I love to read books. I always have. One of my earliest memories is of reading a book, sitting on the carpet under the dining room table reading a book.
Back in that day (early 60's), around here, preschools weren't commonplace, and a kid's first school experience was simply Kindergarten. I could read before I went into Kindergarten, and that was unusual. I was the only kid that could read in my K. class. It's probably because I was the youngest of 5 kids, and my whole family loves to read books. Well, read anything, really, not just books. I also remember a "family game" we used to play that was in the HUGE 2-book set World Enclopedia dictionary... sitting around on a Sunday afternoon playing difficult word games with an excessive spirit of competition. I remember it as fun and exciting.
Back then, and perhaps in our rural setting... I don't know if this is unusual or commonplace for 1965... but anyway, Kindergarten seemed to be the place where kids were taught their ABC's. I remember being frustrated about having to wait for other kids to say the letter, and then later in 1st Grade, figure out the word. I'm sure I was all "just read it already, it's Dick and Jane for chrissake." Patience has never been my strongpoint.
Now, of course, your child is expected to know many things before entering Kindergarten, and that includes ABC's. Ability to read is pretty much expected, as well.
I also remember in 3rd Grade we had this reading unit that consisted of a few display cases with color-coded cards. You would take the next item (on a card or cards, can't recall), read the story and then take a comprehension test. I zipped through those colors and was at purple when most kids were still struggling with the first color (yellow, I think). The more colors you advanced to, the less cards were available. Purple was 12th grade/college level.
I also remember in 4th Grade, our teacher would occasionally separate us into girls on one side of the room and boys on the other and then let us take turns using an adjective to describe the other side. It was "anything goes" except, of course cuss words and dirty stuff. (Mrs. P. was pretty smart with that move... she probably got sick and tired of the girls vs. boys crap, and we all loved those adjective wars. We all usually ended up laughing, but of course, my memory of it is of fun because the girls totally ruled.) Anyway, did I mention the dictionary game my family played? I could come up with some truly excellent adjectives for boys, like uncouth, hideous, vulgar, ludicrous, moronic, grotesque, loathsome, repugnant, repulsive... I impressed Mrs. P. and the girls! The boys not so much. But it must have been pretty difficult to shoot a comeback to a girl that just called you a loathsome, repugnant imbecile. Huh? Duh.
I still love to read, but mostly find myself reading blogs on a quick break at work while wolfing down a yogurt or a sandwich, or late at night at home trying to unwind and semi-watch whatever ballgame is on the TV. I haven't read, er, finished, a real book in several weeks... months?. I have a huge stack just waiting for me. Many of which have been put there by Joyce. And the new Harry Potter is coming out soon, but I haven't even read the 5th book yet. Joycie gave me a book for Mother's Day last year and this year (The Bonesetter's Daughter and Mangoes & Quince, respectively), and I've started both but not finished them. I love it that she gives me books as gifts. And it isn't that I'm not captivated or interested in reading the whole book, I just get interrupted. Busy with so many other things, work and ball games and housework and gardening and grocery shopping and laundry and family events...
Many of the blogs I read have on their sidebar, "books I've read recently" or "book I'm currently reading." If I did that, it'd be pretty darn static. Some of the blogs have book recommendations that have greatly enlarged my books-to-read list (which I've mentioned on a previous post).
Like a few other things in my life right now (e.g. golf, canning peaches, pottery), I find myself categorizing reading books as something I'll have time for when I retire. What the heck!
At least my kids are avid readers. My 16-year-old daughter is usually reading 2 books at a time. She always has a book going. My 10-year-old son usually is reading a book, almost always just one, but he may finish it and wait a day or 2 before starting the next book, now that it's summertime. I've been buying books for the kids all their lives. Love those book flyers the teachers send home. We have a great used book store in town. In the summertime, the kids will want to stop at garage sales to check out the books for sale. Our library has a huge used book sale each year (as a fund raiser, and they have tons of donated books for sale). There is a church in town that also has a huge used book sale each year. And we have a Barnes and Noble now, just in the past oh, 5 years or so. My kids LOVE to go to B&N. Love that bargain book section. We have a lot of books at home. Lots and lots.
Both Joyce and Sam have excellent vocabularies. It has also helped that the same 2 people that greatly influenced me into becoming a lover of books have been taking care of our kids (while we go to work) since Joycie and Sam were infants... my mom and dad. I heard once that children raised by their grandparents tend to be more mature for their age than average, as well as more articulate (greater vocabulary) and are comfortable around adults, conversing with adults more easily than their peers. I believe it. My kids are living proof. Their teachers and other adults have often commented on their maturity and ease of communication with adults even as youngsters. Joyce was always at the top of her class in elementary school for reading, as Sam is now.
When Sam was in 1st Grade, his teacher would read aloud to the class the Junie B. Jones books. Those are such great books, for kids & for the adults reading them aloud to the kids, too, because there is always some little bit of humor that goes over the kids' heads but adults can get a nice little snicker out of it. Sam's teacher, Mrs. B., would tell me how she'd read one of those parts aloud, and Sam would be the only child in the class to bust out with a bark of laughter. So it'd be her and Sam chuckling, and the other kids would look at Sam like, "what the hell?"
That's it, from now on, I'm going to make more time for books in my life. To hell with the laundry. Well, just as soon as 2nd quarter close is done...
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