How to Read More During School

Oh, school.  How I do dislike you.  You give me no time to read or watch my favorite shows or do anything I need to do or like to do.  You give me unnecessary work and stress, and for a person who is introverted and also is a chronic procrastinator who also wants all A's--you suck.  Please go away. Except, no matter how much I want to, I cannot quit school to read full time.  I have to find the time to read and that is overly difficult. 


When I was younger, up until middle school (*shudder*), there was this thing called Accelerated Reader where you had to read books and take tests on them and score points.  You were rewarded for this and even had a specific time everyday to read.  Then comes middle school (*shudder*), and AR is thrown out the window.  But I still had time during class to read and less homework.  But now I am in high school and they give you no time whatsoever and way too much homework.  I have struggled so hard to find time for everything and reading.  I am sure I am not the only one.  I usually can read about 5 books a month, but during school, maybe 3.  (Let's just ignore the fact of how I spent a month reading Blood of Olympus because I don't want it to end).  So how can you read during school with everything going on?  It's hard, but possible.

1.  First of all, and this is for everything, if you don't feel like doing it do not do it.  You'll just waste time avoiding actually doing it and procrastinating.  Do not force yourself to read if you don't want to.  You already are being forced to do homework and do marching band and play soccer and not to mention dance class and beta club--don't make something you love doing another thing you are required to do.  It just sucks all the fun out of it.  If you just want to watch Netflix, do not force yourself to read.  Watch Netflix.  But also do your homework.  Because failing is bad. 

2.  Set away some time to read.  Carve out time to spend reading.  My favorite time to read, especially during the school year, is before bed.  Just do not start reading and three hours later you look at the clock and realize it's one in the morning.  No just one more chapter's or I can totally survive on four hours of sleep.  Because you can't.  Trust me.

3.  If you can, read in the car.  Instead of sitting there staring out the window, use the time to do something productive.

4.  Read shorter books.  Instead of trying to read the whole Mortal Instruments series and taking forever to finish them, read shorter books, something 200-300 pages that doesn't take as long.

5.  Read a book with a friend.  I find that when I am reading the same book as a friend of mine, I am so competitive that I have to be the first one done.  If you are like me, the competitiveness of the situation will encourage you to read more.  And hopefully finish the book first.