Really Reading

Well this week hasn't turned out as planned. It's only Tuesday, and though we more than adequately covered our 3Rs, we haven't done as much other "stuff" as I thought we would--I guess that's why I write all my plans in pencil. We're finishing up Wild Horses of Sweetbriar and should have been done yesterday or at least by today.

But my CG has had other plans. She finally has a desire to read for pleasure! And so I've let her read instead of finishing up a few loose projects.

She has engrossed herself in one of the American Girl books, Meet Kit. I've waited years for her to pick up a book and read for enjoyment! She actually prefers to read it out loud to me. She started reading it in the car on our way home from having our car serviced. She's the type that starts a chapter and doesn't put the book down until that chapter is finished. So once we got home, we sat in the car for a few minutes while she still read. She made it to the half-way point and I finally convinced her to go inside so that I could get ready for a meeting I had to attend. She continued reading to me in my bedroom and had two pages left when I had to leave. So she used Matt's phone to call me in the car so that she could finish her chapter. :) What a great kid! She showed some determination and persistence to finish what she started. I'm so proud of her!

She also has a new pasttime: playing her violin. I'm not sure when her desire to play again started, but she committed to playing her violin during Sunday School in two weeks. An excellent opportunity for her...except she hasn't touched her instrument in six months or so. Apparently the SS leaders were asking for volunteers to play and instrument during their offering time. She told me that she really wanted to do this and I, not realizing how important it was to her, completely dismissed the idea. This past Sunday the SS director told me that CG had volunteered her talent. Now what am I supposed to do? I have a child who wants to play in church and play to praise God. And she's overly excited--which is amazing since she can be so shy at times. So I agreed to let her if she would practice everyday. She has shown incredible maturity since last spring when we tried and tried a daily practice. Now she initiates her practice times. And she has really surprised me with all that she remembered from her lessons. So she and I will play a duet together, As The Deer, on November 4 during Kids Alive at our church.

When CG's not reading or practicing, she's playing outside with her sisters. The weather is so nice and they play so well, it's hard to round them up to do school. I guess that's another reason we haven't accomplished exactly what I set out to do. It's a good thing that we started our school year in early June so that we could slow down in late October.

Maybe next week we'll be back on track.