Weekends Count Magazine - Helping you maximize your weekends through travel and DIY experiences.: Our 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten Journey - 10 Ways to Read 1,000 Books a Year Before Kindergarten

Reading is fundamental...right? So, we decided to incorporate reading in our every day journey with our little one. For awhile, I would read three to four pages per week for my little one and then I realized that she loved (absolutely) LOVED reading. So, we visited our local Texas Public Library and we discovered then.... 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program!

So, I forgot to admit that we actually began this journey.... three months ago. Yes, we are truly catching up to this 1,000 book program to make sure that our little one is able to proudly state that she read 1,000 books before kindergarten!

Here are some easy ways to incorporate the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program TWELVE months before your little one begins kindergarten in public or private school. In fact, these are great tips for homeschooling moms and dads as well!

1 - Make Reading a Big Deal in Your Household!
Make sure that you have a little reading area for your little one in the living room, your home office, or their bedroom/playroom. These reading nooks are essential for helping your little one feel at ease with reading.

2 - Visit the Local Library for FREE Books to Borrow
Make sure that you visit the local library for your beginning books. Let your child discover the books and categories that they would like to read. After you discover your child's interest, then incorporate these books on a daily basis!

3 - Visit the Local Goodwill Store (or Garage Sales) for Cheap Books
Our local Goodwill store has been essential for our family's preschool book collection. Cheap books are important for your children (just in case your little one wants to read a book each night).

4 - Have a Book Swap with Other Families
Yes, gather your books together and swap these books with other families via a Facebook book exchange or via your local playgroup or church. Through the book swap method, your little one can read more books in less time. Plus, this method will save you money!

5 - Visit Your Local Book Store (or Library) for their FREE Story Time Activities
You can usually discover these activities through their local website for Facebook page. Visit Barnes and Noble (and your local library page for more updates). Here's our local BN's page for Fabulous Friday Storytime (Fridays at 11am): http://stores.barnesandnoble.com/store/2207

6 - Gather Around the Computer for an Online Storytime from Barnes and Noble
This is such a great resource for families who do not live near a local bookstore or who do not want to travel outside of the house with their entire families (which can sometimes be a hassle). These online story time links are also great for rainy days or snow days! Here's the link for the Barnes and Noble Nook - Online Storytime

7 - Order Books from Amazon's Warehouse Deals Category
We order books from Amazon Warehouse Deals on a frequent basis. These are books that are slightly damaged or used, but are in great condition for our preschooler! Here's our affiliate link for the Amazon Warehouse Deals store. Usually, books in this store are 50% to 70% off!

8 - Encourage Relatives to Give Books Instead of Toys
Our little one loves her toys and her grandparents definitely like adding to her collection. Unfortunately, our house can only hold a few toys at a time. Therefore, it is important for our family to know that books are appreciated MORE than toys! Plus, books are a little more economical!

9 - Incorporate E-Books for Your Little One
When we travel to a hotel or to Disney World, it is important to have books for my little one's nightly reading adventure. So, instead of packing eight (8) books, we subscribe to Amazon's Kindle Unlimited program and this helps us pack more efficiently, while incorporating learning-on-the-go! Here's our affiliate link for the children's books in the Amazon Kindle Unlimited store.

Please let us know if you have any questions about Amazon Kindle Unlimited. We love it!

10 - Make a Digital List of Your 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten by Creating an Amazon Wish List!
We love Amazon for purchasing items and I love it EVEN more when we can utilize it for a learning resource! We created an Amazon Wish List to scan the book barcodes and to capture our running total number of books. This is also a great way to gain suggestions for future books to order or to request from the library.

Take a look at our affiliate link "1,000 Books to Read Before Kindergarten" - http://amzn.to/2dFd6y8

This program is ah-mazing and it totally changed the way that we teach our child at home during our evening "learning at home" program. So, we've been frequenting our local library, the church library, my university's library, the local Goodwill stores, and garage sales to capture as many books as possible! We LOVE a great library...or two..or three. :)

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Have a great week and plan for the weekend!