You know you have a reader in the house...

When everything remotely flat is getting used as a bookmark. DH and I were looking for a coupon the other day and Becca said, "Oh, I used it as a bookmark..." I had two small envelopes sitting on a shelf by the door, waiting to be mailed. I discovered one in a nearby book, being used as a bookmark. And I was just putting away some of Sylvia's BOB books from this morning's reading (she read 5-8 of the first set) when I noticed one missing. Where was it? You guessed... being used as a bookmark.

And it doesn't do any good to have bookmarks either. Any other reading families can attest - those things disappear. I cut a whole stack of bookmarks out of cardstock a few months ago and there's no trace of them now. I use clothing tags, yarn tags, and perfume sample cards (the real cardboard ones that come with a mini-vial).

This is my life (for you WTMers)

This is for anyone who visits here from the WTM boards - it looks so calm and quiet there because I don't have the girls in my siggy! Well, here's a little snippet of what the girls are REALLY like:





My grad-level distractor and disruptor is on the left and my six year old stretcher is on the right!

Because I can...

Becca is sitting next to me on the couch, reading Ramona the Pest. On her own.

Sylvia read two Level 1 Barbie books this morning, almost completely on her own. She kept bringing the book over to me and asking, "What's this word?" and I'd tell her, and she'd wander back to the chair, reading the sentence aloud again. I was flabbergasted, especially since this is the same Barbie book we bought Becca last year and were pleasantly surprised when she read the whole thing (3 Level 1 books and 3 Level 2 books) on her own, only needing help with proper names. And a mere year later, Sylvia can read some stories from it!

Sylvia also has been enjoying sitting in on our math lessons. We're stepping back and using Right Start level A, a K level curriculum. I want Becca to loosen up and have fun with math so she can truly master the basics. Anyway, it's all very simple and fun right now, and Sylvia likes to sit and listen and participate. She can sing all of "Yellow is the Sun," Right Start's song for remembering numbers from 6-10.

I'm pretty proud of both of my girls!

Recent Becca and Sylvie-isms

A "Becca": It was way past her usual bedtime on Saturday (Feb. 28) and I was trying to do a few things on the computer. She was supposed to be lying down on the couch and going to sleep, but she was too full of energy. The lights were out, when suddenly she says, "Is today February 28?" Close to the end of my patience, I replied, "Yes it is." She exclaimed, "Then tomorrow is MARCH 1!!" Frustrated, I gave one of those silly hyperbolic parental responses: "Yes, but if you don't go to sleep, it'll never be March! It'll stay February forever!" A little voice responded from the dark beyond the computer screen's light, "No it won't." (In case you don't already know, she's excited about March because her birthday is coming up.)


Now a "Sylvie": Becca was doing some school work and Sylvia went into the kitchen to look at the US map. I went in to throw something away and Sylvia said, "Is this Tennessee where we live?" and pointed to TN. So I said yes, and then she pointed to Georgia - "And this is Georgia where Grandpa lives?" "Yes." "So when we went to visit Grandpa we drove from Tennessee down to Georgia (and she traced it on the map)." "Yep, sweetie, that's right!" She paused for a moment and then pointed at the western part of the map: "I don't want to drive over to Nineveh!"

Math - really?

As far as I know, Spectrum workbooks are generally well-regarded and considered to be at grade level.

We were out shopping this weekend and I was browsing workbooks at a bookstore. You may remember Becca's and my recent math troubles - we kicked and fought to get 3 units into Singapore 1B before throwing in the towel. Well, I picked up a Spectrum grade 1 math workbook and flipped through it. I turned to the final test, over the whole book, and realized that Becca could do all of it. She'd complain and it might take her all day to do it, but she could do all of it right now. I was shocked - I am shocked. All my garment tearing over math, and she's actually already learned at a very advanced level.

Hmmm... maybe I can chill a little.

Baaa.

So, I was sitting in the lobby of the gym, watching Becca in her class and managing a wiggly Sylvia on my lap. I had already noticed the older woman across the room, engrossed in a book whose title I couldn't make out without my glasses. I tend to keep to myself and Sylvie's self during these classes. Something about the world of mothers in real life just repels me. I can chat online all day, but I never get beyond one or two words in person.

The woman to my right stood up and repositioned her chair to get a better look into the gym. Every parent in there furtively crowds around the meager opening, craning their necks to peek into the forbidden world beyond. After years of free range, we were suddenly relegated to a bare waiting room with flimsy plastic chairs, only a few of which afforded a glimpse of our young ones in their exertions. I heard the woman speak, directing her words to the elderly reader across from me: "Is that book...?"

"Oh, it's Edgar Sawtelle, the one about the dog."
"From..." Don't say it. Don't. "Oprah's book club!" Inwardly, I emit a pained groan. I suddenly want to stab myself in the eye with the DS stylus.

Seriously. Woo hoo, Oprah got Americans to read. Problem is, nobody seems to know what to read unless Oprah tells them. Does anyone browse the library anymore? Do a little independent research? Or do they just wait for the next episode of Oprah's book club?

And I wonder why I don't make an effort to befriend everyone in the lobby. Sometimes I think that Sylvia affords me more intelligent conversation.

My version of the "breakfast board" and how to motivate a 5+ year old

I'm spreading this all around right now. A WTM board member shared her blog and a fabulous idea called a "breakfast board." I finally got it together and made one and took pics. Do you know that this is probably the first voluntary project I've done on a trifold board? Anyway, on to the good stuff:

First off, thanks to Johanna at this blog http://stopforflowers.blogspot.com/2...for-those.html for inventing and sharing the "breakfast board." I finally decided to get my act together and put one together for the girls, so here's my version. The flash is obscuring our "weather frog." There are 2 velcro dots there to attach today's weather squares (in a bag taped to the back of the board). The purple pockets hold a couple of Latin flashcards and a couple of history review cards. I have a poem for memorization/review, a tens/ones bag, hundreds chart, coin bag, assorted shapes for Sylvia, a clock, calendar, map (for continent practice) and the yesterday/today/tomorrow strips. Oh, and a month/season spinner!



I have to say that the girls raced to get started this morning just because of this board, so I'm already impressed!


I figured I'd also take a couple of pics of my motivational system for Becca. Sylvia just gets stickers on her hand and she gets to pick a treasure whenever Becca does. Every day, after we've completed our school work, Becca gets a sticker on her handy little chart.




Once we've done a full week (five days), she turns the whole sheet in to me and gets to pick a treasure out of the treasure box (they were so excited to see it they couldn't stay out of the pic!).I found the box at Dollar Tree, and I stock it with assorted little goodies from DT or the Target dollar section.



There's puzzles, stickers, temporary tattoos, crayons, cups, lip gloss, jewelry, things like that in there. Becca was pointing out the Strawberry Shortcake lip gloss. She gets very excited about picking a treasure and likes to count how many more stickers she needs before her next prize.