Proud Mom!!

Well forgive me but this blog is to brag a little about my boys!
Jaxon is in 6th grade and he is the youngest in his class. Every year when he starts school I wonder if I made the right decision by putting him in Kindergarten when I did or if I should have waited a year so he was the oldest. Well I am officially answering that question with a big YES. They tested all the 6th graders yesterday for their reading level. Jax was at the top of his class. He tested at an 11th grade reading level. He scored 11.6 out of 12. I am so happy. I have to thank Curtis for this one...When he was in 4th grade I was having him read for about 15 min. a night. Curtis wanted to give Jax and Dakkon a challenge to read 2500 pages from Jan. to May and if they did they could get anything they wanted...within reason. Jax latched on to this and started reading. He had his mind on the prize at the end...Call of Duty (for the xbox). He finished at the beginning of April. I was shocked. In fact I told Curtis it was way to hard, he was setting them up for failure, and it should only be 1000 pages...I was WRONG. Jax's grades went up and he went from the middle of the class to the top of the class and has done well ever since. He still reads just as much and loves it. They usually put in 60-90 mins. a day! Reading helps everything.
On to Josh...Josh started 2nd grade last year with a below grade reading level. He was really struggling. He and Jax shared a room and while Jax would read he would fall asleep. Well when he started 2nd grade the school gave the kids a challenge to read 100 hours by the end of the year. Josh has a little OCD and he latched right on to this. He was just beginning to read chapter books. He started reading with Jax at night. By November so just 3 months he had read 100 hours. He was the second kid in school to reach the goal. He cont. to read and this year starting 3rd grade he is at the top of the class instead of the bottom. He was put in the Challenge group yesterday and is excelling in all subjects. Reading over an hour a night literally changed the course of his life.
I am so proud and so thankful that Curtis started that reading Challenge 2 years ago. It is amazing to see the effects of reading. It is routine for our family to read everynight. I know that it will continue with all my boys.