Monday, June 4, 2007

Tip of the Day -- Summer Reading Programs

School's out!  At least at our house.  And in our home that means Summer Reading Programs!

The tip of the day is to find a local Summer Reading Program for your children.  Contact your local library and ask them about their Summer Reading Program.  Many of them will be starting this week.  I'll be taking my children today to sign up with ours.  They look forward to the Summer Reading Program every year.  They love earning prizes for their reading.  In our community, the prizes range from small toys and stickers, to local restaurant coupons for free food. 

If your area doesn't have a Summer Reading Program, or you don't live near a library, there are other options. 

The 9th Annual Homeschooling Summer Reading Club begins today!  You can read about it HERE and print a reading list form to keep track of their pages.  Once they reach 500 pages, you mail it in with a $0.75 stamp, and your child will receive a certificate, stickers, and a small prize in September.  My children love getting mail, so this was very exciting to them last year.

Barnes & Noble also has a Summer Reading Club.  If you live near one, you can read the rules and print out the forms HERE .   When your child has read 8 books, and journaled their favorite part of the book, you take their form in to the Barnes & Noble store near you, and receive a certificate for a free book.   They will be able to choose their free book from a list (or display) of selected books.  We drove half an hour away to visit the Barnes & Noble store last summer after my children finished their reading.  We combined it with extra shopping, of course.  We do not go into big book stores like that very often.  My children usually choose books from used book sales, so this was a rare treat to them.  It did take some time for everyone to choose their book, but it was worth it.

And while we're discussing reading programs, there is still time to enroll your homeschoolers in Pizza Hut's Book It Program for the 2007-2008 school year .  You can read more about the program and enroll HERE.  My children love setting their monthly goals, and earning their personal pan pizza.  It's usually the only time of the month that we order pizza.

We are book lovers here, and my children enjoy reading regardless of incentives.  But it's still fun to reward their reading, and encourage more reading, with incentive programs.

April E.  (ElCloud Homeschool) is a Homeschool Mom of 6.  She has homeschooled for over 7 years, and enjoys sharing the things she's learned in her homeschool journey with others.