This is my weekend stack. The bound text I brought home with me, anyway. This doesn't count the websites, blogs and articles I read online and with my phone. 2 bags and a crate- that's how I carried it. I am taking a master's class for a new teaching certification, so some of these books are for reflections and case studies that are due Tuesday. All in all it will be synthesised in a total of 12 pages.
I compare this stack to my husbands:
Not very different. He is currently in school full time getting his RN.
What literacy skills will the boys need to make them lifelong, responsible members in our society? It has me thinking. My 8 year old is a great reader- by no means is he an avid reader. Anymore. He has lost a passion for it. I take him to the library weekly. He has 2 magazines that come to our house each month. I've given him my Kindle so he can experience digital text. He uses my account on Big Universe to read his required daily minutes.
Whenever it's reading time he always asks, "how long?" He never used to ask that. We would read for hours-book after book. Some books we made with pictures of our family at the zoo, on the farm, on vacation. Some books were favorites that we read to we both had memorized. I've introduced James to favorite characters like Ralph the mouse, Stuart Little, Gregor the Overlander. But now as a second grader- every time we read, he sets his timer takes his position at the table and waits for the minutes to pass. This is a shift for our family- required reading minutes and a 6 column reading log that needs to be completed nightly. Title, author, genre, pages read, minutes read- really? Why should an 8 year-old document his pleasure reading time like a 40 year-old women tracking her points on Weight Watchers. (No offense 40 year-old women on WW.) Tracking his reading outside of school will not allow my son to become a better reader, in fact this practice has had an opposite effect on him. So the reading log routine has gone to the wayside and is reflected in his report card with a check instead of a plus. But that's okay.
He'll come back, some day. For now his brother crawls in my lap with book after book, developing early reading skills. When James finds him holding a book upside down, or in the quiet early morning hours I overhear him saying, "no, you hold it like this." and "That's a favorite, can I read it to you?" For now, I will continue to feed his reading life and the book lover inside of him that's lost for a little while.
Here are a few photos of this week in pictures:
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| James spent his birthday money on a trampoline. Why yes, there are books in the background and a Christmas tree. |
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| Toby and I had some one on one time so we walked to the University so he could buy me fro-yo! |
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| Our first sledding expedition. One Beaver was complaining about going down the hill, the other Beaver did not want to come back up the hill and Dad Beaver was complaining because it was too cold to be standing on top of the hill. Lesson learned: leave the crabby Beavers at home and hit the slopes solo. |
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| Presidents day at Deer Park- While the bread was for the deer, geese and llamas- as Beavers they took advantage and fed themselves. |
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| Family Wellness Boot Camp- Toby the Wheel Barrow Champion. Made a fruit, cheese and ham kabob. Must have been the fuel he needed. |
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