I’ve been largely off of social media this week and was so sad to hear of another school shooting. I just finished reading about Columbine a few weeks ago and the timing seemed eerie and scary. I don’t have any answers; the issue is so multi-faceted and there are many factors at play. But as a mother, I ask myself: How I can be an example to my children and what can I teach them? I know I’ll be pondering this for days to come, but this is what I’ve come up with so far: 1) Look for the ones who are all alone, who seem a little different. Don’t be afraid to say hello. 2) When talking to anyone, everyone from a friend to the cashier at the store to the homeless man on the street, look them in the eye and acknowledge their dignity and worth. 3) Be honest about mental health and supportive of the ones we know who struggle. Like Mother Teresa said, “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” There’s where I hope to start.
NOTES AND HIGHLIGHTS
+ We started a new read aloud called The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell. I’ve wanted my boys to work on their handwriting and copywork, so this new beginning seemed like the perfect segue. To bring some excitement, I bought everyone a brand new notebook. And each day this week, we’ve read one chapter, copied a paragraph (my first grader does a sentence) and drawn a picture – me included! It’s been a fun way to practice and they’ve each completed it without complaint – a huge win!
+ Sophie randomly asked if we could start doing a Show and Tell during school. (I can only imagine she was influenced by Daniel Tiger or another such character.) She pronounces it so adorably (“Shaun-tell”) so how can you say no? This week, they shared their latest Lego creations.
+ Our Aftrican studies took us to the teeny country of Malawi. We read Galimoto, the story of a little boy who collected discarded pieces of wire to make a vehicle. It was such an interesting look at how one man’s trash is another man’s treasure! I wish I had thought ahead and saved some of our recycling so we could try something similar. Instead, we looked up images of real galimotos on Pinterest – amazing! We also made sweet potato cookies (called Mbatata), which were delicious. We made two batches and may make a third this weekend.
+ J is thiiiis close to finish All About Reading Level 1. Just a few more lessons to go! He has worked so hard…I think we need to do something to celebrate before jumping into Level 2.
Current 1000 Books Project Total: 109/1000
