1.05.2012

First, a reading list

We read. A lot. I know some families that read more than we do but not many. In this house, the books are only outnumbered by the Legos. And those don't count because they are SMALL! The library is one of our favorite places to go as is Barnes and Noble - the closest being 40 miles away (but we're willing to drive that far because we love Barnes and Noble!).


Closer to home, there is a wonderful used bookstore in the college town nearby, complete with bookstore cat! It smells of glue and book dust (the store, not the cat) and has old, well-worn chairs scattered throughout all of the nooks and crannies in the store. Such a wonderful place!


I had made a feeble attempt at keeping track of the books we read as supplements for science, history, geography, language, etc. during our first year of homeschooling and was quickly overwhelmed by it all. Now that we are 1/2 way through our second year (gasp! how did THAT happen??) I am trying again. I'm not going to do links right now as it's late and I'm beat. Maybe next time...


History/Geography:
~ Ancient India by Virginia Schomp
~ Ancient India: A Journey Back in Time (DVD)
~ Usborn's Introduction To Asia
~ Magic Treehouse: Crazy Day With Cobras
~ MLK Jr. by Courtney Baker
~ The Life and Words of MLK Jr. by Ira Peck


Science:
~ Far Planets by Robin Kerrod
~ Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto by Giles Sparrow
~ The Way the Universe Works (DK Books)
~ Space: A Visual Encyclopedia (DK Books)
~ The Night Sky
~ Usborn's First Encyclopedia of Space
~ Basher Books: Astronomy
~ Handy Astronomy Answer Book by Charles Liu
~ Taking Back Astronomy by Jason Lisle


Read aloud:
~ Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
~ The Giver by Lois Lowry


The Girl's independent choices:
~ Geronimo Stilton books
~ Magic Tree House books
~ Calvin and Hobbes books
~ Big Nate books


The Boy's independent choices:
~ books about snakes (all by Gerholdt)
~ Snakes A to Z by Twist
~ DK Eyewitness books: Space Exploration
~ Space Rocket by Tim Furniss
~ Calvin and Hobbes books
~ Big Nate books


Next up: using the XBox Kinect as part of school!




Pau.




- hfs

3 comments:

  1. I totally understand what you mean! And we don't use a literature based curriculum :) Now that Kenzie has discovered "reading for fun" and Noe has taught herself to read, they gobble up books! Thankfully both are willing to read to Evie too!

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  2. The closest we come to a literature-based curriculum is "Deconstructing Penguins". Our writing curriculum (Writing With Ease) is literature-based but only in small doses. Because they read so much, I don't feel it's necessary to assign reading as part of their daily schoolwork other than what they read independently and what we read together. That may change as we go along but not right now.

    And yes, they devour books. We'll be back at the library next week. They take the 99-book limit on their library cards as a challenge :)

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  3. For astronomy books I recommend "Night Watch" by Terence Dickinson, et. al.
    http://www.amazon.com/NightWatch-Practical-Guide-Viewing-Universe/dp/155407147X/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325979462&sr=1-3

    Nice readable star charts and just an overall good read.

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