Tag: reading

Grandma Mumsie and Fiona in Rice Lake Wisconsin

Our visit here in Rice Lake is about to come to an end. Sunday morning we leave for St. Paul for our 3-week house sitting job. Fiona has enjoyed her visit with her grandma Mumsie, as we call Joel’s mom. She’s also loved coming back to The Rice Lake Public Library. Yesterday she had fun with the American Girls Book club here. She got to make a craft – a glass vase with colored sand glued to the outside. Not we have to find a safe way to transport it without it getting broken.

Last Monday Fiona and I went over to the lake and she got to wade in it quite a bit. Grandma came out in her electric wheelchair and we all stopped for a visit in the local book store. Yes, we’re a family of avid readers!

School has also started for Fiona. She’s now in second grade and the homeschool program through the school district here is great. We have lots of fun school work to keep us busy.

I’m really looking forward to our 3 weeks in St. Paul and then spending the winter back in New Jersey. More on that later…

Reading on the Road

We took off this morning from Rice Lake to head to South Dakota for our first overnight stay on our way to Albuquerque. I mentioned to Joel that I still needed to read Seth Godin’s Poke the Box. So he asked if I’d read it aloud so he could get the information again. We always have great conversations while driving and especially if we’re reading a book that we can discuss.

Two pages later we’d had a long conversation. Seth always says things that make us stop, think, and rethink. We got a lot of things out of what we read today and I hope we finish reading it tomorrow. Poke the Box reinforces the thought of doing, taking the initiative. We can’t wait around for other people to pick us; we have to choose.

Homeschooling: 1st Grade – Day 2

Today is Fiona’s second day of first grade. We homeschool through the Horizon Charter school program. Since we’re still traveling and are in Surrey British Columbia right now, you may wonder how this is working.

Well, right now we’re all sitting in a Wired Monk coffee shop in Surrey. We walked here from the place we’re staying at. So there’s P.E. – walking the neighborhood.

When we got to Wired Monk Fiona found an abacus. She thought that was a lot of fun to play with. She took a piece of paper and made up her own addition and subtraction problems and then used the abacus to figure out the answers. There’s Math!

She’s read some books and magazines – Reading. We did one spelling worksheet – Language Arts.

Later we will get out her Science book and do some science and some other things.

She’s been sipping on a Cherry Italian Soda all this time, had a cinnamon raisin bagel for breakfast and seems very happy. So far homeschooling while traveling seems to be more fun than when we’re at home.

Oh, and for a bedtime story last night she wanted to do something with maps. So out came her History/Social Science book with an atlas of North America. We traveled on the map from California to Canada, Alaska, Hawaii and across the U.S.

Do your kids have this much fun in school?

Precocious 105-Year Old Chatterbox Prodigy Reads in the Dark

There’s been a lot of talk lately about just who Fiona really is and what she does. Thanks to all of your comments, we’ve been able to come up with this succinct description: “a precocious 105-year old chatterbox prodigy who reads in the dark.”

Yet that only begins to scratch the surface of this deep persona. Today I thought I’d share more specifics – particularly on her reading and writing interests.

Current books checked out from the local library (20 total; I told her that was the limit for this 3-week period):

  • The Butter Battle Book by Dr. Seuss
  • A Hatful of Seuss: Five Favorites by Dr. Seuss
  • Geogra-fleas!: Riddles All Over The Map (she likes us to pronounce that Georgia-fleas)
  • Goldilocks and the Three Martians
  • David Gets in Trouble (she already owns another of the David books)
  • The Squiggle
  • Cat & Mouse
  • What James Likes Best (any book with James in the title is a must read in honor of her big brother James)
  • Ramona and Her Father (she’s become a Ramona fan in the last 2 months)
  • Ramona the Pest
  • Henry and Beezus
  • Cam Jansen and the Chocolate Fudge Mystery (she likes to pronounce Jansen as Janseen and loves the Cam Jansen books; loves mysteries like her mom)
  • Cam Jansen and the Green School Mystery
  • Cam Jansen and the First Day of School
  • Arthur Chapter Books 1-3 (she’s been reading chapter books for a while now; yes, she’s just going into 1st grade)
  • Baby-Sitters Club #43, Stacey’s Emergency (became a huge fan of Baby-Sitters Club books because her big sister owns quite a few)
  • Baby-Sitters Club #33
  • Baby-Sitters: Little Sister #61
  • Baby-Sitters: Little Sister #37
  • Charlotte’s Web

At bedtime we read at least one book and then she requires at least a dozen books at her bedside to read. At any given point in the day if it’s too quiet, we go check to see what trouble she’s up to: usually she’s sitting on our bed reading a book. She’s enjoying The Secret Garden, Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books, Little Women and many, many more.

She’ll probably be a writer. Actually she already writes at her blog: Foona’s 900 Funny Thoughts. She usually dictates to me as I type in the words. Often she asks me to correct the punctuation! Oh, and she loves it when people leave comments.

Her library may already have as many books as her dad’s. That must be where she gets it from! I’m sure she’ll be an author like so many in her family: Dad writes business books and has written a mystery; Mom’s co-authored books with Dad (you can find their books here); her sister writes poetry; her brother has published two books; her uncle is writing a book. Mom also writes poems. Here’s one of Mom’s favorites written for Fiona’s Dad:

Our Hearts Entwine

When you look at me my heart melts
Your eyes smile and twinkle with love
With just a look you say I love you
With just a smile you say you’ll always be there
My eyes mist with tears, my heart aches with love
I reach for you, you reach for me
With a look alone our hearts entwine
Forever in love, yours and mine

Yes, Fiona does read in the dark (with a flashlight or small night light). And she can talk your ear off like no one’s business!