The Reading Club

One of my perpetual frustrations is getting my son to read material I want him to read. He'd be happy reading comic books, Tintin, Asterix, and Calvin and Hobbes the whole day long.

I wouldn't mind it so much if he read some of the other books out there, but he doesn't. The closest he gets to a "real" book is Hank the Cow Dog.

So, tonight, we made a deal. I based it upon our library's Summer Reading Club program. The idea is this: after you read a set period of time, (the library asked for 15 minutes) you got to tick off a "stepping stone." Once six stepping stones were ticked off, you were at a Stop. The library gave you a small prize of a few water based tattoos for each Stop. Halfway through, you got a whistle. When you were done the 8 week program you got a whoopie cushion and a clown nose.

Here's our plan.

One stepping stone represents one hour of reading from my son, and a half hour from my daughter. Six stepping stones plus one book report equals one stop (or a week). At each third stop, the children are entitled to a "reward" costing less than $10.00.

The catch: I choose the reading material!

This way, either of them can read anything they like, I'm not punishing them for their choices. But, hopefully, I can steer them towards better choices.

I already supplement our History with Famous Men of the Middle Ages by John Haaren and A Child's History of the World by Hillyer as well as other readings, so those will count towards the time requirement, but not the book reports. On the other hand, either of them can write a book report on a book they've heard on CD--but the CD won't count as far as reading time goes.

I'm not exactly sure what the book lists will look like, but I want to include some of the books recommended by The Story of the World Activity Guide as well as some biographies. This will be something of a challenge--especially finding good books for my daughter, who is a rising third grader and just starting to read "Junior" chapter books.

Suggestions welcome!