Well, summer vacation has arrived. There is relief from waking up early and getting dressed before 7. No need to make breakfast and lunch simultaneously in a 15 minute period. (Unless I forget the lunch part until 1 minute before we have to run out the door! Then I could win the fastest lunch making contest with the most amount of swearwords uttered in a 1 minute period while shoving lunch boxes and bags into the arms of my turtle-like children who see no urgency of the situation.) I don't have to stress about leaving at 7:32 instead of 7:28 because leaving 4 minutes later means I still arrive on time but avoid a traffic backup.  I don't have to make sure homework is done, projects underway and tests studied for. Ahhhh. 

Now, I will just enjoy summer lazy.... for the next couple of days. 

Then comes, summer reality! 

Summer Rules!!

Sleep in as late as possible. If the clock says 7, go back to sleep! We're Team Housey so every day, we must: 

Make our beds and make sure the floor is picked up.

Brush our teeth (summer mouth not allowed).

Dress by 10. Neighbor kids start-a-knockin' and we don't want them to know we wear super hero undies.

School practice (math facts, spanish, etc) before any video games or play.

No more than 1 hour of video games a day. Sorry. I suffer too because you are more contained and quiet playing but I know it is not good for you and I want the best for you.

DEAR time once a day or more for EVERYONE! Drop Everything And Read

If you aren't OUTSIDE playing with your friends and family, you can help with chores. 

Pool everyday if possible.

Movies on rainy days. 

Walk the dogs. 

Each day, one person picks a dinner and helps prepare it. 

Those not making dinner set the table. 

No leaving any dishes in the sink and empty dishwasher when full.

You can stay up late if you are having fun playing outside and you sleep in the next day. 


This may seem like a lot but kids need structure and need to know what is expected of them. They need some organization and need to know the value of time.  If they want a sane mom who takes them to do fun things, then I need help. We are a team and work together. They know that if they don't help then I have to do it all by myself. While having a fun summer, they can still learn, help and be productive.  

Time for fun in the sun! Have a great summer!

Don't you just love reading the same book over and over and over again to your child? Especially a Dr. Seuss book?? Me, too...NOT.


It is perfectly normal for a child to want to read the same book over and over. And perfectly and insanely normal for a child to ask you to read the same book over and over. They obviously enjoy the book and spending time with you.

This is all part of the reading process and truly helps develop your child's reading skills.

You read a book for the first time to your child. You know they enjoyed it because they ask you read it again. Most of the time we are happy to oblige (unless we don't like the book then it's best to hide it immediately). Every night for the next week, we read the same book again and again even though we've tried many times to introduce a new one. After the 10th time reading it, we attempt to skip chunks of text (don't deny it) or even pages (we all have). Maybe the first time, we get away with it.
Then the reading police are on to us, the TEXT EVADERS.

"You skipped some words!"
"You forgot a page."
Or they wait until the last page to say, "Wait, where's the part about...?"
Big text evader mistake. Now you have to read it again.

This is all because they have started to memorize the text. This is a good thing. Once they start to memorize the text they begin to notice some things.

-Those black symbols have meaning.
-The pictures on the page have some connection to those black shapes.
-We read and move through a book from left to right.

Now your child wants to impress you by reading the book by themselves. We know they've memorized it but we cheer them on and give them encouragement. Important!! As they read the same book over and over, they begin to notice more things.

-Those black symbols form words that are separated by spaces (like stones in a river).
-Some of those words repeat themselves throughout the book (sight or high-frequency words- the, and, are...).
-The words match the pictures on the pages.
-There are patterns in the text.

Put yourself in their shoes for a moment. Read this text: 我有一只狗。

What?! It says, "I have a dog." That is what they see at first. Imagine how difficult it would be if someone gave you a new Chinese or Spanish book every time you sat down to read before you knew how to read the language. It would be frustrating and cause anxiety. This is why reading the same book over and over helps to develop a confidence in reading which is far more important than learning new words too fast.

Allow your child to enjoy books at their speed and encourage them to read with you. Again, it is important to model reading to your child by reading aloud to them and letting them see you enjoying your own books.

Things to do with your child early on while reading...

-Talk to them about the parts of a book (cover, author, illustrator, read left to right.) It doesn't seem important now but it will give them a leg up...a word up, when they go to school.

-Point to the words while you read so they can see that those symbols having meaning.

-Have your child point to the words as they read to teach them one-to-one correspondence (each group of letters separated by a space have meaning).

-Before reading a page, talk to your child about what they see in the picture first to teach them to use the pictures as clues.


More about how to become a better reader here:http://amberhousey.blogspot.com/2013/04/kids-who-read.html

Watch for future educational posts to help your child. Let me know if this was helpful to you. Feel free to ask questions. 

I have degrees in Early Childhood, Elementary education and a Masters in the Art of Teaching. I taught preschool through 2nd Grade for many years. I have been trained in Orton Gillingham. I am an award winning children's book authorand creator of Flip Side Stories®. 

Read, re-read and read again!! Read On!

Hi! I am trying to decide if I want to start over here with my blog or continue on amberhousey.blogspot.com. I am not sure how to transfer over my blog following from there to here. I have placed a feed reader to the right for my "On the Flip Side" blog. Check it out.

My kids are on summer vacation, so it has been difficult to find time to sit down to update my blog. I love having my kids home and I love when it's time for them to go back to school. It's the flip side to summer vacation. Fun and craziness. I love not having to race out of bed and out of the house in the morning. I love hanging with the kids. I love seeing the kids having fun in the neighborhood. I love casual breakfasts. I love mommy school. Now, the flip side. It is going to be hard waking up early again in the fall. I can't go work out at the gym when they are home. The house is a mess. Food disappears. I become a short order cook and I can't just run to the store without "buy me this, buy me that, mom, moooom, maaaa." This leads me to Target! My Target.

My Target experience is my life therapy. Let me explain. It's a place where I can buy a lot for less ($100 minimum), wander aimlessly without getting lost and run into people I know who can relate and look as bad as I do. With kids? I get nagged, I'm the no-man, the bad guy. I spend more and at the speed of light to get the hell out of there and hope nobody sees me yelling at my kids or worse, sees me running away from them. I am kidding...for the most part. I love my kids and they are really good but they know how to wear me down. Wimp. 

Summer... it's a love/ hate relationship.