I kept a friend’s little girl yesterday. She’s the sweetest little baby. It’s so funny to see babies react to all the boys in our house. Usually, they’re content for hours, just to watch and listen to them run and play and laugh. Most of the time, even the quietest babies start to babble and respond to the boys. Katie Mae was no exception. She laughed and smiled and followed them around on all fours. It was so sweet to watch.

We picked up Katie Mae’s big brother after school and I told the boys that Avery would have to do his homework before they could all go play outside. He only had one assignment and that was to read his library book, a picture book about extinct animals, and then write a short summary/report on it. Avery had the sweetest idea to have everyone pile onto the couch and he could read the book out loud to them and then do the written part of the assignment when he finished. The kids were so good as they all listened intently and asked an occasional question. The funny thing is, Avery was homeschooled for a little while and during that time, his momma had the opportunity to teach him ‘real’ science, not the evoluntionary “the Earth is millions of years old” stuff that public schools teach. So every few pages when the book would claim that a certain extinct animal was millions of years old and had evolved from some animal none of us could pronounce, Avery would put the book down for a second and explain to my boys how that page was incorrect. I was very impressed. Tara, you done good girl! I managed to snap a quick picture while Avery was still reading to the rest of the kids. It was so sweet.

I couldn’t help but think, “Yes! That’s the way I like it! This is how it should be!” If we teach our children to love learning and love reading and love sharing their new found knowledge, then they will take pride and joy in teaching what they know to their younger siblings and friends. That’s exactly what Avery did on the couch. Moments like this really encourage my young, new readers and for that I am very grateful.

Yes, Owen is pant-less. Remember? Potty Training Boot Camp?
Day two is going well. No accidents yet!

~audrey

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 at 7:31 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.