“I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.”
~Anna Quindlen
“Camp Mom” commences in our corner of the world at 12:31 PM on Thursday, and I couldn’t be more ready. I’m looking forward to an adventurous few months with the kids, free from school schedules, baseball practices, and folders & backpacks full of papers. I’m especially excited about this summer because two of our three kids are reading independently, making them the perfect age to participate in summer reading programs.
To help keep our reading organized this summer, I put together a clipboard (and attached a little pocket I found in the craft aisle of Target) for each of the kids that now reside where their homework folders used to be.
The boys’ clipboards include:
Their primary reading log I created using templates from Rebecca Cooper’s Simple As That blog
The Clark County Library District Summer Reading Program log (basically just a check-the-box-if-you-read type of thing to earn points and prizes)
The Barnes & Noble Summer Reading Journal (they can earn a free book if they write recommendations for some of their favorite titles)
Here’s what the front, back, and guts of the Simple As That templates look like…
Selah’s board has a little pocket, too, and a preschool reading log from the library. Because we will be out and about a lot this summer, I thought clipboards would be the most practical way to tote everything around. That way when we are on long car rides or out in the Red Rock Canyon somewhere, they will not only have their logs close by, but they will also have a hard surface to write or draw on. I anticipate clipping other writing activities and coloring sheets to them for certain nature walks and museum trips we’ll be going on this summer.
So what will they be reading?
Here’s a list of some of the books I’ve chosen for their reading lists. Many are books I will read aloud to them, others the boys will read independently. I hand-picked these to balance out the stacks of Fancy Nancy, Lego, Curious George, Eyewitness, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Magic Tree House, DC Superfriends, and Pinkalicious titles that will no doubt be around all summer as well.
Take Your Best Shot: Do Something Bigger Than Yourself by Austin Gutwein
The Oak Inside the Acorn by Max Lucado
You Can Do It! by Tony Dungy
On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Time of Wonder by Robert McCloskey
The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein
Is That Your Sister? A True Story of Adoption by Catherine Bunin
Rascal (audio book) by Sterling North
The Journal of Biddy Owens: The Negro Leagues by Walter Dean Myers
Who Was Jim Henson? by Joan Holub
Ten Boys Who Used Their Talents by Irene Howatt
Jackie & Me (plus other “and me” baseball card adventures) by Dan Gutman
God’s Wisdom for Little Girls: Virtues and Fun from Proverbs 31 by Elizabeth George
The Puppy Place series by Ellen Miles
We’ll also be spending time each morning in our devotional book for the summer, Jesus Calling: 365 Devotions for Kids. I’ll probably throw a little Spurgeon at ’em, too. #whynot
Finally, when we head out to Tahoe and Oregon in a few weeks, each of the kids will get their own bag of bookworms to consume at their discresion. 🙂
