Summer Reading So Far

My summer vacation is a little over half way done, and I must say my reading game has been strong. It's my goal to read fifteen books, and I think I've finished my ninth, five of which have been in July. 

There are a few reasons why I've been able to. First of all, I've made an effort to put my phone away for longer chunks of time, which is an obvious time saver. Sawyer is also older now, so he plays more independently, and I can also tell him, "hey, I need fifteen minutes of time to read with no interruptions, I'll set a timer and we can talk when it goes off." I've started reading more on the treadmill as well, and I make sure to always have a book on hand. I've been reading a variety of books, both in terms of nonfiction/fiction, subject matter, and complexity. 

I'm also really proud of how much reading Sawyer has been doing, both in terms of his progress learning to sound out words, reading with me, and looking at books independently. He loves looking at Where's Waldo books in the car or in waiting rooms, which has been awesome (he getting so good at them, too!). We made a chart with 100 squares that he gets to mark off each time he helps me read a book (that can either be him sounding out all the words he's capable of, or something more relaxed, like him just doing some sight words like "the"). When he fills up his chart he gets to go to the book store and pick out whatever new book he wants. It's been fun and he takes his little marks super seriously. 

I am super  bummed about my time off going by so quickly, but I'm pretty confident I'll surpass my goal. It's always been my mode of escapism.