Life and Lists

Life

Our kids love video games. Especially my youngest son. He loves anything "screen." We have always operated with a timer regulating tablet or PS3 in our house, only because for that particular little boy, he never tires of these kinds of games! If left to his own, time could go by without any breaks or any other activities happening. For the last couple of weeks we have operated on a "tablets and video games only on the weekend" rule. At first I thought this was going to be really hard to keep up, because I kind of looked forward to that quiet in the later afternoon. I have been pleasantly surprised that once everyone got used to the idea, the asking for tablets and video games has basically stopped. The new trend in our house however, has become this game called "Typer Island." It's a keyboarding tutor, and my youngest (once again) seems to be using it as a way to fill his apparent need for screens, in the name of education. haha. For the most part, our weekend video gaming/tablet apps is working, and I'm thankful for this. There are so many other things we can fill our time doing. I'm not by any means against gaming, but I really want to offer a well-rounded feast of activities at this point in their young lives. While my children's interests and skills are developing, I feel the need to guide this area. As well, we all need some direction when it comes to learning wise time management.

School

This week we finished our Canada's Natives unit. Because I'm not in a position to write a curriculum to teach these topics, I don't feel like I can be overly critical of the program itself, however, I certainly felt like the content could have been condensed. This was a long 10-week study. Even though there are differences between native groups in our history, it would seem they share more similarities. If we go through this material again when my youngest is a bit older, we will likely make some of our own changes. (Which is pretty normal in homeschool--adapt programs to fit your family's style.) As well the project book that I had each of my children make became redundant after a while. The project book consisted of creating 4 pages of information for each native group, covering these topics: Food, Shelter, Transportation, and a Region Map. What I really appreciated about this unit was each of my children became experts at making a title page (we made a section title page for each of the seven groups). They also practiced summarizing information in their own words. And finally, they enjoyed copying notes we brainstormed together from a whiteboard. 

My sixth grader and I just finished reading this book together. One reason why I love Sonlight so much, is that it really stretches us to read books we wouldn't normally pick up on our own. I read this book aloud to her, while the other kids kind of floated in and out of the room. Reading a book aloud together, can also completely change the way we feel about it, even if the story is a bit harder to follow, or not faced paced. The reading aloud experience, really adds to how we remember the book. For this, I'm so thankful.

I think I can honestly credit my children's love for reading to reading aloud with them. Oftentimes, they pick up harder books that we have already read together. Reading the book aloud, makes the story more approachable for them. They have the overall idea, and they want to revisit it themselves. And with those children who all too often judge a book by its cover, or the printing inside.... ebooks are the solution! You can increase the font size to make it less daunting, and many times you can find better cover art from other editions.  ;) And of course, there's Audible. Finding a good narrator, and listening together can change your reading experience completely! My oldest daughter has listened to books like Redwall, Treasures of the Snow, The Hobbit, Little Britches. My boys keep revisiting favorites like Homer Price, How to Eat Fried Worms, and Hank the Cowdog.

A new-found resource is RedeemedReader.com. This website is a collaborative effort of individuals reading and reviewing popular books of all genres.

On My Side Table

Clockwork Sparrow by Katherine Woodfine was such a fun read---I finished it in two days. A quirky mystery set in the early 1900's in London with the emergence of the department store concept.

I can't say a book has ever really caused me to have troubles falling asleep!  ;) I chose Silver in the Blood because of reviews on books by this author on redeemedreader.com under the heading of fantasy. I was keen to change up my genre of fiction... this was the only ebook available by her on my public library, so I gave it a try. I'm not sure I will revisit Jessica Day George. This was a stretching read for me. But you may enjoy it if you like vampire stories and people changing forms.... This book I also read in two days, stretching as it was, it kept me turning the page.