Whompton girls love books
Did you ever imagine what attributes your kid would have that were from you, which would come from your partner, and hope, hope, hope for some in particular? I did. I hoped that my daughters would have Eric's calm reason, his natural intellect, and his easy-going personality. And I wanted them to be readers, which definitely falls from the Krystal and Samantha side of the family tree.
I have worked hard to foster a love of reading. First mission accomplished was access. Growing up, I did not personally own many books and we went to the library not as frequently as I would have liked, so I continuously re-read books, which clearly is how I became an avid re-reader of stories. The Whompton house is filled with children's and young adult books. Each girl's bedroom has a full bookcase, in addition to a bookcase in the dining room and multiple in the basement. We hit the public library once a week and the girls load up and resupply. Access is so important, and we're lucky to have the financial means both to own and to store books.
Second action was modeling and positive associations. Krystal and Samantha model reading for pleasure all year long. Each time a kid would say, "Can we do something together?" I would counter with "Want to read a book?" Eventually, the girls learned to come prepared with their stack of books, to plop down in a lap, and read with a parent. Cuddling with a parent and cuddling with a story -- both sound so wonderful!
Third action was developing reading skills. Becoming a fluent, independent reader takes many years of concentrated effort and learning. Lola can read many books by herself now, although she prefers books with pictures as well as text. She's currently fascinated with graphic novels and superhero stories, and she's getting lots of practice decoding words that she's not seen much before. (Reading X-Men stories requires a different working vocabulary than Dr. Seuss.) She's progressed tremendously this year. The first video is from April, and she's reading Horton Hatches an Egg by Dr. Seuss; the second video is her reading The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein in May.
I have worked hard to foster a love of reading. First mission accomplished was access. Growing up, I did not personally own many books and we went to the library not as frequently as I would have liked, so I continuously re-read books, which clearly is how I became an avid re-reader of stories. The Whompton house is filled with children's and young adult books. Each girl's bedroom has a full bookcase, in addition to a bookcase in the dining room and multiple in the basement. We hit the public library once a week and the girls load up and resupply. Access is so important, and we're lucky to have the financial means both to own and to store books.
Second action was modeling and positive associations. Krystal and Samantha model reading for pleasure all year long. Each time a kid would say, "Can we do something together?" I would counter with "Want to read a book?" Eventually, the girls learned to come prepared with their stack of books, to plop down in a lap, and read with a parent. Cuddling with a parent and cuddling with a story -- both sound so wonderful!
Third action was developing reading skills. Becoming a fluent, independent reader takes many years of concentrated effort and learning. Lola can read many books by herself now, although she prefers books with pictures as well as text. She's currently fascinated with graphic novels and superhero stories, and she's getting lots of practice decoding words that she's not seen much before. (Reading X-Men stories requires a different working vocabulary than Dr. Seuss.) She's progressed tremendously this year. The first video is from April, and she's reading Horton Hatches an Egg by Dr. Seuss; the second video is her reading The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein in May.
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