February Reading

So, we survived February!  With half the month spent nursing the flu, it was pretty February-ish for us, but, all things considered, it wasn't too bad.  One advantage of  cold weather and runny noses is that we usually get more family reading in.  I thought I'd post some follow-up to my reading suggestions for the last two units.

Our reading on Industrialization included the Samantha series from the American Girl books.  We also enjoyed the movie, although the factory scene was upsetting for Miss Eight.  She also found photographs of child laborers by Lewis Hines very difficult.  I read Counting on Grace and decided that it could wait, as it is not quite beautiful enough to be a family read-aloud, but a little long and possibly too sad to be good independent reading for now.  For the littles, we read A Teddy Bear for President Roosevelt, a sweet story about the invention of the teddy bear during this time period.

As we studied Colonialism, we listened to A Little Princesss for the one hundredth time.  It is still a wonderful story with lots of references to British colonialism.  We also read The Jungle Book aloud.  I had never read it before, and enjoyed it very much, as did Miss Eight.  Little Miss Six had a harder time keeping up with the story, but seemed to enjoy it.  We also read some Just So Stories, which are a little shorter and much sillier.   I looked at Kipling's poem, The White Man's Burden and thought it would be a great basis for discussion for older kids, but not for our 6-8 year olds.

We didn't do much reading about Africa, but in the past we have enjoyed the Anansi stories as retold by Eric Kimmel very much (there are several), and also Why Mosquitos Buzz in People's Ears.

Finally, I checked out this biography of Ghandi by Demi and read it at CCC last week.  It was good and kept the kids' interest.  Her explanation of Ghandi's Hindu faith is straightforward and clear.  I think Demi's books are beautiful - I love her Joan of Arc and St. Nicholas biographies, too.

We are still making our way through the Little House books.  Mr. Four loves them, although he often falls asleep in the middle.  Miss Eight and I don't mind reading them for the second time at all, and Miss Six is entranced.  I ordered a number of the My First Little House books, too.  Although we are quickly moving past this time period in history, we will finish the series. (Reading the part of Little House on the Prarie about the whole family getting Malaria sort of put our small flu woes into perspective.)

On my own time, I just finished The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni.  I started this book back in the fall because it is set during the Thirty Years War.  Yeah... that was a long time ago, wasn't it?  It is a beautiful book. I highly recommend it. It's so Catholic, it is almost like spiritual reading, except that it has a very exciting plot and is set around beautiful Lake Cuomo and Milan.  And, if you want a real treat, discuss it with Mrs. P!   The final drama of the book all takes place during a major outbreak of the plague.  Needless to say, that really made my February blues seem tiny!

This week we move on to World War I in our history studies, a difficult subject to study with little ones.  Today I checked out The Donkey of Gallipoli, and it is well done but quite sad.  We also have Christmas in the Trenches, a great story.  The best chapter book I can think of related to World War I is Rilla of Ingleside, but I am not sure I want to skip ahead in the series with my kids this time around. 

It's not mentioned in the memory work, but the Irish Revolution and Civil War happen during and right after World War I.  I'll try to put up a post of some of our Irish favorites this week, to get ready for St. Patrick's Day.

What about you?  What have you been reading?

What's working around here

For the past two weeks we have been using a new checklist system to provide some order to our days.  On day two of my system I joked with Sandy that I was going to blog about it immediately, but look how I have prudently waited two weeks to prove the lasting effectiveness of the system.

The truth is, we have had different checklists over the years and I have always found them helpful.  My kids have either learned or inherited my love of checking things of the list (I have been been known to add things to my list after completing them, just for fun) and I think it helps them have a good sense of what is expected of them as well as what they have accomplished each day. 

My latest list system is aimed at having the girls take a little more responsibility for their independent work in the morning, and has been working.  I call it ten by ten, and the deal is that if they finish ten things on their morning list by ten, we can go out or they can play.  We have had trips to the zoo and library as well as just headed outside or to the porch to play.

The 10 by 10 list has things that they can do on their own: review songs for Suzuki, Saxon Math fact sheets, math drills, computer maps, unload the dishwasher, get dressed for the day, etc.  While they do their 10 by 10 I can take a shower, start a load of laundry, and read books to the baby and Liam.

The second part of their checklist has "with mom" activities: math lesson, spelling lesson, new music pieces, handwriting, and a daily subject like science, history, or latin.  We do these during naptime, so that we can focus.  Also, they are quiet during naptime, a huge plus for my rotten little napper.

Finally, there is a third "bonus" category that lists a few more chores and activities, including reading silently.  They are supposed to do 20 things per day, and if they finish their list for all four of our school days, they get a treat on Friday night. 

In my experience, motivational tools like this usually fade away after a few weeks, but they leave some habits behind.  I'm sure some aspects of this new system will become irrelevant as we add or subtract activities from our list, but I'm hoping the idea of getting up and doing several things on their own every morning will stick.  I also like how this system has helped me to get out of the house with them at 10am, which is supposed to be one of the joys of homeschooling.

So, that's what is working around here! 

Another little gem we recently discovered it Times Tales.  There is a longer review of it here.   Since my kids regularly make up stories about their math facts anyway, I thought it was worth a try.  It works.  Caera knows her upper multiplication tables, and they have only watched it twice.

We have also been doing lots of Civil War reading.  We went ahead and read Rifles for Watie together, and the kids loved it.  I did skip over a couple of the more violent parts, and I wouldn't bother with it for kids under 8 or 9.  Aine loved Just a Few Words, Mr. Lincoln, and we also enjoyed A Voice of Her Own.   I checked out Ulysses S. Grant, Military Leader and President from the library.  It is part of a series by Chelsea House Publishers, edited by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., and every title in the series we have read has been excellent.  They are short biographies, good independent reading for fourth grade and up.  Aine read some of it, and I read other parts aloud.

Since we are almost done with the Civil War, I am thinking about our next read aloud.  Next up in history are Industrialization and Colonialism.  I just started previewing Counting on Grace, and I'll let you know what I think, but I might skip straight to Colonialism and do The Jungle Book, The Secret Garden and/or A Little Princess.  This is also a perfect time to start the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

I think we might need a snowstorm to get us through this reading list!

Underground Railroad website

Just came across this link. Very good introduction to the topic for the littler "big" kids :) They also have more information for older kids on other pages. I'll definitely be exploring the rest of the their website for other appropriate topics. 

National Geographic Underground Railroad Website

Civil War Reading

Here at our house we are easing our way back into school after a nice vacation by reading some new books on the Civil War. Some are Christmas gifts and some are library picks by our favorite librarian, Grandma Susan.  I thought I'd share some of our favorite finds with you.

The Drinking Gourd and Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt are gentle introductions to the subject of slavery for young readers.  Both focus on the Underground Railroad.  Amistad Rising: A Story of Freedom is also good, and brings in a little bit of the legal and political history surrounding the Amistad trial. 

We just read Pink and Say last night.  Based on the true story of Patricia Polacco's great-great-grandfather, it is powerful but has a very sad ending.  We also enjoyed Dadblamed Union Army Cow, a funny and touching fictionalized account of an actual cow who traveled with a Union company in the Civil War.

Aine is currently reading the My America series Virginia's Civil War Diary.  These three books are light on battle, blood and gore, but describe one family's experience living in Washington DC during the Civil War.  They are written by Mary Pope Osborne, author of the Magic Treehouse series. My kids have read all of the "Jack and Annie" books, and the two on the Civil War (Abe Lincoln at Last and Civil War on Sunday) are among my favorites in the series.  These make great read-alouds, especially if you can make your third grader read them to your first grader and preschooler.  School for everyone!

While they're busy with that, make yourself some coffee and read the The Killer Angels, a novel of the Civil War that is powerful, informative, and serious enough to impress my hubby, who is something of a Civil War buff.  If you are feeling more scholarly, he recommends you read the three-volume series by Bruce Catton. 

(Or, you could just re-read Gone with the Wind.  Come on, you know you want to.)

For older kids (9 and up), I love Rifles for Watie and one of my best elementary school memories is of preparing to act out the amputation scene with my fourth grade classmates.  Another memorable read from my late elementary years is The Root Cellar. I have not read either of these with my kids yet, so do give them a preview.  I remember Rifles for Watie being quite graphic, The Root Cellar less so.

Okay, that's all I have for you tonight.  Happy reading! I just added eight items to my amazon cart, so you should be hearing back from me again soon...

Labels

Here are some ideas for labels, so that future generations of CCC moms (or, us... when we have memorized so much information we can no longer remember anything else) can look for helpful tips.  If your post doesn't fit into any of these, no label is fine, too.  Comment below with further suggestions if there is something we might post about regularly I missed.

Homemaking
Pre-school
History
Geography
Poetry
Grammar
Music
Science
Math
Timeline (for the videos of the signs)
Scripture
Catechesis
Teaching Memory Work
Other Homeschooling (in case someone wants to post about their phonics or math ideas, etc.)
Year One
Year Two
Year Three

So, as an example, if I found a great history resource for Ancient History, I might write a post up about it and label it History, Year One.  Down the road another mom could click on the label "Year One" and get all our notes and ideas.

Colonial History Reading

Over the summer we took advantage of lazy afternoons to do some reading related to the history cycle for the coming year.  All the books we read are mentioned in the Story of the World activity book supplementary reading lists, but I thought I'd mention a few that are old or new favorites of mine, in case you haven't read them yet.

The first book we read was The Witch of Blackbird Pond, by Elizabeth George Speare.  This is a longer chapter book we read aloud as a family, and Aine (8) was riveted but Caera (5) usually fell asleep as we read!  It takes place in 1687, and explores Connecticut Puritan life, and especially the tension between Puritans and both Quakers and Royalists.  Susan Wise Bauer recommends that parents preview, probably because the book is somewhat critical of Puritanism.  I love Elizabeth George Speare and this book was a favorite of mine in childhood. 

We also enjoyed The Courage of Sarah Noble, by Alice Dalgliesh.  This is an easy chapter book, which Aine read again after we finished reading it as a family, and Caera enjoyed very much.  It takes place in 1707, and gives a simple description of a young girl and her father as they settle new land in Connecticut.   Lots of inspiration for children as little Sarah tells herself repeatedly, "Keep up your courage, Sarah Noble,"

Next on our reading list was a book I had never read before, Johnny Tremain, by Esther Forbes.  This was another longer chapter book, and like The Witch of Blackbird Pond, it really only kept the interest of Aine and her mother, who permitted some ridiculously late bedtimes in August in order to get to the end!  I thought this was a nice coming of age story and an exciting view into the events leading up to the Revolutionary War.  One warning, there are some salty characters and language, including frequent use of the word d-mn. 

I was fretting this past week over the fact that the history poems and timeline don't include any 17th century British history when I happened upon a little gem in my library holds: William Penn, Founder of Democracy by Norma Jean Lutz.  In addition to being a very readable biography, it manages to touch on all of the significant history of the times in very clear and simple terms.  I highly recommend as a way to connect the political turmoil in England with the formation and distinct character of the different American colonies.

Aine has been tearing through the American Girls series from this time period, Kaya and Felicity, on her own.  The girls also really loved Thanksgiving on Thursday from the Magic Treehouse series.  

Finally, if you haven't done so already, can I recommend that you read 1776 by David McCullough?  The fact that much of the action takes place right here in New York and New Jersey combined with McCullough's gift of character illumination make it an exciting read. Though history textbooks are often heavy with a sense of inevitability regarding past events, this book will leave you feeling amazed by just how tenuous the American position was in that difficult first year of the war, and how men like George Washington really did make history.

I would love to know if anyone has any recommendations of great picture books from this time period. There are several in my pile from the library today... I will update if I come across any treasures.