Friday, May 8, 2015

What We're Reading :: In May


Me
Charlotte Mason's Volume 6 and Susan Schaeffer Macaulay's For the Children's Sake (re-reads for our CM study group)
Tolstoy's Anna Karenina (for our local book club--half finished!)
Station Eleven (pausing this one while I wait through the library queue again)
The Girl on the Train (just picked it up from the library yesterday, so I'm not sure if it's any good yet)

To the Big Kids
CS Lewis' The Silver Chair (we're doing all of Narnia on audio for summer!)
du Bois' The Twenty-One Balloons (just finished--such a fun read!)
Trevor's Sun Slower, Sun Faster (one I was hoping to hit last year to tie in with our study of the English marytrs under Elizabeth I)

Vincent, age 8
Arthur Ransome's Old Peter's Russian Tales (a great library find--love Ransome)
Marguerite Henry's Sea Star, Orphan of Chincoteague (he loves the Henry books)
Windeatt's Pauline Jaricot (complete with hummingbird bookmark--do you see it up there? :))

Gianna, age 8
Padraic Colum's The Legend of Saint Columba (she's on a Colum kick)
Robert Lawson's Rabbit Hill (one of our last reads from the AO Year 3 list)
Roald Dahl's Danny the Champion of the World (with giggles)
...and they're both reading a chapter a day from the Silversteins' Life in a Tidal Pool to prepare for beach trips this summer

Cate, age 6
Wilder's Little House in the Big Woods (mostly listening but occasionally buddy reading with big sister)

To the Littles
Palazzo's The Story of Noah's Arc (5yo Xavier's current favorite--he loves all the colors and animals)
Bemelmans' Madeline and the Bad Hat (3yo Bridget's current favorite--she's on a Madeline kick, which I'm happy to endure)
Frazee's Everywhere Babies (2yo Clara's current favorite--babies babies babies all the time!)

Books are still rolling in here and there, including a box I recently got mostly filled with books for next school year...starting to get excited!


Reading anything fun, or are you focusing on school books as you finish off the school year?

17 comments:

  1. Nice stack. :) I just ordered a bunch of books (and ...cough... might have jumped online to order just a couple more) to be shipped to my parents' house so they will be waiting there when we arrive in 2 weeks. Some for school, some for a little boy who has a birthday approaching, and some just because I don't have to pay/wait for international shipping. I'm a little giddy about digging in to all those packages....

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    1. Jen, you must be ecstatic at the prospect of ordering books and not having to wait months and months until they arrive--so exciting! :)

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  2. I always enjoy these posts! I'm going to have to check out the Tidal Pool one, I've been thinking I'd like to expand our resources in that area. I brought a reference card and a guide book last time we went to the ocean and they were great, but I think I could use something like that book as well.

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    1. The Tidal Pool one is a good one. It's like the non-fiction version of Pagoo, going through all the different families of tidepool animals with some nice drawn illustrations. The kids really like it so far.

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  3. We're mostly focusing on school books right now. We're heading into the home stretch of finishing our school year. I'm holding off on starting any new longer read-aloud books right now and we're enjoying some of the Year 1 literature reads as our read-alouds instead. I'm really looking forward to ordering Year 2 books for next year! :) For my personal reading, I'm still reading Watership Down, The Birth of Britain, The Once and Future King, and How to Read a Book. I've also begun re-reading The Living Page. I read a portion of it awhile back and then set it aside. So I decided to pick it back up and start from the beginning again. :)

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    1. I'm thinking about re-reading The Living Page soon too, or at least dipping into parts. I want it as a refresher as I plan next year. :)

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    2. I'm already on Ch. 2 "Gallery of Forms". I've been inspired to have a summer project for my youngest daughter's nature notebook. Make sketches of six different summer flowers that she sees this summer...we can include where we found them and when. Then, since we are reading Burgess Bird Book right now, I'd like to take some extra time this summer and keep a chart of birds we see, noting when and where we see them. We do this informally already really. We just don't make a note of it in the nature notebook. She usually either draws a picture or colors a picture of some of the various birds she reads about in the BBB. So I thought that throughout the summer, we could make it a special project to make a bird chart. I think she will love it!

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  4. We all love Everywhere Babies here, even the adults. Marla Frazee's illustrations are so real and joyful. It's wonderful to have a book that shows what a blessing babies are, even the up in the middle of the night babies.

    I just got my copy of Story Book of Science. Going to start making notes of all the extra links to go with it. Carol at Journey and Destination has some great ones on her Pinterest board. But you probably already know that. =)

    We finish school next week, so mostly finishing our Y1 and Y3 books right now. Except my 2 year old is requesting, The Napping House over and over again. I am finishing Eats, Shoots and Leaves. It's quite funny (if you like British humor) and has helped me polish some of my grammar skills before Y4. I will probably have my kiddos read it when they are older because it really does make you love grammar and see how important grammar is.

    Glad you are still blogging, even on your summer break. =)

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    1. Yes, I have been following Carol's posts very eagerly and taking notes! She is a wealth of information. :) I have been taking some peeks at Storybook of Science and I'm really looking forward to it. And congrats on finishing up your school year!

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  5. I love these posts! Great for book ideas. We love Twenty-One Balloons also, and are currently going through the Narnia Series as well. Last year I went trough Anna Karenina together with a friend, and it's one of my all-time favorites!

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    1. We have our first book club meeting on Anna Karenina this week (for the first half of the book) and will meet for the rest of the book next month. I'm really enjoying it so far, and I think it's going to spark some great discussion!

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  6. We are on summer break so just enjoying lots of free reading. We start Y2 on June 1 so I am pre-reading and planning and enjoying the more relaxed schedule.

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    1. We'll be starting our new school year the first week of July, so I'm doing much the same as you, pre-reading and planning! I actually love planning, so no complaints here. It's nice to have these extra couple hours each day during our "summer" break to do that sort of thing. :)

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  7. All of Mary Fabyan Windeatt's saint books (along with the Vision books, Encounter the Saints, and Louis de Whol books) are MUST reads for all Catholics (especially children!) (I read them all in middle school.
    Can someone describe to me how Miss Mason's books "read"? Is it something you can pick up and breeze through? Or is it more "dense" like reading Shakespeare?
    Thanks!

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    1. They are a bit difficult--not Shakespeare, but definitely dense in some parts. I have to say, though, that they are not to be missed! It's one thing to read what others say she said, but to read her yourself is such a richer experience. But if you're feeling a little intimidated, there's a paraphrase available on the AO website of each of the six volumes, basically putting it into my modern English:
      https://amblesideonline.org/CMM/ModernEnglish.html
      It's well done and gives you a good sense of CM's actual thoughts without requiring quite as much mental energy. ;) Hope that helps!

      And yes, we love the saints books for children. So many good ones!

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  8. Lots of good books here, Celeste.
    My children are focusing on finishing term 3, but as for me, I am reading C.S. Lewis' The Problem of Pain, Volume 2 of the CM series, Canterbury Tales, A Tale of Two Cities, and for poetry, Emily Dickinson.
    However, I confess that with the warmer weather and outside chores that are calling my name, reading every day is on the back burner right now. Several times a week is more realistic. :)
    Have a lovely day!

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    1. Your reading list sounds wonderful, Lisa. I had a couple hours over the weekend to just lie down and read--bliss! Talk about a lovely Mother's Day gift. :) The warmer weather actually keeps me inside a bit more, mostly because my allergies are giving me trouble. But I'll be better as soon as the worst of spring hay fever has passed. I do so love summer mornings outdoors.

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