Reading in 2019

Though we are only a month in, 2019 has seen some solid reading efforts already, and not just by me. I'm assuming that as the school/kindy term really kicks in this week, my reading time will decrease, but even so, I love that we are off to a good start.

Here's what I've read thus far:

Shadow in the North by Philip Pullman

Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

Book of Dust by Philip Pullman
Medusa's Butterfly by Simon Rae

The Reluctant Assassin: W.A.R.P. by Eion Colfer
The Hangman's Revoloution by Eion Colfer
Secret Star by Emma Carroll

Now, to the big news: we, as a family, have also read The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkin.

I'll be honest, it was arduous. Almost excruciatingly painful, but we made it. Sophie and Rachel have been slowly graduating to longer books for some time now; even sometimes chapter books! We have some Roal Dahl books in rotation at the moment (The Magic Finger, Fantastic Mr Fox, Esio Trot, The Giraffe, the Pelly and Me, James and the Giant Peach, The BFG (gosh, I didn't realize there were so many until I started listing them!)), Charlotte's Web by E. B. White, and they also love the Ottoline Books, by Chris Riddle, which are an excellent halfway between longer illustrated picture books and chapter books.

So somewhere along the line, Steve says casually: "Maybe one day we can read you 'The Hobbit'." At which I protest, because, let's face it, it's The Hobbit, and in a word: Terrible. Much to my dismay, Sophie instantly wants to know why I don't like it. But, because I do love reading, I don't want to spoil it for her. I mean, there is a slim chance that somewhere down the line she will read it and maybe think it's passable. I can't take that away from her by telling her the truth straight up can I?

We explain to Sophie that for this reason, I will tell her why I don't like it, only after she herself has read it. Hearing this, Sophie begs us to read it straight away. Without delay. Despite our warnings that it is very long and could be boring. She would not be put off. We had to read it. Immediately.

And so we read it.

Steve and I took turns reading it aloud to the girls, and despite thinking that Steve would do most of the legwork here, I did end up reading a large chunk, because we were on holidays, and the girls think the best way to spend their time is by sitting and reading for hours on end. (Steve and I often come upon then in their room sitting together and leafing through well read books.) They are not wrong, though I do question their choice of book in this case.

Steve had a copy on the shelf, but we also managed to pick up a semi-illustrated version from the library which helped immensely (especially where Rachel was concerned). They loved the characters; elves, dwarves, hobbit and wizard. They thought that Gollum was hilarious for some reason, and spent a lot of the first half asking if the Dragon would show up soon. When Smaug did show up, they were pretty happy about him too, even though he is not a nice dragon.

At the end of it, I did get to tell Sophie why I think it's terrible, and I think she sees my reasoning. That said, she did love listening to the tale, even when the author got a bit waffle-y about things and distracted with scenery, rather than actually telling the story.

If you've never read The Hobbit, I'd advise you to skip it, but I do hope that this post about reading inspires you to pick up a book tonight. 

Hit it with a Hammer

Otherwise titled: Lessons with Dad.

I run a playgroup in our community on a Tuesday morning which includes a music session. Bear with me, I know it sounds totally unrelated to the title, but we will get there, I promise. We had been lugging out a big old school sound system thing every week, when I started to bring along our Bose speaker box instead. This was much easier, but I had to remember to take it home again.

Then we were luckily gifted a very similar speaker box, which worked great for about a month before it decided it wouldn't always work. I took it home wondering if we could fix it, but nothing could be done.

So Steve decided to hit it with a hammer. It was his way of showing the girls what was inside, and since it had no outside screws (the casing clipped on), there was no other way of getting inside.

I wish I had taken a before photo.

But the girls did have a great time smashing at it on the front steps. Again, we talked about correct tool use and safety. And found all sorts of interesting things on the inside.

Here they are pulling it apart with screw drivers now that the outer casing was destroyed. 

And here are all the interesting things that were on the inside! The most exciting bit was the magnets around the speakers themselves, but closely followed by the switch Rachel found on that electronic/computer card-y thing there.

Are you wondering what you could learn if you hit something with a hammer right now? So much fun learning in destroying something. Very cool.

Happy Birthday Sophie

We opted not to have a big party again this year, mostly because of the renovations, but also because they are exhausting. Instead, the girls and I hopped on the train on a Friday afternoon.

And went to visit Dad's work.

Honestly, that would have been the party there, the girls were so excited to be at Dad's work. They almost didn't want to leave. But we did, had some take away dinner and caught a City Cat back across the river to South Bank. 

We stopped in the rain forest for a quick bit of birthday cake.

And then went on to the big wheel.

This was also Sophie's birthday present from us. Every time we go to South Bank she asks about going on, and since she has everything a little girl could need and many of the things a little girl could want, it seemed much more sensible to have this be her present, than more stuff to clutter up the house.

She loved it.

We all did. 

We had a stop to play in the playground on the way back to the train station and the girls had a go with their first sparklers.

Still a little young maybe, but they did think it was pretty cool.

It was really nice to just have the time as a family celebrating our girl. The next day we took a batch of cupcakes (decorated by the girls) to Rocks Riverside Park and had a play with some friends. 

Again, nice and low key. The long summer days and the cool water were perfect for loads of playing and tired children at the end of it all.

Happy Birthday big girl. I look at you and know you are ready for the next adventure.

Steve's Turn

You might remember that because this wall in the dining room is about to be removed as part of our renovations, I took the opportunity with the girls to add some creative art work on it. Yesterday was Steve's turn. Oh, so much delight! 

I had been to a professional development seminar back in October that talked about how kids need danger and risks, all of which, I'm totally on board with. One of the things that the speaker said though, was that kids need access to tools, and not just play tools, but real tools. Real, sharp, dangerous cutting tools. Power tools. This is a little trickier when you have the age range that I have, so while I'm on board, I struggle a bit about how to implement it in a safe way.

Enter Steve, a wall that won't be there much longer and a few hours spare on the last day of holidays.

 

They got the tools out, talked about what to do and how to do it. There was knocking on the wall and listening for the studs (something I find so hard!) and deciding where to put what. 

Steve had them each drill (with assistance) a practice hole first. They screwed into them and then unscrewed as well, for practice with the screw drivers. 

They used the spirit level too, and then screwed a bit of wood to the wall. The girls thing it's a balancing beam from the ladybug to the butterfly in the sky. Here they are checking to see if it can be pulled off, or if it's on tight. 

After that, Steve got them to use the staple gun (again assisted) to staple on some streamers (ripped strips of paper). He talked to them about how it's similar to the nail gun that the builders have been using for the renovation. So perfect. 

The girls were super proud of their work. 

Thanks Steve for having the patience to go through each step with the girls and giving them this opportunity. Love it.