Recent "lessons"

Elena made a family tree with Erich. He's rather obsessed with ancestry lately and is drawing her in... (Just kidding, dear) I do believe it's useful and appropriate for Elena to know what it means to be an "aunt," etc.

Erich presented the upright stairs (is that what they're called?) with the number rods. This involves carefully stacking the number rods in order with all the colours matching appropriately, saying what each rod represents as you use it and as you put it away.

Erich taught a memory game using little cards. He set out six of them. They both named all of them together. Then she would turn around and he would take one. She would turn back and try to name the missing card. Then she would do the same for him (take a card with his back turned). Players get to keep the cards that they correctly identify as missing. This seemed to engage her brain in a useful way.

Regarding reading:
Back a bit ago, I mentioned that Elena now says, "I can read." She has a long way to go before she reads fluently, but something did seem to click in her mind such that now, she will attempt to read just about anything and it totally open to letter combinations making different sounds than she's used to. She really needs books at or around her reading level with more interesting stories than the Bob books. Erich has been reading aloud to her from Little House in the Big Woods (he'd never read it himself, so it's good for him, too). She seems to be tracking with and enjoying the story--much of what they do is actually similar to things we're currently doing at home (preserving food and whatnot). I think that there are now young-reader versions in this same story line, and I'm wondering whether they might be more accessible to her--she would be really happy if she could read the books more independently, but the straight Little House books are a little to advanced for her. If I recall correctly, I didn't read them until I was six, and I think the suggested reading age starts around age 8ish, so I'm not surprised that she's not doing them herself. I think they'll be great for her to re-read herself in a few years, but she really wants something that she can read more independently. Suggestions, anyone?