Piles of Books

Reading has always been a priority for me with my kids, when they were little and we were reading fun short stories or now that they're older and we're reading through chapter book after chapter book. However, now that they've grown it takes me a lot of effort to keep up. I have a goal for myself of reading the same book they're reading at the same time as them. I love how doing this gives us conversations to have and I love hearing about whether they loved or hated a character, what they think about a certain situation, or how they would solve the problem in the book. It is one of my favorite ways of getting to know them and how they feel and react to the things in the story as often times the problems in stories are not that far from the problems we experience in real life. We have made it through so many books already this year and I am sure there are more to come.
 Dylan who used to not like reading so much has become an avid reader who loves to read and reads without prompting. Aliya who used to love reading has gone to the other extreme and has had a hard year and struggled. I really despise the concept of telling kids they need to read through a certain number of pages in order to be accomplished or a certain style of book for it to count as reading. I'm a firm believer that you should let a child read what they want to read and they will learn to love reading and that itself is the true accomplishment. However, this has not been Aliya's experience this year in school and it has led her to feel behind and lose the enjoyment of reading. In order to rebound from the situation her and I took an adventure and got a library card at a large Massachusetts library just a few weeks ago. There we were able to find her some books that have her interested in reading again (and meet her teachers requirements)! Trent is in the midst of high-school where reading is not by choice most of the time but by assignment. He is reading through some of the heavier and older materials and, like most people, loving or despising it depending on the book. Trent does in his free time really enjoy reading nonfiction paleontology books. He is in the middle of a book written by a professor in Oxford who teaches paleontology and he just can't get enough of the information. I may be struggling to keep up with all the books being read around the house these days but I am so proud of the kids accomplishments in reading and even more excited about their enjoyment of it!