(no subject)
I bought the book/writing instruction program, "Writer's Jungle" by Brave Writer. It's pretty inspiring. Among other things, I realize that I've long been a decent writer. Pulling a 5-paragraph essay out of my hiney has never been a problem, and once upon a time before I got angsty about my online persona and over-sharing, I used to be a pretty profligate contributor on LJ and message boards. I remember reading Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird" and being crazy inspired to do more journaling with pen on paper.
I kind of want to start stretching those writing muscles again. Trying to decide whether to practice writing more frequently here, or on my Wordpress blog, or in my notebooks. Regardless, I really do like the way words flow sometimes. My personality is an interesting blend of right-brained and left-brained, where I crave both creative outlets and logical rules. Knitting fits that need for me, and gardening. I'm working on developing my eye for photography and sometimes that clicks. But I think that writing might be an art form that can be very "me". Creative use of words, cycling with brainy applications of grammar and editing, repeat? Yeah, I need to do this more.
In (related?) news, I think I can see why "they" say that early readers and later readers tend to even out by third grade. Today we went to the library and it happened to be during "read a book to a dog" time, and our friends happened to be there. They have a little guy who's been in school with Eddy since pre-k, fall of 2011. He's been reading well since halfway through his pre-k year, like honestly impressively well with a large vocabulary. I was in reading lessons with him a bit at the beginning of kindergarten, and he was obviously one of the most advanced in the class. Well, today based on his reading to the doggie and also based on his choices for library books to read afterward, I think he and DS are pretty much on par for fluency, comprehension, content. DS might even be pulling ahead. Which, whatever, all I want for my kiddo is for him to be an enthusiastic reader, and I'm grateful we seem to be heading that way. But I've been watching that little boy because I'm wondering how public school affects those who come in advanced, because...
Natalie is reading *really* well. Like, she's catching up to DS. She just turned 4.5, and she's reading Magic Treehouse. Now, I'm not saying this is drop the phone and hold on to your hats amazing. Heck, my mom insists I was reading well by the end of being two/beginning of being three. And I've been reading the Accelerated Learner board on WTM and HA! They have three year olds with ridiculous vocabularies and reading abilities and whatever. But still. She's a bit advanced, and I foresee some tightrope walking ahead of us as we keep her interested and continuing to progress without pushing her or making her feel unusual. In pre-k this will be no problem, she'll get plenty of chances to work on new and stimulating stuff at home, but I dunno about public school. We'll see, I guess.
I kind of want to start stretching those writing muscles again. Trying to decide whether to practice writing more frequently here, or on my Wordpress blog, or in my notebooks. Regardless, I really do like the way words flow sometimes. My personality is an interesting blend of right-brained and left-brained, where I crave both creative outlets and logical rules. Knitting fits that need for me, and gardening. I'm working on developing my eye for photography and sometimes that clicks. But I think that writing might be an art form that can be very "me". Creative use of words, cycling with brainy applications of grammar and editing, repeat? Yeah, I need to do this more.
In (related?) news, I think I can see why "they" say that early readers and later readers tend to even out by third grade. Today we went to the library and it happened to be during "read a book to a dog" time, and our friends happened to be there. They have a little guy who's been in school with Eddy since pre-k, fall of 2011. He's been reading well since halfway through his pre-k year, like honestly impressively well with a large vocabulary. I was in reading lessons with him a bit at the beginning of kindergarten, and he was obviously one of the most advanced in the class. Well, today based on his reading to the doggie and also based on his choices for library books to read afterward, I think he and DS are pretty much on par for fluency, comprehension, content. DS might even be pulling ahead. Which, whatever, all I want for my kiddo is for him to be an enthusiastic reader, and I'm grateful we seem to be heading that way. But I've been watching that little boy because I'm wondering how public school affects those who come in advanced, because...
Natalie is reading *really* well. Like, she's catching up to DS. She just turned 4.5, and she's reading Magic Treehouse. Now, I'm not saying this is drop the phone and hold on to your hats amazing. Heck, my mom insists I was reading well by the end of being two/beginning of being three. And I've been reading the Accelerated Learner board on WTM and HA! They have three year olds with ridiculous vocabularies and reading abilities and whatever. But still. She's a bit advanced, and I foresee some tightrope walking ahead of us as we keep her interested and continuing to progress without pushing her or making her feel unusual. In pre-k this will be no problem, she'll get plenty of chances to work on new and stimulating stuff at home, but I dunno about public school. We'll see, I guess.