Well, as per usual, it's been a few months since my last update. We've had a lot on our plates since June, mainly because we moved out, spruced up, and SOLD our house. Yay!!! I have never seen such a large number in my bank account. It would be more awesome if I didn't know it's going to be dropping as soon as possible to it's former miniscule self when we buy a new house.
So what, are we homeless?!?! No, we're lucky enough to have both my and DaddyO's parents here in town and, because I am allergic to the sweet doggies my in-laws own, we are currently living in my parents' house. Along with my parents. And my uncle. So if you're playing along at home, that means there are EIGHT people living in this house right now. Cue disaster music.
Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful that we don't have to shell out rent while we're house-hunting, and I'm grateful that my children get this time with their grandparents and great-uncle. Truly. But whereas before our lifestyle choices and radical unschooling were just something weird that we crazy kids were doing, it's now *right there*, in the grandparents' faces, just begging to be critiqued, apparently.
So what do you do when someone you love tells you you're raising your children wrong? What do you do when someone with NO knowledge of educational theory or even brain development tells you that you're damaging your children by focusing on your relationships and character rather than academics? And not just damaging them, but actually setting them up for a life of illiteracy, ignorance, and flat-out failure! And never mind that our little family is happier together, more respectful, and has less yelling and anger than mine ever had growing up. Apparently THAT counts for nothing. So what do you do to shore yourself up and keep going?
Well, if you're me, you read a book. Or two. Or six.
Because, dangit, I KNOW this is right. I know that we are making the right choice for OUR children based on their needs and personalities and our definition of success (which, by the way, has little to do with money and more to do with healthy relationships, confidence, and determination to succeed at THEIR goals). But sometimes, when someone I love tells me I'm doing things wrong, it takes the wind out of my sails. It gives me pause and sends me back to the ol' drawing board to reevaluate and make sure I'm doing things right. And you know what?
I am.
Among the books I've read in the past two months are: Playful Parenting by Lawrence Cohen, The Big Book of Unschooling by Sandra Dodd (again), Radical Unschooling: A Revolution has Begun by Dayna Martin, How Children Succeed by Paul Tough, and a really good book on how to set your boundaries so you can say "none ya bizness!" when people get nosy in a critical way. :-) Because while I LOVE to talk about Unschooling and consensual living and how to grow strong family relationships, I realize that I do NOT have to put up with people who want nothing more than to tell me that I'm living my life incorrectly according to their expectations.
I beat the crap out of that box. :-)
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
When academics don't matter
I always get the itch at this time of the year to look back and see how my children have grown. It's normal, I guess, given my own experience of the "school year" and how surrounded we are by schooling families. But this time I find the growth hard to put into little boxes and define in words, because so many huge changes have happened this year. This is the year that we let go of bedtimes and encouraged our children to start listening to their bodies. This is the year that we stopped punishing our kids and started problem-solving with them. This is the year that I stopped mentally fussing about whether we were getting in enough math, science, reading, history, what have you, and just started letting my children be. This is the year when we got joy. Or maybe the joy got us.
Y'all know Tex, he is my tough nut, my Contrarian, my challenge. He gets anxious, he gets overwhelmed, he panics, and he has a hard time sometimes coming back to center and letting anyone help him find a solution to his problem because he is convinced it's a problem so big that there is no solution. So the other day when I was puttering around the kitchen and overhearing Tex's end of a Skype conversation as he was gaming with a friend, I was bowled over by joy while listening to him. Something was obviously going wrong for this friend on the game they were playing, I could hear her hollering even through Tex's headphones, but Tex remained chill. In fact he said, "okay, calm down, take a deep breath... now, tell me what you were doing when that happened, and we'll figure out what went wrong." ???? !!!!! Oh my goodness, is this my child? This helper, this reasonable voice, this soother and problem-solver? And they did it, too, the two of them together figured out what the problem was and they behaved differently the next time so that it wouldn't happen again. I couldn't have been happier. Does it mean that he gets measurably less frantic when he is having a problem? Nah, we're not there quite yet. But now I know we'll get there, because the process is sinking in.
I can see it even more clearly in Noodle and Monkeygirl, whether because their personalities are easier or because they've been parented with more consistent kindness. Noodle is never scared to stand up for himself or what he thinks is right, even to another adult. He comforts his little sister and helps her joyfully when she needs it (as long he's not at a crucial point in his computer game, natch). He will take responsibility for his own care as much as he can rather than expect someone else to do it. He creates solutions with his friends to help things be fair rather than let one person feel unhappy or left behind. And even little Monkeygirl, princess-y though she may be, will grab a foam sword and rush to her brothers' aid if she perceives that they are being treated unfairly. She comforts her friends when they are sad and shares with them when they are feeling a scarcity (unless you want her favorite crown, then you are S.O.L., dude). She tells the truth even when it makes her look bad and apologizes without prompting when she knows she is wrong.
This is what I mean about how sometimes academics don't matter. If I could choose to have my children be of good character but short on book learning, I would pick that in a hot second over the opposite. Luckily, no such extremes are necessary, and my children can grow to have a good dose of both. But this is what I see lacking so much in schools, where the focus is on learning the material, and the character traits that we see as being most desirable in adults (and which I see countless news articles and friends lamenting the lack of in our children's generation) are barely nurtured at all. Far too often, in institutions of many kinds, obedience is more important than standing up for one's convictions; memorization is more important than critical thinking; working for the reward (good grades, praise) is more important than self-motivation. And for some children it's not enough for them to get a few hours of good examples at home (if they're even lucky enough to get that) if they're spending seven hours a day being shown that that's not what gets them ahead. Will schools still turn out some kids who are intelligent, strong, well-read, and of good character? Yes, but I'm convinced that it's in spite of the school's role (and thanks to some wonderful, realistic, dedicated teachers) not because of it. Now, have we had academic growth this year? You bet your sweet bippy we have. I even wrote out a whole paragraph of cool stuff the kids do and know, but then I deleted it, because at this point it just doesn't matter. That kind of learning can happen anytime, whenever they need it. Character has to start NOW.
Y'all know Tex, he is my tough nut, my Contrarian, my challenge. He gets anxious, he gets overwhelmed, he panics, and he has a hard time sometimes coming back to center and letting anyone help him find a solution to his problem because he is convinced it's a problem so big that there is no solution. So the other day when I was puttering around the kitchen and overhearing Tex's end of a Skype conversation as he was gaming with a friend, I was bowled over by joy while listening to him. Something was obviously going wrong for this friend on the game they were playing, I could hear her hollering even through Tex's headphones, but Tex remained chill. In fact he said, "okay, calm down, take a deep breath... now, tell me what you were doing when that happened, and we'll figure out what went wrong." ???? !!!!! Oh my goodness, is this my child? This helper, this reasonable voice, this soother and problem-solver? And they did it, too, the two of them together figured out what the problem was and they behaved differently the next time so that it wouldn't happen again. I couldn't have been happier. Does it mean that he gets measurably less frantic when he is having a problem? Nah, we're not there quite yet. But now I know we'll get there, because the process is sinking in.
I can see it even more clearly in Noodle and Monkeygirl, whether because their personalities are easier or because they've been parented with more consistent kindness. Noodle is never scared to stand up for himself or what he thinks is right, even to another adult. He comforts his little sister and helps her joyfully when she needs it (as long he's not at a crucial point in his computer game, natch). He will take responsibility for his own care as much as he can rather than expect someone else to do it. He creates solutions with his friends to help things be fair rather than let one person feel unhappy or left behind. And even little Monkeygirl, princess-y though she may be, will grab a foam sword and rush to her brothers' aid if she perceives that they are being treated unfairly. She comforts her friends when they are sad and shares with them when they are feeling a scarcity (unless you want her favorite crown, then you are S.O.L., dude). She tells the truth even when it makes her look bad and apologizes without prompting when she knows she is wrong.
This is what I mean about how sometimes academics don't matter. If I could choose to have my children be of good character but short on book learning, I would pick that in a hot second over the opposite. Luckily, no such extremes are necessary, and my children can grow to have a good dose of both. But this is what I see lacking so much in schools, where the focus is on learning the material, and the character traits that we see as being most desirable in adults (and which I see countless news articles and friends lamenting the lack of in our children's generation) are barely nurtured at all. Far too often, in institutions of many kinds, obedience is more important than standing up for one's convictions; memorization is more important than critical thinking; working for the reward (good grades, praise) is more important than self-motivation. And for some children it's not enough for them to get a few hours of good examples at home (if they're even lucky enough to get that) if they're spending seven hours a day being shown that that's not what gets them ahead. Will schools still turn out some kids who are intelligent, strong, well-read, and of good character? Yes, but I'm convinced that it's in spite of the school's role (and thanks to some wonderful, realistic, dedicated teachers) not because of it. Now, have we had academic growth this year? You bet your sweet bippy we have. I even wrote out a whole paragraph of cool stuff the kids do and know, but then I deleted it, because at this point it just doesn't matter. That kind of learning can happen anytime, whenever they need it. Character has to start NOW.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Be the tree
I'm not satisfied. That last post, that didn't feel real. Oh sure, it gave a nice glancing update into a few easy-to-tackle topics, but it didn't get to the meat of what we're working on around here, and how hard it is.
I'm torn on this. Part of me IS having fun, genuinely, and wants to focus on all that joy because it's what's most important. But I also feel like doing that does a disservice to others who are swimming upstream and having a hard time of it, because the last thing I want to do is gloss over the hard parts and leave those parents feeling that they're doing something wrong because they're not covered up in joy all the time.
Let me tell you about a night last week when I fought with Noodle, literally, for 30 minutes because he was angry at me and needed to show it. We had swords, and this was serious (he actually said that at one point when I was being too playful, he said "this is serious", and I collapsed in giggles because all I could hear was Ming-Ming the duck), and kiddo even got in a couple of good licks. And you know what, there were points during that fight when I thought "this is ridiculous, a million other parents would have shut this shit down immediately", and part of me wanted to do that. To send him to his room until he can "be nice" or walk away from his anger because as an adult I have that option and can explain all the reasons why he's wrong for being angry at me because I wasn't trying to upset him. But I kept at it. I kept parrying and using pillow shields and running away scared, I kept letting him charge at me out of genuine anger, because a smaller but stronger voice was saying, "if you don't show him how to love someone through their anger, who will? If you don't accept his anger and let him share that part with you, how will he ever be sure you love ALL of him?" And I told him, when he asked why I was smiling when he was so angry, that I had a choice in how I dealt with his anger. I told him that part of me wanted to get angry back, and make his anger go away by making him scared of me, but that I didn't think that was good for him. I'd rather let him show me his anger if he doesn't want to tell me about it, and hope that by doing that he'd know I'm okay with him being angry with me and eventually learn how to talk about it. Or at least we'd both be really good swordfighters. I realized that I had a choice: I could talk to my son about both of our feelings, or I could shut his down and risk him not sharing them with me in the future.
We've also let go of bedtimes, and let me tell you THAT has been a process. Not that we're done or anything, lol, just that it's been going on long enough for me to see it's not a quick thing. It started a long time ago with us declaring the weekend nights to be "No-Bedtime Bedtimes", then progressed as we all started to develop our own after-dinner flow on the weeknights, and continued as Daddy-O and I have stopped alternating nights of being responsible for each group of kids (the boys in their room and Monkeygirl in hers) and simply started offering to be available for nighttime cuddles and tuck-ins. It's extra hard because Noodle, with his Minecraft obsession, will often be up playing until 11pm, then he wants 15 minutes of cuddles and I'm not out of their room until Midnight, at which point there aren't enough hours before Monkeygirl gets up in the "norning", as she calls it, for me to feel rested and ready for the day. I know it will work out, but it's going to take a lot of finessing to make it happen.
In short, we've jumped feet first into what we call, for lack of a less formal-sounding term, "consensual living". We try to include the kids in decisions which involve them, to an extent that is appropriate for them and manageable for us. For instance, when I was doing doula work for a year, I had a couple of 24+ hour births that really upset my kids. They didn't know when I was going to have to leave to go help a mama, they didn't know when I'd be back, and I was largely unavailable while I was gone. They didn't like it. But we needed an additional source of income, so I offered up a compromise: I'd quit doing doula work out of respect for their needs, but I'd add back in a weeknight childbirth class that I hadn't taught since I got pregnant with the Monkeygirl. They felt heard and respected, they had proof that their voices matter, and our household still got what it needed in order to be able to "go".
The hardest part of all this, really, is fighting what I've been taught all my life and the knee-jerk reactions that result. The desire to make my children into people that are "no trouble" instead of people who ask for what they want and make things happen for themselves. Two days ago the boys were playing online games and Skyping with a friend, and that friend mentioned that another family we love was coming to their house to play. Tex immediately said "Mom, can you call and ask if we can come over, too?" Ugh, grimace, cringe. You want me to what, now? You want me to call and invite ourselves over to play??? Oh, the rudeness, the utter gaucherie of such a move! I told my son how wrong it felt to me, how much it bothered me to make that call. But God bless his persistence, he continued to ask and I was forced to think about why it was such a problem. The truth is that either one of these families would let us know if joining the playdate wasn't a good plan, so what was the harm in calling? So I did, stating upfront to the mom that I knew it was rude so that she would know I knew, because above all I didn't want to be thought of as inconsiderate. She asked her kids, she asked the other family, and they all said "are you kidding, if you come over we'll have enough adults to do the zip line!!" And a wonderful time was had by all. Including me, old Mommy Stuffypants.
So yeah, it's not easy, this Unschooling, consensual lifestyle. It requires a lot more listening, thinking, bending, and perspective-shifting than I ever expected to have to do as a parent. It requires me to acknowledge that, no, I do NOT always know what is best for my children, and that if I want more information I should go to the source. But thank God for it. Truly. I hate to think of the kind of mother I would have had to become in order to fit my family into the current popular model. I hate to think of the wall I would have had to build between my children and myself in order to be able to stomach forcing them to bend. Instead I like to think that we all do our share of bending, and that like a tree, it will make us stronger in the end.
I'm torn on this. Part of me IS having fun, genuinely, and wants to focus on all that joy because it's what's most important. But I also feel like doing that does a disservice to others who are swimming upstream and having a hard time of it, because the last thing I want to do is gloss over the hard parts and leave those parents feeling that they're doing something wrong because they're not covered up in joy all the time.
Let me tell you about a night last week when I fought with Noodle, literally, for 30 minutes because he was angry at me and needed to show it. We had swords, and this was serious (he actually said that at one point when I was being too playful, he said "this is serious", and I collapsed in giggles because all I could hear was Ming-Ming the duck), and kiddo even got in a couple of good licks. And you know what, there were points during that fight when I thought "this is ridiculous, a million other parents would have shut this shit down immediately", and part of me wanted to do that. To send him to his room until he can "be nice" or walk away from his anger because as an adult I have that option and can explain all the reasons why he's wrong for being angry at me because I wasn't trying to upset him. But I kept at it. I kept parrying and using pillow shields and running away scared, I kept letting him charge at me out of genuine anger, because a smaller but stronger voice was saying, "if you don't show him how to love someone through their anger, who will? If you don't accept his anger and let him share that part with you, how will he ever be sure you love ALL of him?" And I told him, when he asked why I was smiling when he was so angry, that I had a choice in how I dealt with his anger. I told him that part of me wanted to get angry back, and make his anger go away by making him scared of me, but that I didn't think that was good for him. I'd rather let him show me his anger if he doesn't want to tell me about it, and hope that by doing that he'd know I'm okay with him being angry with me and eventually learn how to talk about it. Or at least we'd both be really good swordfighters. I realized that I had a choice: I could talk to my son about both of our feelings, or I could shut his down and risk him not sharing them with me in the future.
We've also let go of bedtimes, and let me tell you THAT has been a process. Not that we're done or anything, lol, just that it's been going on long enough for me to see it's not a quick thing. It started a long time ago with us declaring the weekend nights to be "No-Bedtime Bedtimes", then progressed as we all started to develop our own after-dinner flow on the weeknights, and continued as Daddy-O and I have stopped alternating nights of being responsible for each group of kids (the boys in their room and Monkeygirl in hers) and simply started offering to be available for nighttime cuddles and tuck-ins. It's extra hard because Noodle, with his Minecraft obsession, will often be up playing until 11pm, then he wants 15 minutes of cuddles and I'm not out of their room until Midnight, at which point there aren't enough hours before Monkeygirl gets up in the "norning", as she calls it, for me to feel rested and ready for the day. I know it will work out, but it's going to take a lot of finessing to make it happen.
In short, we've jumped feet first into what we call, for lack of a less formal-sounding term, "consensual living". We try to include the kids in decisions which involve them, to an extent that is appropriate for them and manageable for us. For instance, when I was doing doula work for a year, I had a couple of 24+ hour births that really upset my kids. They didn't know when I was going to have to leave to go help a mama, they didn't know when I'd be back, and I was largely unavailable while I was gone. They didn't like it. But we needed an additional source of income, so I offered up a compromise: I'd quit doing doula work out of respect for their needs, but I'd add back in a weeknight childbirth class that I hadn't taught since I got pregnant with the Monkeygirl. They felt heard and respected, they had proof that their voices matter, and our household still got what it needed in order to be able to "go".
The hardest part of all this, really, is fighting what I've been taught all my life and the knee-jerk reactions that result. The desire to make my children into people that are "no trouble" instead of people who ask for what they want and make things happen for themselves. Two days ago the boys were playing online games and Skyping with a friend, and that friend mentioned that another family we love was coming to their house to play. Tex immediately said "Mom, can you call and ask if we can come over, too?" Ugh, grimace, cringe. You want me to what, now? You want me to call and invite ourselves over to play??? Oh, the rudeness, the utter gaucherie of such a move! I told my son how wrong it felt to me, how much it bothered me to make that call. But God bless his persistence, he continued to ask and I was forced to think about why it was such a problem. The truth is that either one of these families would let us know if joining the playdate wasn't a good plan, so what was the harm in calling? So I did, stating upfront to the mom that I knew it was rude so that she would know I knew, because above all I didn't want to be thought of as inconsiderate. She asked her kids, she asked the other family, and they all said "are you kidding, if you come over we'll have enough adults to do the zip line!!" And a wonderful time was had by all. Including me, old Mommy Stuffypants.
So yeah, it's not easy, this Unschooling, consensual lifestyle. It requires a lot more listening, thinking, bending, and perspective-shifting than I ever expected to have to do as a parent. It requires me to acknowledge that, no, I do NOT always know what is best for my children, and that if I want more information I should go to the source. But thank God for it. Truly. I hate to think of the kind of mother I would have had to become in order to fit my family into the current popular model. I hate to think of the wall I would have had to build between my children and myself in order to be able to stomach forcing them to bend. Instead I like to think that we all do our share of bending, and that like a tree, it will make us stronger in the end.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
In the Flow
I've been wanting to write an update for a while, if for no other reason than I've been havin' so darn much fun, but also not wanting to write lest I get overly analytical about our lives. That's a constant trap for me because I'm a psychology nut and kids are the best. experiment. ever! So sometimes I have to work very hard to get out of my head and just enjoy them. Today I'm giving myself a break. :-)
The kids are growing by leaps and bounds, some of them literally. I suspect that within the next year Tex and I will be sharing both shoe size and height. He'll turn ten in June. And I'm short. But still! He's growing in lots of other ways, too. Some of you know Tex personally and know that I sometimes find his personality to be challenging (and yes, I know, he's always sweet at your house, don't rub it in), and there's no question that he struggles with a certain awkwardness when it comes to dealing with other human lifeforms (let's just say I have a particular sympathy with Leonard from The Big Bang Theory), but he is a good-hearted kid who really does want to get along with his friends and have good relationships with his family. That it is shining through so bright these days is such a relief. :-) I see him trying to take a deep breath more often when his temper gets hold of him. I see him choosing, when his sister is annoying him for kicks as siblings sometimes do, to turn it into a game for as long as he can stand before asking her to knock it off. I see him trying to talk his way through arguments instead of headbutt through them. I hear him acknowledging his imperfections and laughing about them instead of getting angry and hurt. He's maturing, and he's doing it in part because he's surrounded by people willing to (mostly) talk him through it instead of only punishing him for it. I've known for a while now that school would have been inappropriate for Tex for this reason in particular. He has needed these years to overcome his difficulties in negotiating the social landscape of this world, and I can see that he's finding his voice and his place, figuring out what he's good at and what feels useful to him. I think he's starting on a big journey of finally having overcome the effect that preschool and our overly strict parenting style had on him (to clarify, we weren't the Pearls, we just were much more strict with the conventions than we are now and that wasn't a good fit for our unconventional child), and being able to really explore himself.
Both Tex and Noodle are into the online multiplayer games Minecraft and Roblox, just to name the top two. These are games where they get to create a character (a LEGO-ish fellow) and then go out into the various worlds to play games, fulfill quests, solve puzzles, or even blow things up. The boys watch videos on YouTube about their videogame passions and play together side-by-side at their computer stations. Noodle in particular is a computer whiz and gets such joy out of manipulating the computer to make it do what he wants. He wants to set up servers and install mods and add memory and learn how to build stuff and beat the game. There are days when he is at his computer almost non-stop! And honestly, yeah, it used to bug me, but he's getting so much out of it that I don't worry anymore. He's found a passion to pursue at the age of seven and I think that's awesome!
Monkeygirl is having a great time of it lately as well. She's four now, so she's finally old enough to sign up for our local TaeKwonDo classes, and after just a couple of classes she is having a ball and so excited about her class. Watching her confidence in class, her willingness to try over and over again when she doesn't get it right, her silliness and complete self-assurance in the face of language barriers, stricter discipline than she's ever seen, and high expectations is so thrilling!
My little Monkey is also having great fun learning math skills on the new Team UmiZoomi math app for the iPad, even practicing addition and subtraction skills. I have to give special thanks to my parents for buying us the iPad this summer for homeschool, and to our family and friends for keeping us in iTunes cards so that we can find new fun games to play. I can see the learning the kids are doing with this new tool and it's really fun for them. In fact Noodle now knows more about US geography than I do, thanks to a wonderful game called Stack the States. I've still got 'em on the nicknames, though. Yes, I take my victories where I can get 'em, why do you ask? We also all really enjoy the logic games like Where's My Water, World of Goo, Cut the Rope, and SpongeMarble. Since I think the most important goal for homeschooling is to help my children learn to think logically and independently, these games provide invaluable problem-solving skills. Fair warning: they also cause insomnia in adults as you try to get through just. one. more. level!
And if there are still any lingering concerns about their academic smarts and whether or not they are on par with the national standards, you can quiet your worries. Daddy-O watched an episode of "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader" with the boys and they did great! :-) They did that while on a trip to Nashville where they saw the scale reproduction of the Parthenon at Centennial Park, visited the children's science museum, and even attended a Predators hockey game. It was a great boys' weekend for them while Monkeygirl and I hung out at home.
Okay, I gotta go now. The boys are playing Just Dance 3 in the other room and I really want to go get my groove on! Hope you're all enjoying your journey!
The kids are growing by leaps and bounds, some of them literally. I suspect that within the next year Tex and I will be sharing both shoe size and height. He'll turn ten in June. And I'm short. But still! He's growing in lots of other ways, too. Some of you know Tex personally and know that I sometimes find his personality to be challenging (and yes, I know, he's always sweet at your house, don't rub it in), and there's no question that he struggles with a certain awkwardness when it comes to dealing with other human lifeforms (let's just say I have a particular sympathy with Leonard from The Big Bang Theory), but he is a good-hearted kid who really does want to get along with his friends and have good relationships with his family. That it is shining through so bright these days is such a relief. :-) I see him trying to take a deep breath more often when his temper gets hold of him. I see him choosing, when his sister is annoying him for kicks as siblings sometimes do, to turn it into a game for as long as he can stand before asking her to knock it off. I see him trying to talk his way through arguments instead of headbutt through them. I hear him acknowledging his imperfections and laughing about them instead of getting angry and hurt. He's maturing, and he's doing it in part because he's surrounded by people willing to (mostly) talk him through it instead of only punishing him for it. I've known for a while now that school would have been inappropriate for Tex for this reason in particular. He has needed these years to overcome his difficulties in negotiating the social landscape of this world, and I can see that he's finding his voice and his place, figuring out what he's good at and what feels useful to him. I think he's starting on a big journey of finally having overcome the effect that preschool and our overly strict parenting style had on him (to clarify, we weren't the Pearls, we just were much more strict with the conventions than we are now and that wasn't a good fit for our unconventional child), and being able to really explore himself.
Both Tex and Noodle are into the online multiplayer games Minecraft and Roblox, just to name the top two. These are games where they get to create a character (a LEGO-ish fellow) and then go out into the various worlds to play games, fulfill quests, solve puzzles, or even blow things up. The boys watch videos on YouTube about their videogame passions and play together side-by-side at their computer stations. Noodle in particular is a computer whiz and gets such joy out of manipulating the computer to make it do what he wants. He wants to set up servers and install mods and add memory and learn how to build stuff and beat the game. There are days when he is at his computer almost non-stop! And honestly, yeah, it used to bug me, but he's getting so much out of it that I don't worry anymore. He's found a passion to pursue at the age of seven and I think that's awesome!
Monkeygirl is having a great time of it lately as well. She's four now, so she's finally old enough to sign up for our local TaeKwonDo classes, and after just a couple of classes she is having a ball and so excited about her class. Watching her confidence in class, her willingness to try over and over again when she doesn't get it right, her silliness and complete self-assurance in the face of language barriers, stricter discipline than she's ever seen, and high expectations is so thrilling!
My little Monkey is also having great fun learning math skills on the new Team UmiZoomi math app for the iPad, even practicing addition and subtraction skills. I have to give special thanks to my parents for buying us the iPad this summer for homeschool, and to our family and friends for keeping us in iTunes cards so that we can find new fun games to play. I can see the learning the kids are doing with this new tool and it's really fun for them. In fact Noodle now knows more about US geography than I do, thanks to a wonderful game called Stack the States. I've still got 'em on the nicknames, though. Yes, I take my victories where I can get 'em, why do you ask? We also all really enjoy the logic games like Where's My Water, World of Goo, Cut the Rope, and SpongeMarble. Since I think the most important goal for homeschooling is to help my children learn to think logically and independently, these games provide invaluable problem-solving skills. Fair warning: they also cause insomnia in adults as you try to get through just. one. more. level!
And if there are still any lingering concerns about their academic smarts and whether or not they are on par with the national standards, you can quiet your worries. Daddy-O watched an episode of "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader" with the boys and they did great! :-) They did that while on a trip to Nashville where they saw the scale reproduction of the Parthenon at Centennial Park, visited the children's science museum, and even attended a Predators hockey game. It was a great boys' weekend for them while Monkeygirl and I hung out at home.
Okay, I gotta go now. The boys are playing Just Dance 3 in the other room and I really want to go get my groove on! Hope you're all enjoying your journey!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Wrapping It Up
So the "school year" is wrapping up, so it's time for another little update, but I'm finding it very hard to want to focus on listing academic achievements just now. I've been doing some pretty heavy reading the last couple of days, and it's really changing my focus. Or more accurately, sharpening it.
See, I'd like to lead off with the reassuring statement about how Tex has become a darn proficient reader now, in his own time, and is even starting to think of himself that way. We were going through our rarely-read children's books to find some to give away for victims of the recent tornadoes, and something happened that has never happened before: Tex wanted to keep books so that HE could read them. He's never talked about wanting to read independently before. Ever. He has clung to the idea of me reading to him for years, in fact I think he was planning to have me in the dorm room next to his if he goes to college, so that I could read text books to him at bedtime. :-) "Insecure about reading" doesn't even begin to describe him. "Hostile" maybe comes closer. So it's with no small amount of joy that I realized two days ago we had had a banner day: Tex told me all the jokes off his Popsicle sticks after HE read them himself. He didn't ask for help before trying, he gave it a shot and it made sense for him, he comprehended the words and was able to express them accurately to me later.
But that doesn't really change the basic fact that Tex is not naturally proficient at language-related tasks, and I really want to start actively playing to his strengths as a spatial learner. I love that he's brought himself this far and that he's starting to feel confident about something that's been a big challenge for him the last couple of years, but I'm also worried that I'm not doing enough to support that learning and help him feel powerful and intelligent. I feel like if he could take it to the next level, having some concrete tools to employ when trying to decode language, then he would feel even more self-reliant and independent, and wouldn't look to me to be his savior in these situations. But he's so resistant to any kind of pressure that I've been hands-off in order to let him know that I don't expect his brain to operate on my timeline. And that's kind of what the whole point of homeschooling was with him, was to get him to a point where he felt well-equipped to handle what would be expected of him in public school, and not feel abandoned or neglected. And that's not to say he would be forced to go to school once he reached that point, just that it wasn't an option until then. And now I'm seeing that with a little more focused work on my part, there's a light at the distant end of the tunnel. That's pretty cool. But more on that "urge to push" in a minute.
Speaking of reading, it turns out Noodle is just one of those kids who "get it". I was like that; I don't know what age I started reading, I just remember that words on a page made sense to me. It appears Noodle is much the same, as his reading has gone from basic C-V-C words last summer to full on reading of whole paragraphs at present. Of course he struggles with the odd word, but most of them just flow right in his eyes and out his mouth without a break. I realize now what a gift that is in this world, to have words just open themselves up to you. I think it will allow Noodle a lot more choice for a while, and I hope I don't forget that he still needs my interest in what he's learning even if he doesn't need my help.
Okay, now that the reading is covered, what else have we been doing? Well, the big thing that was coming up after my last entry was Disney World! I can't believe what a burst of imagination has come on the tails of that trip. The kids still watch the Disney behind-the-scenes videos on Netflix at least once a week, they talk about their favorite rides and what they're going to do next time when they're bigger (we're hoping to take another trip in 3 years or so), and the other day Tex and I even had a conversation comparing the strengths and weaknesses of Disney and Universal as we saw them. He argued that while WDW definitely has the best rides for kids his age, Universal had the more impressive architecture, citing Hogsmeade/Hogwarts in particular. I maintain that Universal should only get credit for having hired the staff from the movies to design the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and that overall Disney does a much better job of selling their themes. Then he pulled out the Dr. Suess area at Universal and I rebutted with Epcot's World Showcase. In the end we agreed to disagree.
Anyway, it's been a fun surprise to me to see what caught each child's fancy at WDW. While we were at the Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor on our last night at Disney, and Tex got asked by a monster comedian what he wanted to be when he grew up, he answered without hesitation "a costume designer". Now, dressing up is something that Tex has always loved to do, and we maintain well-stocked dress-up boxes for all the kids, but it's like our trip to the theme parks really brought it to life for him. He focuses on the little details of the costumes he sees in movies and tv shows, and on figuring out how we can recreate them at home. This is one of those times I wish I was good at sewing.
But now, let's go back to the sharpening of focus I told you about. I suppose it's natural as one begins to live out the Unschooling lifestyle, but I've been thinking more and more lately about what is really important to us. I was in the bookstore yesterday and I picked up The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. I had heard about the book and it's author, and even read a couple of excerpts on the internet, heaping scorn on the head of the woman who would do such things to her child for the sake of being thought to be a good mother because her children were successful. For shame! But in reading the jacket of the *actual* book instead of just relying on the internet (funny how that works), I saw that this wasn't just a clueless, disconnected mother feeding her own ego. Amy Chua parented her daughters the way she did, forcing them to practice lessons and achieve greatness at the cost of their own relationship, because she thought that being successful was more important, would be better for her children, than having a strong relationship with her built on unconditional affection. Part of me feels overwhelmingly sad that she thought so little of herself, that being a whole person to her children seemed worthless, but that's not really the point. She wanted the best for her babies. And by her definition they have been successful, so I guess that's a comfort to... someone.
But here's the thing. I'm going the other way. I've made just as conscious a choice and I'm choosing the relationship. This is not to say I'm going to give my children everything they want in the hopes they'll like me, it just means that I'm choosing explanation and honest discussion over manipulation and extortion. I've recently discovered that the phrase "you're not your child's friend" really rubs me the wrong way. No, I'm not going to ignore the fact that I have more life experience and (hopefully, sometimes) wisdom than they do, but I'm not going to pretend that my voice is the only one worth listening to. I wouldn't do that to a friend. Not one I wanted to keep, anyway. So I'm not going to choose paths for my children and push them so hard down them that in my ignorance about my children's desires I push them away from me. I won't sugarcoat the realities of life, but I also won't pretend they don't have a choice about which lessons to learn on their own. I choose being a safe haven over being a driving force.
See, I'd like to lead off with the reassuring statement about how Tex has become a darn proficient reader now, in his own time, and is even starting to think of himself that way. We were going through our rarely-read children's books to find some to give away for victims of the recent tornadoes, and something happened that has never happened before: Tex wanted to keep books so that HE could read them. He's never talked about wanting to read independently before. Ever. He has clung to the idea of me reading to him for years, in fact I think he was planning to have me in the dorm room next to his if he goes to college, so that I could read text books to him at bedtime. :-) "Insecure about reading" doesn't even begin to describe him. "Hostile" maybe comes closer. So it's with no small amount of joy that I realized two days ago we had had a banner day: Tex told me all the jokes off his Popsicle sticks after HE read them himself. He didn't ask for help before trying, he gave it a shot and it made sense for him, he comprehended the words and was able to express them accurately to me later.
But that doesn't really change the basic fact that Tex is not naturally proficient at language-related tasks, and I really want to start actively playing to his strengths as a spatial learner. I love that he's brought himself this far and that he's starting to feel confident about something that's been a big challenge for him the last couple of years, but I'm also worried that I'm not doing enough to support that learning and help him feel powerful and intelligent. I feel like if he could take it to the next level, having some concrete tools to employ when trying to decode language, then he would feel even more self-reliant and independent, and wouldn't look to me to be his savior in these situations. But he's so resistant to any kind of pressure that I've been hands-off in order to let him know that I don't expect his brain to operate on my timeline. And that's kind of what the whole point of homeschooling was with him, was to get him to a point where he felt well-equipped to handle what would be expected of him in public school, and not feel abandoned or neglected. And that's not to say he would be forced to go to school once he reached that point, just that it wasn't an option until then. And now I'm seeing that with a little more focused work on my part, there's a light at the distant end of the tunnel. That's pretty cool. But more on that "urge to push" in a minute.
Speaking of reading, it turns out Noodle is just one of those kids who "get it". I was like that; I don't know what age I started reading, I just remember that words on a page made sense to me. It appears Noodle is much the same, as his reading has gone from basic C-V-C words last summer to full on reading of whole paragraphs at present. Of course he struggles with the odd word, but most of them just flow right in his eyes and out his mouth without a break. I realize now what a gift that is in this world, to have words just open themselves up to you. I think it will allow Noodle a lot more choice for a while, and I hope I don't forget that he still needs my interest in what he's learning even if he doesn't need my help.
Okay, now that the reading is covered, what else have we been doing? Well, the big thing that was coming up after my last entry was Disney World! I can't believe what a burst of imagination has come on the tails of that trip. The kids still watch the Disney behind-the-scenes videos on Netflix at least once a week, they talk about their favorite rides and what they're going to do next time when they're bigger (we're hoping to take another trip in 3 years or so), and the other day Tex and I even had a conversation comparing the strengths and weaknesses of Disney and Universal as we saw them. He argued that while WDW definitely has the best rides for kids his age, Universal had the more impressive architecture, citing Hogsmeade/Hogwarts in particular. I maintain that Universal should only get credit for having hired the staff from the movies to design the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and that overall Disney does a much better job of selling their themes. Then he pulled out the Dr. Suess area at Universal and I rebutted with Epcot's World Showcase. In the end we agreed to disagree.
Anyway, it's been a fun surprise to me to see what caught each child's fancy at WDW. While we were at the Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor on our last night at Disney, and Tex got asked by a monster comedian what he wanted to be when he grew up, he answered without hesitation "a costume designer". Now, dressing up is something that Tex has always loved to do, and we maintain well-stocked dress-up boxes for all the kids, but it's like our trip to the theme parks really brought it to life for him. He focuses on the little details of the costumes he sees in movies and tv shows, and on figuring out how we can recreate them at home. This is one of those times I wish I was good at sewing.
But now, let's go back to the sharpening of focus I told you about. I suppose it's natural as one begins to live out the Unschooling lifestyle, but I've been thinking more and more lately about what is really important to us. I was in the bookstore yesterday and I picked up The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. I had heard about the book and it's author, and even read a couple of excerpts on the internet, heaping scorn on the head of the woman who would do such things to her child for the sake of being thought to be a good mother because her children were successful. For shame! But in reading the jacket of the *actual* book instead of just relying on the internet (funny how that works), I saw that this wasn't just a clueless, disconnected mother feeding her own ego. Amy Chua parented her daughters the way she did, forcing them to practice lessons and achieve greatness at the cost of their own relationship, because she thought that being successful was more important, would be better for her children, than having a strong relationship with her built on unconditional affection. Part of me feels overwhelmingly sad that she thought so little of herself, that being a whole person to her children seemed worthless, but that's not really the point. She wanted the best for her babies. And by her definition they have been successful, so I guess that's a comfort to... someone.
But here's the thing. I'm going the other way. I've made just as conscious a choice and I'm choosing the relationship. This is not to say I'm going to give my children everything they want in the hopes they'll like me, it just means that I'm choosing explanation and honest discussion over manipulation and extortion. I've recently discovered that the phrase "you're not your child's friend" really rubs me the wrong way. No, I'm not going to ignore the fact that I have more life experience and (hopefully, sometimes) wisdom than they do, but I'm not going to pretend that my voice is the only one worth listening to. I wouldn't do that to a friend. Not one I wanted to keep, anyway. So I'm not going to choose paths for my children and push them so hard down them that in my ignorance about my children's desires I push them away from me. I won't sugarcoat the realities of life, but I also won't pretend they don't have a choice about which lessons to learn on their own. I choose being a safe haven over being a driving force.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Catching up and looking forward
It's been months, I know. Sometimes I don't post because I'm busy, sometimes because there's just not much new to report. Lately it's been the former, for sure! Seems like ever since the holidays started we've just been going-going-going around here and I don't have 30 minutes together to sit down and post. But it's getting ridiculous even by my loosey-goosey standards, so here we go! As usual, forgive the bouncing around, I guess when I go this long without posting I forget what all I want to report. :-)
Tex is just amazing. No, the kid isn't the most socially able, and I admit I have a hard time with that, but his brain is freakin' awesome!! He has an innate understanding of mathematics and physics that I could never even dream of having. He can recite (and more importantly, understand) Newton's Laws of Motion, he's still doing multiplication and division in his head for fun, and he's started exploring geometry and angles now as well. A lot of this new geometry information comes from doing woodworking with his grandfathers and uncle, and the physics knowledge gets a workout as both Tex and Noodle recently designed their Pinewood Derby cars for Cub Scouts.
Also for Cub Scouts, we recently went on a Fire Station Field Trip with a homeschool group, and let me tell you how much my boys impressed me. The tour leader, Tory, was asking kids about what to do if there's a fire. Tex is an old hand at fire safety, so he piped right up with the "stop, drop, and roll" technique if one's clothes are one fire. But then Tory asked, "what do you do if there's a fire in your house?" And oh, my Noodle. I wish you could hear his squeaky little voice explain: "well, you could... well, this wouldn't really be possible, but if you could get a big jar and put it over the house, then the fire wouldn't have oxygen and it would go out!" Tory's response: "Get this kid an application." ;-) They then had a great time exploring the whole fire house and three different fire trucks.
In other news, both boys are now reading very capably. It obviously comes very naturally to Noodle, while Tex has to work a little harder, but they're both doing really well. I'd say that Noodle is a little above grade level and climbing fast, while Tex is right at his grade level. The great news is that Tex still loves a good story, and we're about halfway through the newest Rick Riordan book, The Lost Hero, which picks up where the Percy Jackson books left off, but now with a Roman bent instead of Greek. This has really captured Tex's imagination and just today he asked me to pick out some books on ancient Rome and Greece at the library. He also wants to add some ancient Greek and Roman dates to our timeline, like the building of the Colosseum and the eruption of Vesuvius, so we need to get some thumbnail pictures printed out to go with those dates.
Tex's love of dinosaurs and World War I and II aircraft has recently been rekindled as well. We recorded a couple of shows off the Military Channel, one on Pacific theater WWII aircraft and one on the European theater, and he's been watching the show Dogfights with his grandfather again. It's been a couple of years since I've seen him staging dogfights with his toy planes, so that's been a treat. And he's really looking more into the paleontological side of dinosaur study, and says that he'd like to be a paleontologist when he grows up. There's no doubt in my mind that he'd be great at it with his attention to detail and ritual, seems like those traits would be useful in a profession that requires meticulous cataloging of findings.
Noodle's big obsessions lately have been animals and Club Penguin. A new series of shows have become popular in our house: Dogs 101, Cats 101, and Pets 101. They detail the characteristics and needs of a variety of species and breeds of animals, and since the thing Noodle wants most in the world is a pet of his very own upon which to lavish large amounts of love and time, this is good preparation for him. We've made multiple trips to PetSmart for him to look around and design the correct habitat for a variety of animals including hamsters, fish, lizards, hermit crabs, dogs, and cats. He also plays "puppies" with his friends a lot, and they'll make themselves a doghouse and get bowls of food and water and have a grand old time. Of course the "teacher" in me makes note of the fact that this meets the national standards of learning about animal habitats. ;-)
And who have I forgotten? Oh, yes, the Monkeygirl. The silly, smart, loud, joyful, kind Monkeygirl. She is such a blessing on our house!! Of course at 3 years old she's learning through play all day long, so it's hard to make up a laundry list of all she knows. But she's got numbers, letters, colors all down pat, and lately she's been pointing to words and asking me, "Mommy, what dis say?" She's also an excellent singer, and we are treated to choruses of "Old McDonald Had a Farm" all. day. long. Sometimes we just get "eieio, eieio, eieio" for a minute straight, but sometimes she regales us with the sounds of llamas, roosters, and even babies on the farm. Monkeygirl's sense of humor is amazing, and her compassion and concern for others is truly beautiful. I love to see her and her brothers interact because the love shining off them when they're together makes my heart feel full to bursting! Oh, and the Sunday School coordinator at our church tells me repeatedly that she is the most articulate 3 yr old she knows, which is always nice to hear.
So, we have a big adventure coming up in a month and a half. We are going to Walt Disney World!!!! I cannot wait to get my kids in those parks and watch them have a blast. Tex is charged up about Epcot with all its futuristic rides, Noodle is charged up about the Kim Possible Secret Agent mission in Epcot's World Showcase, and Monkeygirl is just barely aware that we're going to be going on a special trip one day. I'm excited to see all the live animals at Animal Kingdom and go on the safari with the kids, and yeah, okay, I'm also excited to be a Kim Possible secret agent. I know that whether it's planned or not this trip is going to provide some huge learning opportunities for my kids. It already started tonight when I explained Tom Sawyer island in Magic Kingdom, and the fence-painting scene that inspires the WDW cast members to hide paint brushes all over the island for visitors to find and exchange for prizes. So there ya go, a little bit of classic literature with your vacation planning. ;-)
Tex is just amazing. No, the kid isn't the most socially able, and I admit I have a hard time with that, but his brain is freakin' awesome!! He has an innate understanding of mathematics and physics that I could never even dream of having. He can recite (and more importantly, understand) Newton's Laws of Motion, he's still doing multiplication and division in his head for fun, and he's started exploring geometry and angles now as well. A lot of this new geometry information comes from doing woodworking with his grandfathers and uncle, and the physics knowledge gets a workout as both Tex and Noodle recently designed their Pinewood Derby cars for Cub Scouts.
Also for Cub Scouts, we recently went on a Fire Station Field Trip with a homeschool group, and let me tell you how much my boys impressed me. The tour leader, Tory, was asking kids about what to do if there's a fire. Tex is an old hand at fire safety, so he piped right up with the "stop, drop, and roll" technique if one's clothes are one fire. But then Tory asked, "what do you do if there's a fire in your house?" And oh, my Noodle. I wish you could hear his squeaky little voice explain: "well, you could... well, this wouldn't really be possible, but if you could get a big jar and put it over the house, then the fire wouldn't have oxygen and it would go out!" Tory's response: "Get this kid an application." ;-) They then had a great time exploring the whole fire house and three different fire trucks.
In other news, both boys are now reading very capably. It obviously comes very naturally to Noodle, while Tex has to work a little harder, but they're both doing really well. I'd say that Noodle is a little above grade level and climbing fast, while Tex is right at his grade level. The great news is that Tex still loves a good story, and we're about halfway through the newest Rick Riordan book, The Lost Hero, which picks up where the Percy Jackson books left off, but now with a Roman bent instead of Greek. This has really captured Tex's imagination and just today he asked me to pick out some books on ancient Rome and Greece at the library. He also wants to add some ancient Greek and Roman dates to our timeline, like the building of the Colosseum and the eruption of Vesuvius, so we need to get some thumbnail pictures printed out to go with those dates.
Tex's love of dinosaurs and World War I and II aircraft has recently been rekindled as well. We recorded a couple of shows off the Military Channel, one on Pacific theater WWII aircraft and one on the European theater, and he's been watching the show Dogfights with his grandfather again. It's been a couple of years since I've seen him staging dogfights with his toy planes, so that's been a treat. And he's really looking more into the paleontological side of dinosaur study, and says that he'd like to be a paleontologist when he grows up. There's no doubt in my mind that he'd be great at it with his attention to detail and ritual, seems like those traits would be useful in a profession that requires meticulous cataloging of findings.
Noodle's big obsessions lately have been animals and Club Penguin. A new series of shows have become popular in our house: Dogs 101, Cats 101, and Pets 101. They detail the characteristics and needs of a variety of species and breeds of animals, and since the thing Noodle wants most in the world is a pet of his very own upon which to lavish large amounts of love and time, this is good preparation for him. We've made multiple trips to PetSmart for him to look around and design the correct habitat for a variety of animals including hamsters, fish, lizards, hermit crabs, dogs, and cats. He also plays "puppies" with his friends a lot, and they'll make themselves a doghouse and get bowls of food and water and have a grand old time. Of course the "teacher" in me makes note of the fact that this meets the national standards of learning about animal habitats. ;-)
And who have I forgotten? Oh, yes, the Monkeygirl. The silly, smart, loud, joyful, kind Monkeygirl. She is such a blessing on our house!! Of course at 3 years old she's learning through play all day long, so it's hard to make up a laundry list of all she knows. But she's got numbers, letters, colors all down pat, and lately she's been pointing to words and asking me, "Mommy, what dis say?" She's also an excellent singer, and we are treated to choruses of "Old McDonald Had a Farm" all. day. long. Sometimes we just get "eieio, eieio, eieio" for a minute straight, but sometimes she regales us with the sounds of llamas, roosters, and even babies on the farm. Monkeygirl's sense of humor is amazing, and her compassion and concern for others is truly beautiful. I love to see her and her brothers interact because the love shining off them when they're together makes my heart feel full to bursting! Oh, and the Sunday School coordinator at our church tells me repeatedly that she is the most articulate 3 yr old she knows, which is always nice to hear.
So, we have a big adventure coming up in a month and a half. We are going to Walt Disney World!!!! I cannot wait to get my kids in those parks and watch them have a blast. Tex is charged up about Epcot with all its futuristic rides, Noodle is charged up about the Kim Possible Secret Agent mission in Epcot's World Showcase, and Monkeygirl is just barely aware that we're going to be going on a special trip one day. I'm excited to see all the live animals at Animal Kingdom and go on the safari with the kids, and yeah, okay, I'm also excited to be a Kim Possible secret agent. I know that whether it's planned or not this trip is going to provide some huge learning opportunities for my kids. It already started tonight when I explained Tom Sawyer island in Magic Kingdom, and the fence-painting scene that inspires the WDW cast members to hide paint brushes all over the island for visitors to find and exchange for prizes. So there ya go, a little bit of classic literature with your vacation planning. ;-)
Friday, October 1, 2010
The Eagle has landed!
Psssst! Don't tell Tex, but I think he may have crossed over into being a confident reader! I noticed yesterday that when his brother was playing a video game and couldn't read something, Tex didn't hesitate to lean right over his shoulder and read it aloud for Noodle. And when I complimented Tex on being such a great reader and helpful brother, I actually got a smile instead of a sullen look or loud, contrary "I am NOT a good reader, I HATE reading!" And then today I was spelling out a word I didn't want Monkeygirl to hear (for the record, "princess", because that's just the kind of mama I am) and Tex immediately piped up with the word! Something about the wiring from Tex's ears to his brain works SO much better than the path from eyes to brain. He's always been able to repeat almost word for word any information that he hears and is interested in, and can remember it long after it has lost its tenuous grip on my synapses. In any case, I was stunned to hear him put it all together so fast, and thrilled for what this confidence could mean to him in the coming months of learning. I don't know that any of my kids will ever be the bookworm that I am, but I'm hoping they'll at least consider reading to be a useful and painless tool for growth.
In other reading news, we've begun the Harry Potter series. I'm rereading the entire series and I'm pretty sure we won't be going beyond the second book for a while. Which is fine, as there are a lot of other wonderful books out there to explore and read. But even after just a week of reading, Tex is really enjoying Harry Potter. I overheard him yesterday trying to teach Noodle how to ride a broomstick and play Quidditch. :-)
In other reading news, we've begun the Harry Potter series. I'm rereading the entire series and I'm pretty sure we won't be going beyond the second book for a while. Which is fine, as there are a lot of other wonderful books out there to explore and read. But even after just a week of reading, Tex is really enjoying Harry Potter. I overheard him yesterday trying to teach Noodle how to ride a broomstick and play Quidditch. :-)
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