifelong learners and avid readers who read for pleasure.

So it’s worth considering how we can cultivate the habits of real adult readers in our kids so that they grow up to be the readers we want them to be. And it turns out some of those skills are actually in direct opposition to how we tend to approach reading with our kids.

In this episode, you’ll hear: 

• How choosing what to read is a skill you can help your kids develop
• Eight habits of avid adult readers
• Practical tips for cultivating the skills of adult readers in your kids

Learn more about Sarah Mackenzie:

• Read Aloud Revival
• Waxwing Books
• Subscribe to the Newsletter

Find the rest of the show notes at: readaloudrevival.com/lifelong-reading-habits

Join Sarah for the FREE Workshop: 3 Simple Steps to A Fairy Tale Summer

Today, I’m sharing two recent episodes from my weekly coaching podcast, Circle with Sarah, that is available exclusively to members of RAR Premium.

I wanted to share them with all of you because I think the message applies to most of us.

A lot of us have this funny habit of focusing on getting DONE with the thing we most want to do. Of getting it over with and checking it off the list. It’s maybe more prevalent in our lives than we even realize. And I want to invite you to think about how that impacts your homeschool and how you might find your homeschooling to be easier and more joyful if you’re aware of it.

If you would like this kind of encouraging boost each week, get RAR Premium and you’ll get instant access to all of the Circle with Sarah podcast episodes and new episodes every Monday.

I think it’ll make a difference in the peace and joy you experience day to day in your homeschool. Head to RARpremium.com to learn more.

In this episode, you’ll hear: 

• Why we should treat learning more like knitting, doing a puzzle, or reading
• How focusing on the doing lets us rest now, instead of waiting for when we’re “done”
• How to reframe your goals to focus on doing, rather than being done

Learn more about Sarah Mackenzie:

• Read Aloud Revival
• Waxwing Books
• Subscribe to the Newsletter

Find the rest of the show notes at: readaloudrevival.com/doing-not-getting-done

Join Sarah for the FREE Workshop: 3 Simple Steps to A Fairy Tale Summer

This year at Read Aloud Revival, we’re focusing on reading for joy.

It’s so easy for reading to become another thing on your to-do list, but when we make reading a source of joy, of respite from our busy lives, it’s like running into a clear creek on a hot, dusty hike. Nurturing your reading life nurtures you, which in turn helps us be better moms, better homeschoolers, better parents, better women.

Today I’m joined by Jennifer Pepito, creator of The Peaceful Press, which offers fabulous curriculum for homeschoolers, and she is the author of our spring RAR Premium Mama Book Club pick, Mothering by the Book: The Power of Reading Aloud to Overcome Fear and Recapture Joy.

In this episode, you’ll hear: 

• How fiction can teach us as much about parenting our kids as a bevy of parenting manuals
• Why connecting with your kids is the heart of homeschooling
• Finding the balance between giving your all to mothering and letting go of the outcomes

Learn more about Sarah Mackenzie:

• Read Aloud Revival
• Waxwing Books
• Subscribe to the Newsletter

Find the rest of the show notes at: readaloudrevival.com/how-books-make-us-better-moms

Join Sarah for the FREE Workshop: 3 Simple Steps to A Fairy Tale Summer

There is something kind of tragic that happens when our kids become readers of their own right. It doesn’t always happen, of course, and there are ways for us to prevent it. But it’s awfully common. That thing I’m talking about? When reading starts to feel like school.

It happens to all of us at one point or another, and it’s very common especially at this time of year when school is well underway. Parents will notice a significant drop in how much their kids are reading for pleasure…if they’re reading for pleasure at all. 

Obviously this isn’t what we want for our kids. But it’s easy to feel frustrated or panicked that our kids no longer seem to enjoy reading. 

The good news? This is simpler to guard against than you might think.

Today, I’m revisiting an episode from a few years ago about what to do when reading becomes a slog. What do we do when reading starts to feel like school?

In this episode, you’ll hear: 

• The proven, positive impacts of free, voluntary reading
• Why curriculums with long book lists raise red flags for me
• Ideas for making reading an invitation to enjoyment, not another thing to check off the list

Learn more about Sarah Mackenzie:

• Read Aloud Revival
• Waxwing Books
• Subscribe to the Newsletter

Find the rest of the show notes at: readaloudrevival.com/when-reading-isnt-fun

Join Sarah for the FREE Workshop: 3 Simple Steps to A Fairy Tale Summer

What are fairy tales? Why do we love them so much? And why do these stories continue to capture the imaginations of countless generations?

To help me answer those questions, I’m welcoming author Sarah Arthur to the podcast.

Personally, I fell in love with Sarah’s writing through A Light So Lovely, on the spiritual legacy of Madeleine L’Engle. And when I found out she was working on a young adult fantasy, and that it was a sort of love letter to fairy tales? I had to have her on the show.

She joins me to talk about what makes fairy tales so powerful, the benefits of embracing the imaginative and the fantastical in our reading, and lots more.

Sarah Arthur is the author of a dozen books for teens and adults, including the bestselling Walking with Frodo: A Devotional Journey through The Lord of the Rings. After over 25 years working with youth she plays a wicked game of Four Square—but absolutely refuses to eat cold pizza from a box, ever. She has served as preliminary fiction judge for the Christianity Today Book Awards, was a founding board member of the annual C. S. Lewis Festival, and co-directs the Madeleine L’Engle Writing Retreats. She’s a mom of sons, a writer, and today’s highly esteemed guest.

In this episode, you’ll hear: 

• The elements that draw us into fairytales
• How “escapist” fiction actually helps us understand the truth
• How imaginative stories create an invitation rather than a prescription for experiences

Learn more about Sarah Mackenzie:

• Read Aloud Revival
• Waxwing Books
• Subscribe to the Newsletter

Find the rest of the show notes at: readaloudrevival.com/how-fairy-tales-enchant-us

Join Sarah for the FREE Workshop: 3 Simple Steps to A Fairy Tale Summer

Today, I’ve got another Best Of RAR episode for you.

I wanted to revisit this episode because it feels extra relevant this time of year as we’re thinking about setting goals and resolutions for the year ahead.

Personally, I tend to feel a little overwhelmed by it and I bet some of you can relate.

And when it comes to books and goals for our reading lives, one of the things we hear at Read Aloud Revival all the time is, “There are so many books and so little time!”

There are SO MANY good books we want to read aloud with our families and we’re always trying to figure out how to fit more in. But we don’t want our read-alouds to become merely another item on our lengthy to-do lists. So how do we quell the bookish overwhelm?

That’s what I’m breaking down in this replay of an Ask Sarah episode with that exact question.

In this episode, you’ll hear: 

• What it really means to read aloud “every day”
• Why it’s okay if you don’t get to all of the books (promise!)
• Simple ways to expand the genres you and your kids read

Learn more about Sarah Mackenzie:

• Read Aloud Revival
• Waxwing Books
• Subscribe to the Newsletter

Find the rest of the show notes at: readaloudrevival.com/how-to-quell-overwhelm

Join Sarah for the FREE Workshop: 3 Simple Steps to A Fairy Tale Summer

Today we’re airing one of my favorite episodes from last year, all about Jolabokaflod, which is a Christmas “book flood,” in the Icelandic tradition.

What if I told you this tradition makes your life easier, not harder? 

During Jolabokaflod, you gift members of your family with new books, and everyone drinks hot cocoa and spends the whole of Christmas Eve reading. If I didn’t get your attention before, I’ve got it now.

There is so much that happens this time of year that adds to our to-do list, that puts more on our plates, but Jolabokaflod is truly a joy. It is a moment of rest and refreshment for you too.

In this episode, you’ll hear: 

• Where the tradition came from
• 3 super-simple steps to your own Jolabokaflod
• How other mamas just like you have made the tradition their own

I hope you bring this tradition to your family and that you have a wonderful, wonderful Christmas.

Learn more about Sarah Mackenzie:

• Read Aloud Revival
• Waxwing Books
• Subscribe to the Newsletter

Find the rest of the show notes at: readaloudrevival.com/how-to-jolabokaflod

Join Sarah for the FREE Workshop: 3 Simple Steps to A Fairy Tale Summer

It’s our favorite time of year over at Read-Aloud Revival! It’s time for Christmas School!

Most of us have too much on our plates before the busy holiday season begins. Then December hits and we feel behind on … well… everything. 

But for homeschoolers, December should be the best month of our entire year.

That’s what Christmas School is for.

Christmas School is a whole-family curriculum from Read-Aloud Revival that helps your family slow down, savor the season, and wait in joyful hope.

Join thousands of families and replace your current curriculum with a month of Christmas School to make December a different kind of month in your homeschool year.

A better one.

Today, I’m sharing what you can expect in this year’s Christmas School, plus we’ll hear from families who have participated in and loved Christmas School in the past.

In this episode, you’ll hear: 

• What’s included in your Christmas School guide
• How Christmas School works for students ages 4-17 (no, really!)
• An extra-special read-aloud to look forward to

Learn more about Sarah Mackenzie:

• Read Aloud Revival
• Waxwing Books
• Subscribe to the Newsletter

Find the rest of the show notes at: readaloudrevival.com/time-for-christmas-school-2023