A Family of Words

I recently changed my "About Me" section on this blog to better reflect our current view of education. For my email subscribers--which is the majority of my readership--I will restate here part of that view:

I am passionate about instilling a love of learning in my children. We are a "words" family and value literature, writing and communication of all kinds.

We've always valued literature in our family and homeschool. I remember Jordan as young as 10 months old flipping through pages of Dr. Seuss and a variety of board books for l-o-n-g stretches of time. Both of our children were treated to bedtime stories from BIRTH. I am not kidding either. Looking back, I think some of our relatives thought we were quite strange, rocking and reading Bernstein bears to a one month old, but it was important to both of us to establish the habit of reading--for both ourselves and for them. For them to get used to the cadence of words and see us always picking up books. Really, is it any wonder that both of our girls started reading their own books before the age of 5?

Now that I am writing my own novel, and learning so much about the writing process, the value placed on words in our family has increased. As has the enjoyment. I have journaled how I fell in love with reading all over again this summer when I rediscovered YA literature. I have read over 120 something books since April--I was averaging about 5 books a week prior to starting my own writing, and now that I am actively writing (over 1/3 of the way through my manuscript) it has dropped to about 2-3 novels a week. But all that reading has really been a wonderful model for my children.

No wonder Cali taught herself how to read past the lessons we ended in April and now stays up at night reading Bernstein Bears, Magic School Bus and Highlights magazine. No wonder Jordan stays up reading Magic Tree House, Animorphs, and various Roald Dahl books.

No wonder both of my children are creating their own story books and picture books. I am constantly being asked to staple pages together for their stories. No wonder I'm asked to lend a tape recorder for them to story tell into, or to video them act out their stories.

The name of my writing blog is The Ending Unplanned. It was inspired by a song by Natasha Bedingfield called "Unwritten" that is actually my main character's theme song . . . BUT it has also become the theme song for me and my girls. The song is basically about how our lives are a story and only we can tell it. Only we can determine the ending to our lives.

My girls LOVE to put this on and JAM OUT! They know all the words, too, and we sing and dance to it at least once a week! Have you heard the song? Here is the beginning:

I am unwritten, can't read my mind, I'm undefined
I'm just beginning, the pen's in my hand, ending unplanned

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you can not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

I break tradition, sometimes my tries, are outside the lines
We've been conditioned to not make mistakes, but I can't live that way

I don't know if I have a huge point here except to show you where we are in our educational journey. We are 'drenching ourselves in words.'

Where are you in your educational journey?

In other news, at my writing blog, The Ending Unplanned, this week I wrote about the importance of Strong Verbs, answered 5 Random Questions in my About Me Truthful Tuesday post, shared where I was in my current Work In Progress--and have an awesome YouTube video for I'd Come For You by Nickleback in my soundtrack section. You must watch this video! It was meant for my soundtrack as the theme song for the friendship between my two main characters BUT the video applies it to a Father/Daughter relationship and I got all misty eyed, and yesterday I Reviewed Two-Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt.

My mother-in-law and husband's grandmother are driving up for a visit this weekend (Woo Hoo!), they have informed us they are watching the girls while we go to the movies tomorrow (Social Network, again Woo Hoo!) and there will be more football to watch -- So I know my weekend will ROCK! I hope your weekend is wonderful, blessed, and filled with enjoyable, cooler weather as we ease into October!

Have a Great Weekend!