It’s been a while since I’ve done a Sundays with Gage. I intend to, but always seem to be short on time. First grade seems to be going well. He’s at the same school he attended last year and, even though it’s private, the city school bus takes him and brings him back to the elementary school half a mile from our house. This saves me two hours every day and it’s bliss 🙂
Gage is great with numbers, he plays chess, he can play Old MacDonald on the piano, he shows no fear when he should, he can tell you about all of the planets, space and black holes. But until this summer reading wasn’t coming along and it caused him a lot of frustration. In June, he started going to the local Kumon tutor center once a week for 30 minutes and did about 10 minutes of daily homework and slowly, but surely progress is being made. It’s a relief to me, but we have a long way to go. It’s hard for him when something is just too challenging because he really does want to do everything well, so I am trying very hard to go slow and just give him some confidence.
So, the day that I started my new 30 Day Challenge I asked him if he wanted to finally join me in his first 30 day challenge. He was so happy that I asked and said yes right away. So, he is reading a new book every day this month and so am I. He gets to choose the easiest books because I just want him to stay excited and I look forward to seeing him willing to read every day!
Please hop over to my 30 Day Challenges Blog to follow along.
So far, Gage has read 3 Bob Books. Not very exciting, but it is really helping his reading aloud fluency.
I’ve read 3 fantastic books so far…
“This book came about when reporter, Fournier, and his wife learned that their 12 year-old son had Asperger’s (from watching the TV show Parenthood. Go Bravermans!) As his wife started to assemble a team to help their son, Fournier, took him on a series of road trips to visit Presidential libraries and museums, something Tyler was really interested in. This was a journey about a father finding his son.”
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi (4.25 stars)
“Paul was a neurosurgeon resident and found out he had stage 4 lung cancer at the age of 36. Between his diagnosis and his death he wrote this book about living. Paul was able to choose two paths in his shorten life, as a writer in his youth and at the end of his life and his calling as a neurosurgeon in the middle. I loved his relationship with literature and science and how he strived to make meaning of them both. The world lost a great doctor and human being when he passed and I can only hope his words will inspire other young people to follow in his path. A beautiful book about life and death and what to do with the time we have.”
Rosemary:The Hidden Kennedy Daughter by Kate Clifford Larson (4 stars)
“I loved the inside look at the day to day lives of the Joe and Rose and their nine children. I’d heard more about the ambitious, controlling father than about the mother, so I was intrigued and put off by her at the same time. The Kennedy children are beautiful and brilliant, but Rosemary stood apart because she was different. When she was born, during the height of the Spanish influenza in Boston, a nurse physically held her head inside of her mother after she’d already crowned. I’m still horrified by it. Whether that is what cause her ‘retardation’ we can only assume. I can’t believe that Rose went on to birth 6 more children and live to be 104 after that!”
I’ll keep you posted as much as time will allow, but I’m updating the challenge blog and Facebook page everyday 🙂
Stacy's Books 