This morning I realized that it has been six months since we had Leo assessed for giftedness. Six months ago we learned exactly how gifted he is, and also realized that homeschooling was quite likely the only type of schooling that could adequately meet his needs. After sharing the scores, the psychologist recommended that we start recording what Leo was reading. She said that it would be useful information to have if we ended up homeschooling, and she added that we would “probably be surprised.”
I remember sort-of mentally rolling my eyes. After all, I’d been telling the school all year-long how much this kid reads, what he reads (Harry Potter in Kindergarten? You betcha!), and how quickly he reads. I’m his mother, and I know my kid: Leo reads books as if he needs them for survival. Still, I respected the psychologist and valued her opinion. I started a Goodreads account for Leo that week. I chose Goodreads because I had been using it for years for my own reading, and I like how easy it is to simply scan a barcode to enter a book.
 Leo walks and reads. |
Well, the psychologist was correct. Here we are, six months later, and I am very surprised when I look at Leo’s Goodreads account. I knew a book log would illustrate that Leo is reading a lot of books, but I am astounded by the amount of books.
So my NaBloPoMo post today is a shout-out to those parents who might be thinking about recording their kids’ reading. You might think you know how much they are reading, but you might end up quite surprised, like myself. It’s also helpful to look at the reading log and notice patterns of interest. Not to mention the times you find yourself at the library without your reader and you want to grab some books that aren’t duplicates.
Recording all the books is a fairly easy process. The most difficult aspect of book logging is remembering to actually do it, and also finding all the books. I’ve tried a few systems for recording. Initially, I had Leo put the books he’d read in a pile on my counter. That resulted in way too many books on my counter (and Schizz would tell you that I’m a little OCD about keeping all the stuff off of my counters). Also, Leo leaves books in his wake, and so asking him to remember to put them in a particular spot is a little silly. The best system I have is religiously logging library books. We make a couple of trips to the library each week. On Sundays, I change bed sheets and gather library books. When I change my little poppies’ beds, the library books pour out. I find the library books in their beds, underneath their beds, and wedged between bed and wall. Then, as I’m changing the bed sheets, I ask Leo to make piles of what he’s completed reading and we discuss the various books. At the end, I scan the pile that he created into his online account with my iPhone. I highly recommend Goodreads as a way to record the books, because all you need to do is scan the barcode. Voila! Books logged.
 Truth. |
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A book is like a garden carried in the pocket.
~Chinese Proverb
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Caitlin Fitzpatrick Curley
Cait co-hosts The Homeschool Sisters Podcast and is co-founder of Raising Poppies, a community for parents of gifted and twice-exceptional children. Cait is also founder of the Family Book Club at My Little Poppies, a fantastic community of book-loving parents and the Gameschool Community at My Little Poppies, a vibrant community of gameschoolers.
Cait is a contributing writer for Simple Homeschool and GeekMom. Her work has also appeared on The Huffington Post, The Mighty, and Scary Mommy. You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram
and G+.
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Are you local to the Spring Hill area? I ask because I saw a “like” from you on a local page. I’m a homeschooler too, and we are trying to build support for homeschooling moms and their gifted kids.
Jenn, no I’m not. I’m liking posts and pages that speak to me like crazy. I’m having some trouble building a local network but I’ve found a great deal of support online. Gifted homeschoolers forum, Hoagies, and a few other pages have helped me make some incredible connections. I hope you find some local folks soon! We need to stick together 🙂
Agreed!! I love the blog, Raising Lifelong Learners because she always has great ideas relating to giftedness. And I love Hoagies, too. We were in the school system and felt we would better meet our son’s needs by homeschooling. It’s been a bit of a struggle to connect with other locals that really understand giftedness. I am just trying to reach out for that support! Thanks for your response!
Raising Lifelong Learners is one of my absolute favorites. All of the blogs on Gifted Homeschoolers Forum are awesome. I’ve learned so much just by reading them 🙂
Oh, yes! The books in the bed! E is the same way! I have never thought of using goodreads. Great idea.
It really makes recording so easy. Once in a while you get a book that has a weird bar code and won’t scan, but then you just search and add manually. Way easier than writing them all down. Goodness! Just the thought of it 🙂
I was Leo as a child! I think I still am in my reading habits. 🙂 The books spilling out of beds really captures my reading habits both as a child and now. Found you via the GHF page on Facebook.
Welcome Malea, I’m glad you found us here, and that you can relate to Leo’s reading. I used to have quite a few books lost in my bed growing up, too 🙂