In which I share my reading goals for 2019 and the progress I’ve made so far (Feb update). And consider why sharing our goals can boost our chances of achieving them.
So I’ve decided to share my 2019 reading goals. I know, it’s already February.
And that’s why I’m also sharing a February update, a little progress report to let you know how I’ve been getting on with the goals so far.
I’ve been putting this post off. Worried it might be a little indulgent. And maybe it is. But I’m hoping you’ll find it interesting and useful too 🙂
And the reasons I’ve decided to share these goals? Most importantly…
Reading is one of our big 5 fundamentals
We love reading here at the kinder path house. It’s such an important part of all our lives and is an essential element of our home education.
By sharing my own personal reading goals and the progress I make with them, I hope you’ll get some insights into how we spend time reading, and why we love it so much.
Sharing our goals can give us a sense of accountability
I’ve neglected reading in the past. And I don’t want to do that again. As a child I was an avid reader. But as the years passed, university, work and children consumed my time, and I forgot about the joy of reading.
Luckily, it was those same children that reminded me – reading to them has always been an important part of our parenting. And about that parenting… eighteen years ago with a new baby and a toddler, I found myself looking for some fresh ideas. Where else would I turn when the going gets rough, but the library?
And so I remembered. But as we’re all getting older, there’s no harm in a bit of a reminder. Sharing my reading goals here is likely to keep them in the forefront of my mind and inspire me to give them that bit more welly, aka make sure I get them done.
But I’m not suggesting all goals should be shared, or that sharing is somehow a magic shortcut to success. Sometimes sharing our goals isn’t such a good idea, especially on the internet 🙂
Sharing our goals can help us clarify them
So, I’m a busy mother of 4, home educating, writing, talking teddies and at least a little bit of cleaning and clearing up, just a few of the things I’d like to get done in a day. If I’m committing to goals, I want them to be good ones. Worthwhile and purposeful. Writing our goals down helps us cut and polish our rough ideas, extracting the gems.
Sharing our progress can be motivating
And a cause for celebration. I’m sharing my progress, in the hope that some of what I read and learn this year might be of interest or help to others. Recording our progress as it builds throughout the year can give us the boost we need to keep motivated and moving in the right direction. Not just ‘cos we’ve gone and told the world we would, but because we can see how far we’ve come.
And some of us just love goal posts
Not goalposts. Posts about goals 🙂 They can inspire and motivate us. Expand our horizons and encourage us to consider goals that we might not have thought of. Open our minds to an array of possibilities and opportunities, a bit like reading. So about those goals. I want to…
Complete my Goodreads annual reading challenge
My aim is to read at least 30 books this year. My progress so far…
Alongside this, I’d like to complete all the goals that follow. Books can double up and be counted for more than one category.
Read a book chosen by each of my eldest daughters
I have three daughters, the eldest two are 18 and 20 as I write this. I’ve asked them both to recommend me a book to read this year and the selections are in. I’m super excited about this one. These two lovelies have such wide and wonderfully diverse reading tastes, they’re sure to have picked me out some real treasures. But first I’ve got a large pile of currently reading to reduce just a smidge before I begin.
Buddy read at least one book with my 13 year old son
My eldest daughters and I love buddy reading – reading the same book at the same time, but separately, a chapter or two at a time. We usually only have one copy of the book we’re reading and so read our chapter and then pass it along to the next person. Every now and then reading two chapters at a time so we’re alternating who gets ahead in the book. We then get the chance to chat about the books as we’re reading them, without spoilers, of course. We’ve been doing this for years, currently reading our way through the Lord of the Rings books, again. And now I’d love to share the joy with my son. He’s up for the challenge and we’ve got two contenders for our first book, just waiting on his final decision.
Complete 2 Read Aloud Revival challenges with my son and 6 year old daughter
Although reading aloud generally plays a large part in most of our weeks, these challenges focus the mind and make sure we’re keeping up the habit regularly. Although the idea of the challenge is that our children should be the ones reading aloud, we’ve adapted the challenge to suit ourselves. It doesn’t have to be the children reading to me or each other, often it’s me reading to them. In our house it counts for the challenge as long as we’ve read aloud, and more than just bedtime stories as they’re kind of a given round here. 1 challenge completed in January, 1 to go. Sarah runs these at least twice a year, but we love a RAR month whenever the mood strikes us.
Listen to at least 2 audiobooks with my youngest daughter
Increasingly I find myself and my youngest daughter on our own in the car travelling to activities, or at home baking or preparing dinner. Perfect times for listening to an audiobook. And so we’ve started, and almost finished ‘A Bear called Paddington’. We’re both quite familiar with this book as it’s a long time favourite of my son, and is often playing in his room or the car when he’s along for the ride. But it’s been lovely to share it again, just the two of us, chapters in the right order for once 🙂
Read at least one poetry book
We’re long time fans of poetry teatime. But you guessed it, just like the RAR challenge, we’ve adapted the original idea and added our own spin. We take turns to choose a poem and share it with the rest of the family – whoever brings the poem does a little research to find out interesting facts about the poet, their life and times, the poem itself or anything else they feel the rest of us would enjoy learning about. They’ll read the poem aloud, we’ll discuss it along with their research. And then we all read the poem aloud together, each taking separate lines or sections depending how long it is. Sorry lovely fam, I do know it’s my turn 🙂
Read at least one play
I enjoy reading different types of writing and have a soft spot for Shakespeare. Although these days my affection pales in comparison to the love my daughter has found for his work. She’s now read almost half of his plays, yep that’s definitely double figures. I’ve certainly got some catching up to do. Although he’s not the only playwright with works on my to read list – will wait and see which one takes my fancy when my currently reading pile goes down a little.
Read at least 4 fiction books
Who doesn’t love a good story? I read such a lot of non-fiction, and love it dearly but I want to make sure I’m getting a good fiction fix this year. And not all of it aimed at children, although that’s likely to figure highly. I’d love to read some more Russian literature and YA this year, not just because they’re both fantastic genres. They’re also the focus of two of my favourite Goodreads groups.
Read at least one book on organisation
What can I say? I love anything that gets me in the mood for decluttering and will help us get more organised. Currently reading Atomic Habits by James Clear.
Read at least 3 books on writing and/or blogging
I want to get better at writing. And I know, any reading is good for that. But I’m keen to learn more from the pros. One book down for this one, as I’ve recently finished Real Artists Don’t Starve by Jeff Goins.
Read at least 5 e-books
Increasingly finding the value in e-books and would love to write one of my own soon. Half of the books I’ve read so far this year (a whopping 2) have been e-books, so just another 3 to go. E-books read so far – Real Artists Don’t Starve and Unschooling Dads edited by Skyler J. Collins.
Read and review 6 books for this blog
Books about parenting, home education and intentional living – I’ve read so many and would love to share some of the best. One of the books I’ve already read and at least one of my currently reading are contenders. Stay tuned and I’ll see what I can do.
Read 2 books on breastfeeding
My youngest daughter’s breastfeeding journey ended last year and I guess that’s the end of mine too. But I’d love to extend the joy of it all by reading a couple of books all about breastfeeding, while it’s all still so wonderfully fresh in my mind. Should spur me on to add some posts about breastfeeding to this blog too.
Read a book written by a friend
Excited to have a couple of friends who’ve published or are close to publishing their own books. Want to get around to reading some of these very soon.
Read at least 5 books from my ‘to read’ shelf
For them to count, books must have been added to my ‘want to read’ shelf on Goodreads before the 1st Jan 2019. I currently have 283 books that meet that criteria – plenty to choose from then.
Re-read 2 of the Harry Potter series along with the ‘Sacred Text’ podcast
My eldest daughter discovered this podcast last year and I keep hearing snippets while she’s cooking. I’m forever getting drawn in but have never managed to hear a whole episode from beginning to end. So I thought it’d be fun to read the Harry Potter series again and listen along to the podcast while I do.
Join a new book group and read at least one book with them
I’m on the look out for a new book group to join. So hopefully will find one and manage to read a book with them before the year is out.
Phew, we’re at the end. If you managed to read all the way to here, then I’m touched. I seem to have set myself quite a few reading goals, but I’m confident they’ll inspire me to get a good range of quality reading done this year.
Now, I’d love to hear about your reading goals, and the progress you’ve made so far. Not sure when I’ll check back in with another update, think it’ll depend how fast I get on with the reading itself 🙂 But in the meantime, I’ll continue to post weekly – exploring how we can all keep taking a kinder path for ourselves, our children and our world x