Charlotte’s Web

About two weeks ago I read a homeschooling mom’s e-book(yes, we are seriously considering homeschooling, but more about that later!) and she emphasized the importance of reading to your preschoolers. Of course we’ve all heard this and I’ve read to Aaron a lot, but I really hadn’t considered chapter books for a four year old. One of the books she recommended at this age was Charlotte’s Web. I didn’t think he would have the attention span for it, and I wasn’t sure how he’d handle the main character dying at the end. But, I loved that book when I was younger and was eager to give it a try.

I thought it would take several weeks to read the 22 chapters one at a time, but we got through the book in a week. I was pleasantly surprised at how interested Aaron was in the story and his willingness to sit and listen to chapter after chapter, begging me to read one more like he begs to watch shows or play on his computer. My mommy brain thinks, “It’s like him begging for more vegetables, how can I turn him down and not encourage him to be in a book more?!” Our progress was also sped up after I learned that a theatre in Austin was playing the recent re-make of Charlotte’s Web. Ah, Kismet! It was meant to be…Let’s get this book read! I was little discouraged along the way when he wasn’t able to keep straight who the pig and who the spider were, but I kept plowing through because he really seemed to enjoy it.

This might be stretching the Kismet thing a bit, but yesterday morning (the day that Charlotte was about to die for us in the book) she came to visit us on our back patio. I hate to admit it, but I smashed “Charlotte” soon after taking this picture, and dozens of tiny baby spiders starting running out of their mother I had just sent to spider heaven. In my defense, we live in Texas and I don’t know what is a cute little Charlotte-like spider and what is going to bite me and make my leg swell up or worse. But, after doing a little research I found out it was a good spider for keeping away other pests and I really regret ending its life. I just hope there isn’t a pig, goose, or sheep in a barn somewhere wondering where is their next word in her web.

That night we read the end of the book and Charlotte taught us what it means to sacrifice for others, to do whatever you can to keep those you love safe, the meaning or true friendship. Did my four year old little boy find these lessons? Well, after we read that Charlotte had died, his first question was, “Are they going to eat Charlotte?”. (Long sigh of “is he getting anything from this?”), “No honey, they didn’t eat Charlotte.” So, no I don’t think my son picked up on any of those life lessons, maybe he will when we read it again in a few years. He did learn a few more vocabulary words, learned to sit still and be quiet without being entertained by lots of action and he got to spend lots of snuggling time with Mommy. So, yes, it was still worth it!

And, the grand finale of this week-long adventure was our trip to the movie theatre. I had promised him a snack at the theatre and promised myself I would follow the rules and not sneak anything in to avoid paying the ridiculous prices.

So, at the end of it all it was $0 to borrow a book from the library, $2 for movie tickets, $4 (after $1 coupon) for a smidge of popcorn, laffy taffy and Sprite…starting a season of reading timeless books to my boys, priceless!