I feel like I'm beginning to hit my stride in parenting, folks. :)
Don't get me wrong on that statement: I love babies very much, and I'm very passionate about babies being taken care of in respectful, truly loving, scientifically-based ways. But older kids are really, really fun. And a big part of that fun for me comes in the form of reading!
I left my career (Masters in Education, teaching for 7 years, administration on the side) to stay home with my kids...and now we're getting to a point when my career and my kids intersect in really fun ways. Now I get to do all that stuff I trained for again, but with my OWN kids! Yaay!
So, lately, it's been reading chapter books. I tried last year and Layla was SO not interested at age 5. I was actually a little concerned at her babyish taste in books, but I didn't push it and just kept reading to her books she loved and wanted to hear read aloud. Then I tried again this year.
BINGO. We were good to go! Our first book was a classic favorite:
Both kids really enjoyed it, and the story and vocabulary were right at their level (for a read-aloud).
Then we moved on to the Wind in the Willows. I have very distinct memories of reading this book with my mom when I was a child in Spooner, WI. We were sitting on the love seat in her bedroom, and I remember the pictures as she read so vividly. I'm sure I was around Kindergarten age then, so I thought Layla would enjoy it, and Finn might as well.
Oh man. Haha. They never complained once, but the vocabulary in this book is insane. I'd be stumbling over words and slowly sounding some of them out MYSELF! At one point Jonas was in the room with us as I was reading, and he looked at me, slowly shook his head, and gave me the "I-have-no-idea-what-you-just-read" look. :)
So I thought we'd take a break halfway through the book and try another one of my childhood favorites: The Little House books. We started with book one, and I thought the vocabulary and the story line were far better suited to them, but no! After a chapter or two they begged me to go back to the "Rat and Mole" book. So we did, and finished it up no problem. I would certainly not bank any money on them taking a reading comprehension test based on the Wind in the Willows, BUT they did hear a great story with some great vocabulary read out loud, so that's a win in any book.
Now we're reading Little House in the Big Woods again, and this time they are more settled into the book.
Don't mind me, I'll be over here, creating reading lovers!! :)
