1000 Books

Ben and I are quite avid readers.  Ben can plow through a book in no time flat.  For me, I take a little longer...usually because I just don't have the time.  I love to read in bed at night, but let's be honest, aftr I get the kids to bed and spend some time with Ben I sometimes just collapse on my pillow!  My goal is to read 12 books a year, one per month.  Sometimes it is a challenge, other times I become so engrossed I can whip through a few in a month.

We have passed on this trait to our kids, who also love to read.  Connor will ask to read 5 or 6 books each night during our bedtime routine and he is starting to get into chapter books, which is cool.  At least it is better than some of the "little" kid books we are still reading with Alaina.  And the little peanut will trot herself off to her room by herself (she gets away for quiet time on her own) and when we got in to peek at her, she is surrounded by board books, completely amused.

It got me to thinking about the importance of developing a love for reading (and reading comprehension) at a young age and I started researching "books for kindergarten," "reading challenges," etc.  I came across the 1000 book challenge.  Quite a few libraries hold these challenges in their local communities.  Of course, I couldn't find one close to us but it didn't mean I couldn't hold a little challenge of my own....and now the 1000 Book Challenge has begun.

I created a couple excel documents.  One is a 2-columned page with about 30 blocks in each column, providing enough space to write down the book, the author and the date.  I used a hole punch and hooked them all together for one big packet we keep in Connor's bedroom.  I also started researching books for his age group and made another excel document of books to make sure I grab to pick up.  If he (and by "he" I mean "we") read 1000 books before his first day of kindergarten we will do something super special together.  I am not sure what we will do yet, we certainly have time to figure it out and honestly, if I were to tell Connor the reward now...ha!  He would nag me about when we are going to go constantly!!  I was thinking something along the lines of going to a water park (it will be the right season up here)...who knows, but more than anything, I love that I am challenging him to read more.

If you are interested in a copy of the reading list (it currently has about 300 books on it, some we have read, most we haven't and does not include any we have in our current bookshelf) or the reading log, please leave me a message with your email address or you can PM me on Facebook.

Happy Reading!