Tonight at dinner, Noah announced he had to finish 30 books this year. Back to that in a minute.
In third grade Noah loved reading and I really thought he was going to have a lifetime love affair with books like his Rotton family (and his momma too) does. he read the Harry Potter books, Rick Riordan, and countless chapter books.
In fourth grade it was a struggle for him. In today's culture it's hard to tell a kid to not go outside and play so we didn't. Last year Noah played and played hard until bedtime almost every day he had free. When he went to his bedroom to read 30 minutes before bed he'd almost instantly drift off to sleep. It wasn't long before he "had" to read to complete assignments and of course the joy of reading quickly vanished.
Back to 30 books this year. If they are 300 pages they can count as two so it isn't as bad as it seems but we did the math for him tonight. That's 7.5 books per 9 weeks or almost a book a week. He has a book he started last weekend. He's on page 22. He said he had to get started and marched upstairs. We'll find out if it is the 3rd grade or 4th grade Noah that starts book number 2. Fingers crossed.
