The Only Way She Wants to Read

If you've been following along thus far, you already know my Bunny Boo hates to read.  Reading is like a prison sentence to her.  It's the most cruel torture a parent could come up with.  If I ever want to punish my daughter, all I would need to do is sit her down with a book to work on reading.

It hasn't always been this way.  When she was very young, three, I think, she loved reading.  She wanted me to sit down and read with her all the time.  My aunt sent her a book once and she proudly picked it up declaring One, Two Three!  I was surprised when she shoved the book in my face to see that, sure enough, One, Two, Three! was the title of the book.  She was always that way with her books.  I'd pick up a book she was familiar with and as I would follow along what I was reading with my finger, she would break in with the word, reading it for me because she knew what it said.  It made reading with her a lot of fun.  We'd spend a good deal of time reading together until I couldn't take it anymore and wanted to do something else.  After about twenty or so books, I needed a break.  My voice was worn and I was starting to feel like I had no time to do anything I wanted to.  I was just an audio book library for my daughter.  By the end of it I wanted to make that ping sound that those read-along tapes I used to have when I was younger.

Somewhere along the line, things changed.  Reading became "too hard".  Actually, everything was "too hard" if it required any effort on her part at all, even using the toilet.  I'm sure part of it had to do with her father deploying and having a new baby brother in the house, so suddenly all eyes weren't on her.  Though I tried to do special "big girl" things with her, or things her brother couldn't enjoy but was stuck tagging along for the ride, it wasn't good enough.  She's been daddy's little girl since the day she was born, and having me as a replacement for nearly fifteen months simply wasn't enough.  I would try and teach her the alphabet and she wanted nothing to do with it because I wasn't her aunt and she wanted to see her aunt.  Her aunt was the one that did the best "letters" stuff with her and I couldn't compare.  No matter what I tried to do, she always had some reason to be unhappy with it.  She wanted to move out of Texas and go back to "the snow place".  She wanted Daddy to come home right that second.  If that couldn't happen, I had to have her friends over every day.  This was followed by constant string of "I hate you, Mommy!"  Where she learned that, I'll never know, but there it was.  I have to admit, I hated Texas.  I hated the Army.  I wanted nothing more than to go back home to Massachusetts so my little girl could have her family back, even if I couldn't bring her father home.  She seemed better about not having him around when we at least had other family there to keep her mind off of everything.

When Daddy came home things got worse and things slowly went down hill from there.  Separation followed his first year back.  He deployed again and never called to speak to his kids.  We tried co-habitation for everyone's sake, with Chesh and the littlest one when my soon-to-be-ex-husband got back from his deployment, but things got far worse, and Daddy trying to step in and help her with her reading only turned into more of a disaster.  They just weren't a good personality match when it came to learning and she was just too far frustrated with the whole idea.

So with all of this, it shouldn't be surprising that reading isn't something I've had an easy time bringing her around to.  It seems to carry a lot of negative baggage for her for some reason.  However, we've been finding creative ways to get her to read.  She wants to play some of her favorite games, she's got to learn to read.  If she wants to learn about stuff she's interested in, the best thing to do is be able to read about it.  Most of what she wants to do requires reading.  It hasn't been an easy path.

Thankfully, Chesh just jumped on board with the reading.  Bunny Boo loves Pokemon.  She's been wanting to do everything with Pokemon since we got her the DS game she loved so much.  The other day Chesh decided he would teach her to play a card game.  Seeing as we didn't have any Pokemon cards on hand, Chesh asked her if she wanted to learn how to play Magic the Gathering.

Now, to give you a little bit of background, when we have adults over to play cards, we're not playing conventional card games.  More often than not, Chesh is having friends over to play Magic.  When Marrok stayed with us, he played Magic too.  Bunny Boo would often see Chesh sitting over his cards trying to figure out how to improve one of his decks or organizing his cards to put away new cards he got through purchase, Christmas presents, or trade.  He spent a good long time looking up the cards he needed to complete his collections and how much he could expect to look at in purchase cost or trade value.  He's not just a player.  He's also a collector.  On a few occasions I would sit down with Chesh and help him build a deck, or would out and out build a deck for him that he would test and modify as needed, with or without my help.  She'd seen that we both would invest a lot of time on what someone else might find a silly card game.  She'd asked about it several times, but we kept telling her she had to learn to read if she wanted to learn how to play.  Reading is a large part of the game.  True, we also played games like Munchkin, and she's seen a few rousing games of rummy, but Magic was the bulk of the card playing action among adults.

Because of this, when Chesh told her to come out to the dining room and sit down, she was curious.  She knew Chesh had his cards spread across the table for days, having to clean them up every night for dinner.  She couldn't imagine why he would want her out there while he was working with his cards.  I almost expected her snappy, much too early teen attitude response of, "What do you want now?"  It had been a long day and exasperation isn't something I'll ever deny her when she's been dealing with two brothers that want nothing to annoy her all day.  Thankfully, she refrained.

When she walked into the dining room, the cards were still all laid out.  Chesh helped her build her first deck.  Then, once they'd done that, he sat her down and taught her to play Magic.  They played one hand before she had to run off and do something else, but she did really well and almost won!  She read all the cards on her own, with a little bit of help, of course, and he taught her how to use all of the spells and creatures to her best advantage.  She really enjoyed it and hasn't stopped bugging Chesh to play again.

The other day when we went to the library we realized that if Bunny Boo wanted to keep her own library card, she would need a wallet to keep it in.  I had told her we would look for one she liked.  We went to Target, but I didn't realize they didn't have wallets for kids.  We should have probably gone to the mall.  However, she selected one that was just perfect for her.  It's square a square hard case with one of those button latches that you push to open it.  It's decorated with a brightly colored peacock.  I have to admit that I thought she would choose that one.  It was so her.  It's just the right size.  It's got a zip pocket for change, a nice little spot to tuck any money she may carry on her for whatever reason, and a couple slots for cards.  She decided to use the clear ID pocket to put her library card in.  She's so proud of it, but again, I digress.  I'm pretty good at that, aren't I?

While we were looking at wallets, Chesh decided to go look at the Magic cards.  This is a regular routine for us.  Every time we stop at a store with cards or video games he wants to check out the selection.  I didn't think anything of it until he came back with the littlest in the cart and told me to have the kids wait a few feet away because he had to ask me something.  He pointed into the cart and said, "I wanted to ask you first, since I know money is tight and we're trying to save, but I wanted to get that for Bunny Boo."  I looked down and there was a two player starter set for thePokemon Trading Card Game.  He was right.  We were supposed to be saving money.  We probably shouldn't have spent the money on her wallet, but it was something I could justify.  She would feel much more comfortable knowing I didn't have to carry her library card everywhere for her and this way she wouldn't lose it.  Besides, it wasn't expensive.  Neither were the cards, and if it gave her something to encourage her to read, it was worth it.  I know I should have said no to both expenses, but I gave in.  We would find a way to make it work, and it had been quite a while since I'd last splurged on the kids.  My daughter felt pretty left out not that long ago because we had to buy new underwear for her brother and she didn't get anything, and the baby, of course, always gets new things, even if it's just second hand clothes from friends.  She knows it's just because he's growing so fast and needs clothes to wear, but it's still hard for her.  It might do her good to see her singled out for something special.

Wouldn't you know it?  When we got home she kept begging to play her game!  When she was first told we were playing a game tonight she was thinking we could sit down and play Mousetrap or something.  She hadn't thought about her game or Magic.  All she knew was the family was going to sit down and play a game.  Instead, after sitting through reading, she was offered to play Pokemon.  Of course, reading was a stealthy, sly trick to let Chesh figure out the rules of the game before they played!  They played through once to learn how the game was played, and then it was time for bed.  You could tell.  At first she was reading the cards eagerly, but towards the end she was dropping off and getting frustrated.  Still, she was so disappointed that she couldn't play again.  We had to promise her she could play again in the morning.

As it turns out, Chesh was torn between getting her the two player starter for Magic or Pokemon, but Pokemon won out.  He figured it's more age appropriate for her and it would be something special that was just for her.  Once her brothers were old enough, if she still wanted to play, she could teach them to play too.  Given a lot of adults play Pokemon, I wouldn't be surprised if she did still play.  Now she wants to learn to read even more so she can get really good at playing.  It will be easier to win when she doesn't have to ask for help with reading her cards!

Since she started playing, she secretly announced to me that she really liked learning to read for card games. Playing those games makes her actually want to read!  It looks like we have a success!  Now I've just got to come up with other things that will be interesting and engaging enough to encourage her to read.  If she'll read for things that are truly fun and engaging with someone else, maybe that's our foot in the door.  Maybe that's all she needed to turn her focus to reading!

Our Second Library Visit (or the Things You Learn about Your Kids at the Library)

We went to the library again today.  Our books were due, so we didn't really have much of a choice.  I (of course) hadn't finished reading any of my books, and Bunny Boo (that's what she asked me to call her on my blog) hadn't either.  She'd finished two of her books, but not the third, so she requested we hang on to it a little longer so we can finish it.  We've got ten books to read together between now and November 16th.  I'm sure we can do it!  We already got through two today!

The whole family went to the library today.  Chesh decided he wanted to get his own library card.  We went to the children's library, but he enjoys books written for teens and they're short enough that he actually has the time to read through them with his busy schedule.  We actually stopped in between his interviews and errands.  We've all gotten a lot done this week!  We thought it would be a fun break from all the crazy running around to kick back and take the family to the library, all of us, as a family.

As I said, Chesh actually picked out some books!  I'm glad he did because I think I would have had my hands too full to enjoy the library without him!  My littlest decided he wanted to run around crazy.  There were so many books that he didn't know which one to pull down and look at first!  He mostly just wanted to turn the pages like the older two were doing.  I think he was a little overwhelmed by the shelves and shelves of books.  He found a chair to sit on that spun around (he's never sat on an office chair that he remembers).  He discovered they had a whole table and chair set that was just his size!  He even yelled at Chesh when he went to see what the little one was up to.  He held his hand out and screamed as if to say, "No, Dad!  You can't sit in this chair!  It's just for kids!"  He even learned that sitting at a desk can be pretty cool, especially when they have a little keyboard drawer to pull out, even if there's no computer or keyboard at it.  Leave it to him to come up with a million and one ways to enjoy exploring the library!

My older son was very interested that they had a whole library book all about "his birthday".  He knows April Fool's Day isn't a holiday just about him, but he's convinced he's special because no one else in the family has their birthday on a holiday every year.  He says he's a fool because he's an April Fool, and that means it's his job to make everyone happy all the time.  Thankfully, he does that by being very silly and rarely serious (unless he needs to be) so he doesn't even have to work too hard for that, and when he can't cheer someone up, he doesn't feel bad about it.  He knows he tried and that's good enough for him.  As he puts it, "People just need a sad day sometimes."  What wisdom for a four-year-old!  He also wanted to get out every book on Halloween and a book about Native American fables.  I really wanted to tell him he could take out the book on my card, but I know he's not ready for the responsibility of a library book, so I'd have to watch it like a hawk for him.  With everything else we have going on right now, I just wasn't ready for that added responsibility.  I told him if it's still there next time we visit (which may be sooner rather than later!) we'll get it out for him.  He's already excited for his birthday.  I promised him that as soon as he turns five, we can take him to get his own library card.  He's already putting together a list of things he wants to get books about!

However, it was Bunny Boo that surprised me today!  Originally she said she wanted to renew one book and pick out seven more, since she can have ten books out at a time now.  She decided she would keep two slots on her card open for movies.  Then, when we were counting her books so we could leave it turned out she had eleven books!  She decided to put one back (it was about voting in America) and we'd get it next time.  Since she was so thrilled about her book selection, I decided to get a movie out on my card for her.  She was thrilled!

What surprised me more than her ambitious selection to take out so many books (that I would have to read with her because she's getting good at reading, but still prefers I read the long books to her), were the books she selected.  The book she wanted on Halloween wasn't there, not surprising since Halloween is just around the corner, but she did pick out Halloween by Dennis Brindell Fradin and Halloween: Why We Celebrate It the Way We Do by Martin Hintz and Kate Hintz.  I know my daughter and her love of holidays, so that didn't surprise me.  Given Thanksgiving is not that far after Halloween, she decided to pick up Thanksgiving Day: A Time to Be Thankful as a part of the Finding Out About The Holidays series and The True Story of the First Thanksgiving from the What Really Happened series.  She also thought P Is for Pilgrim: A Thanksgiving Alphabet would be fun since she enjoys M Is For Mayflower: A Massachusetts Alphabet so much.  Both of my older kids seem to love the Alphabet Books Series.  It combines a holiday with Pilgrims!  What could be cooler?  None of these selections really surprised me, not knowing my daughter the way I do.

What I didn't expect my daughter to select were a couple books from two different parts of history that we haven't talked about.  One was only a little surprising. The other was a huge shock, given we'd talked about the subject before several times and she thought it was the most boring thing in the world every time we tried to bring it up, even recently. The first two books that weren't such as surprise were Let Women Vote from the Spotlight on American History series and You Wouldn't Want to Be a Suffragist!: A Protest Movement That's Rougher Than You Expected from the series of books bearing similar names.  The kids have all been watching Mary Poppins (almost to death) and Mrs. Banks just so happens to be a Suffragette.  I have to admit, I kind of expected her to find interest in the Women's Suffrage movement eventually, what with her mother being a feminist and all.  We read You Wouldn't Want to Be a Suffragist already and she had a lot of opinions about it.  We talked about the feminist movement, how some people to this day think women aren't as good as men.  She asked about why I changed my name when I got married, then we talked about how in some states, such as Texas, a baby born when a woman is married is required by law to take the husband's last name, whether the wife wants the child to have her husband's last name or not.  For example, if my last name was hyphenated, like...say...Smith-Adams, and my husband's last name was Adams and was never hyphenated, all of my children's names would have to be Adams unless I went through a legal name change to have it changed to Smith, or Smith-Adams.  We also talked about the way some people think jobs, like being a scientist, doctor, or engineer, aren't women's jobs, and sometimes women have to work twice as hard to prove they're just as good, if not better than the men.  I had personal experience with that in my robotics class in high school.  Several times the teacher asked one of the boys to help me because "they were stronger" or  he "didn't want me getting hurt".  The boys didn't want to work with me because no one wanted to be put on a build team with a girl.  It was frustrating.  She didn't think that was very fair at all.  We talked about how the Women's Suffrage Movement actually paved the way for a lot of the progress more modern feminists have made.  It was a wonderful conversation and I can't wait until we can sit down with that other book.  I'm even learning something too!

Now that I've gotten way off track, the subject my daughter was never interested in before, no matter how much we tried to get her interested?  Mummies.  Bunny Boo isn't really interested in much about Ancient Egypt, but mummies are a sudden fascination of hers.  Perhaps it's because there are mummies in so many cultures from all over the world, even modern mummies.  Of course, it's also Halloween, and that might have something to do with it.  The first book she picked out before we even got to the section where the Halloween books would be (since she said that was the first place she wanted to look) was Mummies: Truth and Rumors from the Truth and Rumors series.  Shortly after she picked out the holiday books she wanted, she saw a binding with a word she definitely knew how to read Mummy from the Eyewitness Books series.  I could have sworn we had that book at home, but she swears we didn't.  Only thing I can think is maybe I'd seen it before, either when I was in school or when I was working as a nanny.  We haven't read through the Eyewitness book yet, but she loved the Truth and Rumors book.  She had a good time trying to guess if each story was true or a rumor.  It contained some really fun facts and some fancy new words that she'd never heard before, like cholera, cryonic freezing, cremate, asphalt, embalmer, and resin.  She was thrilled to know that the oldest mummy known in existence was actually a dinosaur, not a person, and that there was a mummified baby mammoth too.  She's decided that mummies are now the new cool and interesting thing to know anything about, as well as archaeologists.  She thinks the most fascinating thing about archaeologists is trying to put together ideas about what people they've never met are doing from clues like the things they used, the pictures they drew, and the monuments and buildings they left behind.  I think her interest in mummies is going to take us far beyond the realm of mummies and into a whole new realm of discovery about history, learning about things that happened because there's some great mystery to solve.  You don't know anything about the people.  You can't talk to them.  You just have to solve the mystery.  Now that I think about it, a friend of hers did have a live action/role play mystery birthday party, so maybe that's where she picked up her new love of mysteries.

While my daughter isn't a strong reader, I really do hope that reading to her about subjects that interest her will show her all she can learn from books and will encourage her to read more.  She's got the skills, and she's got the ability, now all she has to do is find a reason to apply herself.  We've had both good days and bad days, so I'm hoping that it won't be long before she's realized that books and the library are her passport to anywhere she might want to go.  If she learns to read on her own, she won't need to wait for me to sit down and read to her.  She'll be able to read anything she wants whenever she wants, whether it's a fun story, or something she can learn from.  I can only hope that she'll learn to love books just as much as I do!  Thankfully, I don't think her brothers will have near as much of a problem.  They both love books and can't seem to keep their hands off of them.  Both of them already love the idea of reading, so maybe I'll be lucky.

Reminders of my Mother, the Song She Used to Sing

It's been a while since my mom and I have really talked, but I've been talking about my mom more and more lately.  I read in a book that girls think it's important to hear stories about things their mom and grandmother used to do when they were little, so I thought I'd start doing it.  It never dawned on me how much it would make me wish I was closer to my own mother.  For anyone that might be interested, the book is called Everyday Ways to Raise Smart, Strong, Confident Girls: Successful Teens Tell Us What Works.

Sometimes reminders really come from unexpected places.  I never expected to be reminded of a song my mom used to sing, especially not this little ditty.  The song goes like this:

"Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat.  Please do put a penny in the old man's hat.  If you don't have a penny, a hay-penny will do.  If you don't have a hay-penny then God bless you!"

Today we were reading a book together calledThe Story of Halloween.  In it they used just a portion of that.  They claimed those going door to door for treats and money used to sing, "If you don't have a penny, a half-penny will do.  If you don't have a half-penny then God bless you!"

I was so surprised.  It took me a good long while (as in until right now) to figure out why we used to sing that at Christmas, but it was still a nice connection.  I taught my kids to sing the song and we had a good time of it.  My kids thought it was pretty fun that the book talked about something their grandmother used to sing.

These days I'm finding more and more reasons to share things about my family with my kids.  We talked about the famous "potato question" not that long ago.  I look forward to the day they start talking about simple trivia they should know, yet can't seem to remember and refer to it as a "potato question"!  I think this year I'm going to tell them about the Turkey Races, and maybe we'll find a way to stage our own.  I want to tell them as much as I remember.  Why?  Because our country is losing so much of it's rich family histories and the oral tradition.  I think it's something too important to let go.  I want my children to feel close to their families, even when they're so far away.  It gives them a little bit of something they can hold on to.  It also gives them something to reference in their own lives.  They can hear about the mistakes I've made, the frustrations I've had with my parents, and everything else and in the end, they'll know I knew what they were going through once.  I may not understand anymore because I'm on the other side of it all, but once upon a time I knew.  Maybe it will help them find a way to get through.

Rainy, Rainy, Rainy Day...

For those of you who are familiar with how Texas weather has been, you'll know the word "rain" is something highly prayed for around here, but seldom happens, at least for this summer.  The blessed watery substance that hydrates the earth seems to have decided not to make it's presence known to the point where lakes seem to be drying up and forest fires are running rampant.

Starting yesterday, the skies decided to grace us with this stuff called rain.  The kids and I sat and watched it in the windows for a while.  Then we went out in it for a bit, just because every kid likes to play in the rain.  We talked about the rain.  We shared our thoughts.  That's when the kids realized that rain is really kind of a downer.  It's not nice outside, so you don't want to go play outside for long.  You get wet and cold.  It's dark and gloomy, so it means turning the lights on during the day just to see.  You can't really take books and toys outside or they might get ruined.  It's hard to play ball when it's raining.  Most people don't even want to drive anywhere when the roads are slick and wet.  It means they lose out on a lot of fun stuff.

With our massive house clean-up going on, we've been facing a lack of space, but it's been coming at a benefit to everyone, especially the kids.  Our dining room table is buried under a mountain of stuff from the kitchen cabinets that all needs to be washed and put back.  They boys room is full of boxes from the closet, so we've been having sleep over parties in my daughter's room.  All the floors need to be mopped, the walls wiped down, and everything, but we haven't been as sharply on it as we should be because we've got so much stuff!  It's meant everything we're able to do is severely limited (which leads to the kids fighting like cats and dogs).  It's been rough with the rain on top of that.

However, even with all this rough stuff going on, my kids are kind of grateful for the clean up.  Sure, for several days they're not going to have much space to play until we process through it all, clean it all, and get it all put away, but we're finding cool stuff as we go.  I've found a completely blank drawing pad, which my daughter was very excited about.  Hers is almost full.  We found a new stock of markers that had been buried in a box.  There were some toys they were looking for and couldn't seem to find.  It seems like with every box we go through, not only are we finding new things that the kids love, but we're also condensing and getting rid of stuff we don't need to hang on to anymore.  The kids love knowing we'll have more space in the house soon and they're enjoying all the fun stuff we're finding.  It's like an archaeological dig!

Though it might be raining and miserable outside, we're still having our fun.  We're exploring the depths of our own home.  When we've finally cleared off the space for the kitchen stuff to go back, we'll have the space to work on art projects with all the new art supplies we've found.  It's going to be wonderful!

While the weather might be dark and gloomy outside, I think this is the best rainy day we've had in years!

History that Makes You Think

As we all know, history is written by the victor, or pretty much anyone who cares to write it.  In some cases it comes down to us from sources that can never be verified, and aren't the most reliable.  For this reason, I love any kind of resource that helps children think about what they're learning in a more objective way.  Just because it's written as truth doesn't mean it's actually true.  Just because it's in the history books doesn't mean it's true.  It's good practice to get into researching to verify the facts before you take it as a fact.

Plymouth Rock is a perfect example of what I'm talking about.  Everyone (or, at least until I moved to Texas, I thought it was everyone) knows the story of Plymouth Rock.  The Pilgrims disembarked from their boat and stepped gently down onto Plymouth Rock.  I've heard a variety of stories on how it happened, including the first man to step on the rock falling off the rock and to the ground because he still had his sea legs and wasn't used to land.  The question remains, is that how it really happened?  Where's the truth in this story.

In Jean Fritz's book Who's That Stepping on Plymouth Rock? that issue is very much brought to light.  As it turns out the story of Plymouth Rock was first mentioned by a 95 year old man by the name of Thomas Faunce.  His father knew some of the First Comers, and when the townsfolk asked if it was a landmark, he verified that it was.  Of course, we're now left to trust the word of a 95 year old man that didn't even know the First Comers personally.  For all we know his father was a tiny babe when he met the First Comers himself.  The story could have been made up for a good children's tale.  It's entirely possible that the story of that first step on Plymouth Rock never happened at all, especially considering no one seems to know who that first person was to step off the boat and onto the rock.  Was it John Alden, as his family said it was?  Was it Mary Winslow, as her family insisted?  From the sounds of it, neither of them were on the first boat to shore, and from much of my research, the women stayed on the boat at first while the men cleared the land and prepared homes for their families to live in.  Doesn't that leave a lot of questions?  Isn't it strange that neither of the families that insisted their relative was the first knew of the story to begin with before Elder Faunce told of it?

In all fairness, to say that there's a lot of reason to doubt the story of Plymouth Rock, there also has to be acceptance that it could, in deed, be true!  It's entirely possible that the First Comers stepped onto the rock when they first arrived, though it doesn't seem the most logical thing to do.  A rock as large as Plymouth Rock is described to be would be difficult to climb up onto when arriving in shore in the small boats they would take out to drop everyone to land.  There were surely more logical places to put to shore.  Then there's the curiosity that there seems to be no written record verifying the story.  Still, even with all of this, it can't be doubted that the story is entirely possible.  There's no evidence to out and out disprove it.  It's all based on the fact that it wouldn't be the most logical decision to land at Plymouth Rock.

Of course, to small children it sounds completely reasonable.  The Mayflower just sailed up to the shore and the tall boat was just the right height for everyone to step right off onto the rock.  I remember when I was small that's how I thought it all must have happened.  I'd never thought of the reality of running the boat ashore.  I never thought that they wouldn't do that, but would instead send a smaller boat to make land.  Given my childish ignorance, I had no reason to doubt this story.  It sounded so wonderful and fantastical.

At some point I'd known a lot about Plymouth Rock.  I know my family went out to Plymouth Plantation at one point.  Supposedly I've seen the rock myself, but I don't remember it.  I'd heard the rock was moved around and broken.  I'd heard a whole bunch of stories, most of which I don't even remember anymore.  It seems like, for a rock, Plymouth Rock has a lot of history.

So, what about this book?  I'd say it's a fantastic read for anyone who wants their children to stop and think about history.  I mean, what if this whole fuss was made over a rock that was really nothing more than just that, a rock?  What if no one stepped off onto the rock at all?  Is history real if there's no evidence, record, or verifiable account of what happened?

More importantly, does it even matter whether the Pilgrims stepped off onto the rock or not?  Does the history mean as much as the symbol itself?  It may never have been touched by the Pilgrims (though, there is every chance that they sat on it, touched it, leaned on it, or something) but today it stands for something more.  It's a monument of it's own right, a landmark.  That giant rock, through all of it's trials, stands for something.  It's a mark representing those who came before us and a reminder of the sacrifices they made to arrive in this "new world".  It's a reminder of all of their struggles.  It's a reminder of freedom, in so many ways, as that's what they traveled to America to attain.  Isn't that almost more important than knowing whether the Pilgrims ever set foot on it at all?

This is what I love about history books like this.  It makes you think.  It opens things up for discussion, which I think is far more important than memorizing facts and knowing quirky bits of history.  It gives a family something to talk about (especially if they share the book together) and a chance to reflect on how history is created.  It's a chance to discuss whether a symbol people can take pride in and be inspired by is more valuable than knowing the truth of a matter.  Isn't that almost what religion is about?  Having something to have faith in rather than looking for the hard facts that support the story?  Is there really anything wrong with something that fills people with so much hope (in the case of religion), national pride (in the case of Plymouth Rock), and love?  Is there really any harm in something that brings families together?  Is there any harm in something that encourages thoughtful discussions and educating their minds?

Maybe I'm looking into this more deeply than most people would care to think.  Maybe I'm looking for lessons that go far deeper than the author ever intended.  Perhaps she was just trying to record some interesting facts about a point in history that so many children (at least in New England) learn about.  Even so, I think it's wonderful to look at it as so much more.  Why not use everything as an excuse, as a reason to expand your mind?

In the end, what are my personal thoughts on Plymouth Rock?  Personally I think the Pilgrims never set foot on it.  It's too unlikely that they would choose that spot when better ones could be found.  Given only one man had ever heard the story, it's hard to back it up with any degree of truth, so I have to wonder if he just made it up, or perhaps his father did.  Maybe, just like with playing telephone, the story got mixed up somewhere along the way.  We can never know the truth.  However, Plymouth Rock now stands as a symbol more than a historic landmark.  That giant rock was undoubtedly a fixture in the landscape when the Pilgrims landed.  It's something they would have seen every day as they worked and lived.  It's lasted the test of time, a little worse for wear because of the meddling of others.  It's broken, cracked, and cemented back together, and yet there it still stands.  Doesn't that kind of match our national history?  We've been broken and fractured through civil war and political divides, yet in the end, we're still together as one nation. In a way, it's like each and every one of us.  People make up their minds about us, and as a result we end up a little battered and broken, but in the end we're still there, bearing the scars of our past, looking on to the future.  Hopefully, like the rock, we'll all be looking forward to a peaceful future where we can spend time with our good friends (in the rock's case, a few seagulls) and ride out the rest of our days in happiness.

Her First Library Card

Yesterday my daughter and I decided it was about time we go do something special.  She and I have been working on reading for a while, so when I decided to get my own library card, I thought I should take her with me to get her own.

In truth, I wasn't really getting a library card so I could take out books.  I'd heard the local libraries were a complete disappointment in comparison to the grand, spacious libraries back home.  There's a Droid and iPhone app that allows you to download e-books from the local library to your phone.  They're automatically deleted on their due date so you don't get any late fees.  I thought it would be a wonderful way to expand the collection of books I've read, even though I'm not terribly fond of e-books.

My daughter isn't a strong reader by any means.  It still takes us a couple hours to get her to read one of those level three early readers.  Level four books can take even longer, like Ben Franklin and the Magic Squares.  That book has taken her a couple of hours, but at least she's digesting the content of it pretty well.  She's pretty amazed by the things Ben Franklin has invented, and that's not even all of them!

We packed ourselves up in the car and went off to the library.  On the car ride over we talked about the library.  She'd asked if we were going to the place she'd gone with Marrok, but I explained to her that was a book store.  You buy books there.  Libraries allow you to borrow books, and as long as you get them back on time, you don't have to pay anything!  She was pretty amazed.  She couldn't wait to get there and see what they had.  She was hoping they had toys, but I told her I didn't know if they would.

The first thing we did when we got there was walk up to the library desk.  One of the librarians was busy, so fittingly we went to another librarian who was very nice, helpful, and reminded me a lot of my aunt, which made me smile.  A little pang of homesickness and missing my family washed over me, but I was able to brush it aside.  We had a purpose here.  My little girl was getting her first library card!

My daughter, being who she is, asked a million questions, of course.  I asked a few questions too.  Apparently you have to be five years old to get your own library card,  My older son is almost there.  We were each allowed to borrow three things for this visit, but next time we'll be able to take out ten.  Fittingly we went to the branch that was more of a children's library, so we really felt like we'd found the right place.

When we were done, my daughter wanted to look around.  There were stained glass windows on the wall to some partitioned room that looked like an office.  My daughter wanted to look at all the pictures in the stained glass.  She was amused to see some familiar video game characters in one frame, and a dragon and knights in another.  Then we looked at the movies, saw the audio books, and went by each shelf of books talking about the labels on the ends.

Finally, we settled into the books themselves.  We decided to start with some books that would expand on her homeschooling experience.  I figured we'd pick one or two educational books and then get something fun.  Of course, my daughter had other ideas.  Once she'd started looking, she'd picked out too many books and had the hard task of deciding which books she wanted to take now, and which she would save for next time.  She'd pulled out three books on history, two on Halloween, a book on Columbus Day, and a book on green activities for kids to save the environment.  We decided that we would have to come pick books for every holiday.  There were tons of books on Christmas, so  we'll have tons of books to read come Christmas time!  There's books on holiday traditions in a huge number of different countries, so that sounds like it will be fun and educational.

Finally, she decided on three books.  The first one she picked was the first book she pulled off the shelf, True Green Kids: 100 Things You Can Do to Save the Planet. She's been really into environmentalism, probably a result of having a mom like me. Of the two Halloween books she decided on True Green Kids: 100 Things You Can Do to Save the Planet, which was fitting as it seems to give a pretty full history of the holiday. Lastly she decided on True Green Kids: 100 Things You Can Do to Save the Planet, which is also very fitting because Columbus Day will be here before long. Isn't it next week?

Excited at her selections, she bugged me to swiftly pick my books so we could fly home.  She couldn't wait to look at them.  Next time she's looking forward to checking out ten more, since she'll be able to check out that many on all of her following visits.  Hopefully this is the first step towards having a life-long learner!

Daylight Savings, You Are the Bane of My Existance

Over the past few weeks I've been kind of irritated at the whole concept of Daylight Savings Time.  With my kids being early risers, it means they need to be early to bed too.  After a little research, my daughter needs about eleven hours of sleep every night and both my boys need to get twelve and thirteen.  Doing a little quick math, if they'up by six-thirty or seven, they can't be going to bed around nine or ten.  That's actually part of the reason my older two are probably so crabby all the time.

What does this have to do with Daylight Savings?  Well, here's my problem.  My kids don't want to go to bed when the sun's still out.  What kid likely does.  I remember when I was small and forced to go to bed before the sun set I would read on my bed or stare longingly out the window, wishing I were playing out there instead of being trapped in my bed when I really didn't want to sleep.  I can't blame my kids for feeling the same way.  It's light out!  That means it's time to play!  Daylight Savings is really effecting their sleep schedule.

So, just doing a little quick math here, we're going to take a look at wake-up times and bed times for my kids.  My daughter, for example, likes to get up between six and seven in the morning.  To get her full eleven hours of sleep, that means she's got to be in bed by seven or eight in the evening.  My older son (since he's been doing without a nap) needs to be in bed by six or seven.  My youngest takes a good long nap, sometimes two in the afternoon and can really go to bed as late as he wants.  Those don't sound like unreasonable bed times for kids their age.  They'll have plenty of sleep, which means they'll be healthy.

Unfortunately, that's when Daylight Savings Time comes into play.  It seems like each year Daylight Savings Time gets pushed further and further along the year.  This year, for example, it goes from March 13th through November 6th.  That means the relief I was waiting for on bed time isn't anywhere near being in sight.  It's still going to be a month away!  Instead of relying on standard time to help my kids get to bed earlier, I'm now stuck with waiting on the sunset to happen far enough before bed time that it's dark in their rooms.  That's making getting everyone to bed no easy task.

I know I've been asked before, wouldn't that just make the children get up earlier in the morning because the sun is up earlier?  In my experience, not so much.  I've got to get them out of bed to get them ready for the co-op no later than 7am.  There's so little light in the house that we have to turn lights on to get ready by.  I can't imagine how much worse it's got to be for families that send their kids to school and may need to be up as early as 5am, significantly before sunset.  That means kids the same age as mine need to be in bed even more before sunset in order to get a proper night's sleep!

Looking at a sunrise and sunset calendar (because I love those things!) I can see where the problem is.  Sunrise isn't until 7:27 this morning.  That means we're always waking up before the sun rises.  It's really hard to tell my kids they need to stay in bed until the sun is up when the sun's not even up on days we go to the co-op.  It's also hard to tell them to go to bed at their bed time when the sun doesn't even set until 7:13, thirteen minutes after they're sent to bed.  It just doesn't make sense.

I remember when I was in school I would eagerly await the end of Daylight Savings.  I would dread the approach of Daylight Savings every spring.  Sure, it meant it was light out for later in the day, but often times it meant sitting out and waiting for the school bus in the dark, decently before the sun was up.  My bus would come at 7:05 in the morning.  Back then Daylight Savings was over in October, not the late end we have now some time after Halloween.  I can't imagine how it must be in Massachusetts, when I might not see sunlight in those last few days until after school had already begun.

While I understand Daylight Savings is supposed to benefit electrical consumption, pushing it back so late in the year only seems to be hurting our energy consumption.  The kids are to bed when the sun is up and as a result they've got to get up and turn the lights on to get ready for their day in the dark.  Most of the soldiers around here will spend much of their morning in darkness as they get ready to go off to training.  Many school kids will be using electricity when getting ready for school.  Given many families are at home during the hottest part of the day regardless, it really doesn't seem to help a thing here in Texas.

Then there's the next huge transition that's going to have to happen in my family.  When the time "falls back" by an hour, I'm going to have to convince my kids to stay in bed an hour longer, something that's hard enough to do already.  They won't have to get up before the sun on days that they have to go to the co-op, so that means they can actually sleep in until the sunrise for a while.  It's going to be hard to teach them that if the sun's not up in the morning, neither should they be.  Thankfully, it will be easier to get them to stay up an hour later.  The change over in the spring is also going to be very disruptive to their sleep cycle, which doesn't help my part as a parent either.  I seriously think we could live very happily without the intrusion of Daylight Savings on our lives.

What's worse is the contradictions I hear between the published results of those who are pro-Daylight Savings and the actual people I talk to every day.  Sure, people love being able to "gain an hour of sleep" in the fall, but everyone hates to "spring forward".  It means "losing an hour of sleep" and no one is too fond of that.  Yes, it's nice to get to gain an hour in the day and be able to sleep a bit longer that one night, or get into a schedule of getting up earlier with nothing more than the change of the clock, but it really is disruptive. I've known plenty of people who end up late for where they're going because they forget to change their clocks.  Then there's all the people who end up tired and cranky for weeks in the spring because they have a hard enough time getting to sleep on time, never mind an hour earlier.  Daylight Savings Time is really disruptive to a lot of the people I know!

I swear, I'm ready to have it over already and I'm really tired of having to wait.  It hasn't made my life any easier and now it's presenting even more of a challenge.  I'm going to have to buy room darkening curtains for my children's rooms just so they'll get to bed on time and get plenty of sleep.  Otherwise I'm going to be forced to live with cranky, tired kids who throw tantrums at the drop of a hat because they don't want to sleep when it's light out.  Thank you, Daylight Savings Time.  You're making my job as a mother that much harder...

Lazy Days and Reading

With all of the stressful things in my life right now it's sometimes hard to sit back and appreciate the things that really mean something to me.  It's too easy to be stressed out about the bills being paid and where we're moving when our lease is up.  For our part on that, it's just been too much for us to want to stay here.  Our building has been sold once already in June and now they're looking to sell it again.  It's complicated just about everything and we're ready to move on.  All of that stress has kind of gotten me stuck on that and I've forgotten about some of the better moments.

Today I finally caught up with my daughter, since  we've missed reading for the past couple of days.  She's not a terribly strong reader and hasn't shown much interest in reading for herself.  She hasn't really read anything (that I'm aware of) for the past week or so, and I haven't been pushing her.  Instead I've been reading to her.  We absolutely plowed through the first book in her three book The Princess School Special Edition Treasury.  We're flying through the second book too.

I've noticed that's something all of the best moms I've known have done, reading to their kids.  It doesn't seem to matter how old their kids get unless their kids just stop liking it.  A very good friend of mine read Harry Potter with her kids every night.

With all of my daughter's love for ATC and all of that, it's gotten her into writing too.  She writes her name, the date, and title on the back of her cards.  As a result, she's finally learning how to write.  Her spelling is absolutely atrocious, but what can I expect from a girl who used to fight me for so long?  I can't expect immediate results.  She's actually doing pretty well with it.  Now I just need to see if I can encourage her to work with it more steadily.

Just like with the ATC being incentive for her writing, I think our family reading time is incentive for her to read. I just wish I could find something my younger two would enjoy sitting down and letting me read with them.  Neither of them are interested in story time.  They'd much rather run off to play (or attempt to do it themselves!) so it's challenging.  Still, I'm glad I can still share something with my daughter!