Tuesday’s Tips: Reading for Roller Coasters (Or how to keep a book in your kid’s hand all summer long!)
Have you ever wished you had a treasure trove of great ideas for those days when motherhood feels draining and mundane?
Ever longed for just one tried and true tip that has actually been used successfully by REAL MOMS with REAL KIDS?
Me, too!
That’s why I’ve created Tuesday’s Tips– a weekly post designed to reduce frustration and multiply inspiration in the wacky and wearisome trenches of motherhood.
Of course, a good idea is meant to be shared. So don’t keep those jewels for yourself!
If you discover something that makes motherhood a little easier, a little more exciting, or a bit more meaningful, please let me know. I’d love to feature your idea on an upcoming Tuesday. Just leave a comment after this post or email me at rbruxvoort@iowatelecom.net.
Reading For Roller Coasters
At our house, summer is mostly about a change of pace. It’s a time to recover from the frenzy of the school year and reconnect as a family.
So, overall, I don’t push academics much in June, July, and August. But the retired English teacher in me just can’t stand the thought of a summer without books.
So each year we invent a FAMILY SUMMER READING CHALLENGE.
The details change each year, but the idea is the same.
As a family, we commit to reading at least thirty minutes a day. Whether you’re three years old or thirty-nine-years old, if you live under our roof, you’ve got to grab a book each day.
And if you do, something MARVELOUS awaits you at summer’s end.
This year that something marvelous is a ticket to a nearby amusement park. Yep. We’re Reading for Roller Coasters.
It’s simple. Every family member needs to “purchase” his/her amusement park ticket with reading minutes.
The tickets to the amusement park are 30 dollars, so we’re figuring that the kids can earn one dollar per hour of reading time. That makes 30 hours of reading this summer, which breaks down to about 30 minutes a day until August 1st.
Years ago, when my older kids were just learning to read the Bible for themselves rather than climbing on my lap for the Word each morning, I offered an incentive to keep them committed to reading from their Bible each day.
We allowed Bible reading minutes to count DOUBLE in our family reading challenge. That way, the kids were more prone to clock time in the Word before they dove into the book of their choice.
This year, we’re keeping track of our progress on these very un-artistic charts that hang in the coat room. And we’re dreaming of all the hills and thrills we’ll scream through once we read our way to a day of fun.
But even better than the promise of roller coaster rides are the thrills my kids discover as they lose themselves in the pages a great book.
(Stop by next week Tuesday and I”ll share a list of our favorite family read-alouds and my own list of favorite reads for moms in the trenches!)
How do you encourage summer reading in your family?
how fun and creative!! my kids are all readers…they see the love of reading in both me and my husband and they kind of catch that bug…
It’s brilliant!
Love the charts….my kids love to make their own charts too!
Great! I like this, mom far a way. Thank you.