Summer Reading

I picked up this bookcase from Joss and Main for a great price.  In keeping with the travel theme of our play room, I put some of our odd travel trinkets that we've picked up at various places along the way.

Once again I signed my kids up for the local library's summer reading challenge. For every five books they read, they get a small prize. If they make it to 20, they earn their reading trophy. In order to better facilitate the process and keep the stacks in my house at a minimum, I've created a to-read bookshelf and stocked it with plenty of book for them to choose from. 

Maya's books are in the left 3 cubbies, and Ethen's are in the right 3 cubbies.

I'm still using my fun rainbow bookends to organize our current books in progress. This is located right by the door for a quick grab as we get in the car. 

Because of a recent trip to Boston, I researched a lot about patriotic books that teach our nations history. They would be great for the summer and 4th of July too. Here's what we read:

We walked by Longfellow's home in Cambridge and talked about this book.

Graphic History Series

We picked up these two graphic novels while in Boston at the Barnes and Noble.  They have a whole series of them.

Rush Revere Series by Rush Limbaugh

Ellis the Elephant by Callista Gingrich

Magic Tree House by Mary Pope Osborne

Who Was? Series

We are limiting our iPad time much like we did last year:  one chore = 1/2 hour of iPad time (games or videos). I've been more flexible with any educational app -- Maya is currently writing a book in Pages, and they like to play school and use several learning apps like DoJo. 

I also had them make a list of goals for the summer. They have a daily checklist to complete the essentials (piano practice and such) and work for a period on their goals. Hopefully this will keep our summer engaging and productive, instead of "killing our brain cells on the iPad" as my husband puts it. What things are you doing to keep your kids busy this summer?