Another book I'm gearing up to read

Guess what book my girl brought me home from the library Tuesday?

EXTRAS the last in the Uglies series.


Can't wait to start it!  (If I haven't already read a couple pages by morning.)












Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Weekly Wrap Up and What My Children Are Reading

On September 6th we started school and I think we are mostly into a routine now, for the most part at least.  With a newborn it's tough to have any sort of routine, but we are doing pretty good.  Things will be different when Baby Matty sleeps less.  So the first week I started with Marrissa and Wyatt the Letter of the Week preK curriculum from Confessions of a Homeschooler.   She suggests starting with vowels.  So far we've done A, E, and this week was I.  The kids (all of them) are loving it.  I have a hard time keeping Kristyn and Cora concentrating on their schoolwork, but we've compromised and instead of me doing the craft with the younger kids, K and C are helping them.  It is working sooooo well.

Each day I have a small package of three or four activities, or coloring for them to do.  Three or four days a week (sometimes only one or two) we have a craft to do.  I still need rechargeable batteries for my camera so I can show you what we are doing, but I put the completed activities that I can in a duotang for M and W.  They think it's the greatest thing.  And they have something to show Daddy!

Kristyn and Cora are working in the grade 2 math workbook from ACSI.  They are really enjoying that; we do two pages (sometimes more) most days.  Kristyn is learning to tell time.  I think she's getting it.  Cora is working on geometry and sorting.  In addition to math, we are doing Building A Life (character study from ACSI) and God's Wonderful Works (a science program looking at the 7 days of creation).  These last two subjects, I have to "teach" (read the book and explain the content) them so I try to do those while Rayna is sleeping because she just gets into too much while I'm distracted with teaching the oldest two.  The math is more self-directed than these other two (especially the character study).

We are learning a lot more Bible this year.  The character study looks at the life of Daniel and his friends and has verses accompanying each virtue.  The science has us learning Genesis 1:1-5 so far and later we add more of Genesis 1.  Then the LOTW has a verse as well.  We are using Sing The Word for our LOTW memory verses.  Even Wyatt and Rayna are learning the verses.  You should hear Wyatt say Genesis 1:1-5!!!  He has almost the whole thing memorized!

 

So what have we been reading? We've been reading the "If You Give. . . " series of books by Laura Joffe Numeroff because they start with the letter I.  We've read about iguanas.  The book we've really enjoyed the most though is Dr Suess's Green Eggs and Ham.  We had it out for the week we did the letter E, but Wyatt wasn't ready to give it up yet.  We read it over and over and over.  I just returned it today.  Time to find a new bedtime story.  Rayna received Silly Sally as a gift from the library.  It's so silly.


Cora said to me this week, "I LOOOVVVEEE reading!"  YAY!  I'm so glad.  She's reading Junie B. Jones books.  She goes through a couple a week, I think.  I may have to have her keep track because I'm not reading them, nor am I keeping track of the ones she gets from the library.  The other day she told me she was up until after 11 reading.  Sound like anyone you know, Grandma Johnny?


Kristyn is not a reader, yet.  She may never be and that's okay.  However, I am going to be making some changes I think and will be requiring daily reading - silent and reading aloud.  I'm just not sure how to work it into our day.  I've started reading our read-alouds at lots of different times of day, but the silent reading is tougher.  (Our current read-aloud is the Little House series - book 2.)


I am reading lots too.  I am currently trying to get through Bringing Up Boys and The Read-Aloud Handbook.  Those two are my focus right now.  Also I'm working on a few others that you can see in my Fall Into Reading 2010 post.


Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Book It On Friday

Here's some of the books we are reading this week:

My Books:

Every Storm (Contemporary Romance) This is a book that I'm reading for the SRT and I am enjoying reading it just before falling asleep each night.

New Day, New You: 366 Devotions for Enjoying Everyday Life  I am really enjoying the daily tidbits I get from this book.  I needed today's message.

 One Year to an Organized Financial Life: From Your Bills to Your Bank Account, Your Home to Your Retirement, the Week-by-Week Guide to Achieving Financial Peace of Mind  I love this ongoing project.

The Kids' Books:

The Sweetest Spring (Step into Reading)

Say "Ahhh!": Dora Goes to the Doctor (Dora the Explorer)

Diego's Springtime Fiesta (Go, Diego, Go!)

Inside, Outside, Upside Down (Bright & Early Board Books(TM))

Butterfly Battle (The Magic School Bus Chapter Book #16)

Rain, Rain, Go Away (Backyardigans)

No Clean Clothes!

Mr. Noisy's Wild Safari (The Mr. Men Show)

Inspector Hopper (I Can Read Book 2)

It's a Good Thing There Are Insects (Rookie Read-About Science Series)

Sweet Success, a Story About Sharing (Disney Princess -The Princess Collection)

I'm A Caterpillar (level 1) (Hello Reader)

The kids seem to have a springtime bug.  And my second oldest, C, has a "thing" for butterflies.  I got a whole bunch of books for her specifically about butterflies.  She's not the only one reading them though.  That's a good thing.

We will be concentrating on math and reading through the spring and summer.  I am hoping that by the fall we can jump into Tapestry of Grace with both feet (all 3 of us).  Tapestry of Grace requires a lot of reading on the part of each student (and the teacher).  We need to have reading handled well before we start this program in the fall.  I can't wait!

On my list for this coming week is The Children's Year: Seasonal Crafts and Clothes (Festivals (Hawthorn Press))  There are some really cool crafts in this book.  I'm thinking about purchasing this book.


Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Support Your Local Library Reading Challenge

Our local library is just across the street and down the block a little.  We are there at least once a week.  Well, not all of us, but at least one of us is there.  We get farm fresh eggs from a lady that is largely involved there and that's where she delivers our eggs.  So often I will send one or two of the girls to grab eggs and books.  I give them permission to choose a few books at that time, but mostly I use our library's webpage and search site to order our books from our library system (many libraries in the area will send you books from their library), and they pick up those books as well, while they are there.

When I ran across this reading challenge, I decided that instead of ordering MOSTLY children's books (easy level) I would start ordering books for me too, and that I would actually read them.  Not just order, skim and return.  So, I am joining the challenge in addition to the SRT and RYOB Challenges.  I am joining the Support Your Local Library Reading Challenge at The Mini Level - 25 books.  With the other reading challenges I have I don't want to add too many more books this year.  If I complete all the challenges, that will be 50 books this year!  That's ALMOST a book a week, not including the books I already read this year.

Check out this link to sign up and choose your level.  You don't have to list your books first, but I have a start on what I would like to get from my library.  (Bold titles have been read, and completed for this challenge.)

Here's the start of my list:

1. Calm My Anxious Heart by Linda Dillow
2. The Captain's Wife by Douglas Kelley
3. Sand Sharks by Margaret Maron
4. How to Really Love Your Child by Ross Campbell
5. The Blessing by John T. Trent
6. Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage by Mark Gungor
7. Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of  a Woman's Soul by John Eldridge
8. Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul by John Eldridge
9. Bringing Up Boys by James Dobson
10. Bringing Up Girls by James Dobson
11. The Way of the Wild Heart by John Eldridge (not sure if this is the same book as the Wild at Heart one or not)
12. The Journey of Desire by John Eldridge
13. Waking the Dead by John Eldridge
14. A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers 
15. The Little Pilgrim's Progress by Helen Taylor 
16. The Knight at Dawn, Magic Tree House Series #2 by Mary Pope Osbourne
17. The Big Breakfast Diet by Daniela Jakubowicz, M.D.
18. Sugar Blues by William Dufty
19. .
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32. .

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

I'm sitting at the library

It's such a great library day. Usually I feel so rushed and the babies are cranky and I just don't have fun; I'm always supervising. Today K is listening to YouTube videos. CJ is playing on a Polly Pocket website. M and W are on the toddler computer and actually sharing it well! Earlier W was looking at Bob the Builder and firetruck books. Baby R is playing with a multi-toy and loving it. Now, granted, W has created a mess with all the board books all over the floor and I see R has pulled the toy apart, but I have time to blog about our day.

We aren't taking any books out today, unless they have one that I ordered in. I commented on Facebook that our late charges are out of control. I've never had a bill so high at my library plus the books we brought back are sticky! Oh my, I feel like such a terrible library patron! We are going to have to be more careful. I had been using Cozi to keep track of our library books and when they were due, but I stopped; it's not Cozi's fault; no program will work for you if you don't open it! So I'm going to go back to writing the due dates on my Flylady calendar and sticking the print out that we get from the librarian beside the calendar so that if we take something back early or renew a book, that we can mark the list! Things have got to change in theis department.

Another reason for our visit to the library today is to print some "schoolwork". I bought a spelling ebook by Teacher Created Resources but I had no paper at home to print the pages for the girls. At 10 cents a page, I'm just printing the first few lessons and going to buy paper this afternoon. Sometimes I never have paper and ink at the same time but usually it's the ink that is the problem.

Well, I told the kids five minutes, so I guess I'd better get this done and posted.

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

PS: I just remembered that I haven't blogged about One Year To An Organized Life in a week or so! Watch for a post about that soon.