In HSLDA’s Weekly Update today, they included a link to a past issue of the Homeschooling Thru High School newsletter, The Pursuit and Pleasure of Reading. They recommend planning a summer reading program for your children to give them an incentive to read good books. The newsletter also contains links to a number of different reading lists that would serve as a great reference when looking for what books to include in the reading program.
In our house, Mom and Dad never needed to implement reading incentives. In fact, I was far more likely to get reprimanded for reading too much growing up (that’s why I had to hide behind the couch to do it!). My sister, Noelle, is the same way now. Even those in the family who are less obsessive readers still enjoy working their way through a good book. This was mostly passed down by example, I think, because Dad is an avid reader and is rarely to be found without a book or newsletter or magazine of some sort. Mom enjoys reading, too, but it has to be just the right book to keep her engaged long enough to finish it!
In the afore-mentioned Homeschooling Thru High School newsletter, this quote from Mark Twain especially resonated with me, “The man who doesn’t read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.” I haven’t read nearly all the books that I wish I had, and I don’t read as much as I’d like to, but reading regularly is worth carving out time for, regardless of what other things fill my schedule.