A Week of Fun Leading Up to Roald Dahl Day

I actually didn't know Roald Dahl had a day. A few weeks ago I found out that September 13th is Roald Dahl day and I knew we could have a lot of fun with that in our homeschool.

Diary of a First Child has a great list of things to do, eat, and watch. Her list includes a link to the entire BFG movie on youtube, which I didn't even know existed. We watched BFG On Monday. On Tuesday we ate peach cups for snack while watching James and the Giant peach on Netflix. We also checked out Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (that's the newer one) and Matilda from the library. We are planning to watch Chocolate factory as a family and have a candy extravaganza. I picked up some peanut butter M&M's and Sour Patch Kids for the occasion. Unfortunately, Willy Wonka candy is not gluten free.

We also read The Enormous Crocodile and are reading Matilda because it is mister's favorite. We haven't read either before and they have been so much fun. The Enormous Crocodile is a quick read and is very silly. It is a great Roald Dahl book if you are reading with younger kids with shorter attention spans.



 

Dear Luke: A Book Review

Dear Luke, We Need to Talk, Darth is the long and crazy name of the book I am reviewing today. Written by John Moe, it is a satirical collection of letters, e-mails, and other communiques from many notable areas of pop culture. You would be hard pressed to find an adult, and it is very much a book for adults, that does not find something that makes them laugh. Whether it is the journal of Bruce the shark (from Finding Nemo) falling off the bandwagon and inadvertently becoming the shark from Jaws, the CIA log of Gilligan studying the effect of stranding people on an island, or the Welp reviews of such notable stops as Moe's Tavern, Bates Motel, and Bronto Burgers in Bedrock.

This book will be a hit if you enjoy dark comedy. It is quite cynical most of the time. As I tried to think of a way to describe this unique book I began to think of The Stinky Cheese Man. For those who aren't familiar with it, it is a picture book which sheds a cynical and comedic look at popular fairy tales. Dear Luke is like a grown up version of the popular 90's picture book.

Overall I would have to say that I truly enjoyed about half of this book. The book is clever and well put together. I do like a good dark comedy from time to time and this was no exception. At times it went a little too far, funny to uncomfortable in a matter of sentences. The other half of the book I was not familiar with the references to or were completely uninteresting to me, like the numerous Super Bowl Half-time ideas that peppered the entire book. The thing that bothered me the most was the gratuitous foul language. I am an adult, the book is for adults, and a little language here and there isn't necessary but not a deterrent. There are times, like in Dorothy's letter to Glinda, that the "F" word shows up several times in each paragraph. I thought the idea for Dorothy's letter was hilarious and witty, but the over use of swearing destroyed the youthful innocence of the character instead of playing upon it.

I am happy I read the book. I had many a good laugh. My recommendation is to enjoy the sections that are funny to you and simply bypass the stuff you don't get or don't like.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

 

Books My 6 Year Old Loves to Read

I am going to stick with my reading theme today and share some of my six year old son's favorite books.

Elephant and Piggie Books by Mo Willems

These books are his number one favorite right now. They are easy for him to read. They don't pose much of a challenge for him. They are so funny and silly though. He reads them over and over again. Anyone who is willing to listen will be read one or six of these books. The enjoyment level is high and his reading fluency has improved drastically from reading and rereading this wonderful series.  

 

Little Bear By Else Holmelund Minarik

This series is a classic and a TV show. My little guy doesn't remember the show but has fallen in love with the Little Bear books. This series introduced him to the joy of chapter books. Each book has four stories/chapters that add to one cohesive theme throughout the book. The text is difficult enough to challenge him but not hard enough to frustrate him. He loves the stories and the characters. We even enjoyed a chapter this morning from Little Bear's Visit.

 

Fly Guy by Tedd Arnold

This chapter book series is short and easy to read. It is easier and shorter than Little Bear. That is one of the reasons my little guy loves Fly Guy. He really enjoys all the silly adventures that Fly Guy goes on. Sometimes Fly Guy simply goes on a road trip, but sometimes things get more wild like in Fly Guy and the Frankenfly.  

 

The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner

To be fair he hasn't actually finished one of these. Book one was the first chapter book he attempted. He is at least five chapters in though and really gets into the story. The text is challenging for him quite often but he makes it through each page quite well. One of the reasons he has shelved this book for a while is that he really needed to feel the accomplishment of finishing books and this one will take quite a long time for him to finish. He is really drawn in by the story and characters. I think this book will be back in his hands soon because he really wants to see what happens to these four orphans living in a boxcar.

What are some of your kiddos favorite books to read? I know my little guy would love some recommendations!

The Reading Prize

One of my goals in Jayne's education is to instill in him a love of reading. I love to read and I want him to also. I taught him to read, so it is time to start instilling.

The reading prize was born!

It started off that we would give him a prize if he read. We had no idea how it would go so we basically made it 1 book for every dollar that the prize cost, a chapter book counts for 3. It turns out that the prizes were very motivating and we knew that we needed to change tactics or we would go broke in no time at all. So we modified our plan to be more sustainable.

How it works:

He reads X amount of chapter books (3 regular books = 1 chapter book) and he receives a prize. Each time the goal goes up one more chapter book.

Right now Jayne needs to read 6 chapter books or 18 non-chapter books. We realized that the price of the prize was not the key factor so much as the desirability of the prize. Now, instead of spending $5-10 on each prize we selected a Lego education minifig set. We can separate them into tiny themed sets and he can earn one at a time. The one we ordered is the community figures. We will split it into 17 separate prizes. Since we used some Amazon rewards on it we got it for $40 and that makes each prize $2.35 each. That is a much better deal and is a quality toy.So how is this all working out for that love of reading? He is reading like a maniac to get his prizes. His biggest reading day he read 10 books and 1 chapter from a chapter book. He has also been reading for fun. He loves the Mo Willems Elephant and Piggie books. The rule is that it has to be a book he has never read before to count toward the goal. He has been reading these books over and over though, simply because he loves them so much. The goal is to eventually phase out the program, but for now it is really inspiring him and I can see his love for reading grow.



How have you helped your kids develop a love for reading?

 

 

Hunt For the Devil's Dragon: a Book Review

Hunt for the Devil’s Dragon by Marianne Hering and Wayne Thomas Batson is the first book for young readers that I have had the privilege to review and I must say it was a fantastic way to start. I read this book with my 5 year old son and he was thrilled to find out that there were more in the series. As a 5 year old, he isn't quite read to read this book himself. I love that it says right on the book that the reading level is grade 2.2. That makes it easy to know if this book is at your child's level. He also loved the action . He didn't want me to stop reading at the end of any chapter. We only took a breather because 14 chapters is a lot to read out loud in one sitting.

From my mom's perspective, I liked that the type was large for young readers and that there were beautiful illustrations dotting the book. The series is very similar to The Magic Tree House series. It is so much more in depth though. Instead of simply going on a mission to retrieve an object the go into history to learn valuable life lessons. Their connections with the characters they meet are meaningful and go beyond the surface.

The series is also Christian themed but not all the characters are Christians. In this book Georgius is a Christian Roman guard. We get to see the difficulties he faces being the only Christian in the story. He is also a wonderful example of the way that Christians should behave. Georgius is kind and forgiving even to those who are mean and hurtful. 

We will absolutely be getting more of this series. It is also available on the Kindle which is great for our trying to downsize for our mission trip. I hope the e-book is as stunning as the paperback was. 

Tyndale House Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book.

Lots of Learning

We had a great homeschool week! This is the windmill generator that Mister got with his World Travels letter. He put it together with his Daddy during "boy night". They had a blast with it!

Jayne finished All About Reading Level 1! After a long hard think, I decided to give Alpha Phonics a try as our next level. Mister seems to really like it and I was able to get it for free from the Kindle Prime lenders library. We loved AAR, but it is very slow paced and Alpha Phonics will end with him at a 2nd-3rd grade reading level. He is looking forward to the many Boxcar Children and Magic Tree House books we plan to spend the saved money on.

He drew a picture of how he felt about my having covered his face in stickers!

Adam got a chance to read to Mister on Friday, giving me a vocal break. This book really sucks our  Little  Guy in! It is Usborne's Time Traveler. They read 10 pages!  I usually cut him off at 6 because I know I need my voice for all the other subjects. I expect that I am going to have quite the reader when he has the skills.

Cleaning House: a Book Review

First off I want to thank Blogging For Books for giving me a copy of this book to review!

Cleaning house has an interesting premise. Kay Wills Wyma realized that her children had become quite entitled over the years. They were under the assumption that someone will always come along and do their work for them, clean up after them, and attend to their every whim. Sound like any of your own kiddos? Kay came up with a 1 year plan to break this cycle and help them become self sufficient by raising the bar of expectations and cutting back on her own enabling tendencies.

Each month She added a new task to the list of duties her children would take on. From simply cleaning their rooms, to cooking, to learning to serve. The narratives were wonderful! While my own Little Guy is still much to young to do many of the things in the book, it did get my brain cranking out ideas for my 5 year-old.

While I enjoyed the the narratives and the overall theme of the book, it did get a little long for me. Excerpts from other moms dot the chapters like a commercial break in the middle of the narrative  I am not a fan of this, but it may look better in print over the Kindle version I read. It gets a little repetitious as well as she gets into the research on youth entitlement.

Over all, I really liked the book. I really think more women should try doing this. Imagine what our future would look like if every home cracked down on entitlement...that is a world I would love to see!

More Books

I have 2 more books to share!

Indescribable by Louie Giglio and Matt Redman
Love! I mean, really and truly  This book is stunning in it's photographs of space. The blending of science facts and the pure majesty of God in this book is phenomenal  I am about  one third of the way through and it is marvelous. I especially like that it comes with a DVD of the same name. Giglio is a fantastic speaker and brings the book to life on the screen. The book hold so much more information though and I am glad to have the chance to read it...even though I forgot to add it to my book list yesterday.

Miracle for Jen by Linda Barrick
I don't actually have this book yet. I got accepted into the Tyndale Blogging Network today. I will be doing book reviews for them as well and this is the first book I selected. It is a true story of God's work and sounds quite good. It should be shipping out at the end of the month as this copy is an actual book.

What I'm Reading

An escalating stack, I can tell you. This month I am starting 3 books. They all look great, one is as I have been through it before. Here is a sum up...

James: Mercy Triumphs by Beth Moore

Beth is one of my favorite bible study authors! I did this study about a year ago at my church and it was so deep and really struck a chord with me. It is an incredible look at the person and book of James. When planning a women's study in my home this was my first pick! I am loving it the second time around. It has varying levels of activity, from just watching the weekly videos to memorizing the book of James. I am taking a stab at memorizing the book because it has become on of my favorites. I have the first 4 verses down already and am working on #5. We started the study on Thursday, so I think this is a good pace. If you are looking for somewhere to start on study, James: Mercy Triumphs and Becoming a Woman of Simplicity, by Cynthia Heald have been my all time faves.

Fight Like a Girl by Lisa Bevere

I got a call from Adam's Mom on Saturday morning in which she asked if I wanted to come to the women's study at her church starting 5 minutes before she called me. I did not attend, but I did pick up the book on my Kindle and got started reading for next week. So far it looks pretty good. It isn't capturing my full attention at this point, but I am still on the first chapter. I think it will make great conversation and I am looking forward to seeing the corresponding video.

The Ministry of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson

This one I downloaded tonight. It is my first book for review with Blogging for Books. I am really excited to read this one. It really stuck out among my book choices. Since I haven't started reading it yet, I don't have much to say about this one. You will have to wait till my book review I suppose.

What are all of you reading this winter?

Reading Phone

While I was out on a fun ladies night we hit a great kids store...yes we went to a toy/teacher resource store for fun. While there I picked up a great reading tool. It is like a little phone. The kiddo speaks into it and the sound travels straight to their ear. It makes it so much easier for them to hear what they are sounding out when they read. I am so glad I picked it up because he has done significantly better at his reading in the last week since we got it.

On a side note, I was called by Little Guy's speech teacher and she said he has made huge strides sin the slightly less than a year he has been attending. The only sound he has left to work on is the "th" sound! We are really hoping it means he might be done soon. He likes being there but is a beast to get up in the morning to go and it cuts into our prime homeschool time. it is only 30 minutes, but you have to add in 20 minutes of bus time and at least another 30 minutes after to get his focus back and be ready to do school. I was so glad that he is progressing so well!

The Toobaloo reading phone can also be found on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/LEARNING-LOFT-Learning-Loft-Toobaloo/dp/B000F8R6EU

Oh What a Week

Sewing his pouch pocket

A fun week, that is! Our school week has been just great. We did an especially large amount of hands on activities this week and that may have been a part of it. We learned all about living in medieval times, castles, bathrooms, food and the like. He always wants to know about the bathrooms each time period uses and he has yet to be disappointed by the information. Jayne even got to try his hand at swing his own pouch (pocket) like they used to wear.

In science we spent a lot of time learning about the ocean. We learned about waves, the tide, and coasts. Jayne saw a glimpse of how waves work when we made a wave bottle. He also got to see how things freeze and melt. We put some fun stuff n the ice tray in the freezer and some ice cubes insulated and not insulated mugs.

The wave bottle

Our little Passports came in this week too. Sam and Sophia went to Japan this month. Jayne got a little sushi eraser and an origami set. We made a book all about Japan and spent a lot of time folding paper.

Origami galore! You can tel which is mine by drawing ability only.

This week we finished reading Th Hundred Dresses. This book did not keep Little Guy's attention like the last 2 books did, but t did teach some great lessons that we have already been able to apply in real life. We will be reading The Family Under the Bridge next. This should be good! I just hope it draws him in better than the last one.

Getting Ready For School

My blogging break is going to be shorter than I thought! We have decided to start school on August 6th. That is a whole month earlier than I originally thought we would do. It will work out great for our family though. Running from August through the end of April is going to be great because we had a really hard time doing anything in May. It was busy and nice and we just didn't hit the books like we intended. Jayne and I are both very excited to get started on school and I actually gave Jayne the decision on the start date and he is the one who chose sooner.

In the last 4 weeks of our summer break we are going to be doing lots of reading and swimming at the pool. Our book reading slowed after we started The Borrowers. The book is quite a bit slower than the movie and Jayne just wasn't connecting with it. Today we started Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and it is a huge hit! It is very readable and has a couple of pictures per chapter to keep his mind from wandering so much. He loves the movies and can't wait to compare them to the book.

As we are getting ready to get started for the school year, I came across the "So You Wanna Homeschool Class" I signed up and am going to give it a try. I found it on samsnoggin.com and here is a little of what they are going to cover during the 1 week online class:

Here’s what you’ll learn over the seven days of the course:

• How to find the legal requirements in your area and fulfill those
• How to find and choose curricula and other resources that work with your values, style, and needs
• Specific ways to organize your homeschooling materials
• The secret to successful homeschool planning and goal-setting
• Stellar record-keeping techniques
• Where to find your people {how to build your support system}
• The things nobody tells you to do during your first week of homeschooling

I am really looking forward to the class and learning some new things to grow my homeschool confidence. If you want to join me, I am in the very first class, which is also half off and comes with a free copy of the book I might add!

Here is The Class link: http://starthomeschoolingnow.com/the-class/

Kindergarten Curriculum

I realize that many of you are just glad that your kids are back in school after Christmas break, but at our house the conversation has been all about next year's curriculum. I have spent a considerable amount of time researching Jayne's curriculum for next year since the school year started. Last night we made our final decisions. It was hard because there were many that I wanted to try and a few that would have involved me making the curriculum for the subject. So what did we choose?

We are using the SunLight core for history, geography, and bible. It also has a reading program that is several readers and we will have a blast reading them together, but for his official learning to read program we are going to go more hands on with...

All About Reading Level 1! I am very excited about the program and especially that it is hands on and will be a fun way for Jayne to learn to read.

All About Spelling is also very hands on. Jayne will be working on Level 1 here too.

He will be learning biology, botany, and physics with SonLight science. Plus we will be adding in some fun with Magic School Bus science projects on our 5th days. To clarify here, we do a 4 day school week. We have 2 days to spend with Adam and Saturdays we catch up on any chores that may have been missed during the week. So 5th day activities will be fun family activities and field trips.

We chose Horizons math from SonLight because if we chose to go all SonLight in the years to come, that is the one that is included in the set. I am not sure if we will like this one, but it is worth trying and we can always pick something new for 1st grade if we don't like it.

Handwriting Without Tears was chosen for the same reason as math, but this one does look like a great program and I look forward to trying it out.

We are also planning on doing Little Passports to supplement his Geography lessons and have a little fun. We will doing Nickelodeon Fit for PE in the winter, spending lots of time walking in the summer (because we always do), and may put him in dance class. He loves to dance and it is something he wants to try, so why not.