Positive Thoughts

Today my thoughts center around a word - CONNECTIONS.

I've written before about the threads that connect world religions, the connectedness I am exploring and thankful to be finding.

In my work, I talk and train and read about meaningful connections that shape students' educational experiences - in-class content connected with out-of-class experience, interconnectedness between academic disciplines, student involvement connected with the development of transferable (i.e. employable) skills.

In my marriage, I am thankful for the connection my husband and I share.  I'm even more thankful for the new connections we have been finding lately.

But, today, I'm thinking of the connections we make when we read a book and then see our favorite book on film.  Last night, we went to see the opening of Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules.  This also happens to be the first "big" book my son has read cover-to-cover.  He's also read much of the other books in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, but the completion of this book filled a personal goal of his.

The rule in our house is that we don't see a movie until the book has been read.  This means that we won't see any of the Harry Potter movies until the kids have read the books (this is partially because the movies are too scary, yet, for the ages and temperaments of my children).  Oh, how they wish to see the movies!

So, my son has made some connections:

• Completing a book or meeting a goal feels great!
• Seeing the movie after having read the book is great!
• The movie was different than the book!
• The book is always better!

 There is another way to see the connections that were made in our movie adventure.

My son has a good friend who shares an interest in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books.  We invited his friend to the show.  Also, my daughters have watched their big brother and his excitement!  They look up to him and are eager to be like him.  They joined us on our adventure. 

From one simple goal of reading a book before seeing it on film, we've made lots of connections - the learning kind, the friend kind, the family kind, and the celebration kind.

(Unfortunately, my youngest daughter threw up during the movie, so I didn't capture any of the pictures I had hoped to share.  I was relegated to cleaning her up and sitting with her in the car until the movie was over.  Oh, I hate the smell of sick children!)