This Moment
{This Moment}
A moment to savor from the week via Soulemama
1) Interestingly, the day this was taken I had just talked to Col’s kindergarten teacher about his fluctuating interest in reading and writing. His teacher told me that Col’s changeable focus is totally normal. She also told me that studies have shown that children who see their parents read and write are more likely to become interested in reading and writing.
2) So if you’re looking for a little reading material, I have a 2 for 1 subscription offer to the New Yorker, which I’m looking to share with someone, it would be $30 each. The New Yorker has some insanely good writers, which is generally what I enjoy about it. It’s easy to find myself engrossed in someone’s essay on their pilgrimage through Kazakhstan, even though that’s not really my genre. Because I don’t watch TV and am generally unaware of what’s going on outside our chicken coop, reading the New Yorker each week is like a little tour through this world. It’s also one thick magazine and comes weekly. Let me know if you’re interested.
Have a lovely fall weekend.
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Drat, I just subscribed to the New Yorker again one month ago! Bad timing, that. I have been loving it, too.
Great picture!
Adorable! And really, he is in Kindergarten…most kids are learning how to zip their coats and keep their hands out of their pants. I wouldn’t worry too much about fluctuating interest in reading and writing! I’d love to split your New Yorker, but as I’m still working my way through last year’s The Sun and Orion, I know they would just end up piling up, unread on my nightstand…and should go to someone more deserving of the written word.
I love the New Yorker but I’ve stopped subscribing to magazines because of the unmanageable clutter it creates in our house. I just jump online for their articles/essays.
Also, I wonder if the read/write theory holds true for parents who are on their computer a lot. Would that make their kid(s) computer nerds too? I think My Guy would like that very much…
I love it!
I read somewhere … online … don’t remember exactly where … that research has found that the best way to predict student achievement (or something like that … I’m always suspicious of the word “achievement,” though; it usually means “high test scores”) is simply the number of books in the child’s home.
I would totally split the New Yorker with you. Haven’t subscribed since college (!). I too don’t have television (by choice) and can only get NPR in my car or through the computer (not by choice). And, generally speaking, if it’s not on NPR, I don’t know about it.
I’m just saying. Put my name in the hat.
Awesome. Why don’t you e-mail me your address and consider it done.
Dammit, clove! That’s a good deal too. Ah well.
I’d split it with you…
dig this chick! I can be found at consciouslyfrugal(at)yahoo.com. Shoot me a note and let’s make it happen!
Oh, rats. I woulda been into that, too . . . my confession is that sometimes I lift old copies of the NYer from our local bakery. Shameless, right?
As always, love the photos of your sweet kids.
Happy weekend to you, too!
PS. Avi has been singing prayers in Hebrew all week (his preschool is run by a Chabad) and it’s hilarious to hear “Adonaiiiii, Elo-hay-newwww . . . ” over and over again!
Oh, that is a wonderful, heartwarming photo. Both of them sitting there writing! How lovely.
I have also read/ heard many times about a print-rich environment being a huge predictor of success in school. Kids do naturally pick up on their parents’ interests, but even illiterate parents can favorably influence their children to be readers.
With my kids, I have found it important to let them check out whatever kind of books they like from the library (as long as there is no inappropriate content). Thus, my son spends most of his time reading books from the adult non-fiction section – science books, gardening, drawing, architecture, weather – as long as it has lots of pictures, he will be interested enough to at least browse through it. He gets tired of the simplicity of picture books, though I still get some for both the kids because I want to balance out their intake with imaginative stories and wonderful artwork.
Col will get there. He is still so young, and is a boy, and kindergarten is a huge transition. Keep reading and writing, and he will get there.
I doubt if the trend towards longer school days for kindegarteners and the more academic approach for 5 year olds will result in better readers…except maybe in cases in which the kids are not exposed to any books at all.
When little ones enjoy being read to, surely they will be motivated (although maybe not until 6 or 7 years old) to learn to read to themselves.
I had a law school classmate who didnt read at all until high school, but he caught up …and has since published a number of books.
I am out of town just know. I think I got the same promotional offer to our New Yorker subscription. If you read the Atlantic or Vanity Fair let me know because sometimes I get ridiculously good offers to those magazines. I’d pass them on to you…
Love the photo! And it’s true–they learn through imitation, as we well know–and this extends to reading and writing.
I’ve been tempted to re-subscribe to the New Yorker, but the every week thing just kills me. The writing is great, but I leave so much unread. I’m also mentally stuck in my little chicken coop, though. Maybe I should get it again…
Isn’t great writing such a gift! (These days I miss that mixed feeling of euphoria and melancholy that I get after finishing a really great book). I love the New Yorker and sometimes I cruise the NYT website “topics” for that delicious feeling we always had on Sunday mornings when my parents would read the paper version while we all hung out at home for a change. Every time I read your blog I want to say how much I appreciate your writing the very same way! (I’m so glad many others comment on this and hope it isn’t cheesy to keep saying it). ;) Enjoy the New Yorker!
(For everyone else, I’ve bought gift subscriptions before for ~$40 on Amazon. Not as great a deal but not bad.).
Love that picture. When you see kids do that for fun… it is magic. I completely agree with the studies about kids achievement and the books in the house and the study about seeing their parents read and write.
One of the sweetest things my dad does for me, is he buys me a subscription to the new yorker every year. And every Monday (the day we get it) I thank him as I delve into the delicious words.
I love this picture!! I also read something along those lines. Children who are read to and see their parents reading are more likely to enjoy reading as adults. The article said to make sure you read to your children even when they start reading otherwise they might loose interest.