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.
And so began our LOTR odyssey. The audience is primarily Jadzia and Yoli. Ludi would stick around sometimes, but I think this is just too far above her right now, and she has no interest (although she loves the Hobbit and has been asking me to watch the old animated movie).
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 “At the Sign of the Prancing Pony.” From that point forward, she has been fairly engrossed.
Reading the scene where Frodo is attacked at Weathertop was really cool. I was really into it, and Jadzia was clearly gripped.
But I worried I might lose her in the “Council of Elrond.” It is a complex chapter with so many characters telling all sorts of stories. Some of the stories are current, some are tales of ages past. It’s actually one of my personal favorite chapters, but I knew it would be difficult for a kindergartner.
In fact, she made it through quite well. We took it slow, and I explained as best I could. Ultimately it was okay if she didn’t grasp it all. Her favorite bits were when characters from the Hobbit came back in — the dwarf Gloin, Bilbo, and the mention of Balin going to Moria.
I shouldn’t have been, but I was surprised how much she remembered. I didn’t have to say, “Hey, do you remember Gloin?” I simply read the bit where Frodo talks with him at dinner, and Jadzia realized it herself. “Oh, it’s Gloin from The Hobbit!”
The past week we have been reading about the fellowship going south, trying and failing to go over the Redhorn Gate, and turning to Moria. Today we read much farther than I had expected. We finished up “A Journey in the Dark” and read all the way through “The Bridge of Khazad-Dum” in one sitting. Jadzia had been intent to find out what happened to Balin. Why had his messages to Dain stopped? (At least she remembered that from “Council”)
Of course she found out his fate (her own guess had been right) — and after a while she got a bigger shock: the fall of Gandalf.
Confession time: Two days ago I practiced reading the scene of Gandalf and the Balrog on the bridge. I guess it’s kind of like when I do public speaking. I wanted to be prepared.
And I think it did me good, because it was a really exciting session and Jadzia was pacing all over. Yoli had to call her to sit close by. She had no idea what would happen.
My concern was that Jadzia would be really sad or upset. She is very tender-hearted and cries easily when she’s watching movies with sad parts. But she didn’t break down. She understood Gandalf had fallen, but her first question was: “How will they get Gandalf back?” She is very good at predicting things in stories.
We’re 300+ pages in, but many more to go. I don’t have any big concerns until we reach Return of the King. The tone gets higher there and the Gondorian speech is really old-fashioned English. But we’re a long way from that point. I’m most excited to get to the end of The Two Towers, which has a great sort of cliffhanger that gripped me the first time I read it (only about 10-12 years ago).
Anyway, I suppose we’ll see how it goes from here on out.
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.
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:
“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.
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:
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)