So Brenna and I went shopping with Grandma Dawn a couple days ago. Grandma likes to buy Brenna stuff whenever we go and this trip it was a new book. Brenna got to pick it out from about a dozen 'Easy Readers - Level 1' that they had and of course she fell in love with a SpongeBob book. She was so excited and asked if she could look at it while she was sitting in the shopping cart. So Mom and I are looking at stuff and all of a sudden I hear Brenna reading this book out loud. I glanced at it to see if she was making up words and was shocked to see that she was reading it word for word! I mean, I knew she could sound out a lot of words (and has many sight words memorized) and she has read a couple books with my help (pointing to each word helping her keep track of where she was) but never has she held a book and just READ! I was so proud of her! :)
For about the past 6 months or so I have been trying to make her read books at bed time to practice but she absolutely refuses most of the time. So I wasn't going to push it and just figured that she would start reading when she was ready. Well I guess all it takes is to let HER pick out a new book that SHE wants to read (why didn't I figure this out sooner??). So I guess what I will start doing is going and buying her a new book about once a week and letting her pick them and just telling her, "Okay, if you want to know what the story is about then YOU are going to have to read it to find out."
She was so proud of herself and received so much praise from Brendon and me.
WAY TO GO BRENNA!!! :)
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Fun at the Beach
Today Brendon, Brenna and I went to the beach and we had such a blast! We had not been in quite some time - in fact the last time I think Brenna went was when she was three. That's pretty sad. Well after today though we are definitely going to start going more.Brenna just loved the waves and actually learned how to boogie board today! I was so proud of her. Brendon would take her out to where the waves were breaking and wait for a nice big one and then give her a push. She would hold on to that board with her little hands as tight as she could and ride the wave the whole way in! She would go a good 30 feet and then fall off the board and yell, "Wipe out!" I tried a couple of times to do it but I just wasn't as good as Daddy at letting her go just at the right time. When I was out there with her though she would look behind her while she was waiting and tell me, "Mom, that wave has got my name written all over it!" Oh I laughed so hard! She is such a funny little girl. :) By the end of the summer she will probably be going out there and catching waves all by herself.
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Homeschool Meeting Delivers Big Relief! :)
So my friend and I went to a homeschool meeting Tuesday night. The Homeschool group here in town organized it. It wasn't a huge turn out (it was their first year doing it) but I did get to meet and talk to a few people. I didn't really learn anything new that I already hadn't read in a book or on the Internet (people have no idea how much stuff I read!!!) but it was very reassuring to actually listen to a PERSON talk and tell me these things instead of reading about it.
I think the best thing I got out of that meeting was a one-on-one conversation that I had with a homeschool Mom of six years with four children. She came over to introduce herself and asked me how old Brenna was. We started talking about Kindergarten and I found out that she had a degree in Early Childhood Education so I proceeded to pick her brain. :) I told her about my plan of not getting a curriculum for Kinder and I thought she was going to tell me that I was crazy. After going on about my reasoning (Jenny just recently informed me that it seems like I am always trying to explain myself and that I have to stop - need to work on that I guess) she told me that what I was going to do was perfect. She said that Kindergartners need FUN stuff to do and pretty much validated my thinking on the whole issue. So I feel much better about that now and a lot more confident in my decision about curriculum. I came home and told Brendon what she had said and I think it made him feel a lot better as well and we are on the same page with things now.
One thing I did learn that I did not know (ok, so I lied about not learning anything new *haha!*)was that you really can't determine a child's learning style until they are about seven or eight. I just recently bought a book on different learning styles (The Way They Learn - How to discover and teach to your child's strengths) and have been struggling to identify what type Brenna is - auditory, visual or kinesthetic. So now that I know it will be a couple years before I am able to really determine I can relax a little.
So Brenna and I have been trying to stay pretty busy this summer. I ended up not enrolling her in summer gymnastics because it was outrageously expensive and had all sorts of fees involved. So we will wait until September and she will start with her combo class again. I am trying to get her to start karate - she's been talking about it for months. A couple weeks ago I told her that I would call the teacher and see if she could go that day (she can go once and try it before I sign her up) but all of a sudden she decided that "karate is for big kids" and she didn't want to go. I know she is a little apprehensive about it. She has always been that way - very afraid to try new things, but once she does it she loves it. I am a lot like that too - I wish she were more like Brendon when it came to things like that. So maybe I can see if we can go and just watch a class and she might feel better about it. She likes to take baby steps. :)
My Mom was so sweet and signed Brenna up for the library summer program. I had no idea they were doing it. So now we are going three days a week to the library and they do crafts and have story time and puppet shows. They show a movie every Thursday and we get to take our blankets and pillows and camp out in the auditorium with snacks and watch a movie, so that is pretty fun. They said that parents don't have to stay and that you can just drop the kids off but I have not felt very comfortable with that and have been staying with Brenna. There are just so many kids there and not very many adults. There are quite a few parents who stay though so I don't feel too much like Mrs.-Over-Protective. :) She likes that I am there with her too.
Brenna will also be taking private swimming lessons this summer for two weeks with one of my Mom's friends so I am excited about that. Again, she is unsure of it and doesn't seem too excited but I told her that it is something that she HAS to do and that it is very important to learn how to swim, especially since Grandpa Kim has a boat and we go out on it quite a bit and spend lots of time by the water (she ALWAYS wears a life vest on the boat though!).
Well I have been on the computer long enough. Brenna and I are going to play a couple board games and maybe attempt to go outside and play, depending on how bad the mosquitoes still are. They have been horrible since we got all that rain a couple weeks ago.
Till fingers and keyboard meet again.....
I think the best thing I got out of that meeting was a one-on-one conversation that I had with a homeschool Mom of six years with four children. She came over to introduce herself and asked me how old Brenna was. We started talking about Kindergarten and I found out that she had a degree in Early Childhood Education so I proceeded to pick her brain. :) I told her about my plan of not getting a curriculum for Kinder and I thought she was going to tell me that I was crazy. After going on about my reasoning (Jenny just recently informed me that it seems like I am always trying to explain myself and that I have to stop - need to work on that I guess) she told me that what I was going to do was perfect. She said that Kindergartners need FUN stuff to do and pretty much validated my thinking on the whole issue. So I feel much better about that now and a lot more confident in my decision about curriculum. I came home and told Brendon what she had said and I think it made him feel a lot better as well and we are on the same page with things now.
One thing I did learn that I did not know (ok, so I lied about not learning anything new *haha!*)was that you really can't determine a child's learning style until they are about seven or eight. I just recently bought a book on different learning styles (The Way They Learn - How to discover and teach to your child's strengths) and have been struggling to identify what type Brenna is - auditory, visual or kinesthetic. So now that I know it will be a couple years before I am able to really determine I can relax a little.
So Brenna and I have been trying to stay pretty busy this summer. I ended up not enrolling her in summer gymnastics because it was outrageously expensive and had all sorts of fees involved. So we will wait until September and she will start with her combo class again. I am trying to get her to start karate - she's been talking about it for months. A couple weeks ago I told her that I would call the teacher and see if she could go that day (she can go once and try it before I sign her up) but all of a sudden she decided that "karate is for big kids" and she didn't want to go. I know she is a little apprehensive about it. She has always been that way - very afraid to try new things, but once she does it she loves it. I am a lot like that too - I wish she were more like Brendon when it came to things like that. So maybe I can see if we can go and just watch a class and she might feel better about it. She likes to take baby steps. :)
My Mom was so sweet and signed Brenna up for the library summer program. I had no idea they were doing it. So now we are going three days a week to the library and they do crafts and have story time and puppet shows. They show a movie every Thursday and we get to take our blankets and pillows and camp out in the auditorium with snacks and watch a movie, so that is pretty fun. They said that parents don't have to stay and that you can just drop the kids off but I have not felt very comfortable with that and have been staying with Brenna. There are just so many kids there and not very many adults. There are quite a few parents who stay though so I don't feel too much like Mrs.-Over-Protective. :) She likes that I am there with her too.
Brenna will also be taking private swimming lessons this summer for two weeks with one of my Mom's friends so I am excited about that. Again, she is unsure of it and doesn't seem too excited but I told her that it is something that she HAS to do and that it is very important to learn how to swim, especially since Grandpa Kim has a boat and we go out on it quite a bit and spend lots of time by the water (she ALWAYS wears a life vest on the boat though!).
Well I have been on the computer long enough. Brenna and I are going to play a couple board games and maybe attempt to go outside and play, depending on how bad the mosquitoes still are. They have been horrible since we got all that rain a couple weeks ago.
Till fingers and keyboard meet again.....
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Pictures from our trip
Here are a couple pictures I wanted to share. We went to visit family last weekend and had a wonderful time. The first pictures are of Brenna with her Great Grandparents, GeeGee and Smitty. We also saw Great Grandma Carol, Great Grandpa John, Aunt Susie, Uncle George, Ashley, Aunt Barbara and David. I posted a picture of all of them as well. Ashley graduated from High School and we are all soooo proud of her!! This was the first time that Brenna met Uncle George and the first time I had seen him in about 7 years.
Friday, June 01, 2007
Another day
Well I have not posted in a while but things here have been busy. We are going out of town this weekend because my baby cousin is graduating High School - I seriously can NOT believe that. I remember when she was just a little bitty baby. Yeah, we all say that about someone though. I guess it is just part of life - but it makes me feel so OLD! It makes me feel old too telling people that my daughter is five. Sometimes I just can not get over how big she is now. I will go in her room at night and check on her (about 15 times!) and she is more then half of the bed length now - I guess I just don't realize how tall she is until I see her laying in bed. Sometimes I will sit on her bed to say good night and I'll practically sit on her knees when I am thinking that I am closer to her FEET. I am so ready for another baby! My "baby" is growing up so I need another one. ha ha! She is very ready to be a big sister too and talks about it all the time. Brendon and I have been trying for a while so we'll see what happens. My brother and his wife are expecting their first baby and I am just so excited to be an Aunt! The baby (a GIRL!) is due in September and I just can not wait for her to come. It has been so fun seeing Jenny get big and pregnant - I think she looks beautiful and fabulous!
Anyway, I have still been doing so much reading on homeschooling and have purchased a couple more books on Amazon.com. One of them is very good and talks about different learning styles. I am finding it very useful and full of wonderful information. I tend to get a little over-whelmed sometimes though because of all the information I am trying to acquire. I am the type of person that needs to know so much in order to feel that I will succeed in something and make the right decisions. I will sit at the computer sometimes and just read things about homeschooling for hours. And if I don't have much time then I will search for things and just save it to my Favorites and come back to it another day. I really don't think that I have felt this passionate about something in quite sometime. It makes me feel pretty good but it also drives me crazy at the same time. ha ha! Maybe I am doing TOO much and I just need to go with my instincts. They say that every family is different when it comes to homeschooling and that you need to find your own style and way of doing things. The first year is usually the toughest and then you kinda figure out what works for you.
I am going to a homeschool conference on Tuesday with my good friend who is homeschooling too. I am looking forward to that. It will be at the church here in town that has the big homeschool group that I would like to join. It will be nice to meet other homeschool parents and find out what they do during the year (field trips, lunches, ect...).
Well I have got to start packing - we are leaving this afternoon and it takes me forever to get things done before we go out of town. It all starts with a list (actually many!) and then I have to pack and then my whole house has to be clean. I hate coming home to a messy house.
Until fingers and keyboard meet again........
Anyway, I have still been doing so much reading on homeschooling and have purchased a couple more books on Amazon.com. One of them is very good and talks about different learning styles. I am finding it very useful and full of wonderful information. I tend to get a little over-whelmed sometimes though because of all the information I am trying to acquire. I am the type of person that needs to know so much in order to feel that I will succeed in something and make the right decisions. I will sit at the computer sometimes and just read things about homeschooling for hours. And if I don't have much time then I will search for things and just save it to my Favorites and come back to it another day. I really don't think that I have felt this passionate about something in quite sometime. It makes me feel pretty good but it also drives me crazy at the same time. ha ha! Maybe I am doing TOO much and I just need to go with my instincts. They say that every family is different when it comes to homeschooling and that you need to find your own style and way of doing things. The first year is usually the toughest and then you kinda figure out what works for you.
I am going to a homeschool conference on Tuesday with my good friend who is homeschooling too. I am looking forward to that. It will be at the church here in town that has the big homeschool group that I would like to join. It will be nice to meet other homeschool parents and find out what they do during the year (field trips, lunches, ect...).
Well I have got to start packing - we are leaving this afternoon and it takes me forever to get things done before we go out of town. It all starts with a list (actually many!) and then I have to pack and then my whole house has to be clean. I hate coming home to a messy house.
Until fingers and keyboard meet again........
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