Thanks to an email I got from Brightly, which is a great website for anyone who is #raisingreaders, I looked into and then ordered two copies of a diary/journal for my two loves. Now journaling is personally not something I’m really into, but this one is rather unique and something we can do together.
I started it with each of them last night and they were both super excited about it. In fact, instead of reading a book until she fell asleep, my daughter looked through the pages of the journal until she fell asleep and then took it to school today to look at it some more. Here’s some examples of the pages they completed and some that we haven’t done yet.
Some pages have concrete ideas like these my son did…And other pages require some creative thinking.
So, if you’re one of those parents like me that wants to keep all the memories possible from your child’s childhood, but isn’t quite as organized to do it the way you want, or if you just want to give your child a space to do some creative thinking, this would be a great resource to do either. It is definitely a keepsake that appears like it will hold up for years to come (it has a hardcover) and will be great to look at when they’re older.
About a month ago I was working at my school’s Scholastic Book Fair and had some time to peruse the cases (honestly, for like the 100th time, I have an addiction). Somehow, for only the first time I ran across this book–
And a $5 price tag?–Win/win!
So, here’s my thought–sure, some of it may be over her head (I’m sure she doesn’t know 1/2 the people on the cover) or some stuff she may not be interested in, but for 5 bucks? There’s got to be something in this book that my 7-year-old will like. So, I sent a picture of the book to my husband, he seconded my idea, so I bought the book.
When I gave it to her that afternoon, I told her it could be a “car book” (Yeah, I had just made it up). It was a book that would stay in the car so she would have something to look at on short and/or long trips. From my perspective, it would also give her something to focus on in the car so I could listen to my music instead of Kids Place Live. She was excited and went straight to reading it, and I went straight to listening to some 90s R&B. When we got home and pulled into the garage she said, “So mom, I can’t bring this book in the house?…Then can I stay in the car?” Put one in the win column for mama! Don’t worry, I didn’t leave her in the car.
So, here’s where the monster part comes in. Since she’s getting all this new information, the focus has become sharing all this information with me or her father, completely backfiring my plan for me to reconnect music I like in the car while she enjoys her book in silence.
“Mom look, did you know this book has sign language?”
“Dad, did you know the state bird for Illinois is the Cardinal?”
Our latest conversation has been about Presidents. Since my husband is a Social Studies teacher, my child has decided she needs to quiz him on his knowledge of American Presidents.
“Dad, did you know Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President?” “Dad, who was the 21st President?” I could go on and on, because she goes on and on…Now for the most part, he’s been a good sport about it all and will play along with her.
Even this morning, over a month after she first got her “car book”, she’s still getting new information from it. Although I focus my attempts at #raisingreaders at nighttime, I’ve discovered that reading in the car actually works too! You have to get it in wherever you can. So, did my “car book” purchase give me the time to enjoy the music I enjoy? Not as much as I wanted. But was it worth the $5 spent? Definitely.
Did you know Hellen Keller was born on June 27th? Thanks to her, I do!
I saw this quote on Twitter the other day and it resonated with me and particularly my journey with my son, who is just learning to read. You can read more about my journey raising readers at my guest blog post here with Book Review Mama.
Raising Readers... 