We just had parent teacher conferences. It is nice to meet the teachers, of course, it is a little nerve wracking, and you always wonder if the little ones are telling you the truth about their behavior at school. So far, so good.

All the teachers no matter what grade were very focused on reading skills. The first grade teacher handed out laminated bookmarks that had tips for selecting the right books and how to read the books with your kids and the higher-grade level teachers discussed their strategies to boost comprehension.

I enjoy reading books to the kids, we do at least three stories most night, and sometimes I throw in a fourth story if they have been exceptionally good.

Now the older girls are reading longer books on their own, which while exciting and very cool is also a little sad because soon they won‘t want to do story time with me.

Plus, I always worry-are we giving them too much leeway letting them select their own books. Their school encourages them to select a just right book. To do this they open a book read the page and if they don’t know five words on the page, the book isn’t right for them.

Sometimes they tell me that they finished the book, in what I think is a very short amount of time…so are they really reading the book? And if they are reading it do they comprehend it?

My son who is two years younger then the girls wants to be “cool” like his sisters so he selects chapter books to “read” also…hmmmm should I let him do this or make him stick with picture books?

Do you face this same problem with your older children? How do you know if your kids are really reading the book?

Part of me wants to quiz the kids about the book, but that seems a little too much like school and might take the fun out of it for them.

Let me know what you have done in this situation.