Late Readers

So, the question begs, if they are not reading in "school" what are they doing? Nothing important, to an adult. The children's days are filled with things like playing outside in all kinds of weather (NOTHING can discourage them from going outside.) They paint whenever they want, it has become an activity that can happen every day, rather than the big production I used to believe it had to be. They become knights and dogs and Eskimos. They form skating clubs, spy clubs or build forts in the basement. They jump rope, make candles, knit, memorize poems, chop potatoes, bake bread, play the recorder. I read to them, a lot. Sometimes we read for hours, some days it may only be an hour, but there is always a story to encourage their imagination, broaden their horizons and entertain them enough that they develop their own, unforced, love of reading.

We do have a rhythm (or schedule, if you prefer) to our day. They know what to expect in the morning, they know lunch will be served around noon, followed by rest and play time in the afternoon, and dinner in the evening. This makes it easier on everyone, and there is much flexibility within the rhythm.

This week we are on "spring vacation," and it is a lovely week to have chosen! It was in the 70's here yesterday, so we spent most of the day outside. I prepared my square-foot garden beds and planted peas. The little ones alternately came to help dig and left to play with the older ones in the far end of the yard, out of ear-shot of mama. Rhythm extends to yearly rituals that follow the seasons; spring is equated with planting and observing the new growth beginning, mud and all its joys, (reading sort of pales when side by side with mud) and the mud giving way to grass again (can't come soon enough!)

Happy Spring to you and yours!