My fiction book for the week was Little Men, by Louisa May Alcott.  Little Men continues the story of Jo March, begun in the book, Little Women, also by Alcott.  Jo is a grown woman now and married to Fritz Bhaer.  The Bhaers run a school for boy and Little Men details their exploits in an endearing, if moralizing, fashion.  The book was a delightful read, and I found I actually enjoyed the moralizing.  It was refreshing to read about how each boy delighted in being good and found satisfaction in helping others as opposed to realm of moral relativism in which we often find ourselves these days.  I liked reading about boys who helped out and who made mistakes that eventually resulted in a lesson learned.

I loved Jo was a girl when I first read Little Women because she was smart, opinionated, and fiercely devoted to those she loved.  In those respects, Jo has not changed, thus making her an excellent mother to her brood of boys.  She was still full of fun and could enjoy letting the boys have a little head, but her trust and loving ways brought them back to themselves when they got carried away.

Her fierce and unrelenting love, even in the face of woeful mistakes, leads her boys to become better and better men.  Her love was always unconditional, always steadfast.  It seems to me that too often these days our love is conditional.  I'll love you as long as you...I'll stay as long as you continue to ...There is very little unconditional love these days when even my eight-year-old speaks casually about divorce being an option if her unrequited crush should be so foolish as to marry someone else.  We did have a little talk about that, but children used to just assume that falling in love was forever and now it seems that falling in love is only for a little while.  Jo and Fritz make an amazing team as both educators and parents.  Jo loves completely and unconditionally and perhaps that is why she is so successful at it. Knowing that she could get hurt does not stop her from loving Dan, who runs away and in a later book just might break her heart, or any of the other children.  I think that we could all learn a lesson from Jo.  She made time for fun with the children, did not forget what it was like to be young and awkward, followed her heart, and loved with her whole being.  These are qualities that I choose to emulate and hope I can teach to my young charge while I still have the chance.

Score one for competition!!!  Small person's first two book reports were short and sweet, and not-quite-to-the-point.  To keep her from feeling unfairly treated, I also wrote book reports on the two books I finished (Deaf Like Me and  Little Men).  Once she found out that my book reports were three pages each in the notebook, she quickly began to rewrite some of her book reports, than asked me slyly how many pages I had written.  She was unhappy to learn that I wrote six pages while she only wrote five, but I can bet that next time, she will have even more pages, and none of this was done by nagging her to write longer or even a lecture on details or the hamburger graphic organizer so loved my writing teachers everywhere!  And, I found I really enjoyed writing about the books I read.

We sat on the couch together after dinner and read our book reports to each other.  It was fun to hear her recite her little readings and it gave us some good quality time together, too!  Now, when she is in bed and I can have my one or two shows for the week, I find that I am actually looking forward to reading again so we can have more book reports next week!  Best of all, when we had finished biking, visiting friends, and playing dolls, I made her a snack of air-popped corn and she asked if I would read her more stories!  Normally, she would have been begging to watch TV and lose herself in the show.  Now, we listen to audio books at dinner and then I read her stories at snack time, plus more stories at bedtime!  She also has taken extra baths to make the time go by faster.  She has gotten quite creative in ways to spend her time.  I'm proud of my little muffin and am looking forward to another TV-free week!

Last night, the challenge to not watch TV was difficult.  I received some bad news at the doctor's office and I wanted to come home and simply tune into something mindless and tune out from the world and all the bad stuff.  I am happy to say that I did not succumb to temptation, but it made me realize how much we might use TV as an anesthetic to dull the pain of our problems instead of finding a way to deal with our feelings and getting to the other side.  I talked to my husband and I played with my small person until bedtime and then I listened to a relaxing nature sounds CD until I fell asleep.  I did have some ice cream, but this hardly counts as self-medication as my small person had it ready and waiting for me when I came home.  She loves to make desserts for the whole family!  I have a great kid.  I am glad that the experiment showed me that ways in which I used TV and pushed me into a healthier emotional state.

I finished several books this week, but the best was Deaf Like Me, Thomas S. Spradley and James P. Spradley.  It chronicles the first several years in the life of Lynn Spradley, who was born deaf after her mother contracted rubella early in her pregnancy.  The family opted for a totally oral approach in the beginning, but in the end of the book switched to using total communication, which included sign.  Reading this book felt quite familiar and at times I was almost in tears.  My own small person was born with a hearing loss and I lost hearing in my left ear in 1995.  I have noticed that my hearing has gotten worse and that "What" is the most common word in our house.  In addition, small person has been diagnosed with an expressive language learning disorder by three practitioners, so she has a hard time getting the words out.  Her speech and language therapist several years ago counseled us not to use sign language with her because it would prevent her from using her voice to express her wants and needs.  Like the Spradleys, I listened to the specialists and experts.  Like Lynn, my small person experienced a lot of frustration in getting her needs met.  Like her parents, I experienced a lot of frustration trying to understand her.  Added into all this was my own hearing loss.  I, too, finally opted to add sign language into my methods of communication with my daughter and the tears and the tantrums really began to disappear with this new method of communication.  Most importantly, though, I can understand my child when she speaks to me, and I am not running all over the house saying, "What, What, WHAT?"  I admire the Spradleys for the beautiful book.  I felt like I was taking the journey through deafness and the struggle to communicate with an old friend.  The language was natural and the story beautiful.  I wanted to cheer when Lynn was able to communicate with her parents on the plane ride at the end of the book.  It's a good read for those who are not deaf to get an understanding into what it's like to have a child with a hearing loss, and it's a great read for anyone who knows someone who is deaf.

Small person took to the experiment surprisingly well!  She has already adjusted to less TV and has written two book reports in her little pink notebook.  Now, those book reports need a little work, but she has done all the work I asked her to do and has picked one TV show on Wednesday night this week (The Elephant Princess) and will get one movie from Redbox for movie night tonight.  I'm very proud of her.  She has read an article in the American Girl Doll magazine, a non-fiction book about Cows, It's Okay to be Different by Todd Parr, and is a good 3 and a half chapters into Junie B. Jones Loves Handsome Warren.  I'm so proud!

Funny story, though...She did say to me "Well, I can watch TV again on Sunday because it's a new week."  Already plotting how to get the most TV out of this experiment, but you have to give the girl credit for knowing the days of the week!

Gifted Hands tells the story of world-renowned pediatric neurosurgeon, Benjamin Carson.  His mother, having only a third-grade education and unable to read herself, felt great fear for the futures of her two sons.  They had to grow up without a father and in poverty in Detroit.  She told her sons they could only watch 2-3 pre-selected TV shows a week and they had to become very familiar with the public library.  Mrs. Carson assigned her sons two books a week with a book report presented to her every week.  At first, they hated it, but their academic achievements soared.  Ben's  Ds and Fs in the fifth grade turned into academic honors by the time he graduated.  He is the head of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins and known the world over for his skill.

What I liked  most about the movie was when his mother said that the countless hours spent in front of the TV prevented them from developing their God-given talents.  How many times have I complained about not having enough time to write or practice my dancing or my music and then spent a few hours parked in front of the TV?  Too many times to count, and Mrs. Carson is right!  I am not developing my own God-given talents.  So, I've decided to take Mrs. Carson up on her challenge and restrict TV in favor of reading and developing my talents, and I'm taking my child along with me.  This blog will chronicle our efforts.  Come along with me and take the challenge yourself if you are so inclined!

After reading the book, Gifted Hands, by Ben Carson and watching the self-same titled movie, I have been inspired to significantly limit my Television watching and to read at least two books a week and write about each of these books.  I have also, like any mother who enjoys tormenting her children for their betterment, required Claire to do the same.  My small person is enthusiastic about picking out books from the library and reading them, but is less eager to complete her book reports!  I will happily share our adventures in reading and learning in this blog.