As part of our district’s reading workshop program, my fifth grade students are required to read a self-chosen book for thirty minutes each night for homework.  As a teacher, I know how vital this reading is to each student’s journey to the place where reading becomes like breathing.  As a parent, however, with two children of my own who have this same homework requirement, I know how easy it is to let nightly independent reading fall through the cracks.

Allowing our children to skip independent reading homework is easy, mostly because nobody will know that we skipped it.  It’s not like we’re skipping it because we don’t value reading or because we don’t care about our kids.  We skip it because we’re busy feeding them, keeping them clean, taking them to soccer practice, watching The Voice with them, and making them empty the dishwasher.  It’s because life goes a mile…