The Best Way to Help Your Children Become “Readers”
This is a personal post in that I want to bring to light something that has been on my mind lately. It’s about the BEST way to help your children become lifelong readers.
First off, let me say that I love the reading campaigns geared towards parents to encourage them to read to their children. As we all know, it is very important to read to your children. Many studies have shown that there is a link between reading to your children and the childhood literacy rate. But, just reading to your children falls short of its goal. In my opinion, it is not enough to just read to them as regularly as possible, it is also important for your children to see YOU reading.
Let me tell you a story about myself which will explain why this is so important to me. In first or second grade, I was a participant in a New York teaching experiment where they taught the students how to write in script instead of print first. It must have sounded great to the person who came up with this idea, but in reality it caused a huge reading delay for me. Why? Because how many books do you read use script type? Not many, if any. Thanks to my Dad for pointing this out to the school administration – they canceled the experiment shortly thereafter.
So, there I was not being able to read a book when I should have been, but could write and read script perfectly. I had to re-learn everything I knew in order to learn how to read again. The only good thing that came of this was when we moved to Massachusetts I already knew how to write in cursive when they were teaching it in third grade.
Now, I can’t remember for sure, but I was either in the “below average” reading groups or the “below, below average” reading groups until about sixth grade. I then started to improve probably because even though I struggled I had a true love of reading. Why? It wasn’t just because my mom read to me (which she did every night), it was because I saw her and my older sister reading ALL the time. I wanted to be like them when it came to reading. I saw how they enjoyed reading and how much fun it looked and I wanted to be a part of that.
I tell people now that I was in a remedial reading class and they can hardly believe it because they know how crazy I am about books. It was a challenge that I’m proud to have conquered and has had such an impact on my life. I’m still not, nor ever will be, a grammar queen, but when it comes to reading you can count on me. My 3 year old twins see me reading many times throughout the day. It might be a book, a magazine, or just a catalog, but they know how happy I am when I’m reading. It has become a part of their experience too.
So, the BEST way, in my opinion, to help your children learn to read and love to read is to read to them AND to have them see you reading your own books and materials. Make reading a part of your family life and I promise you won’t regret it.
DUB Featured Business at The Mothers of Twins Association of Connecticut Annual Conference
We’re hitting the road again to another great twins convention! This time we’re heading to Connecticut to participate in the annual Mothers of Twins Association of Connecticut’s state convention to be held on April 18, 2009 in Southbury, CT. For complete details about this event, visit their site by clicking here.
If you plan on going, please stop by and say hi! We’ll have a special gift for you – a 2009 Double Up Books Calendar Magnet. We’ll be at the vendor tables from 8am – 1pm so remember to put it into your schedule to visit us. We look forward to meeting you.
If you are in charge of organizing your state convention and need items for your attendee bags, please contact us at info@doubleupbooks.com and we’ll see what we can put together for you. We’ve participated in many other conventions this way when we haven’t been able to be there in person.
Keeping Up with Multiples
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Chicken Soup for the Soul Twins and More is featured book for March 09
Filed under: Featured Twins Books, Newly Published Twins Books, Twin Books Reviews, Twins Bookstore News
Double Up Books has selected the brand new book in the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series, Chicken Soup for the Soul Twins and More, as our featured book for the month of March. Motivational speaker and Chicken Soup for the Soul founder has teamed up with Mark Victor Hansen and our own popular twins book author, Susan Heim, to author this book.
Chicken Soup for the Soul Twins and More is a collection of stories submitted by real people who have been touched by twins and multiples in one way or another, from the mom who is going to have twins, to twins themselves, to grandparents of twins. The book carries the message that having twins or being a twin or multiple is a special thing and should be cherished. You’ll laugh at some of the stories, cry at others, but either way you’ll be glad that you shared in this celebration of twins and multiples.
Chicken Soup for the Soul Twins and More
Chicken Soup for the Soul Twins and More makes a perfect gift for anyone expecting twins, triplets and multiples!
What Are Your Favorite Twins Books?
Filed under: Featured Twins Books, Twin Pregnancy Books, Twins Bookstore News
If you enjoy chatting with other twin moms and dads about the latest books about twins, then I want to tell you about Double Up Books’ latest online book group, Twin Books Group at Twin-Pregnancy-and-Beyond’s community.
It’s going to be an exciting “book group” because it won’t be a typical book group where we pick a book of the month that we all read and discuss. Instead it is an open forum group where you can post messages and comments about your favorite books related to twin pregnancy, raising twins, and children’s books for twins.
As founder of Double Up Books, I always get asked the question “what are your favorite books about twins?” and while I love discussing which books are my favorites (which I will freely discuss on our group boards), this book group is really about what YOUR favorite and not so favorite books are. We’ll all learn from each other which books are the most helpful for being pregnant with and raising twins.
To join, just sign up for an online Twin-Pregnancy-and-Beyond’s community account. It’s free of charge and you’ll get to meet other moms (and dads too) of twins. Then, click over to groups to join and post which books are your favorites. It’s that easy. Check back in as often as you’d like to get more book recommendations or hear about the latest books.
Can’t wait to see you there!
So Many Ways To Save This Month!
Filed under: Coupons and Specials, Twins Bookstore News
March is an exciting month for specials and deals at Double Up Books! We’ve never had so many ways to save all at the same time at the bookstore so be sure to take advantage of one or more of the offers below. Especially because some of the offers are only good for a limited time.
Monthly March Special
For March only, spend $50 and save $3.00 instantly PLUS get a coupon emailed to you to save $2.00 towards a future purchase. Use coupon code BIGDEAL during checkout to get this offer. What’s really cool about this offer is that you CAN use it to purchase gift certificates – something that we’ve never offered with a coupon before.
2-for-1 Paris Morris Books
For a limited time, we are offering a 2-for-1 deal on Paris Morris books! In celebration of Paris’ 11th birthday, we are offering this deal exclusively to our Double Up Books customers. For more information about this offer and to learn more about Paris Morris, visit our original blog post announcing this fantastic deal.
Semi-Annual Babywear Sale
Due to popular demand, we are extending our babywear sale thru March! Our unique and original specialty line of 100% cotton babywear made for babies that care include onesies, pants, hats and coordinating bibs all at prices up to 40% off. It makes a great gift for twins and multiples in your life.
Keeping Up with Multiples Newsletter
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