RosieCotton Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 My sister-in-law was over yesterday and got a big kick out of my boys. The younger boy is a little afraid of being in the basement by himself so he asked his brother to go with him to get a book he had checked out from the library. Said older brother was reading a book at the time so he went along, reading as he went slowly down the stairs. Then they both came up the stairs, reading as they came up them. They sat together on the couch and discussed the books they were reading and asked if they could read the others book when they were done with their own. (Henry Huggins and Beast Quest). Kind pleasant responses were given and they went back to reading. She commented on how the kids in her neighborhood are engrossed in their video games to excess since its summer. Makes me feel good. :) (We do have video game time allotted each week, but it's not a main focus.) 26 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnnaM Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 My kids were so excited to participate in the library reading program and had big plans to turn in a ton of logs to win the prizes. When we got the information it turned out that you could earn 2 hours for every library hosted event that you attended! My kids have no chance of catching up with the kids whose parents drop them at these events (which include things like watching a Hunger Games Marathon). The events themselves are not terrible or anything, but they aren't reading and I find it crazy unfair that a reading incentive would have ways to win without ever having to pick up a book. My guess is that they would just not have the teen turn out if they didn't offer these. Sorry, I guess that was a bit of a tangent rant. My kiddos are readers as well and it blows my mind when concessions are made in a reading program for those who don't want to have to read... 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefgazer Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 That's an awesome story! I had a similar situation last night when we were at the pool. Several tweens were engrossed in their phone while my kids and a few others were in the pool, laughing and goofing around. After the pool closed, these kids could not pull themselves away from the phones; the conversation was so, well, not a conversation, and they were completely unable to function socially when the parents pulled the phones away. It's worrisome that the kids aren't able to develop any personal social skills and everything has to be mediated by electronics. My sister-in-law was over yesterday and got a big kick out of my boys. The younger boy is a little afraid of being in the basement by himself so he asked his brother to go with him to get a book he had checked out from the library. Said older brother was reading a book at the time so he went along, reading as he went slowly down the stairs. Then they both came up the stairs, reading as they came up them. They sat together on the couch and discussed the books they were reading and asked if they could read the others book when they were done with their own. (Henry Huggins and Beast Quest). Kind pleasant responses were given and they went back to reading. She commented on how the kids in her neighborhood are engrossed in their video games to excess since its summer. Makes me feel good. :) (We do have video game time allotted each week, but it's not a main focus.) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momto4inSoCal Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 My 4 kids have the chairs set up as a mini van and are playing mom and dad right now. My 9 and 10yo are taking turns reading to my 3yo twins while the other "parent" drives. I love homeschooling and the bond it has created with my kids. 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arliemaria Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 My oldest, just turned 6, is still not reading independently, but I pray that I have moments like these in our homeschool. Good job moms! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebcoola Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 We had a similiar story we do swim lessons with 2 other homeschool families who we are close to every year. The other day while the 3 preschoolers were having their lesson we noticed it was awful quiet. They had raided one of the vans and found books for everyone and were all reading under a shady tree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamaraby Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 We have a rule in our house - "no walking while reading." Around here it doesn't matter if you can read or not. Non-readers will carry around books to look at and will look at them while walking somewhere. Life is apparently too short to stop for silly things like walking. Far better to multi-task. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WTMCassandra Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 We have a rule in our house - "no walking while reading." Around here it doesn't matter if you can read or not. Non-readers will carry around books to look at and will look at them while walking somewhere. Life is apparently too short to stop for silly things like walking. Far better to multi-task. Um. I would get in trouble at your house daily. :leaving: I guess I'm a member of Walking-While-Reading Anonymous. (But I don't really want to quit . . .) :huh: 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica_in_Switzerland Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 My kids are getting to be crazy readers too, and the best part is they read to the 3yo!!! We were coming home form the library and we ran into our neighbours taking care of their granddaughter at the playground by our building. As soon as I stopped to talk, all the kids raided the library books and immediately sat down to begin reading. When we finally went in, they did the whole walk-and-read thing. Proud mommy moment. :-) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammish Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 We frequently have to tell DS8 "No reading while brushing your teeth!" 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamaraby Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Um. I would get in trouble at your house daily. :leaving: I guess I'm a member of Walking-While-Reading Anonymous. (But I don't really want to quit . . .) :huh: Well, are you prone to walking into things and/or frequently falling down whilst read-walking? If not, you could be the exception. My kids tend to trip or something, hence the rule. Which is broken often. Probably not a rule so much as an exasperated exclamation. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirstenhill Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 I let DD walk around the grocery store with me while reading a book earlier this week. She wanted to sit outside the store and read, but the spot where this store is attracts some questionable characters, and I wasn't sure that was such a good idea to have her outside the store alone. Had we been coming right from home she probably would have stayed home to read, but we were stopping to shop after another event. Anyway, she managed not to run into anyone or anything while doing this. I was impressed. I know a few families that have a "no reading books at the dinner table" rule. I don't do that because we have a hard time having actual family dinner conversation anyway with the two older boys incessantly talking about their imaginary worlds and the three year old having a hard time not interrupting everyone. Our funny rule -- no singing at the table. Because people breaking out in song at the table just personally drives me crazy. And you would not believe how many times i have had to invoke that rule. Rarely a week goes by that I don't have to remind someone that in our house, we don't sing at the table. :lol: 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizzie in Ma Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 We frequently have to tell DS8 "No reading while brushing your teeth!" uh oh, I always read while brushing my teeth. ;) 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawthorne44 Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 We have a rule in our house - "no walking while reading." Around here it doesn't matter if you can read or not. Non-readers will carry around books to look at and will look at them while walking somewhere. Life is apparently too short to stop for silly things like walking. Far better to multi-task. I'd like you post, but I agree with the kids. Life is too short. Audiobooks on an mp3 player is the compromise with myself as an adult. I park 20 ft away from the door at work. I work for a small company of 60 people so my desk isn't that far away. But, I feel angst if I forget my mp3 player and I have to walk without book 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue daisy Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Sometimes I have to (temporarily ) take books away from my 7 year old so he can accomplish everyday tasks like getting dressed. He gets so engrossed in books and will read for hours without doing what he's supposed to. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 I was that kid. I am that adult. I was convinced my kids would be, too. Not yet, not yet. I recently downloaded a book about how to get your kid interested in reading. Per the books' advice, I'm about to find the most twaddly twaddle I can find to try to entice them to be avid readers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junie Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 We have a lot of rules at the table: no reading, no singing, no humming. This is because this is about the only time that we are all in the same room in the same time. Thanks to this board, I have started doing read-alouds at lunch. A few weeks ago we had a notary come to our house for some paperwork. She looked at me and asked if I homeschooled. I truly wondered what gave me away. :eek: I asked her and she said something about all of the books. We have one small bookcase (maybe 100 elementary-age books) in the living room. I told her that was just the beginning... :lol: Most of my dc read a lot. Trying to get the last couple on board. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnib Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 No joke, one day I was driving down a busy street and I saw a kid skateboarding in the bike lane in the street, rather than on the sidewalk. He was going rather fast, so I understood why he must have thought it safer to be away from pedestrians. As I caught up and passed him I glanced over to see who was riding so fast and realized he was reading a book at the same time! While skateboarding. In the street. I felt for his mother. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 My slower reader spend four weeks of his leisure reading time on "Among Penguins: A Bird Man in Antarctica" http://www.amazon.com/Among-Penguins-Bird-Man-Antarctica/dp/0870716298 My bookworm read so fast that he hasn't update his summer reading log for the library online. I'm about to find the most twaddly twaddle I can find to try to entice them to be avid readers.My boys enjoy Mamashiba graphics novelshttp://www.amazon.com/Mameshiba-On-Loose-James-Turner/dp/1421538806 Twaddle has no negative effect so far on standaedised tests. The graphics novel row at the libraries are boys dominated :lol: My boys read all the Garfield comic books too. Wish I have kept my cousins' copies of Dennis the Menace comic yearbooks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMD Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 My mother in law took my oldest two to a bookshop. She rang me a couple of hours later, very annoyed that my 7 year old had already almost finished the 200ish page book she purchased for him! Like she wasn't getting her moneys worth! He's inhaling books lately, I bought him 2 on our expedition to a 2nd hand bookstore on Thursday and now (Saturday) he's nearly finished both! Reading confession: I've nearly cut myself reading whilst preparing dinner! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammish Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 uh oh, I always read while brushing my teeth. ;) DH does occassionally, too. But we've noticed that DS doesn't do nearly as good of a job when he's distracted by reading, so... Personally I'd rather hurry up and get the brushing over with so I can fully concentrate on my book (rather than divide my attention), but apparently I'm in the minority on that one (at least in my house)! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RosieCotton Posted July 18, 2015 Author Share Posted July 18, 2015 And then the flip side. Parents who don't take their kids to the library, don't have books on hand, and don't read in front of their children ever and just watch TV wonder why their kids aren't avid readers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 Sometimes I have to (temporarily ) take books away from my 7 year old so he can accomplish everyday tasks like getting dressed. He gets so engrossed in books and will read for hours without doing what he's supposed to. This is my 10 yo Dd! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 Garga, what about magazines? Sometimes those will catch a child's eye. And there's always Calvin and Hobbes! Yes for Calvin and Hobbes! Ds8 has read my copies so often that the covers are almost gone. He loves the Peanuts too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vida Winter Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 My 11yo brought books to day camp to read during lunch. :laugh: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 Gee...I suppose I shouldn't admit that I do my morning walks at the local mall before it opens because then I can read while walking... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 My Dd, when asked what her favorite part of Sunday school was today, quickly replied, "Talking about books with H. and V.!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy to monkeys Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 My oldest 3 are independent readers and this sounds a lot like our house. Library books are being traded all the time and the kids will bring the others a book they've read if they think that sibling will really like it. :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegs Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 My little brother used to link arms with me and guide me along uneven footpaths in the inner suburbs of Melbourne so that I could read aloud whilst walking him to school. So, it's not just a homeschool thing, but we were a kinda notorious family for that reason, among others. :p Young DS has taken to calling any formal bookish activity "book sports", which I think is a bit cute! We do book sports in the evenings to tire out our brains and help them feel ready for sleep. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 My DS10 was walking and reading a library book while we were at the mall shopping for gifts. He is a bookworm regardless of whether he was in private preschool, public school, public charter or homeschool. It's just who he is. Both my boys finish their online AoPS class homework just now as fast as possible so that they can go back to reading the library books. We are thankful the neighboring cities have better libraries and don't charge a fee for non-residents. My kids have library cards to three library systems and the librarians have seen them since they were in diapers. ETA: My extended family is a mix of book readers, newspaper readers, and those that read everything in sight including magazine covers at newsstand while waiting for public busses to come. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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