Our Reading Preferences out here in the Country

Byljanning@dukemanorfarm.com

When my husband and I moved to the ‘middle of nowhere’ Georgia, population 500, 12 years ago, having children was still a dream for us. Fast forward to today where my life has been blessed with 3 beautiful, slightly energetic, don’t eat enough vegetables, always barefoot children. My dream came true!  
My oldest child is on his way to mastering chapter books…think Percy Jackson and Captain Underpants, and the twins are entering the Early Readers arena…think Frog Goes to School and Spot is Brown.
Although Country Living has its many perks, it also offers some slight  inconveniences as well…especially for my slightly energetic, don’t eat enough vegetables, always barefoot children. If the closest Piggly Wiggly is 30 minutes away, imagine how long it takes me to get to the closet library or bookstore.  It’s a day trip…at least.  Sure we have the annual school book fair and the quarterly Scholastic book orders, but my children prefer the freshness of a new tale over reading Purplecious or Ladybug Girl for the 100th time.
Because reading is critical to any child’s learning and development, we have spent a lot of time determining what would work best in our household and for our kids.  After researching several options that would provide my children the flexibility and freedom with reading, and for me the comfort of parental controls and to be able to track reading milestones, the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite was by far the best solution. 


Our current reading list looks something like this~ Kids Stanley and The Magic Lamp, Princess Ruby, Why Because I love You, The Monster That Ate My Socks, Diary of a 6th Grade Ninja, Diary of a 6th Grade Secret Agent, Dinosaurs-Fun Facts  Mine The Husband’s Secret, Candlelight Christmas, Sycamore Row by John Grisham, Twelve Years A Slave- Looking forward to seeing the movie when I am done with the book. I wait in a car rider line at my kids’ school for 45-60 mins each day. Me and my Kindle are tight!

 A new feature called Kindle FreeTime lets me hand select books for my kids to read  and load right to their profiles. In addition,  Kindle FreeTime also gives me access to a progress report that will update how long my kids have read, the number of words they have looked up, rewards they have earned, and a list of all of the books they have finished.


 I’d like to think that the Kindle FreeTime is kinda like a virtual librarian, teacher and parent all in one.  What really jazzes me up about FreeTime is that I can set daily time limits for the kids for reading books, and using apps. mYou can also limit TV shows and movies. This feature is perfect in our household because ‘screentime allotments’ are awarded for good behavior and now I don’t need to set the stop clock or watch the clock. Freetime does it for me.
And with the holidays right around the corner, I can’t think of a better gift for your young reader to receive.  You can get more information on this amazing device by going to www.amazon.com/kindlepaperwhite.   

But wait, your young reader isn’t the only one who is going to be happy receiving his/her Kindle.  How would you like to win a $100 Amazon gift card?  For a chance to win, all’s you need to do is leave me a comment below, telling me why the Amazon Kindle would be great to have on your holiday gift list. That’s it. Easy, just like the Amazon Kindle.
Good luck!
 Grateful for~
Young eager readers in the family
Sweepstakes Rules:
·         No duplicate comments.
·         You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
·         Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
·         Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
·         Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
·         For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.
·         This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winner will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
·         The Official Rules are available here.
·   This sweepstakes runs from 12/3/13 – 12/22/13.
Be sure to visit the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite’s page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ reviews and find more chances to win!

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Just a gal that loves to share my family, home decor, design and life around here in the country.... on my real life funny farm at Duke Manor

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89 Comments

  1. We too live in middle of no where north ga. Plus I think it would be great to be able to drop the kindle in my purse and bring all my books and magazines with me without breaking my shoulder. Lol

  2. At any given moment, my husband and I have at least 20 library books checked out. They line the staircase. It would be so great to have fewer hard copy books and have books available anywhere. The major issue would be sharing the Kindle…… 🙂

  4. I love to read and used my daughter's Kindle recently–I loved it–and would love to have one of my own to be able to carry with me and have the convenience of reading anytime I want…

  5. I think this would be awesome to have at Grandma's house. We could take this to the lake and on trips with us. Books are so important to kids. Read read and read some more.

  6. As a retired teacher I know the importance, but even better than that, the JOY of reading. My grandkids are all wonderful little readers and would love reading this at my house. Thanks for doing the research for us. Merry Christmas to you and your family.

  7. My daily commute is an hour each way. I've always been a voracious reader and an Amazon Kindle would easily fit into my bag and lighten my daily load. I would ADORE this gift!

  8. This would be sooooo awesome for our household as well. We live in NH and with four little kids it's hard to go to the library and get them all exactly what they need every week. A kindle would be God sent! Happy Holidays to all.

  9. I think this would be a perfect gift! Reading is so important and such a joy! I belong to a book club, so this would be put to use immediately!

    A very Merry Christmas and blessed holiday season to you and yours!

  10. Oh Laure, a woman after my own heart. My husband would be so thrilled to know that you are having your children read. He is a huge reader and believes that kids today don't read enough, we are so old, only 48 and 52, LOL. He has so much knowledge from reading all of the books he has read and is reading. With traveling to NYC for work everyday from NJ he has a lot of time to read on the bus. He finally purchased a Nook for himself. It is to much carrying books, computer and a briefcase, too heavy. I am going to forward this post to him.

    Cynthia

  11. I would love to gift this to my home schooled grandson. He is 10 years old and such a smart boy, but he falters in reading. We, too, live in a small town. I think this would open up a whole new world of FUN and exciting reading for him.

  12. The Amazon Kindle would be great for our oldest son. He is finding his love for reading but with his 18 month old brother around, his books sometimes gets destroyed or torn accidentally making it a little frustrating for our older son. With the Kindle, he wouldn't have to worry about his latest book would get ripped. Thanks so much for the chance to win!

  15. Like your kids, I had a rural Georgia childhood. In the seventies when a town had a library so small the bookmobile visited it, kids who loved to read were not as lucky as yours! I use the Kindle app on my iPad all the time. I think I'd like to give a Kindle to my daughter.

    Merry Christmas!

  17. I travel frequently and it would be so much more convenient to carry a Kindle than carry two or three books when I'm on extended business trip. Good luck to everyone!

  19. I would love to place a Kindle Paperwhite under the tree for my husband; history and biography are his main reading interests.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    margueritecore [at] gmail [dot] com

    ::sorry I had to make a new post, my first one made no sense at all!::

  20. I have a kindle and love it… when I can get it. I am the caretaker for my disabled sister and she has discovered my kindle. She sneaks it away whenever I lay it down. I would love to give her her own for Christmas.

  21. Our local library (6 miles away!) used to be able to stock just about any book I'd hoped to read. With huge budget cuts they rarely have the book I'm looking for. A Kindle would make it much easier to be able to read what I am interested in despite still using the local library! Thanks for the give-away! BTW, our son married this fall to an identical twin. I feel blessed to have both of them (and the twin's children) in my life!

  23. We live in the arctic cold of the midwest and travel to see our children and grandchild in warmer climates in February. Last year we had the car packed with books. Our big dog was feeling a bit cramped. This would be a great alternative.

  24. Hi Laura! I would love to win a Kindle. I downloaded the Kindle app to my laptop and my phone and read my books that way. It would be SO much easier to read them on a Kindle! I could just drop it in my purse and have it available whenever I had a few minutes free to read!

  25. My son is homeschooling his son (just as his mom [me!] homeschooled him). I would love to give a Kindle to my grandson to help with his reading and help his dad keep up with his reading.

  33. Our small library has a few Kindles that they loan out for one week per month for each family, And the family loves it. We have to travel to purchase books. With the Kindle, I would be saving gas driving to a book store to purchase the many books the little ones read, and can easily save time by downloading a book instead.Also while traveling it makes it very convenient to download books when they need a new one.

  36. My mother in law loves to read. she's an real estate agent and got lots of "wait time" when she do her open-house. this Amazon Kindle would be great holiday gift for her
    amy [at] utry [dot] it

  40. The Amazon Kindle is on my gift list because it would be a great way for me to read and for my kids to practice their reading
    kellywcu8888ATgmailDOTcom

  42. I have wanted a Kindle for years! Now that I have children it would be so wonderful to have thousands of books on hand available to us wherever we go.

  44. I would love to tell you how I could use it to escape Mommyhood, if only for glimpses at a time. I would love to tell you how I would use it to do a daily devotional just for me every morning…. but I cannot. My mommy guilt sets in. You know, that thing that haunts you when you do something for yourself instead of your kiddos? I know you know what I am referring to first hand. And since my mommy guilt would set in, let me tell you how it would really be used in our home…. As of telling you we homeschool our children would not be enough, I would primarily use it for a special treat for my youngest. She struggles being the baby of the family. She is am introvert who does not like sports or large groups, unlike her mother and sister. So, this amazing gift from Amazon would allow her to escape to where ever her reading will take her while so patiently sitting through all the practices, scrimmages, games, and tournaments of everyone else in the family. She loves to read. She takes pride in being an advanced reader. This would allow her to continue to excel and be excited while doing it. As my mommy guilt would keep me for asking for my own desires, it is my mommy heart that would love it for her sweetest baby girl.

  46. I love reading and have lots and lots of books. For so long I have resisted the Kindle. BUT this year I have begun to think about adding the Kindle Fire to my Christmas Wish List. I will never get rid of my actual paper books….I love them! But I think that a Kindle would be a little more convenient for traveling. Thanks for this opportunity to win!

  47. I need to get back into reading..its so relaxing! Have the Kindle Fire would be less stressful having books everywhere my 2 year old can get into and rip pages out!

  48. Most of us have a Kindle and love to read. I just wish there were a couple extra hours in each day so I had time to do just that!!

  49. I am a reader …. as a child I was known to grab a book anytime we were heading for the car – even if that trip was just to the grocery store! I will read anything I can get my hands on! Right now….the tradition of reading the feel good little Christmas seasonal books – along with Sycamore Row, and next The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks.

    Having a Kindle Fire would be great to have in my "baseball mom" bag. My son plays college baseball and we have to travel a little over 4 hours to get from our home to his campus. I could load up the Kindle Fire with books for the trip there and for the trip back! This would lighten the load in that baseball mom bag of mine.

    Thank you for very much for the opportunity to win! Have a very Merry Christmas!

  50. The kindle is on my list because it is a huge space saver, and I can carry my entire library with me wherever I go.

    Thanks for the chance to win!
    wildorchid985 at gmail dot com

  54. I love how many books you can carry – just in one little Paperwhite! More selection at your fingertips – and the books are more affordable!

  56. It's on my wish list for sure! I bought one for my husband this year and I know I'm going to be so jealous and want to steal his all of the time!
    nuthouse(at)centurytel(dot)net

  58. I am an avid reader and don’t own any tablets. I have been hoping to get a Kindle as an e-reader for a while.
    tcarolinep at gmail dot com

  70. With a Kindle I could have all of my books in one place rather than all over the house! And I'd love having a built-in dictionary.
    madelinebrubaker {at} gmail [dot] com

  75. The amazon kindle is on our wish list because I am a book worm. Kindles are environmentally friendly, they do not use paper as books do, and they are a convenient way to carry hundreds of books at your fingertips.

    runningmatey at hotmail dot com

  76. The Amazon kindle is on my holiday wishlist this year because I am a huge bookworm and I love reading. I love the fact that this is so convenient top have so many books in one place and that I can read them at any time. Thank you for the chance to win.

    lola_violets_2010{at}yahoo{dot}com

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