With 4 boys that are 7, 8, 9 and 10… summers are about playing outside, swimming, running, playdates, beach trips, and reading. Oh, yes – reading has ALWAYS played an important role in our family throughout the summer. Actually, this summer is the first summer where all my sons can read on their own without my help.  It’s going to be a little different this summer having 4 independent readers! I’m excited to still have a little one to read to every night with my Victoria. She’s almost 2 years old and she absolutely loves being read to by me or her brothers!

It’s funny, I still get a warm and fuzzy feeling when I think about my summers and how I would DEVOUR Nancy Drew, Sweet Valley High and the Babysitter Club books. I would sit at our local pool club and just lose myself for hours in a book. My mother would always have me and my sister join a Summer Reading Club every summer at our local library and I took great delight in reading as many books as I could. There were no book reports or papers that had to be written, it was just reading for the sake of reading and I loved it.

This summer I’m going to set some reading goals for my children. As the boys have gotten older, I’ve loved seeing their true taste in books come through loud and clear. Each son seems to gravitate towards different genres of books and I love seeing their interests really play a part in what they’re reading. My children all read at different levels, but my goal is for them to read 10 books each this summer. Since I allot 30 minutes of reading time for them at night, I don’t think this goal will be difficult to obtain, especially since I have 4 boys who love to read already. We have a gigantic chalkboard in our kitchen, so as each child completes a book, I will write it down and start the official book board count! They LOVED this, I did this last summer for my older 2 sons and it was so much fun for them to finish a book and get it proudly displayed for everyone who came to visit to see!

I’m also VERY excited to be part of the Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge, Powered by Energizer! this summer to further inspire my family to read! The Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge is a free online reading program for children. The program encourages kids to read books all summer so that they don’t fall behind and lose core skills – known as the “summer slide.” Scholastic makes it FUN for kids! Your children log their reading minutes to unlock stories written by favorite children’s authors including R.L.Stine, Jude Watson and Gordon Korman!! You can earn rewards, win prizes and even help set a reading world record for the summer!!! Scholastic’s reading goal for 2015 is to break last year’s reading world record of 304, 749, 681 minutes! You can join today and help set a new reading world record for summer 2015 (May 4 – Sept 4, 2015)!!

Scholastic sent our family a bunch of books and some wonderful printables that I know will help us out and get us moving, too!

This year’s challenge theme is “Power Up & Read,” encouraging kids to read all summer long… Scholastic has joined together with ENERGIZER® to power the Summer Reading Challenge and encourage families to find innovative ways to discover the power and joy of reading. Parents can sign up kids beginning May 4, 2015 and runs through September 4, 2015. Energizer and Scholastic are partnering to create the “Power the Possibilities” campaign which gives moms the tools they need to unlock their child’s talents, fuel their ambitions and set them up for future success. As of May 4, 2015, parents can buy any specially marked pack of Energizer® brand batteries to scratch for a chance to win one of thousands of prizes that will power discovery and learning through the ENERGIZER INSTANT WIN GAME! Prizes include a family trip to New York City, a Scholastic Study Corner Makeover, a tablet with Scholastic apps, a library of Scholastic books and more! Everyone who plays can also download free digital stories for their family.

One of the biggest challenges for parents in the summer is to get their children to read. As children get older, this does become more and more tough. Scholastic has reached out to parenting expert, Maggie McGuire (VP of Scholastic Parents Channel – Scholastic.com) to provide tips and book choices for all ages this summer in support of the Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge. Maggie offers parents unique tips to get kids to “power up & read”:

· Find books that makes kids laugh
· Introduce kids to STEM and science through reading
· Ways to get crafty with your kid’s favorite summer reads
· Tips for reading-on-the-go during summer vacation
· Rainy day reading activities
For additional resources from Scholastic Parents check out this link:
– Keep your kids reading all summer long!

I love these tips from Maggie, so helpful!!

Disclosure: This is a sponsored partnership. All opinions are 100% my own.

For my William, my 10-year-old…