Reading Intensive Challenge: Log #1

Loves,

You can read my post detailing my new challenge here!

I’ve been putting off writing this log – I started thinking it needed to be super detailed and brilliant, for some reason.

Perfectionism. Gross. No thanks!

So don’t mind me while I just write my shitty first draft.

Daily Habits:20 mins+ of Reading Time – listening to my youngest read while my eldest reads by herself20 mins+ of Me Reading To ThemA lesson from Reading Eggs/Reading Eggspress.

These have been working well. I’ve been making a non-negotiable. If I don’t, they’ll never get done.

I’ve noticed that by putting more of a focus on reading time, it ends up having a cascade effect. They start reading, get obsessed and keep reading. My eldest kid ended up finishing 8 chapter books this week (!!!!)

Other thoughts:I read “Raising Readers” by Megan Daley – a teacher librarian here in Australia. She also has an excellent blog here. I have a bunch of notes from this. It helped build a useful framework in my head of how to approach reading.In “Raising Readers”, Megan talks about her shared readaloud books she reads to her daughters, and how they each got to take it in turns to choose the next read, including her. I thought this was a great idea… I can’t wait to get to choose a read as well!I have already ordered the Famous Five series by Enid Blyton for my next shared readaloud choice… it was one of my favourites when I was a kid.Me & my kids absolutely LOVED Lauren Child’s illustrated version of Pippi Longstocking. So we were thrilled when we chanced upon the Lauren Child illustrated version of Mary Poppins this morning. That’s totally going in our book basket for what we are reading next as well!I also uncovered 101 Kids’ Books To Read Before You Grow Up. We were going through it quite fastidiously when we were homeschooling and quite loved the recommendations. Now the girls are a bit older we’ll be able to read some of the older books too!A wee while ago I went on a stalk through AbeBooks.com to find out of print Jennie Maizels pop up books. She does these amazingly illustrated & handwritten pop up books on non fiction topics like grammar, punctuation, science and music. They are fawned over more than any other books in this house.We’ve just been popped back into a 3 day lockdown to contain a Covid outbreak. Or as I like to reframe it: a 3 day reading staycation!Hooray!

Did it! I wrote the first log! Onwards!

BIG LOVE,

 

Love the sound of your reading challenge! Couple of tips from me with my special ed library teacher hat on as well as mum to an autistic teenager –Megan Daley from Children’s Books Daily has an awesome book and blog –https://childrensbooksdaily.com/raising-readers/Let them enjoy whatever floats their boat. It may not be the award winning children’s books. It may be very niched crime manga (in the case of my son) or completely silly and rude and not pompous grown up approved. I started a whole section in my school library called Toilet Humour – everything about wee, poo, farts, bums, underwear etc. It horrified a few people but it got loads of reluctant readers hooked on a new book every week. And they love seeing adults being silly reading them too.

Hello Leonie (and your fabulous assistant who’s of course reading this) … reading for kids? Reading with my kids every night was a huge plus and just the nicest way to end a day. Then, walking with kids in tow past a bookshop regularly (which would end up costing at least a hundred bucks back in the day, but the smell of those new books was unbeatable). And the library. Of course, the library. Every couple of weeks we’d all lug our stash back and swap it for a new one … there was an obligatory making of chocolate chip cookies upon our return so that we had snacks to gobble up at the same time we gobbled up the new titles.

Now my kids are all grown up they still go weak at the knees with excitement at the sight of a good book.JoI don’t have kids, but one thing that helped get me reading g as a kid was my dad subscribed to two kids magazines BUT IN MY NAME.I was getting mail, like an adult, and every time I picked up those magazines, I was reminded ded that mail was being addressed to me like an adult. Fucking brilliant manipulation. Now I’m a reader and author thanks to that early prompting that made reading so empowering.All the best,ChristopherChristopher J WesleyUsing art to inspire you to reframe negative life experiences into narratives that serve you.https://www.christopherjwesley.comHelpful websites & blogs:Children’s Books Daily

The post Reading Intensive Challenge: Log #1 appeared first on Leonie Dawson | Goals, Marketing + Creativity For Glorious Humans.