One Very Happy Mamma

If you've been reading awhile you'll know that B hasn't taken to reading like he has to, let's see, say Lego! It's not that it was all too hard, he just hasn't really had the desire and it has taken some time for a few of the all important steps to 'click' for him. Plus why read when mum will always be here to read everything to him!

He has had the first 5 books of the Zac Powers series on the bookshelf since his birthday. I'd been waiitng until he was reading more fluently before pulling them off the shelf. I also have never seen a Zac Powerbook so I had no idea what they were like and what level the reading was at. All I knew for sure was that they certainly weren't going to win any Literature Prizes any day soon. Truth be told that was also one of the reasons why they have sat on the shelf for this long.

There's always been this part of me that has struggled with the kids reading 'twaddle' and how that relates to watching tv, as in kids that watch tv don't read (I know not necessarily true and a very broad generalistion and not something that I have said) and kids that read 'twaddle' 'dumbed down' or plain 'easy' reads won't ever want to pick up good books of any great literary quality. I have read this several times online and have also been told this by well meaning homeschooling parents.


You know what, at nearly 8 1/2 I don't care what he is reading (well within reason) just the fact that he is reading and reading chapter books and carrying them around withhim to read, reading in the car, reading before going to sleep at night, just reading....YIPPEEE...

Over Easter I decided to grab one of the books to read to B, after opening it I quickly realised that he could probably cope with the book. I made that suggestion to him and just left it at that. Later that night he grabbed the next book and began, we went out the next morning and he was reading the book in the car.

So yes I am one very happy, very proud mamma and he is one very happy boy because he now knows he can do it!

Goodnight Moon - Tot Painting

We had a hugely delightful full moon this past week, which C spotted all on his own on our drive home from Soccer Training, just after dusk. It was a gorgeous sight too, he was utterly gobsmacked at the big glowing circle in the sky!

He was most concerned that it kept on disappearing though as we headed home, but as we turned a bend or went over a hill, miraculously it would appear again and we'd all giggle at his, "There they are!" remark. He says that whenever he finds anything he is looking for regardless of whether it is one item or 10. I guess it stems from looking for his shoes and us always saying, There they are, when we found them.

After baths we went back outside to sit and look at the moon, we are very lucky to live a little out of town where the city lights don't affect our sky view too much. I love seeing things like this through the children's eyes, watching them see things that we really don't think too much about (such as the moon) for the first time. The awe and mystery of it all as they wonder what on earth is that big glowing ball that we all call the Moon!


Whilst we were looking at the moon I told C about a story I had on the shelves with the moon in it so of course he wanted to go in and read the story. At first he didn't quite pick the moon in the illustrations, I just don't think he put two and two together, after all the real moon, in all its glory is spectacular compared to a grey circle on the page of a book.

The next morning though we were still talking about the moon and he was devastated when it was 'asleep' and that he couldn't go out and look at it. So I decided to have C make his own moon picture. We had loads of fun and it was so easy, the only thing that he didn't do was the cutting.

Firstly we began with a sheet of white cardstock. I squirted a few blobs of black poster paint on it and gave C a rolling brush for him to roll the paint out for the night sky.

Whilst that was drying I poured white paint into one container and black into another and gave C a paintbrush and just let him go for it, knowing full well that he would mix the colours anyway.

After he covered most of the page and it was dry (only a few minutes in the sunshine) we cut out a circle and he glued it onto his black sky background.

I rummaged up some silver stickers for him to place around the moon. So simple and it looks fabulous too!

Home School Hop #8

YAY! It worked, we're back in business. So after a few weeks break I think we will slide into the Blog Hop nice and gently, no theme this week.

Go grab the code and have some fun hopping about! Don't forget to leave a comment on the blogs you visit letting them know that you have stopped by from the hop.

STOP: Please DO NOT add your link below unless you have a post published about the blog hop and the current theme, and the McLinky code showing in that post.

Please ensure you have linked directly to your blog hop post and that the title includes the words 'blog hop' somewhere. All links added are checked via McLinky and those without these details are removed immediately (we do not always have time to visit the blog to check).

We are all enjoying this immensely, please play fairly as the majority of blog hoppers do! Thanks for participating, have fun!