Reading with Larien and Art with Inwe

In all my ups and downs with teaching Inwe to read, I learned that you can't make a kid into a reader. You can teach them to read and give them a love of stories. I'm sure many would disagree with me, but as much as I might try, Inwe only reads the books she gets at school. She never picks up a book at home with the intent of reading it for entertainment.

This is not true of Larien. At bedtime, if she isn't sleepy, we leave the light on for her so she can peruse her stack of books. The ones she likes to read are non fiction books about weather, planets, and animals. She doesn't mind the fictional tales, though. Her default is always the nature books.

Recently, she has wanted to read to us at bedtime. Two nights ago, I picked up The Cat in the Hat. She told me that the foot book was easier. I suggested that she try the first page. She made it through those few sentences and surprised me by having the desire to read all of the story. I had to help her on a few words, but after a while she recognized even those. She read part of it again last night. The reason she didn't finish it was because I fell asleep. My Larien is a reader.

My Inwe is the creator. I bought, at Larien's request, a spin art machine. At $10, the price was right and I remember doing some spin art as a child. Larien, Finwe, and I spent some time making some art. When Inwe came home, she took over and not in a bad way. She took my suggestions and tweaked them to make her own unique style. I could see her working on ideas as she added paint and glitter. Her creations topped ours.