Beginning of Advent

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Now jumping right into the Advent season. Christmas is right around the corner! After a busy Thanksgiving weekend, complete with a house showing (yay!) and a frantic Sunday afternoon decorating-fest, we are all set for the start of the Christmas countdown. The lights have been hung, the tree is up & decorated, the Advent calendar has been lovely attended to since Wednesday (Dec 1), my mom’s beautiful nativity set has been borrowed & displayed, and the house is feeling festive. With all of that surrounding us, we jumped back into school!

I admit, I was concerned that the flashing pretty stuff would be too big a distraction, especially coming off of a long holiday weekend. We have school in the living room… right next to the Christmas tree! It’s difficult enough for me not to get distracted by the baubles! But the boys were fantastic. On Monday morning, they ooh’ed & aah’ed over the tree (it was decorated after they went to bed). But then, when it was time for school to start, they were all business. Well, as all business as a partially bored 4 year old & a hyper 6 year old can be!

The big school news of the week, besides the amazing ability to block out Christmas decorations, was Jimmy’s completion of the DISTAR reading program. I think I mentioned before that we had sort of dropped the formal stuff; he has just been reading the stories from the later lessons. He read the last DISTAR lesson story on Tuesday. For Thursday’s reading time, I let him pick out a book to read aloud, with the caveat that I would have veto power. (And yes, I used the term “veto power” with him. And yes, he had to ask what it meant. I wonder when I’ll hear that used back to me. “Mom, what’s for dinner? I want veto power over it!”) Anyway, he surprised me with his choice – Where Is God When I’m Sc-c-c-ared? by Veggie Tales. I had expected him to bring one of those one-word-a-page books that usually come in board book form. He had been grumbling about not wanting to read, so I assumed that he would choose a super easy one. I had almost convinced myself to let him have that choice, just to help him see that reading isn’t a chore. But he chose a book that wasn’t particularly easy! It was in his range, but it has some words that I knew he would struggle with. It was a fantastic choice, however. He didn’t get too frustrated – he really wanted to read it! I might have to let him make the choice for most of our reading times. My goal is to create a joyful reader, not a reluctant one. Choosing what to read may help him get there.

Caleb is improving in his ability to quietly sit still during read-aloud times & while I’m working one-on-one with Jimmy. He enjoys his cutting projects (some simple printouts of squiggly lines or geometric shapes to cut out). He has been giving his cutouts to Jimmy & me as presents. So sweet!