Summer...

I was reading a friend's blog recently, about how few weeks of summer are left, and boy I am feeling the tug in my gut & my heart. It is bittersweet. This summer is the last one I have with my "little" children. In a few weeks I will have one "little" one & one "big" kid. I can't believe Kindergarten is so close. I really want to make the most of these last few weeks and enjoy some great summer memories before school starts dictating our lives.

I wrote a few days ago about Matthew writing his own book - I think he's just the cutest thing and I am trying to really encourage this. We are still working on writing the story, he's doing it all longhand of course so that takes some time for a 5 year old. We are going to make it into a real book - whether we "publish" it per se or laminate & bind it...but we'll give it the honor it deserves.

We are going to finish reading the rest of the Magic Tree House series and they have a great online program through the publisher, , where you can earn a stamp in your "passport" for answering a set of questions on each book. You download the "passport" from the site. So we'll be doing that as he completes each book - I think it's a really good way to help boost comprehension. He's been reading independently for almost 2 years now and has a great vocabulary, reads very well and I think generally his comprehension is pretty good but when the goal is to finish the book & then answer questions...well, it might require a second reading. If I were reading the book to him....whole different story, he'd remember every detail. So I see this as a great transition into Kindergarten.

We are also having regular craft days at home and planning fun activities for the rest of the summer. I can hardly believe we are already 1/3 through July!