Ryan's New Reading Helper

      Ryan is a good reader - but he struggles with confidence and gets easily frustrated.  Greg and I get equally frustrated when we try and read with him - he shuts down with us and doesn't put forth much effort.  We know he can do it - he worked with Luke's Kindergarten teacher this summer and she said he was doing great.  I even sat in on one of their tutoring sessions just to listen - Ryan wanted me there, too, so I could see how Mrs. Crouch helped him - he did so much better with her than at home.  That doesn't surprise us, Ryan likes to perform for others.  Greg and I have talked about finding a high school kid who we can hire to read with Ryan a couple of days a week - to give all 3 of us peace of mind and remove the power struggle from the equation.  However, Ryan seems to think he has found the perfect solution.  He now only wants to read with Luke.  We never would have thought that this would be a good idea.  The 2 of them fight so much and Ryan tends to get so much more frustrated if he hears Luke read before him.  But we stumbled upon this solution a week ago.  Ryan loves it - Luke sits next to him and if Ryan asks him for help with a word, Luke helps.  Ryan's fluency has increased and his frustration has dramatically decreased, and he has been reading books that are well ahead of where he was even a month ago.  We'll see how long this lasts - much of this depends on Luke's cooperation - which so far he wants to help, but I know that there will be times when he doesn't.  Hopefully Ryan will be able to continue to build his confidence up so he will be more willing to accept help from us in the future. 

Today's  creations at our house:

 Ryan's "car" for aye-aye.  He had made something similar using paper plates and cups a few weeks, but we told him it was time to go in the recycling bin.

I bought some new shoes last weekend and Luke immediately claimed the shoebox for himself.  He asked me if he should build the Statue of Liberty or the Olympic Stadium with it.  In my limited creative vision, I told him it looked more like a stadium.  But Luke turned it into the Statue of Liberty today - I never could have envisioned that.

 The boys met both of their 1st grade teachers yesterday at their school's Open House.  Luke is excited to be back in school - but Ryan is absolutely thrilled about going to 1st grade.