What favorite books will your kids write about in their journals?

Her favorite books to read right now are from our Fun Stories, Great Lessons Series. There are 10 different books in the series and she has devoured about half of them.

We don’t want to just read them though. They aren’t that kind of story. The values they teach are ones that I want her to dwell on and remember. That’s why this free printable is a great follow up activity.

How to Use the Free Printable Book Journal

My daughter is 8 so she can use this book journal on her own. If you have younger children, you can still use it! They can draw the picture and then dictate what they want you to write for them. You could also write what they want to say on a separate piece of paper and have them copy it into the journal as a copywork activity.

When we use the journal we might not work on this right after we ready the story. It could be a day or two after which really requires my daughter to recall the different parts from memory. Of course, we go back to the book if she can’t remember something. Your child might like to start out using it while they read or while you are reading to them.

Since she doesn’t get much practice writing in this form, it is a little more difficult for her. I help her with spelling and proper grammar. It’s great practice and the areas where she can draw in make this project fun and a keepsake too!

The Free Printable Book Journal has 8 half-pages that include: Cover, Favorite Part of the Story, Setting, Main Character, Other Characters, Beginning, Middle, and End. Put your email below to download.

How to Put Together Your Book Journal

I made this simple video to show you how to put the pages of the printable together so that they are in the right order. You can staple the pages together or sew them and get extra fine motor practice.

What stories would your children like to use their book journal for?

The post Free Printable Book Journal for Kids first appeared on True Aim.

Being from Mississippi, I have always loved the Fall! Fall is a time when we are finally rescued from the oppressive heat and able to spend some more time outdoors. Besides the better weather, I also love the food, smells, and all the activities associated with the season. Since I love the season, I always try to work it into our lessons as much as I can.

 

 

 

 

 

 

One way that I’ve done this is through using books and activities. We’ve already had an S is for Squirrel fall themed day and Fall is almost a month away! The S is for Squirrel day is a great example of how I think Fall can help make lesson time fun. By incorporating “work” (in this case letter recognition and other sheets) with fun (outdoor educational games), my daughter was not nearly as likely to complain about having to do her “school”. Her attention span was lengthened and I didn’t end the day with a headache.

 

 

Adding Books to the Fall Fun

 

One of the books that I highly recommend is Autumn Song. Autumn Song is great because it comes with its own unit practically built in to the book itself. The author included links to youtube videos with musics, activities, and games. It is a great example of incorporating fun into lesson time. The other book that I have been using is actually one that I wrote myself, A is for Autumn: An ABC Fall Fact Book. I created it to use with my daughter. It allows us to work on letter recognition, learn fall facts, and work on our counting skills (each page has leaves to count for the child to figure out the page number). The book is a starting place to other fall units (V is for Veteran’s Day, C is for Colors – learn why the leaves change color, etc).

 

 

 

 

 

By incorporating music, activities, and books into lessons, Fall can come alive for your student. This will hopefully help keep them engaged as the season changes. Don’t be afraid to incorporate outdoor time either! Science can be taught looking at the tree leaves, investigated the local wildlife, and more!

 

What are your favorite fall activities? Post your ideas in the comments.

 

 

 

Joy Hardin is a former junior high teacher, but now is homeschooling her daughter, Carrie. Hardin has discovered that almost ten years in the classroom can’t prepare you for working with your own child. Carrie is five and has recently been diagnosed with Autism so there are daily struggles, but it makes the breakthroughs even sweeter.

Carrie has inspired Joy to also write children’s books. The first will be out soon. Carrie Can’t Choose a Costume is the first of the Choosy Carrie books.

Joy blogs at Finding Joy Publishing, http://www.findingjoy19.com

The post Fall Fun: Using multiple resources for Fall lessons first appeared on True Aim.

Read Together

Spend quality time together reading. Read aloud as a family, share bedtime stories, and read beautiful poetry over tea. Reading should never just be a subject we endure and conquer. It should be an event and part of your family culture. 

Before radio and television, reading was entertainment. The family would gather together and listen to a story, then play some music and sing. These moments are just as powerful today. Our children need to see us reading and experience the joy of reading as a family. Even after children can read independently, reading together is important.

Audio books

Sometimes, the frustration with learning to read is that new readers can’t read what they want. The simple, phonics based readers are wonderful for learning to read but rarely have much of a plot or story line. So, children go from reading wonderful stories with captivating prose, gorgeous pictures, and clever rhymes; to “See the dog. The dog is big. Dog, dog, dog.”

Audio books allow children to read independently at a level that holds their interest. Also, listening to higher level language is essential to language development. They can continue to love reading, even if the mechanics of reading with their eyes is difficult. The magic of literature will not be lost in a sea of three word sentences.

Share Great Literature

The phrase “as long as they are reading” is counter productive. Getting children to “read anything” really will not increase their reading skills, nor encourage them to become lifelong readers. Children will thrive on great literature and timeless poetry. That is not to say that children can only read books by Austen, Shakespeare, and Chesterton. However, to really nurture a reader make sure they are being exposed to truly, good literature. This can be done by audio book or read aloud. However you decide to immerse your child in the world of great books, do it! Don’t wait for high school or high level reading. Do it now!

Give Your Reader Time

Reading is a skill that takes time, and also needs to happen at the perfect time. Not every 6 year old will be able to read. In fact, the normal range for learning to read is between 4.5 years old and 9 years old. So, if your seven year old is still struggling and doesn’t want to read, perhaps he just isn’t ready. Taking a break, and trying again in six months may be the best thing you can do. Pushing children who aren’t ready to read makes reading something they resent. They know that they can not do it, and find no joy in it. Stop your phonics lessons, ease off on spelling and leveled readers. Keep reading to your child, and give him room to grow. No matter what age children learn to read, they are generally on the same level by age 11. Slowing down now is not holding your child back or making him “fall behind.” It just may be what he needs to soar when he is ready.

How do you get your children to fall in love with reading?

A homeschool mom and devoted lifelong learner, Jennifer Elia serves the homeschool community at Sound Foundations Homeschool. She is a blogger, best selling author, and homeschool consultant. Jennifer is on a mission to help every mom get the tools and support she needs to easily build a thriving and successful homeschool for any child. Jennifer lives in New Jersey with her husband and their four children who she has been educating at home for over a decade.

Read more from Jennifer Elia  https://soundfoundationshomeschool.com

Connect with her on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/soundfoundationshomeschool

The post Cultivating the love of reading in your reluctant reader first appeared on True Aim.

When we decided to homeschool our daughter, the main thing I dreaded was teaching her how to read. It was a daunting task, and to be honest it still is. Thankfully I’ve found some easy learn to read activities to ease into the process. The fact that these learn to read activities are broken down into baby steps help make these learn to read activities fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I started to work with my daughter, I approached teaching her to read the same way I usually tackle any project – I went to Pinterest. I browsed for hours and pinned hundreds of pins. This just left me feeling overwhelmed. I was a junior high teacher for over seven years, but frankly I was completely in the dark about where to start. Eventually I found a few mentions of two books – The Reading Lesson: Teach Your CHild to Read in 20 Easy Lessons and Teach Your Toddler to Read Through Play: A Detailed Account with Over 130 Games/Activities, Tips, and Resources that intrigued me and gave me a glimmer of hope. Usually I like to buy the actual book, but I had some Kindle credit so I purchased the ebook version of both. Using these two books together was a lifesaver! Utilizing the books as well as some simple activities has made this process of teaching my daughter to read a little easier.

 

 

Learn to Read Activities

 

While the books have great pictures and come with excellent diagrams/worksheets, I have the Kindle version so I created my own flashcards for a lot of the activities. I also have pressed a few of Carrie’s many dry erase boards into service. She loves them so it also serves as a motivator to sit down and work. One of the suggestions was breaking up the alphabet into chunks and making sure your child knows the sounds for those words. I enjoyed how they gave examples of words to use as well as plenty of practice.

The other suggestion that I appreciated was to ensure that your child knew the difference between letters, words, and sentences. Those are definitely the building blocks that are needed and I hadn’t considered that previously.

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the issues has been my daughter’s lack of attention span. She’s five and she’s autistic so we have had to get creative at times. One of the things we discovered was using games. Sometimes we get to use them as intended and others we have to manipulate to fit our needs. One that we actually utilize both as intended and with some changes is The Very Hungry Caterpillar: Spin and Seek ABC Game. It has allowed us to work on both sounding out letters and helping with other issues that we sometimes struggle with – for example counting.

 

Learning to read activities are just like anything else – you have to find what works for you and your child. A program/activity can be highly rated but if it is not going to translate to you and your child’s individual needs, it is just a waste of time and money. If you child isn’t ready to read yet. Here are two letter recognition activities: F is for Fart and Grocery Store Preschool Lessons

 

So Mommas (and Daddies), please share what you’ve done to help your child learn to read. I’m sure there are plenty of parents who were overwhelmed like me.

 

 

Joy Hardin is a former junior high teacher, but now is homeschooling her daughter, Carrie. Hardin has discovered that almost ten years in the classroom can’t prepare you for working with your own child. Carrie is five and has recently been diagnosed with Autism so there are daily struggles, but it makes the breakthroughs even sweeter.

 

Carrie has inspired Joy to also write children’s books. The first will be out soon, Carrie Can’t Choose a Costume and is the first of the Choosy Carrie books.

Joy blogs at Finding Joy Publishing, http://www.findingjoy19.com

The post Ease into Reading: Fun Baby Steps to Help Your Child Learn to Read. first appeared on True Aim.

When I had a preschool in my home, I loved to play simple games with the kids to help them remember their letter sounds. No one ever wanted to stop playing, but I learned quickly that if you stop before they want to, it will be an even bigger hit when you play it again.

3 Easy Learn to Read Puzzle Activities

Sometimes parents try to over complicate activities to try and make them seem more exciting, but the best games are tried and true. That’s why the next 3 learn to read activities might seem simple to you, boring even, but for children, they are SO fun, especially because they are playing with you!

1.H&S – It’s a classic activity!

I know you are thinking that this MUST be good, because I’ve never heard it before. However, I had to trick you a little because you probably wouldn’t have read what I had to say if I made the title, Hide and Seek. Would you have?

This game is classic, but the most important thing parents miss out on is that children LOVE to hide almost more than they like to SEEK! So dump the letters out of the puzzle and have your child hide them around the room. “Not too hard now,” you can say!

Once you find a few, tell your child the sound of the letters and put them back in the puzzle to see which ones you have left to find.

You can ask your child for help finding and sounding out the letters. You might even get one wrong a couple times that you know your child knows so that they can correct you. Remember to tell them how smart they are when they do!

Get some FREE learn to read flashcards! Click here!

2. Letter Art – SO easy!

No tricks here! Get out the markers, crayons or colored pencils and have some fun tracing around the letter puzzle pieces. Remember to have them repeat the sound the letter that they are tracing around makes.

To help them learn to read even more, you can create words with some of the letters and help your child sound them out. Maybe create a word and then draw a picture below the nice big puzzle letter tracings.

3. Letter Relay – For Active Kids!

This learn to read activity has so many applications but here’s the short version. Take the letters that you are wanting your child to learn the sounds for out of the puzzle. Put them across the room. Have your child run, or hop, or roll, spin, skip, or crawl to one of the letter sounds you call out and bring it back to you. 

You can make this more interesting or challenging to your child by setting a timer to see how many they can get in a certain amount of time. You could make a little obstacle course by putting things for them to jump over or crawl under. 

Don’t forget to join in and take a turn! Your child might need a break! I know you are creative and can find other ways to make a relay really fun!

Learn to read activities don’t have to be complicated to be fun and effective! In fact, the more s

imple the better. We aren’t teaching our children how to play an elaborate game, they are learning to read! Make sure your learn to read activities are emphasizing the letter sounds, not the tasks needed to participate.

Comment below to tell me if you think of any other learn to read activities to do using a letter puzzle!

Check out these other Learn to Read Activities and Tips!

The post 3 Easy Learn to Read Puzzle Activities! first appeared on True Aim.

I have to admit, reading is one of the most difficult, yet rewarding lessons you will ever teach your child. That’s why this month’s Mom’s Library Series is all about simple learn to read activities!  

Here is our list of amazing activities we have coming up:

• 3 Puzzle Activities to Help Your Child Learn to Read!

• Activities that Teach Your Early Learner to Read in a Fun Way!

• EASE INTO READING: FUN BABY STEPS TO HELP YOUR CHILD LEARN TO READ.

• Learning to Read with Multiple Methods!

• Cultivating the love of reading in your reluctant reader!

See a post you’re interested in? Be sure to follow the True Aim – Homeschooling and Parenting Facebook page to see exactly when each post goes live.

Learn to Read Giveaway!

Enter to win a Learn to Read Book Set from Blue Manor ($35.99 value!). You can easily teach your child to read with just 5 minute lessons! This set includes the 5-Minute Phonics book as well as 2 full color early readers with 6 stories in each! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Check out the other Mom’s Library series topics and Posts!

The post (GIVEAWAY) 8 Simple Learn To Read Activities first appeared on True Aim.

Story baskets are an excellent tool for toddlers and preschoolers, but they can also be helpful for older children — practicing speech, storytelling skills, imaginative play, developing early literacy skills, and more. They can be as simple or as complex as you like and don’t have to cost anything to put together. Just use found objects from around your home and books you already own or can check out from the library to fill it. Simple, inexpensive, and a great way to encourage fun reading time!

What to Include in Story Baskets

When I fill up a story basket, I begin with the basket itself and the book I want to highlight. Next, I flip through the book and look for key characters or objects that help tell the story.

For example, in The Very Hungry Caterpillar it would be a caterpillar, a leaf, a lollipop, cheese, watermelon, and a few other similar items. Then, I gather as many of the items as I can find. I can usually do this by going through our toy and craft supplies to find play food, puppets, figurines, etc. These items go into the basket with the book. If I can’t find a key item, I will cut something out of foam or maybe use a picture from a magazine.

If my child is working on a particular skill such as beginning letter sounds or sight words, I will include relevant letters in the basket as manipulatives as well.

How might you use a story basket?

This depends on the age of your children. When I first began making story baskets, we started with one book and focused on the items to go with that. As my daughters got older, it became more of a themed basket with several books and hands-on items.

How to Use Story Baskets

Here are some activities that we’ve done:

Include a favorite book (one they already know) with a few props that go along with the story for your child to tell in their own words. Or they could follow along with the props as you read aloud.

You can put in random items and have your child make up a story using some or all of the items in their story.

Have your child pick out an object at random and tell or write something about it.

Leave the basket out for your child to discover. Change it out when it no longer seems to hold their attention.

Bring a story basket along on car trips, while running errands, waiting at the doctor’s office, and waiting in restaurants.

Allow your child to choose the book/items and YOU continue the story.

Some of our favorite preschool to early elementary books that lend themselves well to story baskets are:

• If You give a Pig a Pancake
• Goodnight Moon
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar
• The Gruffalo
• Fairy Tales
• Bible Stories

I’ve been doing this for years with my daughters and they are always a hit. We take a delight-directed approach in our homeschool, so I build story baskets and unit studies based on their interests. It’s like a treasure chest of learning centered around great books!

Have you used story baskets? Let us know in the comments!

Sara is a homeschooling mom of three girls. She writes at Heart and Soul Homeschooling, sharing ideas for learning that encourage creativity, curiosity, character, and connection. She is an author, speaker, and homeschool consultant. You can find her on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, and her Amazon author page.

Check out more Summer Reading Ideas!

The post Use Story Baskets to Make Reading Come to Life! first appeared on True Aim.

Most of the time once we’ve moved on from a particular chapter or page, we wouldn’t dare even think about going back to it to see what we’ve missed. When we don’t look backwards in books, we miss key details. Therefore, we’re only getting a piece of the entire puzzle of the material that we’ve previously read.

Summer Reading Strategy: Read Those Missed Pages For More Information

Homeschooling 7 children is definitely no easy task. We do a lot of group reading and have many oral discussions. Since so much time is spent on those particular areas, we tend to skip some things in our reading at the moment that we don’t deem to be useful or helpful to our discussion or assignment.

Once the summer time rolls around, I often think of reading material that I feel my kids would enjoy in those 2 months that we lighten our school load. Summer reading is a great way for them to keep their knowledge of vocabulary and comprehension skills sharp.

One day a light bulb went off for me as I pondered a summer reading list for them. Why not just have them use the same books for the summer that we used during reading class? Nothing extra to buy and nothing extra to assign that they weren’t already familiar with. Perfect idea. For example, in history we’d covered the Middle Ages in 2 chapters in our book. I didn’t find it to be relevant at the time to cover the list of wars or the endless list of names of people listed that went over and beyond the few people we’d already covered.

The perfect time to read and learn the list would be the summer months. They could also flip back and read the chapter we skipped about a lot of wars in the past. We’d covered almost 10 in class, but hey, learning more during the summer wouldn’t hurt at all.

In science we had skimmed our chapters on oceans because we’d studied them in the past. Well, I had them to go back and read about the various underwater volcanoes and formation of islands because we didn’t cover that part in class. Since the children were already familiar with a bit of oceanography, them going back to read the missed information was pertinent to completing their mental picture about oceans. There were a lot of interesting facts that they came to me with and discussed once they went back to read the pages independently.

In our literature class, we’d studied a few poets from the southern part of the US. The children were delighted to flip through their poetry books and read about the few poets that we didn’t cover. That led to them looking into their biographies of those famous writers. My kids even took it upon themselves to go and find books that we didn’t complete a few years ago and chose their own pages to read over. It was amazing how much initiative that they took to read without my input.

LEARN NEW DETAILS IN SUMMER READING

I couldn’t believe all of the little facts and details that we missed in our plight of trying to get school done and touch on all the basic skills. It’s a simple process. I told my kids to “Go find the books that we used in class and find the skipped chapters.” From that little instruction, they became totally independent readers in those moments that it was too hot to play outside. They were reading books that I had forgotten all about. It’s worked wonders for us and keeps the kids constantly learning new facts and new words.

We now do oral reviews after they’ve read something new and their recall is amazing. They see me involved but in a way they’re choosing what to learn. We use summer reading to serve 2 purposes; Read for information and read to complete the lessons from before. I will never change the way we do summer reading at our house now. It’s perfect for our family.

Can you think of a way to utilize those skipped reading sections in your child’s summer reading? I’d love to read your replies in the comment section. Thanks so much for reading this!

Tal Hoover is the founder of Blessed Grove Homeschooling and Academy. She is a professional educator, curriculum writer and homeschooling mother of 7 children. Her spare time is spent creating and publishing educational resources and operating her small baking business. She has over 14 years of home education under her belt, and nearly a decade of experience in tutoring, online education, and writing. Tal specializes in teaching Biblical and world history, multicultural studies, comparative religions, art history, and of course, professional artisan cookie decorating. She has a bachelor’s degree in Leadership and also holds multiple certificates. Mission work, mentoring and empowering not only her own family, but others is her top priority. She loves connecting with those that are seeking to educate their own children and become entrepreneurs to promote self-sufficiency.

blessedgrovehomeschooling.com
Blessed Grove Homeschooling on Instagram

The post Unique Summer Reading Strategy for Homeschoolers! first appeared on True Aim.

Sound-it-out does not always work. Parents have forgotten helpful reading strategies and are no longer aware of using them. One example is rereading.

Rereading a word or sentence often clarifies what was just read. Adults do this without thinking about rereading as a comprehension strategy.

Help for Early Readers

Sound-it-out uses isolated sounds to read a word. Take my name, for instance. Carolyn would be ca-air-oh-lul-ya-nin. Try pronouncing that all together, and the result is nothing like my name. The word “math” sounds out to mum-ah-tah-huh. Isolated letter sounds alone do not comprise most words. There are just too many irregular words and letter blends for sound-it-out to be the only strategy, for even beginning readers.

Do children need phonics? Yes. Do children need to simply memorize sight words? Yes. Phonics is more than isolated letter-sound combinations. For instance, think of words that begin with stra (strawberry, stranger, strategy) and it is easy to see sounding out s-t-r-a for each word would require too much time.

There are many letter combinations children will learn, and some with have different sounds than isolated letter sounds, such as kn (knight, knee, knob). There are silent letters and special sounds for letter combinations. Frequently, q is usually followed by u, so the sound for qu must be taught (queen, quick, quack).

Another common assumption is that a child knows his or her letters by practicing capital letters. Most of reading is actually lower-case letters. Lower case letters should be taught before capital letters. Capital letters will be learned as children learn to write names, proper nouns, and begin writing sentences. A child who knows only “big” letters is not ready to learn to read. Lower case letters and their sounds are important to know.

Word-solving Strategies Beyond Sound-it-out to Use with Beginning Readers

The reason children need to know more word-solving strategies than sound-it-out is so they begin to self-correct when reading. A child who cannot self-correct while reading is not going to make as much progress as a child who can do so.

At school, if a child was reading aloud and stopped reading perhaps five or six times during one paragraph, I knew an adult at home was jumping in to tell the word to the child. Telling a child words is quick and easy, but will not help children to learn how to help themselves.

Yes, I told words sometimes. English language learners, newly emergent readers, and a child who had tried some strategies and was frustrated are some cases when I told a word. However, as a steady diet, telling children words does not help advance reading skills. There are many word-solving strategies that help for early readers. Every child will not “take” to every strategy, and should use the ones that make sense to that child. Here are a few to try.

1. Skippy Frog

Skip it, skip it, then go back and read it. Adults do this, also. When reading a news article or new information and finding an unknown word, we do not stop and give up. We do not put down the book, article, or newspaper. We keep reading.

This word-solving strategy is one children understand and like to use. I think it is second to sound-it-out. When reading, maybe the child puts a finder on the unknown word, finishes reading the sentence, and then goes back to try the whole sentence again.

This is reading a word in context as meaning is important in reading. Some children equate reading “fast” with being a “good” reader, so it is important to tell children that good readers use what they know to learn what they do not know.

2. Stretchy Snake

Look at all the letters in the word before saying it out loud. When a child gets to the first letter of an unknown word and stops reading, the child is not looking through the whole word. He or she has not learned to self-correct and gives up. Somehow the child knows the word is difficult or unknown and will say the first letter.

In this case, the child must be encouraged to look at all the letters in that word. Stretchy snake is one name for this strategy. Similar to sound-it-out and is done silently (at least at first). Looking at each letter, the child whispers the sounds in his or her heads. Often, just seeing all the letters and trying some silent sounds, the child will be able to say the word.

Adults automatically puzzle over the letters in a new or unfamiliar word, and can often then read the word. Of course, adults do not think about stretch snake when using this strategy as it has become automatic.

3. Noticing Owl

Find a little word in a big word. Ahh, the dreaded syllabication strategy, but more simply stated for children to find it useful. For instance, in the word Mississippi, the child can find miss, is, and sip. A hard word becomes more manageable.

At school, this decoding strategy might be called Chunky Monkey so children will chunk the sounds together. However, for emergent readers, this could be a difficult idea.

Children delight in finding little words in big words and often show the parent or teacher such discoveries. They find the fact owls can turn their heads 180 degrees (or more) fascinating. So, a little word can become a clue towards solving an unfamiliar word. They like to imitate animals, so twisting their heads while looking through a big word can help them to understand the strategy.

Results for Early Readers!

Parents are amazed at the reading progress children can make when several word-solving strategies are used. Children will begin to self-correct and help themselves learn to read. A mistake when oral reading is an opportunity to help a child learn a new word-solving strategy. Soon, children will automatically employ several word-solving strategies and make advances in reading.

Carolyn Wilhelm is a wife, mom, and grandmother. She has a BS in Elementary Education, an MS in Special Studies of Gifted Children, and an MA in Curriculum and Instruction K-12. She was a National Board Certification Middle Childhood Generalist 2004-2014. She is also a licensed, certified teacher in Minnesota through 2021. Retired, she now volunteers at an elementary school and runs TheWiseOwlFactory.com. 

Check out More Summer Reading Ideas Here!

The post Help for Early Readers: Strategies Beyond Sound-it-Out first appeared on True Aim.

One summer, it only required reading ONE book the entire summer. The kids ran out of motivation in the first week.

Then, they introduced a ticket system to earn rewards. That seemed fair, except it was based on the number of books read each week. The children had to read at least three books a week to even enter the raffle for the prizes. There were no parameters on length of books.

How to Host a Family Summer Reading Club!

My children quickly got frustrated when they were ready long novels and their peers were racking in the tickets reading short comic books. That is when we decided to host our own family reading club and ditch the dollar store prizes for real motivation and excitement.

Set the Date

Decide when everyone will begin and finish reading. Your reading club can last a week or the entire summer. Setting a schedule, gives everyone an opportunity to plan out their reading. Pick a reasonable amount of time. A few weeks is ideal.

If the club goes too long, it loses momentum. If it is too short, there’s not enough time to really get sucked into the world of reading.

Decide on a time frame that fits your schedule. We’ve done anything from ten days to six weeks! A mini reading club is a great for the winter months, when you just need a break from school! It’s also an option for when life gets busy with a new baby or move. The learning keeps going even when you can’t teach.

Family Summer Reading Club: Create a Point System

Next, you need to decide how readers will earn rewards. Since we have a large age span, we had to level the playing field a bit. Counting books didn’t work. We give points based on one short book or 20 pages of a longer book. This motivates the older children to delve into great literature without feeling like they have short changed themselves, as their younger siblings zoom ahead.

Here is our point plan:
2 points for a book or 20 pages read independently
2 points for a book read to a younger sibling
3 points for a complete audiobook
1 point for each chapter of family read-alouds

Family Summer Reading Club: Prizes, Prizes, Prizes

Now, here’s what the kids really want to know! What are the prizes? You don’t need expensive prizes. A family favorite reward, in our home, is a living room camp out. We set up air mattresses in the living room, read stories by flashlight, and watch a movie. It cost nothing, but it is always the most requested! So, living room camp outs cost 45 points!

Here are some other ideas:

• Treat from the dollar store
• Watch an extra show
• Dinner at the beach
• Play date
• Family hike
• Pick what’s for dinner
• Afternoon hike
• Family movie night, including popcorn
• Two days off of handwriting practice
• New book or audiobook
• Campfire dinner
• Day off of chores
• Afternoon at the park
• Make your own pizza party
• Ice cream cone
• $5 gift card to the dollar store
• Eat whatever you want for breakfast–yes, cookies count!

As you can see, most of these are very inexpensive. Most of them are free! The children are working more for experiences than plastic prizes. So this books club is cost effective and doesn’t create clutter. Both are big wins for homeschooling families.

Add it All Up

On the last day, collect the tally sheets. Give each participant their grand total and see who earned the most points. Celebrate finishing the book club. Pick something simple! The best part is spending the time together and celebrating in your accomplishments.

Set a time frame for redemption of prizes. This may seem unnecessary, but it prevents mom or dad from losing track of which prizes have been awarded. Nothing is worse than a child claiming a year later that he never got his prize, and you can’t remember if he did or not. This will keep up the excitement but also help transition back to everyday life.

How are you motivating your family reading this summer?

Jennifer Elia, homeschool consultant, mentor, blogger, and Amazon best selling author, is Founder of Sound Foundations Homeschool which is dedicated to giving homeschool moms the tools they need to thrive in their home education career. Jennifer provides one-on-one consulting, personalized and original curriculum plans, and practical advice for those just beginning their homeschool journey, as well as those who just need a little boost. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and four children whom she has been educating at home for the past 10 years. You can find Jennifer on Facebook and Pinterest.

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