Lest you think that I've been a slacker since I haven't been posting much lately, let me fill you in. Summer is a busy time for us with six birthdays and an anniversary falling within three months. It's a natural break from our school routine to focus on celebrating the various members of our family. There are also some daily activities that I am trying to do with the children, so that by the end of the day, I don't have much free time. So before the girls are ready to work on their surprise for Daddy's birthday, I will take a few minutes to share how I've been spending my time.
It would not be a good idea for Meriel to go three months without doing any reading. We are very, very slowly working our way through the Peter and Jane key words books. It's important for her to feel confident with one level before moving on to the next, or she gets too discouraged. Although it's often a fight to get her started, she is doing great and progressing steadily.
The other activity I try to do daily with Meriel is a tin whistle lesson. That's right, I am teaching her to play an instrument. She is so musical, and I thought it would be a great confidence booster for her to be able to learn something that Eris is not. She does not like to work at it, but she is noticing improvement from practicing ten minutes every day. When she plays something correctly, she is really pleased, and I believe she will really enjoy being able to play some day. We are both imagining Daddy's delight when she plays for him on his birthday.
Eris and I have started reading the Bible together. It started with an assignment from her Sunday school teacher to read the book of Matthew. She may have misunderstood the teacher, since she never brought it up again, but it turned out well because it has started this new habit. We normally to a family Bible story time, but Eris is old enough for something a bit deeper. We finished Matthew last Saturday, and, at Eris's request, are now reading Joshua.
Eris is my little dancer. We have been stretching and dancing together nearly every day. We practice some ballet positions, learn some moves from other dance genres, and even make up our own. We choreographed a dance together that she is practicing to perform on Daddy's birthday.
On days that Hollis does not go to preschool, she has tracing homework - either Thai letters or numbers. So while I'm working with the other girls, I also supervise her. She is always super excited to do her homework and actually works to trace properly. Previously, when I tried to get her to trace she would purposely make "mistakes" and draw wildly off the line. I am pleased with this improvement.
Other than my daily devotion time, my daily activities include fitting in a fiddle practice session. I really feel better about the rest of the day, if I make a chance to fiddle. I also usually manage to squeeze in some Thai vocabulary and sometimes even some pleasure reading. Well, time's up; gotta go!
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