Samuel has always been a little less enthusiastic about academic stuff than his sisters. I am reminded often, however, that boys tend to be that way. It's hard to be the mom of 2 girls & 1 boy in that regard because the girls have both always enjoyed reading, they've excelled at school & require very little (or NO) help at all with their homework. They just sit down & do it...or better yet, they finish it at school and never even bring it home. Samuel, on the other hand, struggles with reading, writing, spelling & handwriting. He has to be reminded 100x to get back to work & quit dawdling. He is not far enough behind to need extra help at school, but he will probably never be an "A" student in those subjects. He has to work really hard to just squeak by. Last year when he had to take the state's standardized test (TAKS) to pass 3rd grade, Larry and I really stressed over it. We were terrified that he'd rush through it so that he could turn his papers over & draw dinosaurs & pirates on the back...and then fail the test. He's just your typical boy. He wants to hurry up & get done so he can move onto better things. Like basketball or TV or skateboarding or just doing anything BUT schoolwork.
And I tell you all that to help you understand my excitement this afternoon. When he got into the car at school, he grinned & said "Mom, I'm now the proud owner of a Diary of a Wimpy Kid book." Savannah read one of these books a couple years ago so I knew it was 'safe'. I just smiled & told him that was great. He drew the book from his teacher's treasure chest today. That alone is pretty huge considering that there were also TOYS in the treasure chest. Seriously...I wonder if he realized there were toys in there also.....because SINCE WHEN does this child choose a BOOK over a toy? I was pleased with his choice, though, and made sure to praise him for selecting a book!
As we drove from his school to Savannah's, then to the grocery store, he was silent. I looked back & realized he was reading his book! He wanted to take it into the grocery store with us, but I made him leave it in the car. The second he got back into his seat to drive home, he was right back in the book. He has to read 20 minutes for school every day & write in his reading log. Today, he read all the way home, then read for 20 minutes like usual. When the timer went off, he looked over at me & asked me to reset the timer for another 40 minutes. I had to giggle & grin & quietly jump up and down. He hadn't done the math himself, but without knowing it, he was VOLUNTARILY reading for a full hour just for fun....that's absolutely a FIRST for him!
Folks, let me tell you....this child has NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER read a SINGLE book for pleasure. Never. In his entire life. He's read things for homework at school but NEVER "just because". I've been stunned all afternoon & evening!
He had to quit reading long enough to go to Cub Scouts this evening. When we came home, he got ready for bed & climbed into bed with...you guessed it...his book!
This mommy has had happy tears this afternoon. I've emailed his teachers. I've posted the picture (above) to my Facebook page. I am SO proud of him. I am SO happy to see him develop a love of reading ANY book. I am so very thrilled to see him find a book he enjoys. So much so that I've already found the rest of the series on eBay & placed a bid!
1 comment:
Oh my goodness!! we can so relate to the turning the page over to draw dinosaurs (are you sure you weren't talking about Joseph)LOL..this is a HUGE HUGE change..and I can just feel the overwhelming excitment you must feel when you see him reading all on his own..if you don't mind, I think we will take Joseph to Barnes and Noble and see if he likes these books..we are always trying to find something that he will like to read..for his 20 minutes of reading last week, he chose a dictionary all about dinosaurs..it was hard for him then to write on his reading log what he read, so he changed to a story form book..'YEA' for Samuel..
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