not so good at blogging obviously. It is a good thing though because in this case it just means I am very busy.
We just wrapped up 9 weeks of school. The modified workbox system we are using has completely revolutionized school for us. We get 99% of what I have planned done. That is unheard of in this house.
This year we are using new core curriculum from Heart of Dakota. It is cute, sweet (maybe too sweet) and a little bit fun, but I am not sure I want to be married to it. We are committed for the year though and we are enjoying it so that is good. One thing I really do like about the program, and that will stay with us even if we decide to go else where next year, is the Drawn Into the Heart of Reading curriculum that HOD puts out. I am using it with El and it has really helped her to begin to love reading, something she has only mildly tolerated in past years.
It has you read through 9 genres of books and really study the books that you read. So far we have gone through Biography and are now wrapping up Adventure. For Adventure she read, Stone Fox, a book about a boy and his dog. The boy, Little Willie, is trying to save his grandpa's potato farm from the IRS by entering and winning a dog sled race. We ended up our 9th day of reading with Stone Fox, the usual dog sledding champion, coming up on Little Willie and his faithful dog, Searchlight, just as they were coming to the last stretch of the race. It was Friday. What a cliffhanger! It was all I could do to keep her from reading it before Monday.
So there we are, Monday, in the school room. El is practically bouncing up and down in her desk while she starts reading the last chapter. She is reading so fast (I have never seen this child so excited about a book)! She turns the page and reads, "....100 feet from the finish line, her heart burst. She died instantly." (not an exact quote) WHAT?!!! She continues to read for a few more lines and then she burst into tears and throws up her arms. "I just can't do it anymore!" Awww. She climbs in my lap sobbing and I start to read the last paragraph of the book to her. It took a few minutes because I was sobbing too. Needless to say, the rest of school was canceled for the day. Who can concentrate on predicate nominatives after that? Only the truly cold hearted I would venture to say.
I spent the rest of the day doing mental flip flops. "I should of preread the story and not allowed her to read it. She is too young for that kind of trauma. No! Death is a part of life and besides, being moved to tears by a book is a sign of a good book." Back and forth all evening these two thoughts warred in my mind as she broke out into fresh tears again and again. Fortunately, the next day we started a new book and she was ecstatic to learn it was about dolphins. Four days in to the reading and she suddenly hugs me and announces, "I love reading!" Yay! I have longed to hear those words. (And we obviously avoided psychological scarring from the book.)
Meanwhile, a teacher friend of mine has told me of a book called No More Dead Dogs. It seems that it is the norm in childrens' literature for the dog to die. I didn't know that!
