Reading Aloud

On Monday I attended a seminar on writing by Andrew Pudewa and Andrew Kern.

 It was really a seminar on language and even more generally on homeschooling. But one (of the many) things that I got out of it was the importance of reading aloud to your children. As a Sonlight Curriculum user I have been reading aloud for years but it was nice to reaffirm the importance of doing it. Because of the busyness of life our Read-Aloud had been pushed to the bottom of the "get-done" list. So yesterday I told the kids to get a quiet activity and we read aloud for hours! This is what they did:

Annie colored, drew and made a friendship anklet.

Timothy played with his magnetix and created a windmill and a ferris wheel.

What did we read you wonder? Caddie Woodlawn's Family. It's the sequal to Caddie Woodlawn which is a part of our curriculum. I cried at just about every chapter! Of course that's just me! I cry easily.

And why is reading aloud so important? According to the two Andrews it raises a child's reading comprehension, listening comprehension and therefore their reading level! Not to mention their vocabulary and the ability to read aloud themselves. It's just good! And they said to keep reading to them, no matter their age. Don't stop once they can read for themselves. So I'm off to read some more. I encourage you to do the same!

Girl's Club

Annie is part of a girl's club which we helped start last fall. I had been wanting to do some home ec-y type of things with her and thought it would be much more fun to do them in a group. So after emailing some friends we put together a group of 4 families, 6 girls in all. It's working out beautifully. It breaks down nicely into 3 4-month quarters. We just finished up our first "unit" on baking. We covered the following:

October-- Pumpkin bread
November-- Corn bread
December-- Cookies

January-- Muffins

Making cookies

Natalie explaining how to tell if your baking soda is fresh

Girl's Club members

The girls have learned how to measure ingredients, the importance of preheating the oven, what to do to get ready to bake, the difference between baking and cooking, the different types of leavening, why sifting is important, and the different types of measuring utensils among other things. They are also putting together a nice recipe book. While the oven is baking the goodies the girls participate in a little lesson/story/activity. Then they get to sample their wares and often get a little play time while the moms finish cleaning and packing up.

Next we will begin a unit on Sewing followed by a unit on Cooking. I have to say the guys at home will be sad for us to be leaving baking behind. But now that the girls have learned many new skills, they will be able put that talent to work!

Big changes!

Whew! The fall was a blur of activity and zoomed past at breakneck speed! Our oldest son began high school and we thought it would be fun for him to play sports for a small christian school. He liked it so much that he asked to go to school there. It was a difficult decision for us to make but we decided that he could go ahead and start at the beginning of the second semester. That day is today!

When we began homeschooling we always said we would do it as long as the Lord called us to it. When people would invariable ask, "How long are you going to homeschool?" my response was always, "Well, we're doing it this year!" Early on my husband I and sat down and made a mission statement, named our school and came up with a "Why We Homeschool" document. In reviewing the document we had written, I feel confident that we have succeeded in preparing him for this day.

So over the Christmas break we bought books and uniforms, signed contracts and drafted a transcript. Today I dropped him off and I had the experience that so many parents go through when their child is entering Kindergarten. I got to postpone it 9.5 years!!! I'm proud to say that I did remarkably well. I held it together til I got to the car. It sure is hard to let them grow up!

I'm happy that he already has friends there. Two buddies were going to show him around, making sure he gets to his classes. He was beaming when I left. That's better than clinging to my knees, isn't it? Tonight I will try to keep the questioning to a minimum, praying that he'll want to share his experiences.

I feel unbelievably blessed to have been able to homeschool him all these years. We have made some amazing discoveries together and have had lots of deposits in the memory bank. I look forward to focusing on the other two I still have at home. My job as a homeschooling mom is not over yet. My class size just shrunk by 1/3 is all.

Friends and family are praying for us. It sure is nice to be part of a loving community where we are loved and supported!