Reading Reading and MORE Reading!

I remember when my oldest started to school. I thought in a way it was going to be a relief and free or at least not the cost of daycare.  Bwahahahahahah! I am still laughing at myself. I remember crying because I felt like a failure of a mother because I couldn't teach my kids how to properly write their ABC's.

As they got older the assignments changed and we were introduced to a reading program required by the school.  You  know, read so many books, take tests, get points = part of your grade.  This is a great program especially if you have a kid that likes to read BUT I have one that can't stand it and I have one that is slowly finding out she LOVES to read certain books.

We came up with an incentive to "make it worth their while". Other than the fact they had to do it and I expected them to do it why not give a little motivation? I mean adults are motivated right? We like raises, bonuses, extra days off for doing a good job - so kids are no different. We implemented the reading goal jar.

What a simple system huh? A glass Mason Jar.

Together the kids and I came up with incentives that they would love to have.  Some of the items maybe cost a little money and some of the items may not cost me one penny. Each kid had their own jar and we created the incentives for each kids separately and it was "prizes" that they wanted and I agreed to. Here is a list of examples of the items they kids listed, we put on small pieces of paper, and dropped in the jar folded up:

1. Friend spend the night

2. Go to the movies

3. Pick what is for dinner

4. $5.00 item of their choice at the store

5. Go to skating rink

6. Pick place to go out to eat

7. Skip responsibilities (chores) for the day

These are just some examples of what the kids would choose to put into their own jar. At my kids' school they have AR goals they have to meet. Well to get to pull from the jar my kids had to meet their AR goal.  Sometimes if they were struggling we may have alternative ways to get to pull from the reading goal jar but for the most part they had to meet their goal.

It's a simple system but as I was talking about this as I was blogging one of my kids asked if we could go back to this system. Give it a try, tweak it, change it, use it if you want. I hope it helps you help your kid(s) meet a goal they may have or you may have for them.