My Reading Blog

As a follow up to last week's post,  the first session of our After School Mentoring Program was a SUCCESS! After a slightly rocky start regarding the bus pick up, the rest of the afternoon went smoothly. We had 15 kids attend - five of them repeats from last year - 7 from 4th grade and 8 from 3rd grade. One challenging child (isn't that normal?), but overall, the kids were well behaved, willing to accept our help.  Most of the parents came and stayed for supper and talk.  We had pizza and one young man ask if he could have a pencil and paper so he could find out what kind of pizza everyone would like to have.  I suggested he have 3 choices - cheese, sausage and peperoni.  He did this all one his own and I complimented his parents when I talked with them. The most rewarding moment for me was when I had been working with A (who was new to the program).  We had worked on her science paper and when it was time to move to the next area, she looked at me...

Thursday will be the beginning of the 4th year of our church's After School Mentoring Program.  The first year we tested our feet (minds) with working with 8th & 9th graders.  It was a successful first year, but we had to rethink what we felt comfortable in assisting the kids.  So the 2nd year we opened the program to 8th and 3rd graders.  We felt it too was successful, although we worked mainly with 3rd graders.  We found our knitch.  The 3rd year started off with no one signing up in the fall, but we persevered and tried again in January.  We had 12 sign up, but only 8-10 showed every week. When the kids arrive, we have an "active" activity to play followed by a snack and then off to our mentoring. We revamped our format last year.  In the first two years we worked one-on-one with the students helping with reading, writing, math or whatever they needed help with for a full hour.  Last year we decided to break it up into three 20-25 ...

Since my mind drew a blank of what to write this morning, I noticed the Question Jar sitting on the shelf.  My fall back and a good way to share with my kids and grandkids how it was when I was growing up.  So today's question: What games did you play in your home or neighborhood? Had to ponder on this one a while.  I lived on a farm until I was ten and then we moved into town. Living on the farm, our closest neighbor with kids was a quarter of mile away.  The girls were younger than me, but I remember getting together to play with dolls, hide and seek, Red Rover or we just played outside and somehow found something to do.  Our parents always got together several times a month to play cards. We played Canasta with my Grandma and Casino with my Dad.  We learned lots of card games and usually played at least once a week. Moving into town and being closer to others kids, we enjoyed going to the swimming pool, riding our bikes, playing dress up and us...

Summer    Hot       Humid             Dry Dusty    Pollen        Insects              Brown Grass But, Today              A breath of fresh air Windows open     Breeze blowing           Cooler temps                  Rain to nourish the ground Breathe in, breathe out       Enjoy the moment            It's only the middle of August        

What a fantastic week we had!  Our son and daughter-in-law invited us to Pigeon Forge for the week where they were meeting up with several of his Army buddies that served together in Germany.  They try to get together every couple of years.  It was interesting hearing their stories of when they were mere lads of 18 & 19 year olds!  Of course, hubby shared many of his stories from when he was in the Air Force.  They talked well into the night(s). We took a trip up to Clingman's Dome - needless to say, I didn't make it to the top, but we still had some fantastic views at the beginning of the trail. We spent one day at the Biltmore Estate.  The gardens were beautiful, the house was unbelievable and the wine tasting was outstanding! And, the best part of the tour, was the Chihuly Glass Exhibit that was placed throughout the gardens and around the house. We spent a day visiting with Len's cousin and his wife wh...

My brother, Allan, is four years old than me.  We've always gotten along (I'm sure there were times growing up where he would disagree).  We usually talk once a month just to catch up on what's happening with our families and to see how each other are doing.  He lives about 2-1/2 hours from our kids in Illinois. This morning I gave him a call - just checking in.  He has some health issues, but he feels great.  He told me that the test on his kidneys was not normal, but they were going to check again in a month.  He exercises, eats healthy, but worries excessively.  I kiddingly said, "Not you!  You're just like Mom."  And then, I laughingly said, "And me".  Yes, we are definitely siblings.  Our Dad was the happy-go-lucky sort of guy and things didn't bother him (or at least he never let it show).  But, our Mom, was the worrier. We talked about high blood pressure and cataract surgery, about the grandkids and the weather, our...

This morning I walked outside to check the rain gauge and as I turned back toward the house, there were five different webs that the spiders created overnight.  This web was huge and if you can see the dot in the middle, the spider is resting and waiting.  I went out about half an hour later and the web was completely gone I held up a towel behind this web, so you could better see the lace work. Another web further up in the tree. Think of the hours (or perhaps only minutes) that it took to create these masterpieces for the night and then to take down and put back up tonight.  I dislike spiders, but seeing the creations they make is totally amazing.