My little author :)

I've written several "first posts" only to change my mind. Why is blogging such a big decision for me? I love to write and love to reflect. But I do spend way too much time on the internet. I think my biggest issue is how to figure out WHAT to write about! My family, my faith, my day to day life...for some reason that's overwhelming for me.

I think I'll try to stick with one topic at a time, whatever is most pertinent to me right then and not try to overanalyze my blog writing, like I tend to do with most things in life. And maybe finally I'll be bold enough to comment on other's blogs as a real blogger, not an anonymous nobody...

So my blog for tonight: My daughter's first book! I used to teach Kindergarten and 1st grade before my stay-at-home mommy days began. I just started rereading a book from college I really like called (trying to link, we'll see if this works, I'm new to all this!) The Boy Who Would Be a Helicopter by Vivian Gussin Paley. It's a beautiful reflection on a preschool teacher whose classroom was based upon storytelling. The children were able to dictate stories to her each day and she relates life experiences to the fantasy stories they create. It's a fun book!

Tonight my husband and baby were asleep but I knew that my older daughter (3.5yrs) wouldn't be going down quite yet. The DVD player on our computer keeps freezing up, so she couldn't watch the Mr. Rogers DVD from the library. So I asked if she wanted to "do homeschool". She got very excited and we did some simple workbooks, which she loves, and we wrote some words together (she's very interested in letter sounds right now). Then I asked if she'd like to write a story, thinking of how much I love the idea of story dictation with young children. I wrote it while she told it, then typed it up on the computer like a real book and she'll get to illustrate. It was a lot of fun!

Here's her first book:
"The Mother of the King"
Once upon a time there was a young girl and a fox.
He went on a walk and he found a bird in a meadow.
The bird walked and she ate a beautiful, yummy flower.
And the fox found a frog in a cradle with a mother.
The mother carried the frog.
The mother frog found a bunny.
The bunny found an egg, and she goes to sleep.

We've been reading fairy tales today, and the workbooks sitting out had all those animals pictured. I'll let you know how the illustrations turn out and how the next story goes! She says this is for the little girl whose 1yr birthday invite we just got today. And she wants to make one for our new priest! My little author :)