Some Days . . .

My daughter and I had a lot of really rough days when we were starting out. Reading was the worst. She would put up mental blocks, telling herself that she couldn’t do the simplest task (such as reading G-E-T when she was already reading words like PLACE). I would get impatient with it, and the whole thing would spiral downwards into a yelling and crying episode (with a toss up as to who was doing which). Eventually, though sheer stubbornness on my side, we worked our way through it.

A year and a half later, Sierra is now reading at a second grade level, though her fluency is a little slow. Problems still occur, but things are much better. Typically, the days go smoothly, and when she does have a mental block, more often then not, we can quickly talk our way through it. Best of all, I can (usually) stay calm during them.

Unfortunately, we still have our days. Right now she’s throwing a tantrum because she refuses to try sounding out the word “feathers”. This isn’t the first time today either. “Years” was also a problem, though once she calmed down, she got it quickly. There was also math, where she mentally blocked the simple addition of 10 plus 15. (She rarely has any trouble adding two digit numbers together.) Right now, I’m writing this to try to keep from exploding. It’s working . . . marginally. To be honest, neither of us is feeling that great, and it doesn’t help that my youngest keeps fussing over little things here and there.

Hah! She just read “feathers” in less then thirty seconds, once she finished her ten minute scream fest. Sigh. To listen to us now, you wouldn’t know that anything happened. We’ll probably have another episode before school is done, but at least it’s calm for now.

Update, one day later: Success!!! No tantrums. No breakdowns. No scream fests. There was a touch of squawking, but that doesn't count, right? I love days like this.

Sierra's Reading List

Thought I’d mention the books that my husband has read to Sierra over this past year. He reads to her almost every night after reading short picture books to my other two in preparations for bedtime. Anyway, here’s their list, in descending order, from Sierra’s favorite to least favorite. Enjoy.

Ramona the Brave
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh
Stewart Little
Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg
Tink, North of Never Land
The Hobbit
The Tales of Despereaux
Bunnicula
The Princess and the Goblin
The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter
The Trumpet of the Swan
The Book of Three

Boy Meet Fish

My daughters and I have been learning about marine animals for the past few weeks in school, so we decided to take a trip to the Denver Aquarium and see the live animals. It was Blake’s first time.

The Denver Aquarium is set up so that you can “follow” the paths of two different rivers. The single, connected path leads you first to the Colorado River, where you are introduced to carp, otters, cat fish, trout, rattle snakes, flash floods, sea turtles, nurse sharks, and many other fish. The second follows a tropical river with tropical fish and a tiger, leading eventually to the “Ocean” where you see sharks, rays, sea horses, star fish, anemones, jelly fish, and more.


Blake was wide eyed from the first tank, and he wanted out of that stroller immediately. (He never got back in.) From one tank to the next, he would run right up to the glass, stop, and stare motionless for minutes at a time, until we pointed to the another tank. He was fascinated. Big fish, little fish, red fish, otters. . . everything caught his eye and held it (including a tree which he ran around and around for a few minutes). Blake, the child who usually runs ahead of everyone, was constantly the last to move on. Only when we stayed too long at the shark tank did he start jumping off of the benches and running in circles.

Oh, the girls enjoyed it too. Sierra remembered the last time we came and was excited to see the tiger again. She got to see it jump into the water right in front of her to get it’s chew toy. At one tank, Bailey saw a neon green eel swimming right behind my head as I was taking pictures. (She thought it was going to get me.) They got to touch a starfish and a sea cucumber, crawl through a “coral cave”, see sea horses, and watch the sharks swim by.

Hardly anyone was at the aquarium that night. We were six of about twenty people (with three of the five kids). We got lots of extra attention because of it. One of the workers, an older gentleman, would often stop and tell us interesting facts about the animals we were looking at as he patrolled the area, back and forth. He seemed to know an awful lot. The girls also got to spend as much time as they wanted touching the starfish and sea cucumber. It was dark though. The aquarium uses a lot of sky lighting, and it was overcast and dark outside. I actually liked it, though it made taking pictures more complicated. It felt more intimate, more real.

When we stepped out to the manta ray pool, the last stop, Blake became fascinated once again. They have the rays swimming around in a shallow pool where you can feed them and “pet” them. Bailey would stretch her hand out, straining to touch one, then pull it back instantly upon contact, afraid it would bite her. Sierra was braver, pulling back only when one started flopping at the edge of the tank right in front of her. But Blake… oh Blake, tried to jump in with the rays and go swimming. My brother barely caught him in time to prevent a spread eagle belly flop. He kept a tight hold on him from then on, though Blake continued to try and swim with the rays. He splashed, touched, grabbed, and did all he could to play with the “fish”. The worker was staring open mouthed at the boy after a while. I guess she’d never seen a kid so exuberant about the manta rays before. Amazingly, we were able to keep him mostly dry.
A toilet stop and a romp through the gift shop later, we were headed home. Definitely a night the kids will remember.

I did it! Sort of.

I did it! I reached my goal of reading an average of a book a week this year! Well . . . that is . . . if you count all of the books that I read more then once.

One of my friends had the great idea of reading a book a week this year, and I thought that I would see if I could do it too. My reading list was nowhere near as ambitious as hers was, but I still had a lot of fun, and read some really good books.

Officially, I only read a total of 48 books, four shy of the required 52. However, if you include all of the books that I read more then once, I read 60. Got that? 60!!!

Here are some of my favorites:

Eat, Drink, and be Healthy
Wuthering Heights
Jane Eyer
The Brothers Karamazov
Middlemarch
Pride and Prejudice
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Mara, Daughter of the Nile
Howel's Moving Castle
Twilight (and series)

Scribble Art

We've recently taken up art at our homeschool.  It was mostly because I was trying to find something to do during that 15-30 minute lull after Sierra was done with school and before it was time to pick up Bailey from preschool.  Also, I found it too difficult to take all three of my kids, Blake in particular, to out local museum's Discovery Days (weekly art projects for ages 2-6).

At first, we just did a little of this, a little of that.  My mom had given us a bunch of small projects for the kids to do (making bracelets, painting sun catchers, etc.), so we started on those while I searched for a good book of ideas.

A couple years ago, I picked up a book called Mudworks by MaryAnn F. Kohl.  I liked it a lot, but there wasn't much besides sculpting, exploring, and playing with different compounds.  Well, last week, a friend of mine told me she had another art book by MaryAnn Kohl, Scribble Art.  Turns out, it's exactly what I was looking for.

Remember making crayon rubbings?  What about spatter painting?  Finger painting?  Collages?  Scribble Art is based upon the premiss of exploration.  There are no specific outcomes to the projects.  What she does instead is give you a list of materials, the process used, and variations that you can do with the materials/processes.  The final outcome is open ended.  The best part, for me, is that the projects can be easily adapted to a wide range of ages, from preschoolers through adult.  You can make the project as complex or as simple as you want.  I can enjoy the art experience right along with my kids.  Another bonus is that most of the materials used are found lying around the house (crayons, chalk, tape, yarn, glue, tissue paper, string, newspaper, baking supplies, etc.).

It's a great book.  Check it out at your local library (I know Longmont has it).  You can also "look inside" on Amazon.com  here.

In the Banryard

We had an official flied trip today.  One of our church friends, Nancy, owns a farm up north of Longmont, and she invited my three year old's preschool class to come meet her horse, Noah.  Sierra, Blake and I decided to tag along.

We were running a little late, so when we got there, they had already started.  Nancy was in the pasture talking to the 3 and 4 year olds, and soon we all headed over to the stable for water and cookies as she told us a bit about horses.  The kids were enthralled, even while her dog, Marbles, was trying to snatch the kids cookies.

Then Nancy brought Noah in.  She introduced him, talked a little more about horses, shooed Marbles away, and then announced that the kids could each have a short ride on the horse.  They each took their turn riding bareback, Nancy leading and one of the mom's walking close to the side.  Some of the kids more unsure then the others, but they all wanted to try.

After that, their preschool teacher handed them each a carrot, and Nancy lead them over to Noah's pen where they fed him.  Sierra was able to tell me confidently  that he was a herbivore and a mammal (homeschooling, check).

Then came the unexpected fun of riding in the bed of her tractor.  All of the kids wanted a ride, even Blake.  He was scared stiff, but demanded a turn anyway.

Soon it was time to leave, and Blake thew a fit.  He didn't want to go.  It was a good trip.

If I had to choose

My toddler has decided that he likes to take his diaper off so that he can do his business in the buff.  I've tried getting him to use the toilet, but nothing is working.  Believe me, I've tried everything, aside of force.  That method backfired with his sisters (who I had a hard time with as well), and I don't want a repeat.

Yesterday, I had enough.  I called my mom up and begged her to come and teach him.  She doesn't know if she can come, but she walked me thorough all of the possible methods she could think of.  Check.  Tried them all.  Sigh.

Then I had to laugh at myself.  Of all the things that I would rather pass off to someone else, it ends up being toilet training.  Homeschooling, no problem.  Natural birth doesn't scare me either.  I don't even have a problem telling my kids about the birds and the bees.  But toilet training!  It is the bane of my existence.  I fear it more then any other development my kids will ever go through.

I find it amusing.  To each their own, I guess.