Entries Tagged 'reading' ↓

Enough with the mommy guilt.  Oh, I’ve got plenty in reserve for the coming weeks.  Plenty of concerns, fears, hesitations, but what ifs, etc. to keep you reading for months.  Instead, let’s take a look at the good.

Gamma and I made homemade currant bread while Epsilon played in the sink:

We found this in the yard:

The boys played outside in their pjs after dark:

Captain Courageous here had just watched a movie that scared him the night before...

...so he enlisted Epsilon to hold his hand as they ventured to the farside of the garden.

the young adventurers returning safely home.

Epsilon most definitely does NOT need to take naps anymore (according to him):

I made the mistake of leaving Epsilon on his own for five minutes so I could run upstairs and get dressed:

exhibit A

exhibit B

exhibit C

Unschoolish highlights of the week to set my schoolish heart at ease:

• finished reading Fantastic Mr. Fox and Gamma begged me to read it again.  Instead, we started and are nearly halfway through The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which Gamma says is way better than the movie.
• watched Pole to Pole and Mountains, two of the Planet Earth episodes.  This sparked much conversation regarding the circle of life, predators, and what happens to a species when its natural predators disappear.
• a cheap, plastic toy centipede sparked the question, “is this an insect?”, which led to a couple hours buried in our bug book, comparing insects, centipedes, millipedes, etc.  Fascinated that Alpha and I have seen enormous centipedes in Hawaii.
• Alpha and I have recently started working out in earnest, leading to questions such as “how fast can you make your heart run?  what happens if you make it run too fast?  will it explode?  can you make it run too fast?  Much time spent perusing the body encyclopedia, looking at heart info and identifying the muscles that we were working.
• read plenty of BOB books; also the titles to the chapters of the books we’re reading, the Cheerios box, instructions on the new Wii Mario Kart game, etc.
• wrote a letter to his cousin: I luv you Paige.  Gud job on yur driving test.  Love, Gamma
• taught Epsilon how to play with the Starfall site on the computer.
• watched a Just So Darwin episode on pufferfish.
• played with the Wii, on the computer, make-believe of all sorts, and built models with his Legos.

And lots and lots of other stuff.

Gamma has been dutifully bringing me one of the BOB Books every morning as of late, to read to me.  Not because I’ve asked him too, because I’d long ago written them off as uninteresting to him and resolved that there must be a better way.  (My attempts to find that “better way” hadn’t been terribly successful, and as you know, I’ve since taken a more relaxed approach to the subject.) And not because he enjoys them, because he does not.  But he’s suddenly decided he wants to learn how to read, and I must have at some point told him that these were books that would help teach him.

A couple months ago, I would have rejoiced at this.  And I do, in part.  I’m so glad he’s suddenly got this desire to read for himself.  I find him flipping through books, reading cereal boxes, store ads, etc.  But seeing his emotionless face as he slogs through these early readers, as if they are the dues he has to pay before he can move on to “real” books, saddens my heart.

He has a few Bionicles books, just beyond his reading level, that he’s been skimming through.  I pointed out that he could just as easily hone his reading skills on books like these, as there is nothing magical in the BOB Books.  He looked hopeful, and I think he’s chewing on that idea.  I’m hopeful, too.

We are still here.  I am doing lots of reading and thinking and processing.  It’s all good reading and thinking and processing, I promise.  Just not ready to go into detail — the thoughts have not all been processed and are still currently whirling around inside my head.

It’s been over two weeks since we cracked open our phonics program.  And yet Gamma’s reading more than ever.  I’m learning to sit back and relax and enjoy watching the progress, rather than trying to instigate it.

Learning being the operative word here.  It takes time to learn to relax.  Who knew I was so uptight?  In the meantime, I’ve been crocheting.

Keeping my hands busy and out of his business… some of the time.

*edited to link to Nicole’s fabulous basic sock pattern.  I could never have come up with this on my own!

There hasn’t been a whole lot of *schooling* going on around here lately, hence the lack of posts.  Between sickness running its course two by two through the family, and then playing catch up on all the things that were left undone during those weeks, it simply hasn’t been our top priority.  Learning, however?  Learning has been happening all over the place.

Gamma’s starting to really read.  Not just two or three letter words, but really read.  We have some easy readers Gramma Alpha gave him years ago, and he can read 90% of what is on the page.  Of course, the stories are familiar, so some words are coming more from context than actual print, but he’s definitely progressing very quickly.  As most people report, I’m so amazed at how quickly the reading is coming.  He’s been able to sound out words for quite some time now, but that’s completely different from reading.

But he’s not limiting his new-found skill to easy readers.  Signs at the library, titles of books, cans at the grocery store, analyzing my shopping lists…

All over the place.