Alright, so I know it is still the first full week of Summer break and so we will see how well we stick to this, but, allow me to tell you about my latest brainstorm.
Every morning at my house is pretty much the same. The boys wake up at the crack of dawn, sometimes early enough to eat breakfast with Josh or have him administer showers. Then around 8 am they come in to ask me if they can play on DS. Often I am still sleeping and say yes so they’ll let me be. Then around 9 or 10 (yesterday it was 11 for Elise!) the girls wake up and go downstairs to join the boys and play on DS or watch the boys play or watch Nick Jr on tv. Lately, I have been requiring them to read for 30 minutes before they can play on DS. The boys have been pretty good at it, except that when I asked Jacob a couple of questions about the book he claimed to have finished, he gave me vague answers that were completely wrong, so I made him read the book again (or possibly for the first time). And Cameron had this thing about reading out loud to me and he always chose from the same handful of books. Then, of course, because of the timing, the boys would be well into playing DS by the time the girls got up and so Elise would want to play with them right away and not “waste” a half an hour reading first. She would spend almost that long arguing with me about it and whining a lot! So. Today I have implemented a new system. I created sheets with each child’s name at the top of their sheet and then numbered rows from 1 to 25. I told them they still have to read for at least thirty minutes every day and that it must be done before there will be any video game playing, but now when they want to start a book I make them bring it to me for approval and if I approve the book then they can write the title on their Summer Reading sheet. Then, when they finish that book, they bring it to me, tell me a bit about it and I will mark it as finished on their sheet and they can bring a new book for approval. If they fill the sheet I will make them another one and they can continue tracking their reading. For each full sheet of reading that they complete they will earn a $20 credit to be used as they like for a new video game or toy or new books etc. Kind of like the Book it! program. And if they read through all of the books that we own I will take them to Goodwill and let them help pick out some new ones. Here’s the catch. The books have to be chapter books that will increase their reading abilities. And by my calculations, if they want to fill more than one sheet for money by the end of the Summer, they’ll need to read more than the required thirty minutes. So far, this seems to be working. The boys are very excited about the prospect of getting new games and they have both upped the level of their reading materials. No more baby books! Cameron started (and finished!) his first Magic Treehouse book, and Jacob has moved up from the Magic Treehouse books to actual little novels. He is currently reading something called “Knots in my Yo-yo String: The Autobiography of a Kid” by Jerry Spinelli. Elise is still complaining a lot, but she is finishing two books today: “The Enormous Crocodile” by Roald Dahl (one of my favorite authors growing up!), and “Pony-Crazed Princess: Princess Ellie to the Rescue.” I do also plan to help them pick appropriate books to take with them to Grandparent Camp and I hope they will be encouraged to read there too. (I know by adding this that they will be because both my folks are read freaks and have always encouraged the kids to read. 
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Well, we could rename it Reading Camp and add more possible prizes for reading accomplished in Muscatine. (As if reading weren’t its own reward?) Wanna say no electronics allowed? Nope, if we said that, I suppose they’d refuse to come see us. I’m glad you’re encouraging reading!!!
Dad
Remember the library has a wonderful assortment of books. The kids would enjoy going there and picking out several books to read every week and you wouldn’t have to go to Goodwill and buy books that you will just have to find a place to store. I would think the Ankeny library has a kids summer reading program that you should check into.
Ok, first of all, the kids have never had electronics at Grandparent Camp before, and I’m inclined not to have them bring any this year also. Now, ready the bad-mother-of-the-year award, I DON”T take the kids to the library. On purpose. I know I should, I know I was taken as a kid, and we tried a few times in Arizona and then Ames, but the more little children we had the less willing and able I became to take them to any library! Perhaps you can imagine some of the looks I’ve received. I know there are lots of library programs for small children, but it is still a LIBRARY. The thought of having to keep 4 small kids quiet and contained and well-behaved in that kind of setting just horrifies me!
I think this is a SUPER awesome idea Becca and I may have to steal it from you for my own kids! Also… I totally feel you on the library thing lol!
I’ve never found the children’s area of our library to be that quiet. Is it a separate area at yours? Our kids summer reading program gives out prizes on different visits to the library, after a book, etc. It might be worth it. And what if Josh took one child to the library after he got home or something. The prizes(that you don’t have to supply) might keep them motivated on their way to the $20. Also, Barnes and Noble does a summer reading program that they get a book after 8 books or something. I don’t know if you have one of those. It is difficult to stay motivated at anything–even the stuff with the big payoffs.
I think this is a really clever idea. I do have to say that I agree that Children’s sections of the Library are generally not quiet, and when my little guy is being loud, the librarians don’t even seem to mind. But I still only have one kid to deal with.
I wish I could find some way to provide incentive for our kiddo to let me read something to him other than the same 5 or 6 books every day but, alas, he isn’t even 2 yet. So I don’t know how I could do it. Any advice?
Oh, and I was also a big Roald Dahl fan. I think my favorite is “The Twits.”
Well, for the not yet two year old (how is little Will by the way? So glad to hear from you guys), I’d say maybe just try reading one or two of his favs and then slip in a new one and just try lots of different kinds of books and he may latch on to a few new ones. Maybe? I thought Josh was writing a post here last night, but I don’t see it. The library here is small, and like the library in Ames, the children’s area of the library is right next to other parts of the very open library. And really, for us it wasn’t just the noise, but the difficulty keeping them all IN the children’s area or wherever we were. It’s the main reason that Wal-Mart is one of the only public places I ever go with all the kids by myself, because I can still stick them all in the cart!