Summer is almost here, folks. It’s almost time to relax into a simpler, more natural, rhythm. The schedules clear, the kids stay out well past dinner, bedtimes and wake-ups shift a bit, and everyone is just… happier.

Well, you’re happier until you hear folks start to talk about  summer brain drain. What is brain drain? Brain drain refers to the much-dreaded summer learning loss and is the reason why many children attend summer school. It’s why some advocate for year-round schooling. And it’s the reason why September is entirely a month of review in most schools. Studies suggest that children can lose anywhere from one to three months worth of reading and math skills over the summer. Scary, right? So, what is a parent to do? Do you start doling out homework assignments? Add to your child’s summer reading log? Use math flash cards at the dinner table?

Relax. It’s easy to encourage learning and maintain those skills if you think outside of the box a little bit. Get creative. If I know anything after the past year of homeschooling, it is this: learning can be fun. 

Today, I’m going to focus on reading skills. If reading is an enjoyable activity, your children will want to do it more. It’s that easy. One super-simple way to make reading fun is to start a Family Book Club. You love your book club, am I right, mamas? Why not share the fun with your entire family?

How to Start a Family Book Club

FIRST THINGS FIRST

You can choose to read books together as a family, or you can read them individually and meet to discuss the books. The latter choice may be desirable for families with older children, however, don’t assume that read alouds are over once your child can read independently. My favorite parenting book, hands down, is The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease.

Parents tend to place the sole responsibility for reading development on our teachers and schools but, as stated in The Read Aloud Handbook, our children spend only 900 hours per year in school whereas they spend 7,800 hours per year outside of school. Those numbers are striking; they are mentioned repeatedly throughout the book and are burned into my brain forevermore. Put simply, reading is a skill. Like any skill, one must practice the skill and work to become better at it. One needs to be motivated to work hard at something. Children need to want to read. What motivates children to read? Here’s what we’ve learned:

• Living in a home that values the written word
• Living in a print-rich environment, where print is readily available in various forms
• Living in a home where parents read often
• Living in a home where children are frequently read to. It is important to read aloud to children even when they can read on their own.

This is your family’s book club. Do what works for you, but do not discount the value of reading aloud.

SET A SCHEDULE

The wonderful thing about a Family Book Club is that you can make it work for your family’s unique schedule. Does Dad work a ton? Have the meeting on Saturdays. Do your kids go to bed early? Have a book club breakfast! You can do whatever works for you. The important thing is to set a schedule that works for your family and stick to it.

• If you are reading picture books, it makes sense to have your book club once a week.
• If you are working on chapter books, once a month might be more realistic.

SELECT THE BOOKS

What are you going to read? Once you have your schedule set, you have an idea of how many books you will need. It can be hard to find books that suit everyone in a family. Here are some tips:

• Ask your librarian. Whenever I’m at a loss as to what to read, I ask our librarians. They have a wealth of knowledge!
• Ask around! Check out what the {virtual} Family Book Club at My Little Poppies has been reading lately. We’ve already covered oodles of wonderful books.
• Goodreads is an excellent resource for bibliophiles of all ages. Check out this post that I wrote about maintaing a super-easy book log using Goodreads.
• What has your kid been talking about a ton lately? There’s a book about that!
• Brainstorm a list with your children present.
• Take turns picking titles. This way, everyone gets to read something they love!

READ

This is the fun part! You get to get cozy with the books you selected. Read somewhere comfortable. I love to snuggle on the couch with my kids, preferably under blankets. If it is a beautiful day, consider taking your reading outside. Here are some things to think about:

• If you are covering one picture book per week, reread it throughout the week. Children learn through repetition.
• Don’t forget Dad! It is so important for your children, and especially for sons, to witness their father reading. Make sure your kids see Dad reading! Let Dad read aloud.
• Let reading be a conversation. Talk about the book as you read. Look at the cover and make predictions about the story based on what you see. Identify the author and illustrator: do you have any books at home that were written and/or illustrated by them? What genre is the book? Who is the main character? Pause during your read aloud to ask and answer questions, and to make predictions. When the story is over, talk about what you liked and didn’t like. Can you think of a different ending?

CONSIDER JOURNALING

I have always loved to write, and I hope to raise children who also enjoy writing. I use journaling as a part of our {virtual} Family Book Club. The Book Club journal functions as a reading scrapbook of sorts! I am a huge fan of these journals because they are have lines for young writers and space at the top half of the page for illustrations. After you read the book to your child, have a free write! This works best if you write alongside your child. After all, monkey see, monkey do!

Do you have a reluctant writer at home? Here are some tips:

• Decorate the journal– Before you even mention writing in it, why not decorate it? For our book club journals, the children picked brightly colored scraps of fabric and we used the fabric to cover the notebook. It was easy to do and the children took pride in their work. It gave them a sense of ownership of the journal too.
• Get artsy – Start with the illustration first to get those creative juices flowing.
• Gel pens– I used this trick when I worked in schools and I use it at home. Children cannot resist a gel pen, folks.
• Scribe – If writing is too difficult for your child due to motor difficulties, scribe for him. Let him dictate and you can do the work of writing. This is supposed to be fun, remember?

 

MAKE IT FUN!

When it comes time for your book club meeting, make it fun! You can make book club as simple or as involved as you’d like, but whatever you do- be sure to make it fun. Here are some ideas:

• Picnic- Grab a blanket and some snacks and head outside, or even on the floor of your living room!
• Candlelit dinner- Light some candles, put on some soft music, dim the lights and – voila!- you’ve created a memorable book club dinner!
• Make dinner together with a menu inspired by the book – Are you reading If you Give a Moose a Muffin? Bake some muffins with your kiddos and add some jam, just like in the book!
• Dress up – Dress up like a character in the book you read, or just get fancy because getting fancy is fun!
• Tea and treats- One of my favorite thing to do with my children is to have a tea party and read books. The kids love to pretend that they are grown up and have tea and treats with me. It has become a fun family tradition.
• Get cozy– snuggle up on a couch, under a mountain of blankets.
• Build a fort!- Make a fort and read inside it, preferably by flashlight!
• Ice cream sundae night- Ice cream makes everything fun. Why not make book club night sundae night? It’s impossible to not get excited about that!

TALK ABOUT IT

I’ve been a member of so many book clubs over the years and all too often we start talking and have such a blast that we forget to discuss the book we read. Make your family book club a fun activity but don’t forget to discuss the book! Here are some tips to get you started:

• Start with the basics: who, what, when, where, why?
• Discuss the book’s genre.
• Talk about the author and illustrator. Do a little research about the author and illustrator before your meeting and share what you learned with your children.
• Who was your favorite character?
• What was your favorite part?
• What was your least favorite part?

TAKE IT FURTHER!

• Make a craft, or project based on the book. Did you just read The Lorax? Why not plant a tree? Talk about seeds! Discuss the environment and how you can help the planet. These days, one needs only to look on Pinterest to get some inspiration.
• Act it out, either yourselves or with puppets.
• Create a song based on the book!
• Is there a movie based on the film, or related to it? Why not end book club with a family movie night? Read my post here to see how you can even make your movie night educational!
• Write a letter to the author!
• Write a book review in your journal- become a book critic!

LOOKING FOR INSPIRATION?

Look no further! The {virtual} Family Book Club at My Little Poppies has already covered a bunch of books. Why not start there? Check out our posts and related Pinterest boards and you’ll be good to go, folks!

Beatrix Potter (author study)

Dr. Seuss (author study)

Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel

It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw

Mo Willems (author study)

Owl Moon by Jane Yolen

The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

And, right now we are in the midst of a STEAM-Filled Month and we’re having a blast with oodles of STEM-related activities.

ARE YOU LOOKING FOR MORE FUN ACTIVITIES THAT BOOST LEARNING?

Rory’s Story Cubes

My children adore Rory’s Story Cubes, and I love that they travel easily! We often take them on vacation or use them while waiting for our meal at restaurants. There are several versions available (and we like to mix sets together!). All you need to do is roll the dice and then come up with a story based on the images rolled. Rory’s Story Cubes never fails to elicit laughter, all the while building creativity and imagination. 1 or more players, recommended for ages 7 and up.

Tell Me a Story Cards

These award-winning and beautifully illustrated card games can be used in so many different ways! Each deck has a theme and players must use the cards  and their imaginations to create stories. When we received our first deck, several years ago, I would use the cards to create stories for the kids so that they got used to it. Nowadays, we take turns. You can tell your own story and then have a friend tell theirs, or you could take turns telling the same story based on the cards. You can arrange the cards in the order you’d like, or pick randomly and fill in goofy details. If you’re really crazy, you can mix multiple decks together. This is such a great early literacy game that fosters creativity and imagination. 1 or more players, recommended for ages 3 and up.

Fairytale Spinner Game

This award-winning board game encourages children to create their very own fairy tales! Made by eeBoo, the creator of Tell Me a Story cards, the Fairytale Spinner Game is a wonderful way to encourage imagination, story-telling, sequencing, and fun. It’s the perfect board game for the little book lovers in your life.

2-4 players, recommended for ages 5 and up.

Draw Write Now

Leo loves Draw Write Now and Miss T is starting to get into it, too. Draw Write Now is a super-fun 8-book drawing and writing series. Each book has a theme and students will learn how to draw various animals, scenes, and objects. Next, students copy sentences about the drawings, learning fun facts while practicing handwriting. Draw Write Now has workbooks to draw and write in, or you can purchase the composition notebooks that we love and use for our {virtual} book club.

Sight Words Zingo!

Young children love Zingo!, a fun twist on the classic Bingo game. Did you know that Zingo! has several other versions, including one that focuses on sight words and another on numbers? 2-6 players, recommended for ages 6 and up.

Big Boggle

Boggle is the classic word-finding game. Shake up the game cubes, set the timer, and see how many words you can find before the time is up. We often play this game during dinner. It’s easy to travel with and is a great way to sneak in some vocabulary and spelling. Any number of players, recommended ages 8 and up

Scrabble

Scrabble is one of my all-time most favorite games. Our family always played it together on holidays, so I have very fond memories of this game. In addition to building vocabulary and spelling, there’s some math involved! 2 or more players, recommended for ages 8 and up.

Word A Round

Word A Round is a fast and fun word searching game that can be played a couple different ways. The goal is to find a hidden word on each card. There are three rings per card and there is a hidden word in each ring. We will often play this game as a one–player game, too. 2 or more players, recommended for ages 10 and up.

PathWords

PathWords is so addicting! It a word search with a puzzle element. Using increasingly difficult challenge cards, you must use the colored geometric pieces to highlight words so that, in the end, you solve the puzzle with no pieces remaining. 1 player, recommended for ages 10 and up.

ENJOY!

If you read often with your children, you not only boost their literacy and reading skills, but you instill a love of learning. Reading together is a wonderful bonding experience that your children will remember for years to come!

If you enjoyed this post, check out my resource page for growing readers!

How do you grow readers? What has worked for your family? Have you ever had a Family Book Club? Share here!

Do you want to take your family’s read alouds to the next level? Join the {virtual} Family Book Club at My Little Poppies:

All of the books (and more!) from the {virtual} Family Book Club at My Little Poppies can be found here:

 

All of the lessons, crafts, and activities based on each book can be found here, listed by title and author:

Visit Cait Fitz @ My Little Poppies’s profile on Pinterest.