End of Week 1: Kicking It Off Right

It's been a great start to the year.  We've gotten so much done!  I can't believe the strong start we've had.  Somehow I always think we're going to just slink into the year, not making much effort to really get into it, and that's what we always end up doing.  Slowly we start adding more until we're in full swing, but then we have periods of slacking and not getting through as much as we'd intended, paired with an all-out scramble to catch up once we fall behind.  It's getting everything done, but it's more than a little stressful.

Creeper working hard on his phonics

This year has been different.  We took a week off before really getting into it, but we jumped in and completely committed, straight from the start.  I'm really impressed at our ability to progress through our lessons and just keep going.  I wasn't expecting such a smooth transition.  Normally getting the kids back into the school routine results in resistance and struggles, but this time it was smooth sailing.

I started with attempting to make a schedule for the kids, but that went out the window fast.  It seemed like things didn't want to sit in the blocks they were assigned for, and with the kids doing lessons by Skype with our aunt, that made it challenging.  I think that one was on me, though.  I just wanted to be organized.  In my head there was just so much to be done, but as it turned out, it wasn't nearly as much as I thought it would.  Science and history, which I thought would be long and involved were both pretty easy and quick, at least where I was involved.  Getting their language arts done simply flew.  The only subjects that took a little more time were phonics and math, which I knew would be more time consuming anyway.

Bear's first copyork!

This year was Bear's first year doing copywork, and the first time we've decided to do any significant practice of copywork.  Pinkie and Link have done copywork before, for a co-op we used to go to, but they would only do it once a week.  Now Bear and Creeper are doing copywork three times a week and Link is doing dictation twice.  I expected them to find it boring, but they're really quite enjoying it.  Better still, they love the sentences coming from their literature.  I think that's their favorite part!

Already I'm seeing improvements in their handwriting.  Between the copywork and all of the writing for their phonics programs, they're really starting to become a lot more careful and neat.  This is especially obvious for Bear, who used to hate writing neatly.  He liked to treat his writing like it was a form of art, but that gave it the impression of being almost hieroglyphic in nature.  It was sometimes hard to read.  Creeper's work wasn't always the easiest to read either, which didn't help.  I have a feeling their copywork will be far different between the beginning of the year and the end of the year.  I even took pictures to compare at the end of the year.

Bear's first copywork of the year

Creeper's first copywork of the year

This was really exciting for us.  This is the first year we're going to have something significant to compare at either end of the year.  We've never been all that into portfolios, so we haven't kept a lot of work samples.  Most of what we've kept has been workbooks so the kids can see how far they've progressed.  This time things are different.  They're going to have two things to hold up and compare, which is going to be a lot of fun for them.

Creeper doing his literature by Skype

The biggest success of the year so far was getting things started up for Skype.  They're loving those lessons.  I think this is fantastic because it's not just a chance for them to have some educational time with someone other than me, but it's also a chance to build a relationship with another member of their family.  They get exposure to a really good reader as well.  I'm loving this Skype arrangement.  More importantly, the kids are loving this whole Skype thing.

This is also just a really funky way to homeschool.  It's given me the idea that we may want to start budgeting for some other online classes, maybe through something like Outschool.  There's something special about having a chance to work alone in my little office without any distractions, and have someone's attention just on them.  I think they'd love doing classes online this way too.  It could be something to think about for our future in homeschooling.  Maybe we'll have to consider getting them each on an online class for their birthday or for Christmas.  That could be so much fun.

Link working in the comfy chair

In other news, while this is the first week of homeschooling for Link, it may also be the last solid week of homeschooling for Link.  We just got word back that he's off the waiting list for the charter school we've been looking into for him.  While it makes me sad to think of how much I'll miss out on with him being in school, I can't help but think how good this will be for him.  The school has a reputation for having a great program, with lots of support for special needs.  It's entirely science and technology based, which is really Link's thing.  Most of all, it means he'll have a chance to make some really good social connections and make some friends, something that's been kind of lacking in his life right now.  Without a car our opportunities for socialization are limited, and he's really of an age where he needs to expand his social circle.

It's going to be an interesting transition for us, should we decide this is the best path for Link.  He's super excited and ready to go back to school.  He wants friends his own age and a big social network.  He's already a morning person, so getting him up and out the door shouldn't be hard, and adapting our lives to work around when he's on and off the bus shouldn't be hard, but it's going to be a very different dynamic only having two at home.  It will be a big change for almost all of us.

All of us except Pinkie.  She's already back in school.  Her first week back was in her landscaping shop, and apparently it was wonderful.  She's looking forward to a great year there, though we're not sure how great it will be yet.  We won't know what she really feels until she gets into her academic week at the vocational school, which happens when she goes back on Tuesday.  So far it looks like it should be a good year though.

Pinkie has really taken off on her own this year.  She started volunteering at the local food pantry over the summer and plans to continue on one day a week throughout the year.  She's moving on into an honors class.  She's decided it's healthier to walk to and from school, so she's been doing that because she wants to stay in shape, which is especially important with her shop.  She needs to stay strong and capable.  In some ways it's hard to believe we're one step closer to her being out in the world, but at the same time, it seems right.  It's going to be a hard change when she's finally off to college or living on her own.

But this is only the first week of school.  We've had a couple victories, things the kids are wicked proud of, particularly Bear.  He's feeling especially accomplished this week.  We've even caught on video two very special moments:

Bear reading Mac and Tab (Primary Phonics)

This is Bear reading his first phonics reader, Mac and Tab, done by Primary Phonics.  I have to admit, when I first learned about this program I wasn't in love with it.  In fact, I kind of hated it, but Creeper was doing okay with it, so we kept with it.  Now that I'm seeing the incredible impact it's having on the kids' ability to read, I'm really pretty impressed with it.  It feels like we're really making progress with reading, and this program has so much to do with that, especially with the readers, which are right on target and perfectly timed with the levels.  I couldn't ask for more!

Bear recites "from Childe Harold's Pilgrimage"

Also, this is another huge accomplishment.  The kids are all going to be memorizing poems this year, even Link, who has decided to continue with his poems even after he goes back to school.  Bear was the first one to have a poem due, and he did wonderfully!  He's so proud of himself and I'm so proud of him!  This year is going to be full of poetry for the kids, which is fantastic because they're totally loving the memorization and are so excited to show off to the world!

Haircuts by Daddy

In an unrelated to school front, Bear decided he was sick of having long hair (as I'm sure you've noticed in the second video), so he wanted his hair cut.  His cute new style was given to him by his dad, and it turned out great!  More often than not our idea of haircuts are clippers by the sink, or paying someone else to do them, but this worked out really well.  We may have to do more haircuts by Daddy!

Now Bear says he has "princess hair, like Mommy," which I think is the cutest thing.  It's great that we've been able to give him a new style for his first year in an actual numbered grade.  He's no longer a little kid anymore, he's a first grader!  Now he has more of a big kid style to go with it, or at least that's how he feels.

As for going forward, we're really excited about continuing our work for this school year.  We've got some really great stuff coming our way as the year goes on.  The plan is to keep at least weekly updates, possibly more often if we're up to fun and interesting things.  It's shaping up to be a great school year already!

Ranger Rick, Something for All My Kids

I only vaguely remember the magazines I read when I was younger.  I remember getting Highlights, and that's perhaps the one that sticks best in my mind. I know we got Zoobooks. I'm pretty sure we also got National Geographic Kids. However, I don't really remember Ranger Rick.  That's really been something that was more for my kids, nothing I remember when I was younger.  I'm pretty sure it was around, but I don't even remember it from when I was a kid.

Thankfully, Ranger Rick is a magazine that's thought about providing something for everyone.  It's hard to feel fair with magazine subscriptions most of the family doesn't get any magazines, but one person gets them all.  I feel like the other kids are left out because there aren't as many options.  I'm sure my littlest doesn't care much, but they all like sitting and waiting for their hand-out when magazines come in the mail.  It's a moment of excitement for them.

I kind of get it too.  I always used to love getting mail.  It's harder with e-mail because I don't get mail as often. I don't splurge on magazines for myself anymore, so the most I get is the occasional catalog.  Generally it's just bills and junk mail.  However, as a kid I was always excited when the mail came.

More often than not the kids get packages.  There's generally cards in the packages, but it's big giant boxes over anything you'd get in the mail box.  They get so thrilled on those days, but magazine days are better.  The mailman doesn't come to our door so they're caught off guard, surprised.  It's a little bit of something unexpected to brighten up their day.

What I love about Ranger Rick is the ability to interest kids of all ages, or at least younger kids of all ages.  There does come an age when kids are more likely to want to read adult or teen magazines, but my kids aren't quite there yet.  Until then, Ranger Rick is perfect for my whole family.

The little guy right now gets "the baby magazine" as my daughter puts it.  Our stock of Wild Animal Baby has been growing since Link was little.  A handful of them have been ruined over time by being chewed on or spit up on.  Both my boys loved the books when they were very little, but they didn't always understand the rules of books, like "books don't belong in your mouth."  Now my littlest is old enough that he proudly turns the pages of his own book and pretends to read it all on his own.  He's not much for being read to anymore, so he doesn't really get the full effect, but he still loves he books.  On top of that, he just lights up like nothing else when the other kids get something in the mail and then I hand him his own magazine too!  It makes him feel special.  We get extra use out of it because my daughter will read some of the stuff to Link, so all the kids get something out of it.

Link getsYour Big Backyard.  His older sister got it until not to long ago when he was still getting Animal Babies.  It all changed over right about the time my youngest was born.  We all love that magazine.  Link particularly likes all the pictures of the animals.  This issue had a lot of walrus pictures, which he thought was pretty cool.  We generally don't read much together, but he prefers to have his big sister read to him.  He'll look at his magazines for hours on end!

Bunny Boo is very excited to get Ranger Rick.  It's much more grown-up than the other two magazines, so it makes her feel like an adult.  She reads the articles and the stories.  She loves the little comic in each issue.  Best of all, there's some cool games.  While she loves looking at all the pictures, she also loves that she can learn some pretty cool things.

I have to say, Ranger Rick is the only magazine company I've found that offers magazines for such a wide range of kids.  There's really something for everyone.  Best of all, it's teaching the kids about something all kids love, nature and animals!  Of all the magazines and things out there, this is the one I'm most excited about.  It's one more thing my daughter loves to read and it's a company that offers something for all of my kids.  What could be better than that?

I Don't Know What Changed, But It Changed!

Bunny Boo has decided out of nowhere that she actually wants to read!  She's not telling me that she wants me to read.  She just picked up a book and started reading!  Not only is it a book, but it's a chapter book.  She's willingly decided to read a chapter book, all by herself, without needing to bug me every five seconds for help.  She's finally found something that's inspired her.

So what is this miracle book that got my daughter reading?  Her great aunt sent her Bellossom's Big Battle (Pokemon Junior Chapter Book) in the box she sent for Valentine's Day.  My Pokemon obsessed daughter is finally inspired to read because it's about Pokemon, and what could be more fun than that?  Now if only we could track down the rest of the series!  I might just have to start trying.

Now, in case you haven't guessed by now, my aunt is incredibly awesome.  She has a degree in education and used to teach.  I don't remember a lot about the time I spent with my aunt, but some things do stand out more than others.  She says she helped my sister and I learn fractions, and while I don't doubt it, I just don't remember it.  However, there are some things I do remember quite clearly, like having her dedicate a weekend to my report on Ellis Island, and helping me write it so well (with foot notes and everything) that my teacher thought I must have had someone do it for me.  In my teacher's opinion, sixth graders aren't capable of that kind of work.  I learned a lot about properly siting sources that weekend, knowledge I found helpful later in high school.  There was one weekend where I had to stand out in front of her house while she had me recite the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere so I could have it memorized for the first day we could recite it in class.  I'm horrible with memorization, but while some people would think yelling a poem over the noise of traffic is kind of torturous, I think it was brilliant.  I had to repeat the poem so many times just to be heard that I couldn't help but memorize it.  Since then it's become one of my favorites, even if it isn't the most historically accurate.

My aunt could always be counted on for the best gifts on the holidays too.  My favorite was a book I still have today, almost ten years later, Dinotopia.  I remember my mom saying she was disappointed that I unwrapped it and moved on to the next thing so quickly.  I have to admit, that year I was kind of in a hurry to get it all over with.  I'm still kind of that way.  I like to get through my presents as fast as possible so I can move on to the moments when I don't have to have the whole room looking at me.  I still feel awkward having people stare at me when I get a present, not quite sure how to show proper appreciation, not how long to dedicate to each present before passing on to the next one.

I just wish my aunt knew just how much time I spent with that book.  I even tried writing an entire journal in the footprint language of the dinosaurs.  I still pull that book out and read it.  I just wish I'd known there were more to the hardcover series.  I can't wait until the boys are older so I can share it with them.  Bunny Boo...she's not so much on dinosaurs...

I honestly don't know what changed in Bunny Boo.  I think it had something to do with the Pokemon book, I'm sure.  It's fitting that my aunt should hold the magic fix to get my daughter reading, after all, she always seemed to inspire my sister and I to learn and do really well on our school projects.  I'm just happy that she's reading after all this time!

Oh, and since I know my aunt is reading this, this post is definitely dedicated to her.  There aren't many people in the world as special as my aunt is, and I know I don't tell her this near as much as I probably should, but my life would have been very different without her.  A girl couldn't ask for a better godmother!

Lazy for Homeschooling, Yet Somehow Still Productive

You know what we did for homeschooling today?  That's right, nothing.  We didn't work on writing.  We didn't work on reading.  We didn't talk about math.  Link didn't even read the e-mail from his grandma about the cool stuff she's got to say on the subject of germs.  We did absolutely nothing, yet I think it was perhaps our most productive homeschooling day ever.

Why do I think that?  For starters, my daughter actually read.  She didn't really read much, but she was sitting next to the baby I take care of after just having fed her (because she loves being helpful) and my youngest brought her one of those boxed sets of books.  He wanted to "read" them.  However, I guess he decided they were boring when they were no longer in their box, so he just walked away.  That's when my daughter decided to do something incredibly out of character for her.  She picked up the first book and started reading the first chapter quietly to herself, asking questions when she came across something she just didn't get.

What was this book that had her so captivated?  The book was Flat Stanley: His Original Adventure! from The Flat Stanley Collection Box Set.  We'd parts of the books before, though most of the time we'd never finished them because she just wasn't interested in finishing stories back then.  She liked to read half a book and then start something new.  However, this time she was plowing through it like a champ.  Who knew she'd just pick it up and read it for no reason at all?  I'm so proud of my Bunny!  She's actually reading!

Link didn't do anything overly educational, but he did a lot of "creative writing" type practice.  He was sitting by himself just making up stories.  I'm not entirely sure who he was telling or if he was telling anyone at all, but it was amusing to see him sitting there, quietly telling stories without any toys or physical action going on.  I wouldn't be surprised if I had peeked in to see him holding a book, but I didn't bother to check on him.  I didn't want to interrupt him.

My littlest one decided today would be a good day to color.  He finally started using his Easel and his Crayon Rocks that he got for his birthday.  I can't tell you how much he loves them.  It took him a while to actually start using them.  Crayons weren't so much his thing, but he's discovered that these are just perfect for him to hold.  He had to ask the other kids what colors each crayon was before he could draw with it and was incredibly proud of what he'd done.  He's finally starting to sink in to something a bit artistic.  We knew it wouldn't be long!

It was a very relaxing day, aside from the points with a cranky baby, but it was nice.  It's good to feel like we've really accomplished something, even if we haven't really done much at all.  Even I got to do something since the book I'd ordered came in today.  I'd ordered Theatre Games for Young Performers to help me with my theater class at the co-op.  Since I just got it, I couldn't resist paging through it and came up with some great new ideas for my theater class, and a few things I'd forgotten from my own theater games from when I was in school.  Even I couldn't avoid learning without even really meaning to!  It's wonderful.

I kind of wish every day could be like today, casual and relaxed, yet everyone is filling their day with incredibly educational things.  It would be perfect.  I keep hoping that some day my kids will really take control of their own education, but that's still a while off, I think.  However, it's days like these that really make me think that letting the kids work towards their own educational goals, even if it's just half the time, could be a realistic goal for our family.  It's amazing how productive time that's not scheduled for work can be when you just let it happen.

The Books She Chose to Read

When I think of reading books as a child, I think of all the things I liked to read.  I wanted books with stories in them.  If it was too obvious I was learning something, they were no fun.  I always thought my daughter would likely be the same way.  She would choose books that are full of story and fun to read.  I guess I'm a bit surprised that she didn't do at all what I'd expected.

For the past few days Bunny Boo has been reading by choice.  She grabs books and magazines and actually reads them.  She's been trying to teach Link how to read too, though that's not going over so well.  He's not so keen on the idea of learning, mostly because his sister keeps him up all night and then gets him up at the crack of dawn every morning.  I'm just happy she's reading at all.

However, I have to admit, I'm surprised at what she's reading when it comes to things that aren't magazines!  She's been gravitating towards the same two books for the past couple days.  What are these incredible books that she loves so much?  She's been reading To Root to Toot to Parachute: What Is a Verb and Hairy, Scary, Ordinary: What Is an Adjective.

Looking at the books, I guess I can't really blame her.  They may be educational, but they're fun little books.  They have crazy writing, cute pictures, and look like a great read.  I can understand why she might be drawn to them.  They're simple, educational, and kind of silly.

I've got to admit, I'm glad she's chosen these books.  Not only is she getting reading skills out of them but she's also getting a good education.  She's actually learning a lot more than she thinks she is, not that I'm going to tell her that.  I'm smart enough to realize that she'll stop reading them if I tell her they're educational too!  She seems to hate anything that makes her any more intelligent!

That's one thing I can give kids who are homeschooled.  They seem to naturally gravitate towards things that help them learn.  It's almost as though they've got the natural inclination to find out about the world around them and the way it works, imagine that!  And it seems like my kids are already proving that they'll eventually span the range of every subject matter if you give them half a chance to do it in their own time.

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.

Today's History Lesson

My daughter has finally found a love of history!  It's inspired her to read!  Yesterday I mentioned that my daughter had come home to read Sam the Minuteman.  Today she asked if there were any more stories about Sam.  Unfortunately, there are none that I know of.  We decided to take a step further and branch off into other books about the time period.

Today we searched my daughter's book shelf and found a couple of books that she might find interest in.  She decided she wanted to learn more about what life was like for someone like Sam.  Right now she's reading about what girls did in colonial times.  We found that in If You Lived in Colonial Times.  She's found a couple things in that book that she wants to know about in that book.  I have a feeling this is going to inspire a whole lot of learning about history, which is extra exciting for me.  This is a subject I care a lot about.  On top of that, If You Lived in Colonial Times has plenty of information broken down into nice, easy segments.  My daughter can pick and choose what she's interested in finding out about at any given time and only read the parts she feels like learning about.  It's an excellent way for her to find something that's interesting to her.

I have to say, I really like this series.  The kids only have three books from it that I know of, but I'm thinking we may have to try and find more.  I know they have a whole number of books, some of them overlapping in time periods a good deal.  It seems like a good way to give just enough information on a period of history to encourage curiosity without going into too much detail.  The focus on daily life and normal things also makes these books a great supplement to other books about similar periods of history.  It's a great help for our history lessons, and I love it.

I'm thinking since we're working with colonial history and the American Revolution, it might be time to start looking into other books that would inspire my daughter to keep reading.  The American Girls have Felicity, which is about colonial times and the American Revolution.  I'm sure we could find those books at the library.  I though we had them, but apparently we don't.  I'm sure the library would have at least a few more books that may be of interest, though from everything I hear the Killeen Library doesn't have the greatest selection when it comes to American history, at least beyond Texas.  Still, it's one more adventure that can come out of all of this history love.  Perhaps we're going to have to make weekly or bi-weekly trips to the library.

Reading Poetry

We've finally made progress!  My daughter actually likes reading some things.  We're still playing the game of her trying to convince us to let her read the shortest piece she can possibly read for the least amount of work, but she's found something she likes reading, which helps.  It also helps that she's going to need to read for the homeschool co-op this year.  I'm starting to like the idea of this co-op more and more!

So what has got my daughter reading?  Years back we got a copy of A Light in the Attic.  I haven't done much with the poetry in it because, well, I'll admit it, I hate poetry.  I write poetry now and again, but I hate reading it.  As a result, I didn't put much thought into reading it to her.

Don't get me wrong, I'm good with poetry.  I understand it.  Unfortunately, it just doesn't captivate my interest.  I find it rather boring.  It's just not something that inspires me.  At this rate, she's going to be reading well enough for the co-op in no time!

Kids and Arts: Teaching Kids What They Want to Learn

We've been having this reading battle with my daughter for...well...longer than this blog has been in existence.  I've decided that, since the summer's still upon us, maybe I won't do the conventional push for reading.  Maybe we'll do something that interests her, see if we can foster some creativity.

I've been trying to encourage my daughter's love of art.  She's always said she wanted to be an artist, though she doesn't really know anything about art.  We used to have some art books around the house to help her with drawing, but somewhere along the lines they disappeared right along with my sock knitting book and some other things.  She really didn't have much opportunity to study art, nor a lot of artists.  The best I could do was set her to drawing and let her go.

Just the other day Marrok decided he was going to sit down with her.  He was going to work on sculpting, so he wanted to give her a chance to do it with him.  He talked to her about clay, about art, and everything else.  They both worked at making their own sculptures.  Corde made up two different pieces, one with some help, the other without nearly as much.

When they were done they baked the clay in the oven.  She was so excited about her own piece of art turning into something beautiful.  It wasn't enough that she thought it was good, she was just so proud of herself!  I feel bad that she's not going to get a chance to display them in her room until we can get a shelf high enough that her brothers can't access.  She's so proud of her work.

After that she's decided the only thing in the world she's interested in is art.  It's going to be quite the challenge to help her find other interests, but she's interested in something!  I hope this is just going to be the first start to many more interests of all varieties.  My child with no real imagination or drive to be interested in something has found something she loves so much that she's actually asking to read about it!  It's exciting to see that impact and that change happening!

Absence, Craziness...

It's been a while since I've written anything.  What can I say?  I've been a little crazy.  We had a couple weeks of homeschooling failures.  I just didn't have the time, so we voted on having a bit of a vacation from homeschooling.  I think we all needed it.

The past couple of days we've kind of gotten back into the swing of things.  My daughter has been reading again, even though she spent a whole day fighting us on it.  She read three books on her own the first day.  Yesterday she read none.  Today she read one more.  We've been trying to get her to go off on her own, work on reading.  If I sit over her she doesn't actually do it, so we send her off to read in her room and then have her come back and read the story to us.  It's actually worked wonderfully!  She does so much better with reading if we leave her to do it on her own.  She mixes up a few words and needs help now and again, but for the most part, she gets it!

I think in the beginning of the school year we're going to put her into an online learning program, since Texas offers one for free after 3rd grade.  Perhaps having a little more ability for independent work will help her gain confidence in her own abilities in her problem areas.

Reading and Science

This whole reading quest, it's got to go further than just reading and math.  I mean, reading and math is all well and good, but there are so many topics that can be explored here!  Reading can open up so many doors, though my daughter only seems to want to stick with the doors of fictional stories, and the easiest ones humanly possible.  She doesn't want to do anything challenging.

I know why she does it.  If she were to pick a topic that would truly challenge her mind then she would have so much more expected of her.  She prefers books with very little substance to them.  The less substance, the less work she will have to do in the long run.  I can't ask her details about the story, or I'll have very little to work from.  As long as she plays that she doesn't know what she's doing, she'll have to put in minimum effort.

Unfortunately for her, I'm once more catching on that she just doesn't care.  She's showing this in sounding the word out, reading it right five or six times in a row, and then suddenly "forgetting" what the word is.  I'm starting to think she's deliberately adding in letters that aren't there.  I know part of it is her staring all around the room.  I would say it's because it's too easy for her, but in truth, I think it's because she's bored and doesn't want to do the work.  Reading isn't fun for her and she'll rebel at any cost.  I just wish I could find some things she was interested in reading about to get her to do it.  Maybe then she'd stop playing around and just do it already!

Today's subject matters is Rockets and Spaceships in the form of an early reader my aunt sent at some point or another.  I think it may have been in the box we just got.  The kids took off with the books before I could really get a good look, once again.  My older son really has a thing with books and has wanted nothing more than to look at books for the past two weeks.  We've got a number of subjects to last through the week.  I'm hoping this will inspire her to take more interest in reading since reading can expose her to so much that she hasn't had a chance to experience before.

We're gong to see where this goes, but hopefully science will help open the door to reading for her.

She Can Read! It's a Miracle!

I got frustrated with my daughter today.  I couldn't take it anymore.  My daughter had been conning me for quite some time and I was done with letting her get away with it.  Today she would prove to me that she knew more than she was letting on, or she was going to be put in a position where it would be very favorable to learn to read.  I was going to win this battle of wills!

Today my daughter gave me everything I needed to make my move.  She declared that all she ever did was play.  She was bored of playing.  She wanted to color.  She wanted to watch a movie.  She wanted to do anything that was different than playing.  The only reason I hadn't been letting her color was a loss of crayons in the move.  I couldn't find them, so she's kind of been on hold with that in the whole unpacking process.  However, that little complaint had given me everything I needed.  I told her she wasn't allowed to do anything but play and look at books until she could prove to me she could do math and read.

Wouldn't you know it?  She picked up one of the Bobbsey Twins Level 1 Reading books and read the whole thing!  There was a little bit of resistance at first, but before long she had not only read the book, but she had gone on to do entire sets of addition and subtraction, with visual aides.  Isn't it amazing what little it takes to get a kid to prove they can do something?

At the end of it all she got to play a few games on the Wii while I was out at class.  I got home to hear all about it.  We reminded her that once she learns to read, she can play some of the harder games all by herself.  Once she learns to read and do math, she can even take the complete body tests on the Wii Fit Plus, which she's been asking about since it's the way they let her put her own stamp on.  It's been something she's asking about for a while now.

With all of this going on, it probably shouldn't be surprising that her little brother isn't too far behind on that whole reading thing!  I'll have to write about his learning journey soon!