Scholastic Mini Missions

Have you heard of the Mini Missions, sponsored by Kellogg’s Mini Wheat’s cereal and Scholastic? It is such a fun program. We have only been doing it for a couple of weeks but I am really impressed with the system. It still has the reward-y feel that I don’t like from other reading programs, but it’s much less about being “rewarded” and much more about spending time together as a family, which I love.

Here’s the gist of it: Each month, your family is challenged to do a mini mission together. You get an instant download of a free book online, and if you complete your missions (you must do so many before the month is up) while supplies still last, you’ll also get two free books in the mail from Scholastic. The best news of all? The missions are actually fun.

In October, for example, the missions were to do something creative as a family. That was pretty easy in our house! We missed the August and September challenges, which were to establish a daily breakfast habit together as a family and to have some outdoor adventures. This month’s challenge is to talk during five family breakfasts together and share your topics.

See what I mean? For many of us, these are things we are already doing. You can upload photos if you choose (but you don’t have to), and they post some families’ entries on their main site page to inspire other families, too. We haven’t gotten our books yet from October—it’s supposed to take a few weeks—but I’m sure they will be great. It’s a wonderful activity to help remedy our country’s dearth of family interaction.  

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia