Wordy Wednesday

Regardless of your age, your financial status, your gender, or your belief system, one thing remains for all people. We all use words, and we can all learn to expand our vocabulary. We can learn to expand our mental dictionary whether we are 4 or 104.

Wordy Wednesdays will help us to slowly and effectively increase our word usage and vocabulary. Perhaps you already know and use these words, perhaps you don't even know how to pronounce them. And that is okay! We will do this together!
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juxtapose    (jux-ta-pose)

verb    Juxtapose is defined as to put two things close to each other in order to highlight or compare the differences between them.

An example of juxtapose is when you put a very short book next to a very long book.

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Now that you have a new word to use, don't hesitate in using it! 

Practice, practice, practice! 

I look forward to hearing how this new word worked for you. How did you use it? How did your kids use it? Do share your experiences. It encourages us all!

And, remember, it doesn't take long, 

Just five minutes....

Dawn 

Start today......

“My advice is, never do tomorrow what you can do today. Procrastination is the thief of time. Collar him!”
― Charles Dickens 

We all procrastinate on things. Calling an old friend, exercising, or start saving for retirement may be on the list of items to do tomorrow. What happens to that list? It gets pushed aside and we may never start it. But then, it is too late. We lose touch with friends, the doctor requests putting us on medication, or we are unable to retire due to lack of funds. 

Some areas of our life, and our ability to procrastinate, hurts others more than it affects us. For example, kids are only young once. They need hugs today. They need undivided attention today. They need direction today. We can not allow our days, weeks, months to pass without providing these needs for our kids. Before long, they will move out and build their own lives.

What about something as simple as reading? When they are little, we read nursery rhymes, poems and short stories to them. We explore the Three Little Pigs, Cinderella, and Snow White. But when they learn to read, we stop reading to them.

What causes us to do this? Why do we stop reading to them once they learn to read? Is it silly to read to high school students when they are capable to read on their own? Are we attempting to keep them as children even though they are growing up? 

There are amazing benefits to reading out loud! Have you thought of this before? Lets explore some. These fabulous points are taken from www.sixwise.com
 

1. Build a lifelong interest in reading. "Getting kids actively involved in the process of reading, and having them interact with adults, is key to a lifelong interest in reading," said BeAnn Younker, principal at Battle Ground Middle School in Indiana.
2.  Children whose parents read to them tend to become better readers and perform better in school, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
3. Reading to kids helps them with language and speech development.
   
4. It expands kids' vocabulary and teaches children how to pronounce new words.
   
5. Reading to toddlers prepares them for school, during which they will need to listen to what is being said to them (similar to what they do while being read to).
   
6. Reading to older kids helps them understand grammar and correct sentence structure.
   
7. Kids and parents can use reading time as bonding time. It's an excellent opportunity for one-on-one communication, and it gives kids the attention they crave.
   
8. Being read to builds children's attention spans and helps them hone their listening skills.
   
9. Curiosity, creativity and imagination are all developed while being read to.
   
10. Being read to helps kids learn how to express themselves clearly and confidently.
    
11. Kids learn appropriate behavior when they're read to, and are exposed to new situations, making them more prepared when they encounter these situations in real life.
    
12. When read to, children are able to experience the rhythm and melody of language even before they can understand the spoken or printed word.
    
     
    

WoW! Reading out loud can do all that for our kids?!

Perhaps you don't know where to start. That is where I come in! I have been reading to our kids ever since they could breathe on their own. I have seen the positive outcomes. We have explored some fabulous books, interesting characters, and found our favorite authors. Our son, who just turned 17, still enjoys listening to books. TaterTeen (as we call him) is sometimes the first one on the couch ready to listen to the next adventure. He is more than capable of reading, but there is something special about listening to mom read that he still thoroughly enjoys. 

Here are some places to start. These books are fabulous beginning books to share as a family. You only need a small amount of time to build up your kids, and give them a wonderful gift.

For pre-k children, Sandra Boynton is a fabulous author. She combines silly characters, fun phrases and delightful pictures for children to fall in love with. 
                                                               

Elementary children seem to enjoy this story of a loving friendship between a pig and a wise spider. The barnyard animals are true to character and the simple life of a sweet girl touches our hearts.


                                                                

Middle school, high school and even college age gals seem to enjoy the writings of Kiera Cass. The Selection is a combination of the "Hunger Games meets the Bachelor". It is an easy read, with some interesting topics blended in to spur conversation.

                                                                     

If you are looking for something with more discussion topics, check out this one. This is an electrifying story of an Adventist family who dared to practice their faith in Hitlers Germany during World War II. I even read this book to Bobadob (our 6 year old) and he found it thrilling and begged for more.  
                                                                   


Don't put off for tomorrow what you can do today. 

Our kids love the sound of our voices, especially when quality time is spent. Reading out loud is a fabulous way to build that bond, create time together and lift our children up for a better future. 

It doesn't take long.

Just 5 minutes....
Dawn

Just five minutes.....

My daughter, LuLuBean (as we refer to her), was ready to begin to read! We worked on letters, sounds, and beginning writing. It was time to combine all we had learned and take the next step.  

What an exciting adventure we will have together exploring new books, new characters, and drifting away in our imaginations! I imagine trips to the library. I imagine sitting for hours on the couch snuggled up enjoying our discussions of in-depth characters, lands far away, and dreaming with our books. I imagine discussing the literary greats, the recent Caldecott and Newberry Award winners, and sharing our favorites.

We began using the wonderful book, "How to Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons", written by Siegfried Engelmann.


                                                  

    
I was apparently much more excited than she was.  

She hated it! Strange letters creating strange sounds, long vowels, silent letters..... when does the good stuff come? I recall hearing her say, "I am never gonna get this! This is dumb!"

Each day her frustrations grew and her angst for reading was mounting. How could I get her past this emotion? How could I help her to see that this all does make sense? Were my dreams fading as each day passed? 

I recall telling her, "Just 5 minutes...."   I would set the timer and tell her she would only have to read the stories for 5 minutes. Wherever she was at when that buzzer rang was good for me!


                   

Those five minutes seemed like an eternity to her some days! And truthfully, for me as well! She would struggle, wiggle, complain, whine and moan through those words and combined letters. As soon as the timer would ding, the book was slammed shut, her energy was regained and off she was singing and laughing.

Until one day.............


She didn't wiggle. She didn't complain. There was minimal struggling. What was going on?  

She asked for one more minute. One more word. One more sentence. 
             

                                     


YEAH!!!!!! She is getting it!!! The love of reading has been born!!! 

Each day that passed was more exciting than the previous! She asked for two more minutes, two more sentences. Her passion began to grow and her love for these word combinations began to make sense. 

From that day on, she has asked to read more and learn more. Trips to the library, purchasing stories on Kindle, and reading any chance she gets.  We have talked about story-lines, interesting characters, lands far, far away. We have discussed our favorite authors and hoping for the sequel to our favorite books to be released soon.

But I now have one more dilemma.  Now the tables have been turned. 

She is now begging me for just five minutes........ 



“There are many little ways to enlarge your child's world. Love of books is the best of all.” 
^{- Jacqueline Kennedy}