Josh Renaud's weblog detailing the exploits of his family in Ferguson, MO, USA. Starring Yoli, Jadzia, Ludi, Josie, and Joseph Renaud.
This summer our kids had more science and library activities than ever before.
In June, Vogt Elementary held a weeklong “Scary Science” camp at the school. Each day there was a scary theme, like making a mummy or eating bugs. The girls were surprisingly thrilled to be eating crickets, insisting that I try one. “They’re good, they’re really good!” they both kept exclaiming.
Yoli often tells me about sisterly reading sessions between Ludi and Josie. Ludi pretends to read (or recites what she has memorized) and Josie follows along attentively. One morning Yoli caught one of these cute events on video for your viewing pleasure:
Regular readers of this blog know that reading aloud is a big thing in the Renaud Empire.
We have gone through many children’s books over the past couple years, including “The Hobbit” twice.
For quite some time I have harbored a secret desire to read aloud the Lord of the Rings. In my head, I figured it would still be a few years before I could try.
Occasionally the girls have asked me about the story, either because they have seen me reading the books, or something else prompted them. I knew they were curious. Jadzia especially likes to ask questions, and I always refused to answer her. “You’ll just have to wait until you/we read the story someday.”
Finally I couldn’t take it anymore. I just had to read it. I figured I would start with the first chapter and see how it went. After all, the first chapter is close in tone to The Hobbit, and the girls loved The Hobbit.
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The hardest parts have been the travel scenes where there is no action. Jadzia can't quite grasp all the environmental description. But when action or good dialogue comes, she is very interested. I think I had the hardest time keeping her concentration until we reached )
Ludi is learning to read, and she can read more than she lets on. But she also greatly enjoys pretending to read, that is, taking a book and reading aloud a completely different made-up story.
This is what I found her doing on the couch this morning with Josie.
Here’s a bit of the story.
!http://www.joshrenaud.com/family/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/20111121-221428.jpg!
So here’s a cute photo of Ludi reading to “little” Joseph.
How’s about we play a little game?
What do you think she’s saying to him? Add your funny caption idea in the comments.
My absolute favorite thing to read aloud is “Inside Information” chapter of The Hobbit. I love to be the voice of Smaug.
After reading the whole chapter, I was tucking the girls into bed when Jadzia had this to say:
bq. “I think girl dragons don’t like boy dragons. I call them ‘wagons.’ I mean ‘wdragons’. Boy dragons shoot fire out of their noses, but wdragons shoot water.”
A couple milestone notes of interest.
* *JOSEPH* has apparently decided he’s done nursing. A couple days ago he just quit. Cold turkey. Yoli, obviously, wasn’t keen on this turn of events. She has tried over and over, but hasn’t been able to get Joseph to nurse since then. Thankfully we retrieved her pump from the (broken) house, so she’ll be able to relieve her pain.
* *JADZIA* continues to make leaps and bounds in her reading and writing abilities. Her spelling has improved, as has her ability to interpret parent-spelling-speak. You know what I mean: “Hey baby, are there any C-O-O-K-I-E-S left over from last night?” Jadzia would now respond: “_I_ know what you said!” She is very pleased with herself. I guess we’ll need to start spelling in Spanish.
!http://www.joshrenaud.com/family/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/20110408-101254.jpg!
It has come to my attention that I neglected to write an update here regarding a post I made last year.
In 2010, I wrote that I hoped to someday read The Hobbit to the girls. As it turns out, I read it to them before that year was finished!
When it comes to long books like The Hobbit, Jadzia is definitely the one who will sit and listen. Ludi tunes out after a while if the story is long and there aren’t pictures on every page. Part of that is age and part is personality. Then again, I think Ludi took more away from The Hobbit. She still occasionally asks me about BIlbo or Gollum.
We often have to do a lot of explaining or summarizing. After hearing a chapter, Jadzia has been known to ask, “So, what happened?”
Here are some of the long books the girls (primarily Jadzia) have read over the last year:
* The Hobbit
* Charlotte’s Web
* The Wizard of Oz
* Little House in the Big Woods
* Little House on the Prairie
* Farmer Boy
* Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
* American Girls: Felicity (series)
* American Girls: Kirsten (series)
* American Girls: Josefina (series)
We are currently in the middle of Swiss Family Robinson and we have also started the AG Kaya books. Swiss Family is interesting. It’s an old book, and not originally in English, so much of the syntax and word choice sounds funny to my ears. It also doesn’t have a plot. It’s like a series of obstacles, projects, and discoveries by the family. Despite this, Jadzia remains interested. I suppose we have the movie (which *does* have a plot) to thank for sparking this interest.
Jadzia achieved a long-sought goal today: She got a card from the Ferguson Municipal Library.
The requirement for a child to receive a card is that he or she be able to print their own name legibly. Jadzia has been working on her writing on and off for a while now, and she can (oftentimes) write it pretty well.
Today she had to write it three times: Once on paper with a pencil, to prove to the librarian she could do it; another time on the application form; and finally on the card itself. She was very proud.
The first books she checked out for herself: Beauty and the Beast (a long version) and Peter and the Wolf. (She also checked out a book for Ludi about trains)
I like reading aloud. I guess its a sort of performance art, hearkening back to my days as a preschool teacher or as an actor at school.
Most of the books that we read to the girls are easy readers with photos on every page. Oftentimes they are more artwork than story. Jadzia has always been our most voracious reader, and she has slowly been building up her ability to listen.
Last year I read to her a condensed, illustrated version of the Wind in the Willows. She enjoyed it, although after every chapter she would ask “So, what happened?”
Right now we are making our way through Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This is the real version of the story, not condensed, with a limited number of illustrations. Jadzia really seems to love it, and she also is following the story much better.
The only issue is that Ludi does not quite have Jadzia’s patience yet. But she’ll come along eventually.
I know it’s still a few years off, but I am really looking forward to reading the Hobbit with these girls. (Jadzia occasionally asks me to read little bits from it, but she doesn’t totally understand what’s going on)