Summer Reading Programs

 Ah, Summer! The sun, the fun, the summer reading programs. So many from which to choose. The local public library is always a good one. Then there is our church, some on-line homeschooling resources, and a few local restaurants…pizza prizes anyone? This is our fourth year participating with our library, and our first year with three readers. My oldest two have discovered literally hundreds of new books over the years thanks to our public library reading program. This year their younger sister has joined in the fun.

  

Folks around town have been amazed at how many books my children can read in a few months. It’s a feat at which I marvel, but I’m not surprised. My children LOVE books! They have been read to since before they were born. In their unquenchable thirst to learn, I taught them to read at an early age. My youngest reader so far started reading books shortly after her third birthday. She followed the same path as her brothers. First simple sight words, then phonics overlapped with reading videos, and a generous dose of snuggle time curled up in Mommy or Daddy’s lap with her favorite story books. It’s all about words, words, words, and more words. It also helps that we don’t have television reception at our house. We have discovered that we didn’t have time to watch t.v. when we were busy learning about and enjoying life. We have televisions, but they are used to watch educational and other parent-approved material. Without hours a day in front of a t.v. with mindless programming, my children willing read books and use their imaginations.

They have discovered the magic and power of books. Board books at first with best loved authors like Margaret Wise Brown (The Runaway Bunny and Goodnight Moon), Eric Carle (The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?), and Sandra Boynton (Blue Hat, Green Hat and Opposites). Then on to Dick and Jane, the Berenstain Bears, Dr. Seuss, and the wonderful vocabulary of Fancy Nancy. There really is magic when Ms. Frizzle class boards the Magic School Bus for her wacky science field trips. My 3 year old can’t see a school bus on the street without yelling out “Magic School Bus!” My children have sailed around the world with Ferdinand Magellan; visited Egypt, ancient Greece, Italy, China, Spain, and other foreign lands; as well as going back in time to the Middle Ages and when Jesus walked the earth. Their grasp of history has improved through the adventures in the Magic Tree House series, and they have become acquainted with the greatest of history’s men and women, including this country’s founding fathers, through numerous biographies, especially in the Step-Up series. They have lived on the Mayflower, in colonial times, through the American Revolution and the Civil War, as well as attending the signing of the Constitution through the “If You Lived…” series. They have expanded their math skills and science knowledge with the Charlesbridge math adventures and the Cat-In-The-Hat Learning Library. They have explored the depths of a tide pool with a hermit crab named Pagoo. Many meaningful conversations have been initiated thanks to Max Lucado’s religious parable books for children. Summer reading programs have taken my children on rafts down the mighty Mississippi River with Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, riding with the wind in their hair on the Black Stallion, and into a land that can only be found through a mysterious wardrobe in C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia. And of course they have discovered the friendship and mutual love of ponies in the Pony Pal series at our local library.

During the summer, the morning hours that would normally be devoted to homeschooling become reading time. As a homeschooling Mom I love that my children can learn and discover on their own through books. Last summer, my boys made it a mission to read every history and science book in the library within their reading levels. This year, my oldest has a new-found interest in animals and veterinary medicine, so James Herriot’s books have become frequent visitors in our house, as well as all the animal care books he can find.

In addition to the educational and entertainment value of books, the reading program has brought organization, responsibility, and respect into our summer. With three readers, we have three sets of books and three reading lists to maintain. We had to establish a routine of where library books are to be kept when not being read and where they are to be deposited when completed so that they can be logged on each child’s reading list. I keep a tracking system to ensure that each book is returned to the library safely and on time. No small feat for this Mom who has been up late at night updating the reading lists. The children are responsible for keeping up with their books, and I help with the tracking and communication with the librarian. Because most of the books are borrowed from the library or other sources, the children are also learning about respect for the property of others, as well as sharing. Library books are treated better than our own. They are not left on the floor to be stepped on or to be picked up and chewed on by the baby or left on chairs to be sat on. They have bookmarks instead of dog-eared pages or being left open face-down to damage the bindings. And they are returned as quickly as possible so that other readers can enjoy them too. It’s really just controlled chaos, but all in good fun.

 

Another benefit of summer reading programs is discovering treasures buried deep on the library shelves. Those treasures are the books that speak volumes through fabulous writing and captivating illustrations. Sometimes they are Caldecott or Newbury award winners, but many are not. They are the books that we love so much that we want them for our family library. They have varied from the amazing science books of Thomas Locker to our newest acquisition, Helen Haidle’s What Would Jesus Do?, the children’s version of the Christian classic, In His Steps.



In a few short years, I expect to add another child to the summer reading program. The baby likes to sit with her own board books and babble while I’m reading to her older siblings. It’s an exciting development for us. She is only copying what she sees, but what she sees is laying a foundation for her future. It’s a future that I expect will reflect the theme of this year’s summer reading program: Dream Big…Read!