"Can I do reading first?"

Norah asks this every single day and every single day I say, "No."

I have good reason for denying her, even such a great request as that.

Norah will read a whole book in one sitting and reading will often take her up to an hour or more because she's reading serious chapter books now.

If I were to let her do reading first, we'd never get around to doing math or spelling, etc. and if we did ever get around to it, she'd be so spent, she wouldn't do those subjects well.

So reading always comes last. It's like a reward for all the other hard work that came before.

But I do let her choose what I can.

If I know we have to do math, grammar, writing and history today (before she does reading), I'll let her choose which of those she does first and next and next... and in that way, she gets some say in her day and it's enough to satisfy her until she gets to do what she really wants to do anyway:

reading.