1. being read to (with reading as a close second). From the beginning of his life Aidan has loved nothing more than to have someone read him a good story (or a interesting non-fiction book). He loves audio books too; we almost always have one going in the car and Aidan is always the most riveted. Aidan doesn't just listen to good stories, he "goes there." Seriously, if he is reading or listening to a book it is really difficult to get his attention. He feels whatever the main characters are feeling, laughs when they do, is triumphant when they are and worries or is scared when they are. As a result of all this Aidan's retention is amazing! Oh and it is not just books that are meant for him; even if I am reading a picture book to Ava which Aidan has memorized from years of having it read to him as a toddler, he comes over to listen to me read!
2. Aidan also loves reading to himself. Ditto from above regarding trying to get Aidan's attention when he is reading. This is how we often find him. If we are going to go somewhere, Aidan will ask if he can bring a few books. If you take the time to look at those books once in the car, you will find that "few" is somewhere around ten!
3. going to church. Aidan loves every part of it. He listens intently to the sermon, sings heartily with the hymns, loves Sunday school, plays football with all the other kids after worship, and gets ecstatic when we tell him there is a fellowship meal or that we are sharing lunch with someone from church. This is a picture of all of us (Ethan is the baby) on the day we became members and had the boys baptized and this is our pastor whom we love and are so thankful for, Kevin Efflandt.
4. hunting (with guns as a close second). These pictures are from a hunting trip he took with papa (my dad) last year... can you see him?
5. playing wii football.
I should mention that Aidan has always been very focused about his passions. His first year it was balls, year two: tractors, year three: construction, year four: firefighting, year five: soldiers, year six: soldiers/football, year seven: football, year eight: football/?. Thus, it may seem repetitive to say he loves football, reading about football, and playing wii football. But that is just part of who Aidan is!
2 comments:
The picture of your family with Pastor Efflandt is classic! I love it!
Aidan exemplifies the love of learning. That is so awesome!
Nurturing that excitement was one of the reasons we wanted to home school our children in the formative, little years, just as you are doing.
Couple things about this post.
1. I love the picture of the boys with Mike.
2. I can relate with Aidan and how he really gets "involved" in the reading process, that's how I am. Except it can be hard for me to read too often b/c it's so draining to feel everything the characters feel.
3. I remember hearing from Ben who told me from Mike how Aidan had focused favorites (I think it was the firefighting stage I heard most of). I love that he is still like that.
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