Making Time to Read

Reading and writing have been my strong suit my whole life. Growing up, I remember sometimes staying up late into the night just to finish a book. And even into adulthood, I still have a love for reading, even though, I often go through periods where I hardly pick up a book for months. 

Luckily, one thing I managed to pass on to my children is my love for reading as well. I honestly believe Mackenzie loves reading more than I ever did, which says a lot. And not a day goes by that Phoenix, Tyler, and Elijah don't grab a handful of books off of our bookshelf just to spend some time reading. 

Lately, I have been making an effort to turn off and put down technology and pick up a book instead (unless I am actually reading a book on the iPad). I have finally read some books that had been sitting, and even dove into some that I had not planned or heard anything about beforehand. 

Here is a list of books I have read recently and definitely recommend: 

• The Fault in Our Stars
• Gone Girl
• Desperate
• A Love That Multiplies
• The Body Book

I have also been making time to read with my children as well. We have been including Bible Study a few nights a week and we are even starting a few of the classics that we have had on our shelf but haven't read yet. We just started reading Grimm's Fairy Tales, a book we received from my dad several Christmases ago. It was wrapped in plastic, and if I am being totally honest, we only just recently tore the plastic off. It's quite a beautiful book, each page edged in gold and a ribbon bookmark.

As part of our Summer Bucket List, I hope finish this book and include at least one other book... perhaps Gulliver's Travels.

It's no joke when I say that I have a pretty rowdy bunch of children. My younger three are always on the go from the moment they wake up at 5:00 am (Yes, 5:00 EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.). They literally try to squeeze in every minute of their day with on the go activities. Some days I drop long before they do. However, sitting down to read a book with them, calms them down every time. The conversations we have with our children while reading with them have always been some of the best. 

What are some of your favorite books to read, or that you would love to read, with your children?

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The Polyvore Files | Reading Rainbow

I'm finally back! Sorry for my absence from The Polyvore Files the last couple of weeks.

If you haven't figured it out yet, I love to keep things neutral with pops of color in my spaces. I find it much easier to replace a few pillows than to replace a large piece of trendy furniture. That is another reason that if I choose to paint furniture, I typically choose black or white. 

I LOVE this reading space I have created. I can easily replace the colorful items, like the pillows, poufs, and blanket with new items for a whole new look as my style and interests change. But the best part is just having a space to read and relax, sip coffee, and to jot down my feelings and ideas as I read my books. 

Here are a few books that I have on my reading list right now:

1. Gone Girl
2. Balancing It All
3. The Goldfinch
4. Women Living Well
5. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

I was kind of out of the loop when it comes to reading books, but I have made sure I am making time to read lately. I have a lot of books to catch up on, but luckily, I have been devouring books and am currently reading Gone Girl. 

What are some books you have read recently and recommend?

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Reading (the Classics) with Your Children

Warning:  Some of this post may or may not stay on subject.

Do I read to my children? Of course I do!  But... I often wish that I was reading to them more.  My oldest daughter LOVES to read and thank goodness for that, because she is hitting those tweenage years, where mama just feels like she is going in all the wrong directions with her. Boys and make-up are just two current issues, but let me not get off subject ranting on about that.

I believe reading to your children is extremely important, starting at an early age...in the womb is a good time to start!  We have a large collection of books at home, a small portion that we consider "special", and that we usually read as a family.  Red is the only one allowed to read them on her own because she has mastered the responsibility of caring for books.  

Yes, I believe children should learn to respect books, and if you don't respect books, then you shouldn't be allowed to use them!  Will the library continue to let you check out their books if you tear them up?  Of course not!  And my children can go their whole life not touching those books if they never learn to care for the books they keep in their rooms.  The books in their rooms usually come from a dollar store, yard sale, or thrift store.  Some of our special books do too, but many of them do not and there is no way I am going to let my children destroy them.

I read several posts about books at The Lazy Organizer, one of my favorite places to seek parental advice, and discovered for myself that, although reading any book is better than reading nothing, my children were not getting the full experience they should from books by reading all of those pointless stories that are so often written these days.  I became aware of the fact that my children had heard next to none of the classic stories I grew up reading as a child. Why are schools not including classic stories in the curriculum like they used to?

 

Little Women is an awesome book for a girl who is growing up and coming of age!

I began reading some of the classics to them awhile back, but quickly got out of it when reading long stories was too much of an effort on top of reading the textbooks I was required to read for some of my college courses.  So, now that school is out for the Summer, and just a short time ago I found THIS LIST, I decided to start reading some of them again.

Today, I stopped at the public library and picked up the first book on the list, Born Free by Joy Adamson.  I have never read this book, but I am definitely looking forward to it and so are my kids. We will read it together because I want all of my children to hear it and since only one of them has learned to care for books properly, they do not get to use the book without me.

I love to read books and put my own little spin on them by creating voices for each character.  My children remember the story so much better this way.  Plus, it is a great way for us to spend some quality time together, away from computers (my addiction), video games, and television (the kids' addictions). Every night after dinner time and bath time, we will gather with our blankets and curl up to read a classic story.  I have decided to go straight down the list, but along the way, I am sure to run into a time when a book is not available at our library.

There was literally like 5 more paragraphs here where I rambled on about letting my children read books and teaching children to respect books, but I deleted it because this is not a post about that. I'll talk about that at another time.

So I will end it here and just say this...

Go read one of the classic stories from THIS LIST with your children!