Summer Reading Program

We have been blessed to live in Saline County and to have The Saline County Public Library System (a public library in Benton and Bryant) that does so much...for free!  Our library is doing a Summer Reading Program for kids and adults.  They have a program for 0-7 years old and then a program for tweens, teenagers, and adults. 

The program for 0-7 years old is a "read to your child" for so many minutes a day (whatever is the goal for your child) and then mark it on the log they give to you (Monday through Friday).  You don't have to log the titles of the books, just that you read to your child for the goal that you have set (20 minutes for Ruthie and 15 minutes for Zeke...it ends up being the same amount of time because I read to them at the same time).  At the end of the week, you take the log to the library and they receive a prize for meeting their goals for that week.  At the end of the Summer Program, if they have met the goals for every week, they get a t-shirt. 

This is has been awesome for my homeschooling "curriculum"...Part of our "school time" each day is to have "reading time" where I read to them.  The great thing is that Ruthie has been a part of the ABC Dawson Cooperative Education Preschool for the last 2 years.  At the end of the year, the Co-op has given the kids a bunch of paperback books.  So, we have used those as part of our reading time.  I have been keeping a log of each book that we read, so that we can look back at the end of the summer and see how many books we've read (and to see if we can keep from reading the same book twice).  We're also planning on checking out books from the library to read as well.  Not to mention that "Read-a-long" CD books count as well...anytime your child is being read to.  We also "count" our Bible Story time that we do as a family before bedtime as part of the reading time.  We use The Jesus Storybook Bible and it's awesome!

The library is also having a lot of events as part of the Summer Reading Program.  This last Monday (June 13) was the "kickoff" of the program.  They had a "Global Scavenger Hunt."  They gave you a "passport" and had different booths set up for different countries.  You go to each country and have your passport stamped.  It was fun, the adults participated, too (as part of the Adult Reading Program).  On the 23rd, they are having the Museum of Discovery come in to do a program.

The Adult Reading Program is different.  There is not a set Reading List.  You read whatever books you want and keep a list.  You get one point for each book you read and 3 points for each event you attend.  The goal is to get 50 points (and get a t-shirt).  That seemed a little steep to me, but you can read really short books, even some "juvenille" books, so that helps.

Anyway, this has been a good addition to our "curriculum" for our summer homeschooling.  The kids really look forward to our reading time...and to marking off their "X" on their page (and they don't even know that they get a prize at the end of the week yet!).