Learning by Osmosis??

Laney reading to Addison

I have read lots of blogs in the past on how smaller children learn by osmosis.  At first I thought, ok, sure, maybe.  Now, I think there is something to be said about that.  As we all know, Addison has a love for reading.  She loves to read herself and has always loved being read to.  My little Laney on the other hand doesn't have the same passion.  We have always read to her and worked with her on her letters and sounds, but it wasn't until recently that she started to really impress me.  Driving down the street, she would start reading signs and names of stores.  I knew she could read some words, she did watch Your Baby Can Read videos after all, but I wasn't sure exactly what she knew until we started working with her. 

I decided to start her on Sonlight's kindergarten readers just to see how she would do, boy, was I blown away!  She has done 2/3 of the years curriculum in about a month.  I would like to make a side note that this is only done when SHE wants to.  If there is any attempt to "make" her read when she doesn't want to, nothing gets accomplished.  However, when she WANTS to read, she just flies through these books.  She usually sits on the couch with her daddy, mostly squirming while she reads, but when she has an audience, she will sit right up and read the books to you, no problem. 

Daddy helping Laney while Addison watches

My in-laws were here to help when the new baby was born and Laney asked to do some sight word flash cards.  After every word, she would look back for grandma's approval and then she would keep going strong.  I couldn't believe she sat still for the entire box, plus, she didn't miss one word!!

So, has she learned by osmosis?  I'm not really for sure.  I do know that I now have a 3 year old who will be starting 1st grade readers in the fall without much work on my part.  I will continue to read as much as possible to all of my kids in hopes they continue to enjoy the love of learning.

Our Vegetable Garden

We decided it would be a lot of fun to start a vegetable garden this year and so far we have not been disappointed.  We don't have anything ready to eat yet, but the kids have loved every part of it.  We built a raised garden so they were able to help daddy put that together. They loved digging in the dirt and planting the seeds.  Watering has become a daily chore they are excited about doing. 

The excitement in their eyes when they see their seeds turning into plants is priceless.  They will come running through the door screaming, "Mommy, mommy, come look!!"  I can't wait to see what happens when vegetables actually come in.  Whenever it rains, we talk about how our garden is going to grow bigger because of all the water it is getting.  Our kids, like most, love being outside and exploring new things.  What a fun way for them to learn more about nature and where some of our foods come from than our own vegetable garden.  The best part about it is we will get fresh organic fruits and vegetables!

Ready to garden

Digging dirt

Soil for the tomatoes

Planting the seeds

Max eating the dirt!!