The Importance of Reading (the directions)

October 3, 2007

Peyton and I made a deal about a month ago. If he reads 12 “chapter books” and writes a book report for me about each one, then I’ll take him to get a banana split. The banana split with dad deal has kind of become the reward for special accomplishments in our house I guess (It’s very bad for my personal training I know, so we definitely have to reserve such a treat for special occasions!). Peyton and Soren each got a banana split when they learned to ride their bikes without training wheels. So when Soren got his for riding his bike a couple months ago, each of them wanted to know what they could do to earn their next banana split with dad. So that’s how we got Peyton’s deal. My motivation for doing it was just that I have always LOVED reading. One of my mom’s favorite stories about me is when she took me to the eye doctor for my pre-kindergarten eye exam and instead of saying the letters on the eye chart, I read each line like it was a word. I am always reading 2 or 3 books at a time and for me it’s about the most relaxing thing I can do. And I just feel like there’s probably no attribute that can better prepare someone for future schooling and learning than to have a love of reading. Peyton was a pretty good reader but he hadn’t “caught the bug”. Well, now that’s changed almost overnight. He’s working on his 6th book report right now and reading about 2 books a week all of a sudden. Friday night is a “sleep-out” night. The boys get to sleep out in the family room and watch a movie. Well last Friday, Soren and Logan loaded up the DVD player while Peyt went to his room, got his blanket and his book, and curled up on the living room couch for a long evening of reading. Julie and I were very surprised and very pleased. It’s also carrying over to his schoolwork, which is what this post is really about.

He brought home a test the other day and told us he was the only one in his class that got a 100 on it. I had to laugh when I looked at the test. What a great object lesson! I think the kids probably learned very well the importance of reading the directions! They must have thought Peyton was crazy when he just laid his head down on his desk.

Posted in Family Life