Saturday in pictures

Reading together

I'm going to start with the end of the day, because that was my favorite part. When we finished dinner this evening Calvin, who was done eating and who had been eyeing his newest library book all through dinner, a book that we had made a special trip to the library to get earlier in the afternoon, suggested that he read the first chapter to us while we finished our meals. Although I'd had no intention of his reading this book by himself, hadn't even considered it as a possibility, we took him up on his offer, figuring that if he had trouble he'd let us know and we could pick it up from there. And because nobody told him he couldn't read it, he sat down and promptly did so, reading to us the first chapter of his newest book, The Knight at Dawn, a Magic Treehouse Book.

It has long been a dream of mine to share stories read aloud together as a family after dinner, and for all of his life we've been doing this to some extent because we always read to him before bed and he is happy to forgo all other activities to fill the small space between dinner and bed with books. But I had figured it would be some time yet before he took his turn at the helm. It was my favorite part of the day because it's a moment I've been waiting a long time for, and it was as delicious a moment as I believed it could be.

The rest of the day was fine, too. Calvin spent much of it in the middle ages, and between reading books, looking at pictures, and writing on note cards he kept himself pretty busy. I spent my free time, when I wasn't also in the middle ages, reading my own book and researching cameras, because while we did go for a fantastic hike this morning, and did see a majestic Great Blue Heron in our pond not more than ten yards away from us, I have no pictures, just whole lot of frustration, to show for it.

And by the way, nobody said homeschooling was a venture for the neat minded. As you can see, our house is now littered with a bread crumb trail of books on the middle ages. From where I sit, it looks like those crumbs all lead back to the castle (or possibly the laundry we'd just folded), but I think where they really go is straight into the future.

Exciting

Today was full of exciting.

It didn't start that way. We woke up and spent some dreary moments staring out the window at a cold, gray morning, puddles filling every depression in the lawn and garden. We cuddled in the reading chair and read for a while. We both practiced the piano. We straightened some of the house, though not as much as it could use. We almost started lunch, but then Calvin remembered his previous excitement over a middle ages and renaissance experience and decided instead that he wanted to read a little in a book that we'd brought home from the book sale a few weeks ago about King Arthur. That's when exciting started. We read the opening page to King Arthur's Knight Quest, and it was over an hour before we actually got to lunch. The book is a hidden pictures sort, with a lot of rich illustrations depicting the costumes and outfittings of the knights and the story and backdrop of the fantastical world of King Arthur. Because Calvin views every book now as a full life experience we ended up starting work on suit of armor, beginning with the shield. Each page is a new part of the quest, and each page means finding (thus making) a new part of the armor, among a host of other things. There will be a lot more to our quest this week, and that's exciting.

At lunch, to continue his exploration of the middle ages, Calvin wanted to read Cowardly Clyde to me. And he did. I am still blown away by his reading progress, and that's exciting for me.

And exciting was Calvin composing music. He started it this morning after we practiced, playing around with the damper pedal. He continued in the afternoon, then he got some help from his dad in writing it down. Discovery is a very exciting thing.

Then, of course, there's the castle, which is growing and changing slowly, one addition at a time. It's another project that has been and will continue to be ongoing this week. Calvin is teaching me the exciting lesson of coming and going, the ebbing and flowing of creative energy.

And that's exciting.

Dinner is done

I love crockpot meals. Morning, after all, is when I have the energy to cook, not at five o'clock, or even four. Let's get dinner made before lunch. Even better, let's make dinner before we even get out of our pajamas.

I have a very jolly helper.

And yes, I realize that some days it looks like we never get out of our pajamas. Even on a week day. And yes, I'll admit, it doesn't just look that way, it probably is that way. Life looks pretty good from comfy pajamas, plus it cuts down on laundry. When we go places, though, we get dressed, and most days we go places even if just to the library. Today we needed art supplies, and time to drool over rows of pretty spring textiles. We have a number of projects planned.

We also stopped by the bakery to order our paczkis for next Tuesday, and, yes, the library for some new books. Calvin's piano teacher (not Jon) described music learning as happening in waves, an ebbing and flowing tide, but I think this is not restricted to music learning alone. I think it describes all learning, and maybe even life. Months ago Calvin first started to read, and his reading has been improving slowly but steadily since then, until about two weeks ago when I noticed in the car that he was reading signs like a crazy man. Then I noticed it in the stores, and then at home. It's as though he has broken through another barrier. I'll often find him now, curled up in a corner with a book that we used to read to him, and hear him whispering the words to himself. This is not something we've worked on together, it's something that happened when I wasn't really looking. Then he asked me today to check out a Franklin (the turtle) reader from the library. It was a level two reader and I was worried about frustration, so I asked him to have a look at it with me first. He promptly sat down and read the whole thing to me. We brought home three Franklin readers, all in level two.

I love this. I love his love for reading. I cannot describe how much I love this.

I love this, too, the part of our table now relegated to craft center, making it possible for him to pick up paints and get to work any time he feels like it. He has two new long term painting projects underway and I can't wait to see where he's going with them.

And he read to me while I made biscuits to go with our crockpot dinner.

Yes, I did just say while I made biscuits to go with our crockpot dinner, the dinner that we finished making while still in our pajamas so that we wouldn't have to do any cooking later. Some days there's just enough energy left for things like homemade biscuits.

Don't let the dog play the game

Perhaps you've seen the Pigeon books by Mo Willems. The one that I always think of is Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. I'm not a fan of the Pigeon books, but that was immediately what came to mind when I saw this series of pictures on the camera today.

Don't let the dog play the game.

Please, please let me play the game?

I'm good at games. Really.

If you let me play the game I promise I'll be good for ever and ever and ever.

Well if you're not going to let me play the game I guess I'll have to go cry in the corner. Boo hoo! ... Have you changed your mind yet?

You didn't let the dog play the game, did you? Phew! Thanks a lot.

And if you're not annoyed yet, then the Pigeon books are probably for you. Personally I think it's adult humor, sarcastic in nature, innapropriately aimed at children. The Piggy and Elephant books (There is a Bird on Your Head!) by the same author is a better series with a similar dry humor, minus the sarcasm. We kind of enjoyed those.