“I hate school,” said Miss 11 earlier this fall. “I never have any time to read anymore. All I can manage is one book a day!” We laughed about it with our librarian and now we’re laughing again, for a different reason: this week she’ll be able to read as much as she can.
One week each November, we celebrate reading. (Here are our reading week posts for 2009 and 2010.) We’ve prepared by pre-ordering over 200 (!!) books from the library. (Obviously, Miss 11 now knows how to order books, too.) And we’ve dropped all our normal schoolwork for a whole week so we can read, read, and read.
After studying hard, harvesting busily, and beginning the fall cleaning, we’re all ready for this break. It’s a reward for hard work, a chance to focus on our latest interests, an opportunity to meet new fictional people, and a way for us to support our tiny library.
It’s a week we all look forward to, and not only because of the reading. We also take a bit of extra time for special foods (such as the fall’s last wiener and marshmallow roast), a special outing if possible, gift preparation, baking, and just lazing about. We still anchor our daily routine with mealtimes, regular chores, animal care, and bedtimes, but in between we enjoy a holiday atmosphere…and read.
Today is the start of Reading Week. With several thousand of our own books, we have enough to read until this afternoon when we plan to pick up the first 50 library books we ordered. Then the fun will begin and the children’s reading lists will grow.
I’ll have three big tasks(besides reading, of course): approving books, keeping an eye on the quality and variety of each child’s reading adventures, and keeping track of all the library books so we won’t have to pay overdue fines.
Have you ever tried reading week?
What a great idea! Sounds like fun!
I think I would like to try this in the dead of winter when there is little else to distract us. You are always an inspiration!