Friday, June 20, 2008

Art all the time

To keep my kids reading over the summer (the two oldest ones love it and would read anyway, but Beth [we're just going to go with the little women names here], while being a good reader, would rather do other things), I instituted a reading club. We have a meeting every Friday at lunch time, where I buy them a fast-food meal (we're doing READING here, NOT concerning ourselves with trans fats) and we sit and discuss the books they've read over the last week. Sometimes, I'll talk about the book I'm reading (in an age appropriate manner) so they feel that I'm into it as well. They can read any kind of books they want, but Jo has to read two chapter books and Beth has to read one chapter book each week to participate in the fast-food portion of the meeting. They keep track of what they read in a reading journal that I put together for them that just has them record the title, author, illustrator (if applicable), main character(s) and what they liked about the book. Wow, to read that you'd think I'm one of THOSE moms who has all her shit together. I am SO NOT.

At today's meeting, after Jo told us about the three Magic Treehouse books she had read and Beth told us about the Junie B. Jones book she quickly read this morning so she wouldn't miss the lunch, I told them about the book I am reading, Invisible Prey by John Sandford. Leaving out the old ladies being bludgeoned to death, I said that the book was about some criminals who were stealing art and the police trying to find them.

Beth said, "Well, if that story was true, I would sure hope they never found the [Picklebottom] house, because I make art ALL THE TIME."

10 comments:

Jess said...

Okay first of all, YAY FOR LITTLE WOMEN NAMES. Now I ALWAYS know which kid is which. THANK YOU.

Second of all, OMG Beth is adorable. I would totally steal her art. In a good way, of course.

Susiewearsthepants said...

You scared me there for a second. For a minute I thought I was going to have to remove myself from your "Supermom" presence. What a wonderful idea. Beth is really funny!

moo said...

How cute!

And how natural the little women names sound ... I secretly think that you favored them the whole time!

Have you guys ever read "Half Magic" or "Which Witch"? Those were twoof my favorites growing up.

Fiona Picklebottom said...

moo - I think Meg read "Half Magic," but I'm not sure. I've heard of that one, though. I'll check them both out. Thanks for the suggestions.

Anonymous said...

Oh, good, I'll be able to track the LW names more easily.

I love the self-confidence about her art.

LoriD said...

I love the Book Club idea. With Lisa and Bart, we're picking out 5 books a week each (at least one chapter book for Lisa). Lisa will do a mini book report on each one, Bart will draw a picture and tell his favourite part (he doesn't read yet). I love the idea of sitting down and discussing the books over a special lunch.

I also print out worksheets for them to do, although I may cheat this year and just get one of those workbooks at the teacher store that has a page for each day of the summer.

Beth is so cute. I've got one that makes art all the time too; I'm sure she thinks it's theft-worthy.

Nowheymama said...

Excellent idea! And there happens to be a fast food place right across the street from our public library.

Shelly said...

I *LOVE* the book club idea. I've not been able to find a book club in my area, so I'll just grow my own. This is brilliance.

Also, I love the LW names. It's much easier to keep them straight.

Alice said...

oh, how cute! i love that the book club was the girls' idea :-)

Alice said...

oh wait. i misread that. ha.

ok, way to go YOU for setting it up! oops!