Blog this week…Everyday Reading!

Since retirement I spend lots of time on the web. I have discovered so many good blogs that I feel compelled to share with you. So on Fridays, I will use this space to highlight these blogs that fill my head with ideas and laughter, recipes and book suggestions, home improvement recommendations and outfit tutorials, and I hope you click away and find some enjoyment from them too!

Janssen- Everyday Reading Blog

Welcome weekend! So happy you stopped in to see which blog I am discussing today. Everyday Reading is a blog about a mom, children’s Librarian, and now lifestyle blogger. Janssen is the voice behind the blog. I love reading about her daily life with her very small children (four girls) as she home schools them while teaching them values and the love of reading. It reminds me of when my two daughters were little and we would spend hours on the couch reading and discussing books. I still remember when each of them became independent readers and how joyous that occasion was.

I like this blog because her photos are top notch. Jansssen tries to create healthy meals for her family and she is very honest about her less than average culinary skills. She is upbeat and appears to love to share her family’s stories. I have also started to follow her on Instagram and enjoy her videos of her everyday life with her girls.

Click on her site and tell me how you feel about her blog. She is definitely younger than me and I think my own daughters would probably get more from her blog posts about motherhood and preparing meals for a family, but I like to read her posts because I still feel I can relate and it brings back lots of good memories.

Have a wonderful weekend friends! See you back here on Monday

Your kids SHOULD take advantage of the summer reading program the Public Library offers!

All public libraries offer a summer reading program and YOU should definitely get your kids or grand kids signed up. The program works like this- the child reads for 15 mins. a day and records his time on a calendar provided by the library. Each week the library offers a reward for the student for reading and recording their reading time. It’s a win win for you and your child. I remember when the girls were young and I would sit them down on the couch and instruct them to read. I would also tell them that after reading we could go outside and play. I loved it because the house was quiet and both girls were entertained. Olivia would end up falling asleep and Lauren and I would continue reading in silence-it was magical. I have such fond memories of each of us looking at pictures books and reading chapter books. One story that we read aloud was Beverly Clearly’s Dear Mr. Henshaw, a book about a little boy who is writing letters to his favorite author. This starts off as a class assignment, but when Mr Henshaw actually writes back, a friendship is forged and the letters become very personal. This is such a lovely story about a young boy looking for guidance and friendship and he finds it in his favorite author. Dear Mr. Henshaw won the Newbery Award in 1984. You can never go wrong with a Newbery Award book- they are always books written for the young and always seem to contain a moral lesson.

More on the Newbery Award and a list of the book winners

Back to the Public Library Programming – The theme this year (each year the Library of Michigan comes up with a new theme) is “Build a Better World”.
The Library of Michigan website has so much useful information for librarians and parents. This year’s focus is helping kids think globally and how they can help their community. Books, displays, speakers, and programming all promote the idea of constructing a better world and community involvement. Although, students can read anything they want, their book choices don’t have to focus on community, the idea is to just get them to read:)

National Honor Society students get their service hours by volunteering at the library throughout the summer.

Every Wednesday most Libraries have a children’s program going on. Today, we had puppetry, singing, and dancing from the Michigan Storytellers Guild. They were very entertaining. It’s nice that the library offers these programs (for free) because it breaks up the day and week for parents and kids. Not only are the programs fun, but they also offer a learning opportunity.

Feel free to share stories you have read with young children.

“Reading can take you places you have never been before.”

― Dr. Seuss