What we're reading now

We're gearing up for a week of road-schooling, so this is probably the first time I haven't used up all my library hold allowances (our library system lets us put up to 15 books on hold at a time) in a long time. We're reading the rest of what we have checked out to return before our trip; some books and audio books will join us for the journey.

Here are some of the highlights from last week:

If I Ran the Horse Show
I'm glad I bought this book on Amazon instead of borrowing it from the library, because it will take us a while to learn all the horse facts it includes. Oh, how little I knew about horses! There are seven of these Cat In The Hat science books on our bookshelf, and all have been terrific so far. I am using these books as "spines" for A5's kindergarten science plan.

 

The History of Counting
I heard about this picture book on one of Pam Barnhill's podcasts. It's a great read, and I'm learning alongside the boys. The pages have many words, so even though it's only 45 pages long, I think it will take us two weeks to read it.

 

BOB Books Set 3
A5 sure does love these easy readers. I plan to continue through all of the sets.


 

 Count on Math
This math guide for teachers of kids ages 3-7 is one I revisit frequently. I want to get more deliberate with R2's early education as he gets closer to his 3rd birthday. It's good for me to re-read this and plan for R2. The first eight weeks or so for him will be about exploration of materials.



This is My Home, This is My School The hilarious illustrations make this book such a worthwhile read. I think this is a good one to bring out every year as friends go "back to school" to celebrate how our family chooses to educate.



Those are the highlights from last week. More to come!

Summer Reading 2

The kids are tracking as many reading minutes as possible for our library's summer reading program. It's the final week of the program, and our bin full of library books is overflowing. Here's a link to some of what we read last week.

Here are some books we are enjoying this week:

How Do Apples Grow?

On a whim I bought one unit of Deana Jump's Guiding Readers on TPT. We're skipping to the fourth book, How Do Apples Grow?, and will read it as much as he wants before we go apple picking in a couple of weeks.





The Snatchabook

The kids picked this out themselves, and it was an entertaining bedtime read.





School Bugs

Our librarian gave this book to A5 since he is starting kindergarten, and the pop ups really are impressive! Am I the only mom who is scared to buy pop up books? The only one I have is What Makes a Rainbow, but the paper pop-ups don't seem like they'd hold up around R2.





The Green Ember

We're finally starting this book that, it seems, everyone is talking about. I'm reading a chapter at a time to C18 and N18.





Fast-To-The-Freezer Cookbook

I'm re-reading this book of make-ahead meals. This week I have plans to make three of her recipes. I haven't done a freezer cooking session all summer and I'm completely out of freezer meals!



Those are some of our library and Amazon picks for the week. It's almost time for traditional schools to start back in our area, so we'll be adventuring more to our favorite parks and museums as the weather cools and crowds shrink.

Bb and Dd reversal

Handwriting without Tears (and All About Spelling) uses strategies to help prevent Bb and add reversals, but A5 still sometimes gets them mixed up. Since he's not yet ready for AAS, we're supplementing our favorite handwriting program with an iPad app called BD Bakeoff. 

Oh is this game fun! 

There is a practice activity where b, d, p and q get put away in their correct kitchen cupboards. 

Then two players can compete to build the best looking cake by tapping the correct letter (choose b, p, d and q) and the fast pace makes for great drilling. 

Two kids focusing on different letters can till compete, choosing their own letter or "cake."

The sound effects are slightly annoying now, but not to A5. He finds the bakers comments hilarious. And he's improved the Dd/Bb reversal in a short amount of time. 

Search for BD Bakeoff By Teacher Tipster in the App Store. These strategies from All About Spelling can also help. His big brothers use AAS. Even though A5 isn't ready to begin All About Spelling level one, their website is a terrific resource for free articles and ideas about common spelling and reading struggles. 

The Story about Ping.. and our two ducklings

How many books can we find to borrow from the library about ducks? Nine, it turns out. Yep. Nine books about ducks. We've been pretty duck-crazy around here since my DH and A3 brought home two little ducklings while I was off at my first homeschool convention last month. 

The Story About Ping is a classic tale (and a Five in a Row book, but we are still using Before Five in a Row with A3 so I haven't bought that guide yet). Taking place on the Yangzte River, this is the first children's book (I think) my preschooler has read about China, so of course we went to our world map to locate China. Every new place he learns about he compares to Russia, the country we studied back in February during the Winter Olympics, in both size and distance from home ("China is far away like Russia is far away.")

It's easy to find loads of books about any topic by using the library's web catalog or asking a librarian for help.

Shopping at my first homeschool conference

I came home from my first ever homeschool convention road-trip with new friends made, ideas, to-do items and just a few purchases from the expo.

While it's entirely possible to homeschool for free or next to free, I just love buying curriculum. Some people have a shoe problem; I have a curriculum problem. If I won the MegaMillions jackpot, I would probably still drive my van with over 100,000 miles on it, but I would go on an enormous curriculum and school supply shopping spree. Then I'd need more storage shelves and cabinets. Then... Well... Maybe going overboard on school materials just isn't a good idea, regardless of funds.

Here's what I bought:

Math Detective A1 from The Critical Thinking Company
Though I didn't save much money buying it from the tradeshow booth, I did have a chance to meet a rep from The Critical Thinking Company who was extremely helpful. He recommended this series, and I'm excited to try it soon. We used Balance Math recently and even my husband and I worked out the problems. It might have gotten competitive...

Hands down, the best place for homeschoolers to "shop"

Drum roll, please...

And the best place for homeschooler to "shop" is...

A place with the world's greatest return policy...

A place where someone is eager to help if you need it...

A place where your entire family is welcome...

A place where...

Okay...

I've kept you waiting long enough...