A Sneaky Plan

I went to the Home school Book Store today. It was overwhelming, so I picked a couple of shelves in the used book section and sat down in front of it. When I left, I had a stack of books and a plan.

I've been trying to think of creative ways for Emily and Savannah to work together - particularly if they don't think they are working together, to teach them to interact with each other sweetly. Nicely. Without arguing. For these types of plans to work, they must be sneaky. There must be sufficient motivation for both girls to be interested, without it seeming like a "get-along-sweetly" plan from Mommy.

I found a stack of books, The Magic Treehouse Series, that seemed it would interest both girls. The rules? Emily can't read ahead and she must read the books to Savannah. Emily is a good little reader and Savannah loves to be read to. Plus, it is reading. What better activity?

So why is Savannah frowning? Because she "doesn't like sitting next to her sister." The reading is great. The book is interesting. But sitting next to sister? Oh, no! Hence, the team-building exercise.

I also bought a few readers for Savannah from another reading curriculum then the one that we use. I thought it would be good for her to have something new to read and would give her some extra practice. Turns out, it was an unplanned stroke of genius. Because it is a different curriculum, the books are using words all in the same rule group that we are studying, but they are completely different sets of words. So she gets to practice new words and she is excited about it because they are new books! Go me!