Reading

I’m concurrently reading:

What Will Happen in Eragon IV: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Becomes the Third Dragon Rider and How Will the Inheritance Cycle Finally End?

Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics: Teachers’ Understanding of Fundamental Mathematics in China and the United States

The Core: Teaching Your Child the Foundations of Classical Education

I pick up whichever one fits my mood & the strength of my mind at the current time. Interesting stuff, all.

Are Books A Distraction?

Once my children can hold something in their hand and move across the floor in any way (crawl, walk, roll), they have grabbed a book, brought it to me (or my spouse), and insisted (verbally or non-verbally) that we read it to them. My spouse & I are big readers. My oldest now loves to read. All the others (except the baby) bring books to be read aloud to.

I’m trying to start back up with homeschooling. We’re still only doing a few subjects – with the goal of ramping up to “full” homeschooling schedule in another two or three weeks. Every day, however, I realize what a challenge that will be for us right now.

Not because of the baby.

Because every time I try to get started with something (anything – dinner, sweeping, laundry, doing history/science/religion with the older two), someone will bring me a book and ask me to read to them.

And, being me, I stop and read to them. Maybe it is only a chapter. Maybe it is only a page or two. That’s why there is a broom sitting against the kitchen table with a small pile of noodles that hasn’t been swept up yet. That’s why the laundry is still in the washer and the dryer door is open – waiting to receive the clean but still wet clothes.

In our house, books are a pleasant distraction from the rest of life. They are a distraction, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Eventually, the laundry will get done. We’ll get to the school work at some point.

And, I have a confession. Sometimes, I mean only to read a chapter. But, I get into the book just as much as the kids . . . and we end up reading two or three chapters. Or sometimes, we finish the whole book in one sitting and by the time I look up from our read-aloud, lunch is almost an hour late. That’s life in our house.

Summer Reading Club

The tiny local library has started their summer reading club up. Activities are planned once per week at the library and all books the kids read (or have read to them) are recorded on sheets and turned in. At the end of the club, the kids get a chance to redeem their “book bucks” for prizes and also have a chance to win a bike donated by a local business.

The older kids really enjoyed the first week’s activity. We arrived early enough to pick up our stash of books (eventually maxing out our checkout number). Child #1 who now “loves to read” has already read between two and three (170-210 pg) books per day since then. It is hard to find “suitable” reading material on her reading level in our small town library. We are going to be joining the “big city” library system (1 1/2 hrs drive away) sometime this late summer/early fall to gain access to more books we would like to use for our Story of the World history curriculum and hopefully more books on Child #1′s reading level.

Until then, we are having a great time with the summer reading club, swimming several times a week at the local pool, and hitting local (or regional) kid-friendly events while trying to stay cool!