Keep Reading

I was at the beach yesterday afternoon, taking advantage of every last good day of the summer. My kids (except Isaac) were swimming, and I was sitting in my camp chair reading. Gotta love the beach!

I pulled out of my beach bag, the Summer Catalog from Memoria Press, a classical education resource. It has articles in every catalog, which I enjoy reading.

The one that caught my eye was Stop Cleaning the Kitchen and Read a Book by Susan Wise Bauer. Well, that's a philosophy with which I can agree wholeheartedly! You can read the whole article here.

It is really an excellent article. While written for the homeschooling mother, I think the principles apply to everyone. It also made me realize that I tend to read too fast (I am a speed reader), and I tend not to reread books unless they're absolute favorites. I am also guilty of reading fairly easy books. I have not ever, for instance, read Les Mis or Crime and Punishment or much Shakespeare for that matter.

Recently, in fact, I find myself blazing through books as quickly as I can so I can write a blog post on them. Even when I want to find time to contemplate them, ponder them, discuss them with my friends or husband, I haven't because I've been too busy reading.

While I'm not ready to start on Anna Karenina tomorrow, I will start a reading journal. And I have started reading through a book off my shelf a little each morning - He Gave Us Stories: The Bible Student's Guide to Interpreting Old Testament Narratives. It's not a classic, but it is academic.

And since it's my book, I can write in it.

Modern Day Lament

Now that our children are getting older, my husband and I face a bit of a dilemma. I know it's not one that lots of families face, but we do.

Because I teach the children at home, and because I tend to be an early bird instead of a night owl, I am usually done about 7pm. So, my kids go to bed. Sometimes I'm done at 6:30 and they go to bed - especially if I know Daddy's working late that night.

So, now that I have a 6th-grader on my hands, it's time to rethink bedtime. Really?! I guess I wouldn't mind hanging out with him in the living room, each of us reading. But I don't want to talk. I really want to just watch TV.

Which brings me to my lament. My husband and I were just discussing how there are no shows we would want to watch as a family. Gone are the days of The Cosby Show, Full House, or Little House on the Prairie. Even The A-Team (although violent, no one ever got killed, and although Face always got the girl, you didn't see much).

What happened to these family shows? We were going through a few of the shows on in the 7:00 hour... and we wouldn't allow our kids to watch any of them. Chuck (our favorite)? Too violent & sexual. NCIS? Again not appropriate. America's Next Top Model? Definitely not something I want my kids watching.

We have the most basic of cable - don't even get TVLand or Nick at Night, which may run reruns of family shows. I guess we'll start haunting our library. Glen's excited about watching Home Improvement with the boys, which I don't think our library owns. He suggested a NetFlix membership.

I suggested reading aloud together.

We'll see what transpires... We've yet to break the news to my oldest that he can stay up later than his siblings. I'm waiting until we're done with our school year. Not sure why - except it makes me feel like I have a little more time to adjust. Plus, I have to finish Season 2 of 24.