Reading books in the backyard after their sprinkler trampoline jumping.
This summer has been so relaxed and nice so far. The kids are getting along great, for the most part. I am keeping them busy with all the free or cheap things around town ($1.00 movies, free school lunches at the park, library reading program) and we also do something really fun every weekday that I call "school time." I went through all our workbooks and found kindergarten reading and math workbooks from when Julianna was in kindergarten that weren't all used--many pages left over (I'm not sure what she did in kindergarten...). So Blake is doing those, plus a handwriting practice one. Julianna got her 1st grade books sent home that aren't all filled in, either, so we're finishing those, plus some other workbooks I had. At the beginning of school time, I read them 2 or 3 easy readers--Julianna has TONS from school that have piled up over the years. I chose 3 the first two weeks to read every day. This past Friday on the 2-week mark I decided to see if Blake could read the book by himself. I was SO surprised when he read every word without help from me! Of course it's mostly from memory, but this is the beginning stage of reading! I tried uploading a video of him reading this book, but it didn't work:( Julianna of course zooms through these easy books, but she still loves the practice. At the end of school time, we do kindergarten sight words--so far Blake knows 8 of them. My goal is for him to memorize the sight words before kindergarten.
Something else that is cute--at night sometimes I catch Julianna and Blake whispering. When I come up, I find them reading a book together. Julianna was reading a book to Blake last night (Big Dog, Little Dog), and Blake said, "I wanted to help her read better." I can tell he's secretly jealous of her reading abilities. But he will catch up soon--in two weeks he has made TONS of progress. He can even spell simple words if I ask him--he will think about the sounds in his head and then spell the word. I'm glad I'm taking a little time each day for "school time," because it will certainly pay off when school starts again! I've even caught the reading bug--I've already read 3 books this summer and well into my 4th!
We're looking forward to seeing Joel's family this weekend for the 4th, running in the Orange Stake 5K, and seeing the newly engaged Briana (and maybe meeting her fiance?)
