The Kid is Reading

It's true. She read her first three Bob books today. "Mat sat. Sam sat. Mat sat on Sam. Sam sat on mat. Sad Sam. Sad Mat. The End." or words to that effect. I was afraid to give her the books in case they frustrated her and caused our reading program to go further south, but reading those books turned out to be just the confidence booster she needed. She read through them once with me and once with Daddy when he got home. It was really gratifying to hear her read the stories and to see how proud she was. We are still flying...

Down the Rabbit Hole

Today we visited the Main branch of the library to see the latest marionette show: Alice in Wonderland. DD enjoyed it so much that she asked to see the 11:30 show, too, but the crowds were pretty intense, so we ate our lunch in the courtyard instead. The show was beautiful and she asked questions about it all day, so it made a big impression.

It was such a beautiful, warm day here that we washed the car when we got home. What four-year-old doesn't love playing with the hosepipe?

Once we had a sparkling clean car, we headed back inside where DD asked me to write a letter to her dad. She is already such a perfectionist--when I copied what I thought she wanted, she told me that she had, in fact, told me NOT to write that, then insisted that I erase my writing. She didn't want Dad to see it and say something. Oh dear. We're going to have to learn to relax...

We've been to the zoo, zoo, zoo

Yesterday was a gorgeous day here-sunny and warm after a week's worth of cloudy, cold days-so we spent most of it at the zoo. We attended our first Homeschool Afternoon, where dd got to pet a hissing cockroach (shudder), a corn snake (shudder shudder) and a chinchilla. She hung back at first, but gradually warmed up to the instructor and some of the kids.

We spent most of our time playing at the newly improved jungle gym. She led me on a quest, Dora-style, to save a panda bear who was (unfortunately for me) trapped at the top of a tower. The only way to get to the tower was to climb what felt like 10 stories of netting. Netting. But I did it, only to be told that there wasn't really a panda bear at the top of the tower...oy.

An "interesting" aside: I checked my inbox before we left for the zoo, and as I was perusing my emails, dd asked me who Miss Christy was. I had an email from a friend named Christy, so naturally I was taken aback. I asked her to point to the word, but she wouldn't do it. I wonder how much she really can read. She doesn't want to practice blending anymore. She just refuses to participate. I'll have to devise sneakier lessons. Unless she already knows how to read and she's just fooling me. Time will tell.

Back in the Blogging Saddle

And the homeschooling saddle, too. We cruised through the holidays, which were more hectic than I intended (aren't they always?). Now we're settling into a new routine for a new year.

I was able to take stock of our progress last "semester" and I finally realized that I've been doing school at home. Exactly what the experts tell you NOT to do. I was taking some much of the joy that DD gets from exploring and doing things her own way. I haven't become a radical unschooler by any stretch of the imagination, but I am committed to letting go of some long-cherished beliefs. Maybe I've been deprogrammed???

Anyway, I read another great book called Learning All the Time by John Holt. In it were excellent suggestions for providing concrete examples of abstract concepts, specifically reading and arithmetic. He continually stresses the idea of adults as facilitators who introduce kids to ideas and then get out of the way. It's the getting out of the way part that I have trouble with. I've been making a concerted effort over the past few days to introduce something, e.g. an alphabet puzzle that we haven't seen for at least one year, and letting her work with it as and when she wants. Amazingly, she asked to work the puzzle again this morning with me. It turns out that she had forgotten a few critical components of the alphabet song. Who knew? I sure didn't.

My new goal for 2009 is Learning without Tears. I may even write a book someday...but first I have to learn my DD.