Read-a-Thon, Read-a-Long

I thought I'd start a New Tradition with my kids this upcoming weekend, on Sunday, to be exact, when my husband flies out to Arizona for a job-related conference.

The Family Read-a-Thon, Read-a-Long.

I'm still working out the finer details, but here is the gist of this Family Event. (And if it goes well, I'll institute a monthly Family Read-a-Thon, Read-a-Long)...

Snackage will be involved. I'm going to allow the boys to pick their special reading snacks.

Length of time to be determined: I'm thinking 3-5 hours, leaning more towards the 3 to start out with, and extending it if we need to do so.

The actual reading: I thought, in order to keep the children from getting bored, we'd have periods of silent reading (followed by a brief discussion of what we read and our favorite parts), reading aloud (Mom reading a chapter from a Big Book, and also followed by a brief discussion), each kid gets to read a short story out loud. All these "periods" to last about 30 minutes each, with snackage and stretching to follow before the next reading "period" starts.

Motivation: Besides the opportunity for snackage? Um.... Well, I thought I'd help each child set realistic goals for himself-- books or pages to be read during the Read-a-Thon, Read-a-Long. The prize: a trip to the Dollar Store, on Mom's dollar. One prize for meeting the goal, a bonus prize for exceeding the goal.

Minutae: Start the day with hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls and a walk around the block. Set up our individual reading stations in the living room: claiming seats, making our areas comfortable for reading. Gathering up of reading materials. Dinner: Those $5 pizzas from Little Caesars. (It's in the same shopping center as the Dollar Store.)

I think this could be fun. I love to read and think my boys, if they'd just give reading a chance, would love it too.

I am really looking forward to this. GGG!