Summer Reading Goal: 11 Chapter Books

This summer we challenged Gavin to do some heavy reading.  Thirty chapter books.  (That would have averaged to 1 every 3 days!  An easy and pleasurable task for Tiffany, but not for our beginning reader.)  We struggled to get reading time with how much we were coming and going out of town.  Two months and one chapter book into the summer we relinquished our original goal and accompanying incentive (trip with his cousins), and set our sites on a realistic eleven book goal.  The "lego prize box" sitting on top of the fridge as a constant reminder of the joy and fun that awaited upon completion of the goal.

For the first 2 weeks of our new goal, Gavin read intently, and knocked out seven books. However, reading chapter books required an experienced reader by his side, and mom was pretty busy the last few weeks of summer.  With school starting this past week, and the daily homework beginning I commented to Shawn that it could be Christmas before he read the additional books and won the Lego set.

(Dad enters stage left) Not surprising to those who know how much Gavin adores his dad, when Shawn offered to help with the reading, Gavin was elated!  For almost a week, Shawn and Gavin have been steadily reading for a half hour or more each night.  Last night in the final book, they read to completion of the goal. (over two hours!)  I am so happy!  Way to go Dad and Gavin!

An interesting side note: Initially when Shawn began reading with Gavin, I overheard him alternating with Gavin, reading an entire page at a time.  I wanted to go in and correct it and tell him that Gavin needed to read at least every other line, so that he would follow along while they read.  But I hesitated (see I am growing), because well, I just don't want to be the nagging/controlling wife that I sometimes can be.  After weighing my options, I decided that Shawn was the dad and he could determine just as well as I, what was most important; perhaps simply enjoying being together and reading was enough.  AND IT WORKED!

Gavin has not only has loved the interaction with his dad, but also has increased his speed, accuracy and comprehension.  So to my fellow controllers out there: sometimes simply letting go of the death grip you have on "the plan" and allowing the other parent to make decisions leads to great success!