Family in Feast and Feria

Ds is really keeping us on our toes.

This week dh asked if we needed to give him his medicine, although he spelled out "m-e-d" to me. Ds started repeating the letters to himself, went to his LeapFrog Writing Desk, punched in the letters and said "Oh, you mean my medicine?" Yikes.

I need to spend some extra learning time with him, because he's really eager to start reading. We do little games here and there. I think I should do some phonics, but not quite sure where to start. I did buy the Bob Books from Costco, since I knew I'd need the series eventually. They are still wrapped in plastic in the dining room. He keeps begging me to open so he can read them. I told him they were for when he can start reading. "But Mommy, I CAN read already!"

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He's now into everything about knights. The original inspiration was from the Veggie Tales Duke and the Great Pie War. I heard dh and ds jousting down in the basement for a few days. At the Real Learning Conference I bought King Arthur and His Knights cd from Jim Weiss. The first time listening dh thought it might be over his head. After a few days we were discussing knights, and I mentioned that cd is all about knights, jousting, and swords. He then wanted to listen to it over and over, asking me questions like, "Now why were both men bloody when they jousted?" (I was not happy about the blood part -- I think that's the only mention of blood on the whole cd!) So I had to demonstrate that the lances hit both knights as they passed each other.

And we've pulled out all our books on any knights.

The silly book The Knight and the Dragon by Tomie dePaola

A more serious read, with captivating illustrations is St. George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges. I've had this for a while but the text didn't interest him until now. And it's one of the books in Catholic Mosaic.

Another book we own, but I can't put my hands on right now is Joan of Arc, the Lily Maid also by Margaret Hodges. I know she's not a knight, but ds was asking "Mommy, where's the book with the girl who becomes a knight?" I was scratching my head for a long time on this question. He had to give me a clue that I read it to him in the bathroom. ;-) (Now that was months ago!) Another Mosaic book.

I need to expand this area. Are there any children's illustrated King Arthur? Anything you'd recommend for a child with a voracious appetite on all things knights?

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In my speech on the Liturgical Year in the Home I talked briefly about introducing saints. We only touch on them a bit in this house. We read books, sometimes I show pictures and just mention a small tidbit about a saint. At bedtime prayers we have a litany of saints we sing. The list is generally the same, with some alterations every evening. The question is always "Whose feast day is it today?" and after we tell him, he sings his name.

After giving the speech, I started wondering if he's really remembering. Am I doing a good job? I got my answer this month. When it was the feast of St. Lawrence, I talked a little about him, and how he died for his faith -- on a gridiron. I had some paintings that I showed him. Weeks later in our bedtime prayers, he asked "Who is the saint that got cooked? Oh yes, St. Lawrence!"