She pedaled her bike through the wooded lane. Her sketch pad thumped her chest, tied by a string so her hands would be free to ride. Did she intend to create her very own field guides? Nope. Just scouring the landscape for wildflowers and butterflies she could draw.
Over the years, her passion for drawing exploded into dozens of sketch books, turning into an exploration of the anatomy of all God’s creatures. Field guides are just one of our family’s secret weapons in the battle to hook kids on reading.
Yep, reading can definitely be a battle. Some kids are predisposed to NOT like reading. Dyslexia? ADHD? A zillion other learning differences.
Does it matter? Nope. Not a bit.
Why Not?
Anna Krafve Pierce explains. The goal is not the reading itself, no matter who you are. The goal is what you get out of it, according to my favorite educator and artist.
“Reading can be driven by just enjoying to read. But for most of us, even those of us who it comes naturally to and it’s easy for, it’s driven by something else, like the story. Or the information, like an instruction manual,” she explains.
Any young moms who might wonder if their child is dyslexic, take heart. Today’s blog and interview are dedicated to you! We admire and affirm your devotion —your perseverance— to helping your child love reading!
Creating Your Own Field Guides
“Do you remember all those hours I spent on my bike with my sketchbook? I tied a string around it–it was so dorky–and hung it around my neck. I tied my pen to it, so I wouldn’t have to hold it. So I wouldn’t crash,” she laughs.
Honestly, I had no idea. This was a new story for me. Oh, how I wish I had a picture!
“I would find something I was interested in. I would draw it. Then, I would go back and find it (in our field guides) and I would write in there,” she explains. “It was like a sketch book that turned into a little field guide of things I was interested in of local nature,” Anna says.
In this way, she learned to see nature well enough to draw it.
“I remember being by myself doing that,” she adds.
How was I, her mom, so clueless? We think I just gave birth her baby brother in that era. Maybe she was escaping household chaos dominated by a crying newborn and diaper duty!
Anna adds one more benefit of helping your kids create their own field guides.
“You can encourage writing, too, which is a gateway to reading. Kids love to feel successful. It allows them ownership.”
Field Guides: A Family Passion
There are a lot of ways to get information. For a kid with dyslexia, dysgraphia or any learning differences, reading is tough. Field guides are a great example of information presented primarily in pictures.
The trick is to find the passion able to motivate your cild to identify each letter and sound out each syllable, according to Anna.
Once you find the thing your child loves, the struggle was worth it. For our family, field guides are a ticket to reading, to science, and to a respect for God’s creation.
Dyslexia and Other Learning Differences
As a kid, I looked up at my first grade teacher and explained to her that I would never be able to read. Reading was too hard for me.
Dave and I often wonder if we were dyslexic and simply struggled through as children, persisting until we could read. Who knows? Honestly, once you love to read, it doesn’t matter how you overcame the initial challenges.
The secret is in perseverance.
Persevering to Success
Perseverance— open-minded and trusting in future success in spite of current negative experiences; not wilted.
“I love that idea of ‘not wilted’ as being a part of perseverance,” Anna says.
I persevere through a lot of fear personally. People assume my bold personality means my heart is confident. But actually I am very insecure.
Seriously, I know there’s power in sticking our your chest, holding up our head and stepping into whatever makes us tremble.
If your child is struggling to read, perhaps due to dyslexia or some other learning difference, here’s a few very successful dyslexic people to encourage mommies to hang in there: Jay Leno, John Gresham, Henry Winkler.
“Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th.” ~Julie Andrews
See More Favorite Quotes at the end of today’s blog for more encouragement.
Interacting with Nature
Some of my favorite field guides are the old ones by Audubon. I keep collections of field guides in a big tray on a low coffee table available for all children to enjoy. We buy them whenever we travel. My parents and grandparents did, too.
“Mine come from the 50s and 60s which makes them even more fun because they’re tied to history,” says Anna, who also collects them.
Maybe you grew up thinking field guides are boring. If so, you may be wondering why we get so excited about them. Our secret? We take field guides personally!
How to Take Field Guides Personally
How does our family take field guides personally? For example, we reward courage in the swimming pool with sea shells for the toddlers in our family. The big grandkids search field guides with their younger siblings to identify new treasures.
“They had to swim across the pool and get the shell and bring it back. Then you let them look through the book and find the picture,” describes Anna, adding a big treat for reading-averse kids. “You can flip through until you find the right picture and only read, painfully, persevere through, just the part you’re interested in.”
Additionally, Anna points out the bonus of familiarizing children with reference books and indexes.
Naturally, our grandchildren take home buckets of sea shells each summer, all with momentarily identified, then forgotten names. Also, we decorate our fairy garden with them. Fairies love sea shells.
Of course, the fun is in the repetitive return to the field guides each time we do something with their shells. What’s this one called again? Super Gram can’t remember. Let’s look it up.
One grandfather I know collects shirts with fish on them. Each time he sees his grandchildren, he’s a walking filed guide as they identify the fish he’s wearing at any moment.
Bringing Together Both Introverts and Extroverts
Perhaps you might guess I’m a natural extrovert. Many of my author friends are true introverts and they know it. In our own family we have a pretty even mix of extroverts and introverts. How in the world can we give our introverts the quiet they need to enjoy big, noisy family gatherings?
Personally, I love the way field guides draw together a big segment of your family around pictures of God’s creation, both introverts or extroverts.
The kids that love to read, the kids who struggle with reading, any adults, kids who love science, extrovert, introvert? Does it matter? Nope. If you keep a collection of field guides on your coffee table, there’s something for everybody.
Plus, there’s the added bonus of teaching the next generation science and math principles in what they observe about the patterns in God’s creation.
Patterns in God’s Creation
Finally, Anna summed up the reason we love field guides so much with a surprising quote. Yep, we love and collect quotes, too.
“It actually reminds me of your mom, my Mema, because it talks about nature and rocks and trees. She was a geologist,” explains Anna.
My mom used to say nature was her sanctuary, the place where she met with God.
“In the rustling grass, I hear Him pass, He speaks to me everywhere.”~Maltbie Davenport Babcock, from the hymn, “This is My Father’s World”
Wired For Creativity
To sum it all up, Anna says this to encourage young mommies.
“Your child is wired creatively, but not wrongly,” says Anna. “As the parent, you get to be the coach in the process God has already prepared for our beautiful child, your very special, unique child.”
In today’s podcast, she gave many more great ideas about how to help your child read. Dr. Seuss, model airplanes, humor, calligraphy? Yes, and many more personal stories from Anna about her own family.
Then, she adds this, “Buy more books.” She means field guides.
But naturally, I hope you will buy some of our books to give to your friends. Both books contain many secrets to healthy conversations guaranteed to increase the companionship in your home and community.
As always, Anna and I LOVE including YOU in our conversation. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for tuning in together!
We LOVE to hear from YOU!
How has a conversation changed your life? What ways do you connect with nature? We’d love to hear your stories about things your grandparents taught you.
YOU in this with us!
🙂
Cathy
May we pray together?
Dear good Father, You reveal Yourself in all nature, if we’ll but pay attention. You are the Creator. Help us look to You and persevere when things get tough. Thank You for all that Anna shared today. You faithfully lead us and inspire our creativity. We praise YOu. Give us perseverance to live out the exciting adventure You plan for each of us and for our kiddos. Bless us now because that’s Your heart’s desire. In Jesus’ mighty name we pray. Amen.
A Few Pix from Our Book Tour Adventures!
Don’t miss Josey’s Book and Records when your in Lubbock! Missy and her team (shout out to them) will make sure you find all the field guides and anything else your heart desires!
Colorado Springs is home to some fabulous book stores, including the giant Focus on the Family Book Store with an amazing staff.
While there, don’t miss this little gem for bibliophiles: Born Again Books. Please hug Nancy, Cheryl, and owner Sara for me, when you treat yourself to a drop in. What a treasure!
Watch here for a blog recounting all the ways God blessed us on our first ever (but not last Lord willing) Book Tour!
More Camp Krafve Favorite Quotes:
“I didn’t read a book until I was 31 years old when I was diagnosed with dyslexia. Books terrified me. They made me nervous. Now I know you can travel to the bottom of the ocean or to outer space or anywhere in between without leaving your armchair, and I’m so, so sorry I couldn’t read when I was younger.” ~Henry Winkler
“I have dyslexia, and I never did learn to read music, and I even had a problem in reading because everything was turned upside down, so I just had to draw from the lyrics and the voice that I would hear in my mind.” ~Andrae Crouch
“They don’t get my genius.” ~William Krafve
Book Bananza Coming Soon! See Ya Soon!
Dreaming of getting your Christmas shopping nailed BEFORE you start cooking for Thanksgiving?
Coming this fall, our second annual Book Bananza! Because we are Bananas for Books!
Just for YOU, we’re bringing together East Texas authors to sign their books. Make it a “personally literary Christmas” at your house this year. And give yourself a sigh of relief!
Stay tuned for more!
Your Own Upcoming Adventures
Conversational Adventures
Are you dreaming of your own conversational adventures? Could the right conversation change everything in your life? How can we take a deep breath and step into our fear of rejection?
At Camp Krafve, we’re creating tools to help you pass along bold, noble ideas.
Share a Book, Write a Review
People are telling us they love our books. We’re so happy they are helping. Please consider buying two. One to bless yourself and one to bless someone else!
Then, help us by writing a review. And THANK YOU!!!!
For Marriage Conversations: https://Amazon.com/review/create-review?&asin=1936501562
For The Well: https://www.amazon.com/review/create-review?&asin=B08M4G1Q6Z
Cathy Krafve, speaker, host of Fireside Talk Radio, and author of The Well: The Art of Drawing Out Authentic Conversations and Marriage Conversation: From Coexisting to Cherished. We invite you to join the Fireside Tribe. Truth with a Texas Twang
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