Every parent wants to see their child do well in school, and there’s one fun activity that benefits students of all ages: reading. In a world with so much stimulation, however, it can be difficult to motivate kids to put down a screen and pick up a book. New Year’s resolutions are the perfect opportunity to make reading a priority. Here are a few tips to make 2018 the year your kids become bookworms. MAKE IT A FAMILY RESOLUTION There’s no better motivator than solidarity! Plus, we’re guessing everyone in your household could stand to read a little more. You don’t have to read the same books or set identical goals, but it’s a lot more fun when everyone participates. Schedule weekly reading discussions so everyone can share the cool stories they’ve read. Stack your completed books in your house somewhere as a monument to all the knowledge your family has gained. SET REWARD MILESTONES Positive reinforcement will propel your kids to keep reading long after the calendars have turned. For a certain number of books completed or hours spent reading, offer them a prize. You can even create a big end goal to really cement those reading habits. Better yet, set a combined goal that the entire family can work toward. Don’t be afraid to pull
out all the stops. If your kids know that reading one book per week through June means an extra-special summer vacation, their enthusiasm won’t wane come spring. USE READING APPS Goodreads is a social network for bibliophiles. You can find recommendations, share ratings, and create lists of both completed and to-be-read books. Users also create reading lists based on topic, genre, decade, and more. With over 2 billion books added, you’ll never run out of inspiration. Biblionasium offers the same services, but it’s designed specifically for children. Talk to other parents and create a network of friends and classmates. After all, nothing is cooler to a kid than what their friends are doing.
Avid readers tend to do better academically from kindergarten through college. In fact, a study from the Journal of Education and Practice found that reading comprehension predicted success in other subjects more than any other factor. If you want to see improved report cards, make a reading resolution for your entire household.
JANUARY GARDEN CHORES By Kate Refine
As a Midwest gardener, I secretly enjoy the winter — it’s a time when I don’t have to work in the garden. Rather, winter allows me the time to be productive in my idleness by daydreaming of what the possibilities of spring could portend for my landscape. I often find myself staring out at my winter garden and taking stock of the beds. Without the leaves on the shrubs and trees, it’s easy to discern the shape of the garden beds and determine whether they need to be redefined. Also, I can see if our garden appears too empty in winter. If so, adding ornamental grasses or evergreen perennials or shrubs in the spring will lend interest to the winter garden.
If you tire of your idleness, and the weather permits, late January is a good time to prune back many deciduous trees and shrubs as they are in their dormancy. (You don’t want to trim back early spring-blooming shrubs, though; wait until after they bloom to clean them up.) Remove dead limbs, crossing branches, and control for size if you want. Bring some of the branches of forsythia, dogwood, or witch hazel indoors to force blooms inside.
Finally, enjoy the winter, read through your favorite garden magazines and seed catalogs, and dream of spring.
2 wwww.shannonlawgroup.com
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