The Magic of 'Reading Time'

I have one child who reads independently and one just starting to sound words out, so when I say every morning, "It's reading time," their behavior is pretty predictable. The independent reader piles up a bunch of books he wants to read by the La-Z-Boy and the new reader does one of two things: tells me he'd rather jump on the trampoline (and proceeds to do so), or brings me a big book of stories to read to him. It looks like this:

On amazon

There's also a giant bag of library books in the corner by the bookshelf and that is a favorite through-out the week.

Gotta love the polka-dots!

Reading time is when the magic happens. Either we'll get an idea that simply must be acted upon...









From reading the Wright Brothers biography to this:

...or we'll discuss whatever new thing we learned, and whether we want to learn more about it. 

But my favorite bit of magic is when my oldest puts down a book he's been reading and picks up the stapler. Because that means he wants a blank staple book. And that means he wants to write a story of his own. And that means he's inspired. 

As Richard Louv said in Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder...

"Reading stimulates the ecology of the imagination." Whatever your writing goals this weekend, pick up a book by somebody else and be...