Reading

I love reading and always have for as long as I can remember.  I read a lot as a child and then straight through the rest of my life. I visited far off place, made friends and began to dream big dreams all on the pages of those books.  I wanted to pass not just an ability but also a love of reading on to my children.  So I read to them a lot and I taught them to read and when they could read I required them to read a lot.  

In general the rule in our house is an hour a day from second grade on, often they read more, sometimes they read less.  That is a year round rule for us, during school and summer.  During the school year that hour a day is a book or books of their choice.  For summertime reading I choose the books or at least the subject they read for that hour.  They are free to read books of their choice beyond that hour and often they will if they are interested enough in something.  Screen time (video games, televesion, computer time) is directly tied to the amount of time they read.  They can not have any until they have read for at least an hour and then after that they can only receive the amount of screen time equal to the amount of time they have read for the day. 

This summer Maria is reading biography's of her choice for her assigned reading time.  I took her to the library yesterday and she chose a dozen biography's from the children's section, with her rule being it has to be about someone you have not learned or do not know much about yet.  Her choices so far have been interesting, it will be fun to see what the summer brings.  I am also encouraging her to read the entire Redwall series though she has not yet developed a love for it. 

Ciaran is reading two series to start the summer - The Wizard of Oz by Frank L Baum (14 books) and The Indian in the Cupboard series by Lynne Reid Banks (5 books).  If he gets through those we will finish up the Great Illustrated Classics series books he has not finished.  He is also enjoying rereading the Rick Riordan books and I think he will begin reading Ridley Pearson multiple series for fun on his own. 

Sirah has the most freedom in book choices as she can choose anything at her reading level and she still only need to read around 30 minutes each day.  I try to read aloud to her for atleast a half hour as well to bring her up to an hour a day. 

I am finishing compiling their school year book lists.  I keep track of all the books they read through the school year and then post the lists here.  Look for them some time this month.