Have you ever noticed that the longer you put completing a task off the more intimidating it becomes? That has totally been an issue for me with writing posts for this blog. I have these great ideas about what I want to write about, make a mental note (or a note on my phone) about it and plan to type it up and post it soon. The day ends and I haven’t created an opportunity to lock myself in the office alone and write about it. Then, I get another idea and think, well, I can’t write a bunch of posts all in one day and get all caught up in how often (or not often) I should post and then the worry starts to creep in that my idea my not even be that great or mind blowing after all so I should probably not even write about it. But, I am determined to make this happen, no matter how clumsily. I feel compelled to share our journey and what I’ve learned.
ANYWAY, That was not the topic I sat down to write about tonight. (Speaking of tonight, that’s another part of my problem, usually by the time I have some alone time to sit down and write I’m tired and my brain is fried.)
What I wanted to share tonight was a great conversation I had with the girls when I went upstairs to tuck them in. Cadence (10) somehow brought up the topic of one of the Harry Potter books and its author J.K. Rowling. We started talking about what a great author she is and how fun her books are to read. We talked about how she puts in so many details that you can really see it all in your mind and you feel like you’re there. Then we talked about her plots, we talked about subplots, we even talked about plot twists. Annabelle (7) brought up another movie and it’s plot line and we discussed how it built and built and kept getting more exciting and suspenseful until its climax. (All the while Annabelle is using her hands to show the plot line going up then back down a bit as smaller conflicts are resolved along the way). It was a great discussion and I was able to see (better than any test could tell me) that they both have a very good understanding of the structure and components of a good story. And that made me excited because A: It will probably help Cadence with her summarizing skills, which would be great because I have 5 kids who are at home with me all day every day and can really only listen to one kid tell me all about one story for so long before my attention is diverted somewhere else, and B: Cadence has tried her hand at hand writing and typing a few stories and even making some of her own videos on imovie. We thought they were pretty impressive and considered helping her start a youtube channel to share them but thought it might be best to work on creating some better plots first and when we tried “teaching” her about the structure of a good story even in a very simple way with a fun video, she was very resistant to learning more about it. Have I mentioned that Cadence is a freedom fighter? She really likes to do things her own way, in her own time, and ONLY when it’s her idea.
I’ve tried several times to “interest” her in the Harry Potter series, among many other books and series that we have in out home library and never bit until a month or two ago when my husband, Sean, decided to start reading the first book to whichever of the kids wanted to listen. Then we took a long drive one Saturday into the mountains to go see the fall leaves and go for a hike and decided to try listening to the audiobook in the car so that the kids in the back of the suburban could hear better and Sean was feeling a little worn out and reading aloud didn’t sound appealing to him at the time. It was a huge success and everyone was hooked. Now listening to the Harry Potter audiobooks has become a favorite family pass time. Sean told Cadence that she’d have to read the book herself before she could watch the movie and she devoured it in about a day and a half. We’ve had to ask her to stop a few times so we don’t all get too far behind her in the series. She recently finished the fourth book and was so frustrated that she couldn’t read the next one yet and keeps complaining about being bored and trying to convince us that we should get Sean’s book (from his prized collection) out for her to read.
What a blessing that Sean put this whole Harry Potter train on the tracks and gave it a good strong push! We’ve found a great family activity that we can enjoy in many circumstances and watching the movies after we listen to the books together has been so fun as well. Experiencing it all together as a family has been so much fun and I feel it has really strengthened our bonds as a family unit. We’ve had all sorts of great discussions as a whole family or one on one that have spurred from it as well. Who knew all the great things that could come from Dad coming home from work and sitting down on the recliner to read a series he loves with his kids!