What WE are Reading - Music Kid and Fairie Mom - January

Since I just realized that neither of us had posted a reading suggestion for the month I am combining the posts!

Music Kid is reading -

Fairie Mom is reading - 

What I am Reading - Fairie Mom - December

I had read the Well Trained Mind, but after hearing the interview with Susan Wise Bauer on Unplugged Mom I decided to pick up The Well Educated Mind at my library and take a gander through it. I will post a full review when I am done with it! 

What I am Reading - November - GCK Student

What I am Reading - October - Music Kid

One of my all time favorites!!! Great for a Sunday morning!

What I am Reading - September - Music Kid

What I am Reading - August - GCKMom

I have been laughing HYSTERICALLY through the funniest home ed books I have ever read!

"Okay Kids, Time for Bedlam!" is a labor of love. It is the lighter side of life, told byDebbie Harbeson, an average mom who rather unknowingly lobbed herself into the often loopy world of homeschooling.This is what happens to you, when you purposely allow your children to skip school to learn at home... and it's a riot! The whole endeavor, needless to say, has been a learning experience for everyone. And hopefully, a story you all can enjoy from the safety of your own home.

Some of my favorite quotes include :

• "We all watched as a couple of eyeballs rolled past her feet and settled under the porch bench."
• "Yesterday four textbooks made a perfect support for our bike ramps."
• "Melissa sat the cheetah on the cabinet, he dialed the number and the cheetah's belly began to ring."
• The ENTIRE content of Chapter Fifteen - Mother Nature!!!

These are all the things home ed mom's don't want you to find out really go on! Best part Debbie Harbeson has made the entire content of the book downloadable and FREE!!! Take a peek you won't regret it! 

What I am Reading - August - Music Kid

MANGA, MANGA & MORE MANGA!!!

What I am Reading - June - GCK Mom

I am rereading this one - helps get me inspired for new ideas for next year! 

What I am Reading - May - Music Kid

FREE Books From Scholastic & Kumon - Learn And Earn

Who doesn't like FREE books?

Scholastic and Kumon have partnered to encourage the development of reading and math skills and unlock your child's learning potential.
Your child can complete MATH and READING activities and earn up to five FREE BOOKS from Scholastic! 

Rather Unique Experiences - PART 1

KM was rather excited when she learned that she would be able to be part of a live webcast event with one of her FAVORITE artists - 

Although this is something that is open to all classrooms across the country and worldwide, you have to wonder how many teachers actually have the time to allow their students to enjoy a presentation like this.

We used SnapIt! to grab some great pics of the program!

Replays of this program will be available HERE.

For more information about other scholastic programs check out - 

 

This is a week of unique experiences...check back tomorrow to see what else we have been up to!

Gifts of Homeschooling

One of the greatest gifts that homeschooling allows me to give my daughter is time! Time to...

• spend with friends
• be a kid
• learn in her own way
• explore whatever interests her at the moment
• spend with her family
• enjoy the beautiful fall days
• learn at her own pace
• be by herself
• do whatever makes her happy

Today she was quite content to have time to soak up some rays, while reading a large stack of Manga books!

Percy Jackson And The Olympians ~ The Lightning Thief

On our way back from the MOS on Wed, the girls in the back seat of my car saw a billboard for -

Percy Jackson And The Olympians The Lightning Thief

I can't even TELL you how excited they were! The entire way back from Boston - a good 50 minutes with the traffic - they talked non-stop about who should be in each part, who they hoped would be in it, what parts they can't wait to see!

It was the most interesting tween conversation I have heard in a long time!!!

More than Half Way There!

KM is a total book worm, so any sort of reading challenge is right up her alley!

As a scholastic "classroom" she has the opportunity to help books get donated to some great charities and she is already more than half to her 100 book mark!



To find out more about Scholastic Classrooms Care Program please check out their site!

Curriculum Picks for Fall Session - 7th Grade - English Language Arts

I am continuing to hammer down our curriculum choices and here are our ELA choices!

English Language Arts - Traditionally, the primary divisions in the language arts are Literature and Language, where language in this case refers to both linguistics, and specific languages. The subjects, including reading, spelling, and composition, aimed at developing reading and writing skills, usually taught in elementary and secondary school.



You may have seen my many different postings about KM's lack of interest in writing and my realization a few months ago which has lead me to the following choices -

• Word Smart Junior I & II
  
• Writing Strands Level 3
• 5-Minute Daily Practice - Grammar
  

Literature & Reading Comprehension -
KM is an avid reader - she has already read 31 books this summer. So we are going to try a different approach to literature this year by alternating with an actual literature curriculum and literature unit studies. I am hoping that with this mix it will keep things moving and build her writing skills a bit as well...

• Island of the Blue Dolphin - Teacher Created Resource
  
• Cricket in Time Square - Teacher Created Resource - we will be using many of these products throughout the next two years
• Language of Literature - we will be alternating doing one literature unit mentioned above and one unit from this book.

We also will be trying to increase and encourage more free writing and may work out some sort of writing prompts as we did toward the end of the spring with our Proverbs Project.

International Children's Book Day

Since 1967, on or around Hans Christian Andersen's birthday, 2 April, International Children's Book Day (ICBD) is celebrated to inspire a love of reading and to call attention to children's books.

Here are some great sites that we will be looking into today -

• International Children's Digital Library
• Article on Hans Christian Andersen and his Fairy Tales
• Digital versions of Hans Christian Andersen's story
• Andersen's Fairy Tales
• Of course we had to track him down on one of SC's favorite sites Story Nory
• Great Resources from British Library
• Read Write Think - activities

Hans Christen Andersen stories are great for progymnasmata writing activities - which is the method that we have been implementing for KM and she has been having great success with it. Here is another article on it - here.

UPDATE - the day just got away from and after NUMEROUS phone calls, we didn't get a chance to get as much of this stuff done as we had hoped, but hey there is always next year right!!! While I was on the phone KM did spend a good deal of time on the Andersen's Fairy Tales site and played the Princess Pea Shooter game for a while - I think she liked watching her get struck by lightning the most!

Did you use of any of the resources - let me know if you did and how things turned out!

Tis the Season for...Reading

Each year when we take out all the Holiday decorations, there is one thing that really makes it feel like winter is coming - the book basket. KM and I are rarely without a book, but this basket is special because it has all our holiday books that we read and add to each year. We keep the basket by the fireplace and try to cuddle up there at least once every few days and flip through them.
Some of them have been given to us as gifts, others are favorites from when CJ and I were little, while still others are just fun!

Now that KM is getting older we may need to get a bigger book basket, but for now we have another pile on the hope chest.

Here is the list of our favorites:

1. Snow Family ~ Daniel Kirk
2. A Charlie Brown Christmas ~ Charles M. Schulz
3. Beauty and the Beast: One Magical Christmas ~ Karen Kreider
4. Snowie Rolie ~ William Joyce
5. Care Bears: Catch the Christmas Spirit ~ Katie Tait
6. Hello Kitty: My Little Angel ~ Paul Coco
7. The Penguin Who Wanted to be Different: A Christmas Wish ~ Maria O'Neill
8. There Was A Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow! ~ Lucille Colandro
9. The Christmas Penguin ~ Mary Packard
10. Gingerbread Baby ~ Jan Brett
11. Five Little Christmas Trees ~ Lynn Adams
12. Little Critter's: The Night Before Christmas ~ Mercer Mayer
    
13. Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Merry Christmas ~ Monique Z. Stephens
14. Toot & Puddle: I'll Be Home for Christmas ~ Holly Hobbie
15. Can You See What I See? The Night Before Christmas: Picture Puzzles to Search and Solve ~ Walter Wick
16. Harvey Slumfenburger's Christmas Present ~ John Burningham
17. If you take a Mouse to the Movies ~ Laura Numeroff
18. Snow Magic ~ June Eding
19. Snowmen at Night ~ Caralyn Buehner
    
20. Santa Claus ~ Rod Green
21. Judy Moody & Stink: The Holly Joliday ~ Megan McDonald
22. On Christmas Eve ~ Ann M. Martin

The titles that we will be adding to the basket this year include:
The Christmas Book: How to Have the Best Christmas Ever ~ Juliana Foster
When Santa Fell to Earth ~ Cornelia Funke
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever ~ Barbara Robinson
A Christmas Carol ~ Charles Dickens


What are your families favorite seasonal stories?

Massachusetts Children's Book Award

Our wonderful new children's librarian just email me a link to this year's list of nominated titles and there are some GREAT ones included!

Take a look here or at the official site here. The majority of libraries in the state will be having sign-ups, but even if yours isn't this is a great resource for extremely well written and engaging books!

If you are unaware of the program here is how it works -

Kids in grades 4, 5 & 6 (aprox. 9 - 12 year olds) must read 5 books from this list by March 1st and choose their favorite. Votes will be tallied by local librarians and sent to Salem State College. The winner will be announced on April 3rd!

Classics Children's Stories

Since we are always looking for free online resources for audio books, clips, videos and whatever, I thought I would share this site that was sent through one of my favorite secular homeschool groups.

Kiddie Records Weekly - Classics from the Golden Age

Introduction

Kiddie Records Weekly began in 2005 as a one year project devoted to the golden age of children's records. This period spanned from the mid forties through the early fifties and produced a wealth of all-time classics. Many of these recordings were extravagant Hollywood productions on major record labels and featured big time celebrities and composers.

Over the years, these forgotten treasures slipped off the radar and it became our mission to give them a new lease on life by sharing them with today's generation of online listeners. Each week throughout the year we added a new recording and before we knew it, our one year project turned into three! Although we will not be continuing beyond 2007, Kiddie Records Weekly will remain online and we will update the Bonus Records section every now and then.

So whether you are hearing these records for the first time or reuniting with a childhood favorite from long ago, we hope you take great pleasure in your trip down memory lane!

We were checking the site out a bit this evening and KM asked if we could listen to them in the mornings during breakfast, I thought that was a lovely idea! I feel it is very important to have at least some grasp of classic stories as they are constantly referred to in everyday life.

Banned Books Week 9/27 - 10/4

If you haven't yet heard today is the start of "Banned Books Week"!

This is a fantastic time to discuss the first amendment with your children.

"BBW celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where these two essential conditions are met." quoted from here.

The American Library Association has a lot of information on this annual tradition including the top banned and/or challenged books in 2007. I was very suprised when I read this list:

The “10 Most Challenged Books of 2007” reflect a range of themes, and consist of the following titles:

1) “And Tango Makes Three,” by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
Reasons: Anti-Ethnic, Sexism, Homosexuality, Anti-Family, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group

2) The Chocolate War,” by Robert Cormier
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Violence

3) “Olive’s Ocean,” by Kevin Henkes
Reasons: Sexually Explicit and Offensive Language

4) “The Golden Compass,” by Philip Pullman
Reasons: Religious Viewpoint

5) “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” by Mark Twain
Reasons: Racism

6) “The Color Purple,” by Alice Walker
Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language,

7) "TTYL,” by Lauren Myracle
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

8) "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” by Maya Angelou
Reasons: Sexually Explicit

9) “It’s Perfectly Normal,” by Robie Harris
Reasons: Sex Education, Sexually Explicit

10) "The Perks of Being A Wallflower,” by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

Off the list this year, are two books by author Toni Morrison. "The Bluest Eye" and "Beloved," both challenged for sexual content and offensive language.

The most frequently challenged authors of 2007

1) Robert Cormier
2) Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
3) Mark Twain
4) Toni Morrison
5) Philip Pullman
6) Kevin Henkes
7) Lois Lowry
8) Chris Crutcher
9) Lauren Myracle
10) Joann Sfar

Ironically before I even saw this list we had planned to read books by 6 out of 10 of these authors and 2 of the books on the most frequently challenged list. I guess this just goes to shows how we tend to lean in the nonconformist realm naturally!!

Does your family have any favorites from this or previously banned/challenged lists? If so please share with us your choices!

All italiced items on this page were clipped from the American Library Association Website at www.ala.org. Specifically from this page and this page.