Morning everyone! This was a good week, though I was still a bit fatigued. At least I caught up on blog comments and hope to do some blog hopping today.
On Sunday, the family went to the Minnesota Zoo, though we couldn’t figure out where to find their special exhibit of baby farm animals. (I assume somewhere at the farm?) M and D had two more Tae Kwon Do private lessons, and they’re moving to regular classes with other people next week. M had a haircut (it was getting rather shaggy), which you can see above.
This weekend we are switching the kids to 2 hours a day of screens total instead of letting them earn screen-time by the hour, which was our new rule a little over a month ago. (They are disappointed, but now M is standing over my shoulder reading this because it’s like looking at a screen. He’s slowly reading it back to me aloud as I type.) They are addicted to screens to the point of it being an unhealthy behavior, and the earning time only gave them another way to obsess about screens. 😦 The first thing they’d say in the morning is “I read this morning before getting out of bed, did I earn more screen-time?” While at the zoo, they say “does the zoo earn more screen-time?” Constantly. All day. We decided that the option to earn screen-time was only feeding their addiction rather than finding a healthy alternative.
Yesterday I participated in Dewey’s 24 hour readathon but only managed to read from 7am to 4pm. At that point, my dad called and said he was bored, could he come over for dinner? How can I say no to that? So we all went over to Perkins for dinner. We sat around and chatted after dinner, and when my parents left, I didn’t feel like squeezing in another couple hours of reading. A and I watched Galavant instead.
D had her VERY FIRST EVER sleepover at a friend’s house on Saturday night, which she reminded us of daily for an entire week. She was pretty thrilled. She hasn’t returned as of 7:45am Sunday morning.
Currently Reading
Despite what I said last week, I gave up on Freeing Your Child From Anxiety this week. I felt that the book wasn’t helpful to my situation since we can’t really get D to talk about her anxiety, which is a required step for the book’s strategy. So I was finding the book rather boring. I picked up No One Cares About Crazy People, by Ron Powers as my nonfiction replacement.
Since I was in a reading slump, I also decided to give up on And I Darken and pick up Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. I got most of the way through it, and will happily finish my first book in quite a while this upcoming week.
I’m loving Brandon Mull’s newest book, though I think his creativity is fading a bit. His first series (Fablehaven) was about couple of kids discovering that their grandparents had a secret reservation for fantasy creatures on their property. The second series (Beyonders) was about a kid who got sucked into another universe and wanted to save the world while looking for a way to return home. The third series (Five Kingdoms) was about a kid who got trapped in another universe and wanted to save the world while looking for a way to return home. Even some of the cool species that he created in the Beyonders books are reused for Five Kingdoms, which makes it more of a spin-off series than a true new series.
Completed
Despite it being a better week, I didn’t finish any new books (probably because I gave up on two). But I did watch the BBC miniseries of Emma with D and the BBC miniseries of Pride and Prejudice with A. Both liked the movie much more than I would have expected. I should try D out on more Austen and see if it was a fluke. She may have liked Emma simply because she thought the character was fantastic and knew everything. In other words, I think she wanted to be Emma.
Acquired
Audiofile has a program called Sync where two free teen audiobooks are provided each week. These books are available to anyone with Overdrive (which is a free app) on their phones or tablets. The Great War and A Study in Charlotte are free until 5/3.
Bible Study
For my Bible reading, I finished the first chapter of How to Read the Bible, by James Kugel (notes upcoming) and the introduction to The Literary Guide to the Bible (this is too dense to write interesting notes for, but it is still worth reading).
This is posted in The Sunday Salon and Caffeinated Reviewer’s Sunday Post.
Hibernator's Library 
So does he still like the gel? 🙂
7 a.m. to 4 p.m. still is pretty good. Did you read anything good during that time?
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We never seem to remember to put the gel in before he goes to school, but he rather likes having his hair spiked in that messy way that’s popular right now.
I read a variety of books. I almost finished the first Harry Potter. And I got a bit of No One Cares About Crazy peoe read. More than two hours of “reading” was cleaning while I listened to the Brandon Mull book.
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I think you had a lovely readathon. I’ve only read for 24 hours straight one time, and the next day I was a wreck. And the day after that. I’m happy just to get a little time in and enjoy some snacks and do some challenges.
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I enjoy the excuse to let A take care of the kids so I can sit and read. I don’t think I’ve ever made it an entire 24 hours. That’s not healthy for my body. I’m not 19 anymore!
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You had a good reading spell…I haven’t ever managed to put in several consecutive hours for a readathon.
It is challenging raising kids in this technological age! Obviously mine were raised before “screen time” was a thing.
Great photo of your son! Thanks for sharing, and for visiting my blog.
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My mom limited my TV time to one half hour show for each my sister ad me. At the time, I didn’t think it was fair. But now I see how destructive it can be.
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Wow – reading from 7am to 4pm? I only get to do that when I’m on sick leave. That’s pretty good! Plus, quality time with your dad is more important. 😀
Enjoy your books and have a wonderful week 🙂
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Lol, well, I DID feel a little guilty that I kept telling the kids I was busy with an important readathon, and then dropped it when my dad called. But it didn’t hurt A to entertain their little screenless selves for a day. 😂🤣
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LOL 😀
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My son just started Brazilian jiu-jitsu! Do your kids like Tae Kwon Do? I tried to participate in the reading challenge, but only managed to read about 100 pages or so. I was able to finish a book, so I’m happy with that!
Do You Dog-ear?
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They do love the Tae Kwon Do. Hopefully your son enjoys jiu-jitsu. I think martial arts are fantastic for discipline.
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He’s really getting into it now and taking it more seriously. He still has fun, but I think he’s getting more out of it!
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Nice haircut!
And I totally get the screen time limitations. We are really careful with that, too – but it’s harder now that the kids are older. They are so used to it, and sometimes even need their computer for school work.
Have a wonderful week ahead and happy reading.
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Yeah, it’s impossible (and bad for relationships) to stand behind a kid and make sure he’s doing homework rather than gaming or chatting or whatever they do. My sister is going through that with my 14yo nephew. Except she actually does try to spy on him. WAY too much energy, I think. The solution has to be healthy for everyone.
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I adore the BBC Pride and Prejudice. Isn’t Firth dreamy?
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Most assuredly
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I feel your screen time pain! We tried time limits. We tried ‘earning’ screen time. It didn’t help and it just made the little dude anxious, more obsessed and twitchy. Instead, we went the opposite way and no longer restrict him with the exception that he isn’t allowed screens in the hour leading up to bedtime. Since doing this we’ve found that some days he doesn’t touch the console, his tablet or the tv at all – often for days on end! – and other days he plays on it for hours (or watches youtube/ tv) and doesn’t want to do anything else. However, the anxiety/obsession with it is gone now that he knows it’s there and he’s finally settled into a (mostly!) healthy balance.
We do have to pay attention though as there have been a few slips with too much time but we’ve learned how to nip it in the bud before it all goes pear-shaped and unhealthy again.
It is not an easy thing to manage… I wish you lots of luck in finding something that works for you all!
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Wow. I’m glad that worked for you. I hope we can get there some day. Unfortunately, when I moved in with my fiance, they were eating, dressing, EVERYTHING in front of the TV. All day. Every day. Except for school, obviously. They both have mood/anxiety problems that we have observed are better on days we get them away from TV. So although I aspire to have them moderate their own screentime someday, today is certainly not the day for that.
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The James Kugel book sounds interesting, I’ll need to take a closer look at that one! And I’ve never seen either BBC adaptation although I’ve hear they’re good, especially P&P. I have seen movie versions and remembr liking Emma as well as the S&S adaptation with Emma Thompson and others… and I remember thinking the Fablehaven series looked good!
Screen time is definitely a struggle, I can relate and sympathize! And Perkins… I love that restaurant, but the one by us went out. 😦
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The Kugel book is fantastic. You would likely enjoy it, unless you are more conservative in your views (such as feeling offended when it is suggested that Moses didn’t write the first 5 books). Kugel says he is simply outlining the different interpretation methods, but he does seem to favor the newer ones.
The P&P is very true to the story, as they make it into a comedy rather than simply a romance, as intended. The Sense and Sensibility and Emma BBC adaptations are good, but only capture the drama/romance.
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The Zoo sounds like a lot of fun! Hope you enjoy the new books.
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I didn’t manage to participate too much in the read-a-thon, but it was fun anyway.
I got A Study of in Charlotte too but I have yet to read it. I love anything Jane Austen, but I did not watch those series yet.
Have a great week!
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I didn’t know about Sync so thanks! I may give audiobooks another shot then… I totally know what you mean about screens… my nephew comes over after school and he earns time on his machine by reading and drawing and doing a workbook and writing in a journal (all things he needs to do to improve his aphasia). By the time he gets to it he has about 2 hours, maybe less if he dithered. It works really nice. My mother read about screen time and how bad it is for kids and we noticed it to be true in my nephew right off!! So you guys are rocking it trying to get them unhooked! I was totally freaked to hear it changes the chemistry in kid’s brains… ❤️
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The difference in behavior between when they binge and not is amazing! We found that earning works fine on weekdays, but weekends are a mess.
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