Homeschool Room Open House Day 3

Hi Friends,
Hope you are enjoying the open house.  Today I'm showing you my reading wall, nothing complicated or fancy.  The basic idea is that every book we read is written on a star and attached to the wall.  I've done this for several years and my kids LOVE it!  They love to see the wall fill up as we read.  You can print shapes from the computer or the dollar store usually has cute cut out shapes you could use too!

Another thing I do is plan our fun reading books.  These would be the books I don't have to read for curriculum, just the fun, cuddle with the kids reading books.  I've found that if I have a bookshelf filled with books a few things happens: 

1. The books get ignored
2. When I ask the kids to pick a book for us to read they pick the same favorite ones - over and over and over!  Leaving many books unread on the bookshelf and my mind mush as I read the same book for the 800th time!
3. When my kids were little the books would always end up in a huge mess on the floor (why do little kids love throwing books off the bookshelf?)

 I decided it was time for a book intervention!  Introducing - Planned Reading Books:

At the beginning of each month I head to the kids bookshelf  and pull out books to read for the month.  I split the books between 5 rubber maids and try to keep each box with 10 - 15 books in them.  Some books are too big to fit in the rubber maids, those ones I just stack on the side (The Wind in the Willows and All of a Kind Family in the above picture)  I try to mix up the books - some fun easy reads like Amelia Bedelia or Henry and Mudge.  I'll also have a couple of bigger chapter books that might take us a couple of days to get through.  If I know we are studying a subject in school or a character trait that might effect what I put in the buckets too! 

I keep a basket under our coffee table with our books for the week.  I've found that with the books right next to the couch and changing on a weekly basis we read together often.  It's also a lot easier to squeeze reading a book in while cooking dinner if the books are accessible and ready to grab.  Larger books that we can't get through in one week I'll leave in the basket until we are done, but the rest of the books get changed out every week, even if we didn't read them!  

The only book that stays in my basket all the time and never changes is my Egermeier's Bible Story Book - if you don't have this book I highly recommend it.  Stories are written through the Bible with the passages included.  The stories are detailed and information packed.  We all learn and enjoy reading these stories together daily!  (Click Here) if you want to check the Egermeier's Bible Story Book out on Amazon (this is an old book and a little pricey, but worth every penny!)

I've been really happy with my book organization and know that we read many more books with the system in place. I'd love to hear if you have a book system or how you plan the books you read with your kids.  

One other thing I do with my kids is have them keep a book log for yearly records.  In the Grow Homeschool Planner we had a Book Log - (Click Here) if you missed that post and the FREE Book Log PRINTABLE. 

If you have any questions or comments feel free to email me jenny@growaustin.org

In His Grace,
Jenny