Growing Organic Bookworms

This week we’ve talked a lot about “Should you pay your child to learn to read?” In the end learning to read is a unique experience for each child. I want to ensure our ladies are smitten with the library. So in my last post I asked, “What is a book-lovin’, anti-incentive, Montessori Kool-Aid drinking mom supposed to do?”

Shad came up with a brilliant suggestion. The best “incentive” to give a child learning to read is BOOKS. We are library regulars, but we almost never buy books. We ordered a collection of paperback books from the girls school through Scholastic and came up with a fun fall family reading program which I will share with you next week!

Let’s Lasso the Moon Tip: Our girls love Scholastic Bookflix. It is an online library of great books that children can interact with and listen to. We got a username and password through the elementary school at the beginning of the year. If you get Scholastic book order forms check with your child’s teacher to see if you have free access!

Here is a photo of all our incentive loot. Awhile back I read Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider, otherwise know as Simple Mom. I highly recommend the book, especially to anyone who participated in the 100 Things Challenge with us last month. One of the tasks in the book is to create a family mission statement. Our weekly family-game-night tradition came out of this interesting activity. You will see below we also decided to offer some Goodwill games as part of our incentive plan.

I wrapped the girls “gifts” in some old green paper and threw on a few stickers for good measure. I admit I threw a few sticks of gum onto a couple book packages to ensure the girls would not be overly enticed by the size of the game packages.

The girls were thrilled to open their first gift. They immediately wanted to read the books they had earned in an attempt to get more. Hooray!

Next week we’ll share with you HOW the girls are earning their books. We wanted to ensure it was a positive family experience for everyone involved. There will be art, there will be teamwork, and there will be fall fun! Check back in Monday for all the details.

It has been a long week and I am thrilled it is finally Friday. We might consider a fall forest adventure if the weather is right. What are you looking forward to most this weekend?

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