My dear little six-year old recently told me that she no longer hates quiet time (the hour, or two, or three each afternoon in which the kids either nap or read quietly in their rooms). "I love reading!" she exclaims.
I think it's great. Except for the time I had to run to my neighbor's house for a few good books to keep her satisfied until the Bookmobile came round again. I just can't keep up. I've encouraged her to read the Book of Mormon when she runs out of material, to which she responds, "The scriptures are boring." I can't argue. A six-year-old can only tolerate so many "and it came to pass"es before they throw in the towel.
So I came up with a plan. I bought a box set of Katie Kazoo Switcheroo books (which I know she LOVES) and told her she had to earn them. Every ten chapters she reads in the scriptures earns her a Katie Kazoo book (after a quiz to test comprehension, of course). Perhaps giving a book as a reward for reading another book that is so much better (but harder to plug through) is a bit counterintuitive, but at least it helps her build the habit, right? I also promised her that if she reads the entire Book of Mormon before she turns 8, we will give her her very own set of scriptures, leather bound, inscripted, with a cherry on top. Sounds good on paper - we'll see if she actually gets to it.
On another note - turns out Lily is learning to read in a different fashion than her older sister. Different kids, different learning styles, I suppose. We found a pretty great learning-to-read set of books at Costco that is simple, focusing on basic phonics and sight words while still telling a story that engages even the most emergent readers. It's been fun. She's even asked to take them to bed with her. Lily's always been a little bookworm, but it appears she's finally catching the vision of decoding the words instead of just guessing at the content based on pictures and first letters. I love watching my children learn - makes me want to homeschool. But that's a topic for another day.
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3 comments:
That is so funny- we are by no means very good at scripture reading with kids, but... just tonight I was reading and Tyler commented that he was tired of all the "and it came to passes". I like the idea of the reward and way to go 6yr old reading the B of M.
Are you talking about BOB books? Those are what my Chatterbox learned with.
Great ideas!
Yep, BOB books, I love them. It was actually an impulse buy - and then while reading "The Well-Trained Mind" this week, I discovered that they were on the "highly recommended" list. I only bought one set, though, so I hope they still have the rest when I make it back to Costco.
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