Read, Read, Read

Before Justin and I ever had kids we decided we wanted to home school. We began our parenting journey with this mind set. When Steele was just a baby, I remember talking with a home schooling friend of mine. There was one thing she said to me that continually repeats itself in my brain - she said, "When they're little - just read, read, read to them." And we have. And it's working. At any given moment in our home, I could find either Steele or Adia sitting quietly flipping through the pages of a book. It brings my heart joy and I often find myself tiptoeing away so as not to distract them.

Without going off on too much of a tangent - I will say that reading to them has helped train them in so many areas beyond just learning. The most notable area has been their ability to sit still and focus on something. Each night before bed Justin sits with Steele and Adia and reads them stories. During this time, Justin has trained each of them to sit still, to be quiet when he's reading, to not grab at the pages... it has helped us immensely in church, especially. We attend a church where families worship together - our children sit with us in the pew (most of the time) for the entire service. Lately, both Steele and Adia have been able to do this. They have been able to keep their hands to themselves while we're singing - instead of grabbing at the hymnals. I can hold my bulletin in my hand and have them on my lap and they won't attempt to grab at it and tear it up. They will sit quietly (more often lately) and draw or "take notes" while our pastor is preaching. For the most part, they know how to sit and listen without talking. Now, they are not perfect by any means. Sometimes, like this last week, they are tired and squirrely (as were their parents) from being out too late the night before at our friends' house and so we take them to the nursery during the sermon - but they are making steady progress. And this means I get to sit through the service. That is, until the next baby arrives....

But anyway, back to reading. While we do spend some time doing other types of schooling - reading, sharing quiet moments together on the couch, talking about the stories we have read, reading stories that teach new vocabulary and new concepts is one of my favorite things to do with my children. As it is for many of you, I know.

Being previously fairly unfamiliar with children's books, I am so happy to have found a wonderful resource: Picture Book Preschool. I was first directed to it from the Preschoolers and Peace web site (tons of great resources there too) and have used it continually. I noticed you can e-mail the author directly for a copy - or you can purchase it here too. We don't often go by the exact week listed in the book, or work on the topics it recommends (we may in the future) but through it I have found so many wonderful books that I might never have picked out at the library on my own. Every few weeks I'll go to my library's web site and place requests on the books from a couple weeks' worth of Picture Book Preschool's book lists. I am never disappointed. So I thought I would share it with you if you haven't already heard of it.

Happy Reading!


Quick Adoption Update: I spoke with our agency director on Sunday and she was so excited, as are we obviously, for us to begin the process of adopting from Ethiopia. We went over a few preliminary things. She is leaving in a week to spend two weeks in Ethiopia. I wanted to say to her, "Can't you just bring us a baby when you come home?" Wouldn't that be great? But we can't - there are about a bazillion steps to take before that happens. And so we start, one step at at time. One dollar at at time. And that's how we're choosing to look at it. What's that they say... a journey of a thousand miles? Works the same way with dollars. ;-) And in case you're wondering, we are still going to complete our domestic home study update. We would love to bring a baby home in the next few months and then travel to Ethiopia a year from now to bring home another baby. And in case you're really wondering - the answer to the question that might be going through your heads - the answer to the question we get all the time: We don't put a cap on it. We'll take however many the Lord brings.

I already have fund raising ideas swimming around in my head. I'm thinking Salsa dancing, Mexican food, benefit night? Anyone up for it? I'll work on the salsa dancing. Justin's working on the leaf blowing side jobs.