The Baker's Dozen All-Time Favorite Read Alouds

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Today's topic is Top Ten All-Time Favorite Family Read Alouds! In no particular order, here's our baker's dozen version:

The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George

Swallows & Amazons by Arthur Ransome

The Far Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George

Nim's Island by Wendy Orr
 
Farmer Boy (and the entire Little House series of books) by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Hank the Cowdog- seriously...these books are hilarious by John Erickson

The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli

The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis

Charlotte's Web by EB White

Trumpet of the Swan by EB White

The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene du Bois

Summer School 2012

Usually by this time of the year we've put up the school books in favor of more relaxation and the summer routine. This year, however, we are forging on having been held up more than normal for things like preparing our home to sell, keeping our home show ready, and being out for showings, home inspection and all that- not to mention the house hunting for our new home.

So, although we enter the summer season still busy and now preparing to move, we are going to have a steady diet of some structured school activities. I plan to keep these items handy and easily set aside during the move so we can land here on something familiar now and then.

What's in store?

We finally started the long suggested series Swallow & Amazons and we are hooked! We have the next two books in the series to enjoy when this one is finished. I see this one coming out at campfire time, lights out and let's settle down in the tent time, and relaxing on our new back porch time!

We are about half way through MOH Volume 1 so I'm taking the time to read from this daily. We may pick up some notebooking pages for narration, but we'll see how this goes.

Math- we'll be continuing on with our math studies as normal with Fred and living math. But first, two days of IOWA Testing are in order this week for the oldest three children.

We'll be doing some science through Nature Study this summer- always a hit while camping. I bring art projects as well for rainy afternoons (or mornings) as well. You can teach a lot of biology through nature study.

We'll be using Barb's (from OHC) Summer Sizzle study. One of our favorite camping spots has giant cottonwoods and she has a study on those in this ebook. 

The 4H County Fair is about a week and a half after we move so we'll be working on polishing up entries over the next few weeks. I'll make sure they are packed separately so we can get to them by fair time!

E13 has been working through the One Year Adventure Novel and having such a good time. He'll be continuing on with that this summer. 

Reading and more reading is also on the agenda! We'll be coming up with a book goal for the kids. My kids read a ton, but sometimes get stuck in a repetitive rut not reading new material but enjoying old favorites...all good stuff, but I'm going to challenge them nonetheless.

It's shaping up to be a busy season full of family adventure including birthdays, packing, camping, moving, and more camping with a trip to Dallas for me thrown in there. But we'll also be spending time together reading and pouring into the kids' passions. More on that another time.

What are your plans for summer school this year?

On Books and Reading

Twice a year we like to hit the Friends of the Library sale in May and October. So, a few weeks ago we took the time to search the endless stacks of donated books. We always find some treasures. I've noticed in lately that I'm focusing on finding some different sorts of books than I did in the past. I no longer comb through the picture books much since I have most of the FIAR titles. Now I'm more interested in books for my almost high schooler and the students that are following behind him in middle school. Here are the results:

I hit the jackpot on field guides! I was so excited to see the "finder" books. These are dichotomous keys and will take some time to teach the kids how to use.

I found some great birding books along with some books on raptors. Keeping the passion for falconry alive through stories of other falconers.

I picked up a few classics. This will be on E's list of things to read in 9th grade.

I try not to pass up the chance to own Newbury books- Carry On Mr. Bowditch is one of our all time favorites! These are already added to the bins in our cubbies where we keep the others.

One early American History book and some Janice VanCleave. We had a great haul this time around!

For the first time, I went back to the sale on ten cent day and I scored 11 more books for $1.10. I'm going to share those as I post about E13's plans for next year. I was able to find some really nice living books on the topic of early America and our founding fathers. Stay tuned!

Charlotte's Web

Over the last month we've been revisiting and old family favorite read aloud- Charlotte's Web. We've all been sharing it either by me reading to the kids or by J6 reading to all of us. Nothing like the sweet sound of a young, confident reader to fill a homeschool mama's heart! This was the book that really helped J6 to love chapter books being read to him. We had some read aloud dates with just him and I and from that time on, he's loved it. But for the last month we've been participating in the big Community Read of Charlotte's Web. A local reading organization which helps equip families to make great readers (through various programs like free books at birth and well visits along with the first day of Kindergarten- they were featured in the latest edition of Jim Trelease's The Read Aloud Handbook) sponsored the read. They did a fantastic job making it a fun thing to be a part of. There were webs all over town- yes all four word webs were depicted. We found two and I think the third is in our grocery store and I keep forgetting to look up at our check out and snap a shot!

The first web was spotted along the fence at the high school.

You couldn't miss these signs everywhere and free books were given to every county 4th grader at least- we scored a free copy as a homeschooling family as well. If you missed a shot at the free copy, they are for sale for just $3 in a bunch of places around town.

His manuscript was partially typed and partially handwritten.

He studied spiders intently and sketched it on his first page. He wanted Charlotte to be just right. We'll be studying Garth Williams as our artist of the month in April and it turns out that EB White hand picked Mr. Williams for the job.

 One of the highlights for us was going to the library to see the display of EB White's work. White was a 1921 graduate of Cornell University and the original manuscripts are held in the archives on campus. These pictures show copies of the original which were on display. It was really something to see his penmanship and then all the work he did on his drafts. There for us to see were a bunch of drafts of the first chapter and how he got from "there was a pig born in a barn" to "Hey Pa, where are you going with that ax?" Such great stuff!

We found Humble at the county library.

The month culminated with a stage production of Charlotte's Web at a historic theater. We were able to get free tickets for the family and enjoyed a lovely little show on Sunday afternoon. E13 is on our local 4H Fair Board and he was helping to hand out flyers about this summer's county fair. "Excuse me, did you know Fern was a 4Her showing Wilbur off at the fair? I'm a 4Her too and we'd love to see you at the Fair. If you hold on to this coupon, you can play a free game!" The county 4H program had a cute display on pigs. Of course.

Of First Graders and Book Recordings

J6 has a special project going. He's been recording his readings of a few classics in an effort to take over Jim Weisse's story empire. He asked Dan the other night if he could go international with it.

I caught him after lights out recording 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. He's working the headlamp. A few brothers were providing the sound effects.

Next day he was on to Treasure Island. Every time he had a moment to himself you could hear him reading.

He is eagerly looking forward to having Dan help him rename the audio files this weekend with his full name so that when he turns on his player, he can choose his own name from the list of offerings. Look out...he's going places!

Spring for a Day!

If you live anywhere on the east coast of the US, then you know that yesterday was a pretty nice day! Even here in NY it was 62 degrees on March 7th which is pretty cool. I decided it was time to get out for the day and have some fun- especially given we've been hard at work on our house (we listed on Monday!).

We spent the afternoon at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Here's a peek at our fun time! (pardon the cell phone pictures- I broke the memory card for our Canon)

Lots of birds are back in town. It was fun to hear all the chatter there yesterday. Check out this terrible picture of a great blue heron its nest. Yes, that's him there standing on the nest.

After we had walked a while we sat for some reading- R11 pulled out her sketch easel (home made) and made some drawings.

This is one of five books we have going right now for read alouds- We started Swallows and Amazons yesterday. We are looking forward to some really fun summer adventure with this one! We stopped and read this for a bit while out and about on the trail.

Then it was back to walking...I9 was our navigator and chose a new route.

J6 loved seeing the changes in the wetlands- still some ice down there, but it is fast fading already. For the moment. I keep thinking winter is going to come in earnest at some point. I guess maybe not this year.

Hi friend! We must have seen 20-30 red winged blackbirds in the trees on an island near the observatory. This is my very favorite bird call- what says spring and summer more than the red-winged black bird call? Go ahead and hit that link to have a listen.

At home we followed with a game of Equate- great math game.

All in all, it was a great homeschooling day! Over the next 24 hours we'll be back to weather reality for a NY March, but it was a fun day of spring for us.

I'm going to spend the next long while focusing on our school and having a good time with the kids. It's long over due after a month of preparing our house to sell.  I'll be able to step up the blogging along with that. I already have some posts to share!

Emergent Readers to Super Readers!

My new post is up over at Heart of the Matter. It's titled, Emergent Readers to Super Readers! I get asked all the time what you do with a child who is finished a reading program but not reading fluently or they are not choosing to read independently. Here's a peek at the article:




We hope that when our children learn to read they will be on fire for reading and will devour books left and right. But, how do you get there? How do you move from early reading to consistent independent reading? Before I answer this question, I want to make the disclaimer that I am not a reading specialist nor do I have formal training or classroom experience in reading instruction. What I do have is the experience of a homeschooling mom who has taught 3 and just about 4 (my youngest is currently an emerging reader) children to read. Children who have varying abilities and interests. Children who learn in different ways. Yet they all have one thing in common. They read often and they read very well.

The three who are veteran readers started reading independently at different ages. Each of them came to the skill in a similar way through different learning styles. One of them came by way of apraxia and a severe speech delay- a condition which often rears its ugly head when it is time to begin reading. Often the same pathway disruptions that affect speech are the ones necessary for reading as well. I also want to say this article is not targeting children with other special learning issues that might influence their reading progression from the start. However, I think some of the tools I mention will be helpful to all emerging readers. This article is for parents who want to know what happens after the completion of a phonics program before a child is reading independently by choice and doing it well.

I decided on this topic because I get asked this question a lot. I’m all done with “x,y, z program.” What do I do now? My child is not really reading much independently. How do I get her to read more? So often I see moms who want more phonics instruction because their child just needs a bit more or somehow there must be a magical stepping stone of workbooks or short readers that will bridge the gap between just starting to read and reading on their own all the time. I have concluded there is just one remedy for the “space between.”

{Read more}

The Read Aloud: Like Sunshine for the Soul

{My new post is up over at Heart of the Matter! Go on over and enjoy- here's a little preview...}

Or a cool drink on a hot day! Nothing soothes the grumpies at our house like a read aloud. Nothing.

I’ve been a long time advocate of reading aloud to your kids. Not just the bed time kind of reading, but the kind that can start at any time and last for hours. So, I thought it would be a good idea to give some pointers on how to get started with reading aloud or how to make the most of it.

The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease is a fantastic book about the benefits of reading aloud to your kids at any age. This book, along with a favorite children’s picture book, is my standard baby gift for new parents. If we travel in the same circles, please don’t steal my idea! Mr. Trelease makes a compelling case for making the effort to read regularly to your kids and it will surely boost your confidence that your effort is well worth it.

I know what some of you are thinking. The read aloud is almost a cliché in the homeschooling world. Some of you are groaning because you simply don’t like it. Aren’t good at it. Or haven’t made the time despite your best intentions.

Many of you probably are avid readers to your kids, but what do you do if you aren’t or if you have tried in the past but have not been successful with it. Maybe your kids don’t act interested. Maybe they are too squirmy. I can tell you I have been known to read to my kids for two hours at a time and if I stop it is most likely protested with kids yelling, “More!”

So, how do you get there? By just picking up a book and reading it to your kids. Enthusiastically and consistently. You can’t lose! {Read More}

One of My Favorite Things...

...is to hear I8 read to me. Music to my ears given his early history with severe apraxia. If you want, have a listen!



Do you ever have your kids read to you? When my kids are learning to read I always have them read to me to improve their fluency. If it's a painful process to hear them read, then start reading to them more and you'll notice a difference! When my kids are just starting out and they are slow, I take turns by paragraph. Then we work up to whole pages and beyond. When my kids finish with Reading Made Easy this is what we've always done. E11 picked up on reading by being read to and was reading before he went to public school. When we brought him home half way through first grade we spent a lot of time that first semester reading to each other. The rest is history!

I8 is a joy to listen to even with the vestiges of apraxia (the articulation issues you will hear). He loves to read to me and it keeps me company when I'm doing dishes or working at my laptop. He reads like a boy who is read to often and it's fun to hear him use inflection.

Do your kids read to you? If not, you might consider it for reading practice and just for fun. Oh and his book of choice? If you think Little House books are just for girls...read them again. There is enough adventure in there for any boy!

Reading Made Easy- Our Final Round!

I can hardly believe it. We have embarked on our last journey with Reading Made Easy! I know what you're thinking...how could we? How could we start teaching reading to a 4yo? It flies in the face of every relaxed homeschooling proponent.

Don't worry...we aren't going for college next year. It just really can't be helped.

Really.

You know it's time to start when you hear your 4.5 yo look at a sign and say, "on". Or, "off".

You know it's time to start when you watch him look at a cereal box and say, "Mommy! That says YES!"

You know it's time to start when you watch him read the word, "no".

You know it's time to start when he spells the word "Candy" at the dinner table when he's finished his peas.

You especially know it's time to start when he is at the table with his siblings and his 7yo brother spells the word "half". I7 says, "Half is spelled H-E-L-F.

R9 responds, "That's almost right I. Very good. It's actually spelled H-A-L-F." (to which I smile because all is not lost for my creative girl)

But then J4 adds, "Yeah I, how else will you get the AAAA (think short a) sound in half?"

So yes, it is time. He's amassing sight words without my intervention. Who am I to hold him back?

We'll take it slow and enjoy the journey. We did the first lesson last week and J4 was supposed to give me a sentence about himself. In a family where dictation and writing abound, is it any surprise he wanted to go beyond I am 4 years old to a dissertation on our trip to Boston?

Our last preschooler *sniff*.

He's ready to read!

Keeping Up with the Accelerated Reader

My latest contribution to Heart of the Matter Online Magazine is up today. The post is entitled, Keeping Up with the Accelerated Reader and it's all about how to keep them in good books.

If you’ve ever had an accelerated reader in your home, then you know it is a challenge to keep up with what they read and to keep them in books. They read everything and anything they can get their hands on and as a parent you are constantly on the search for a good read for your child.

In my experience, there are three things that present the most difficult hurdle when you have a student who reads voraciously. Read more...

Reading Aloud

I've been telling a lot of people lately the merits of reading aloud to your kids. Not just the bed time kind of reading, but the kind that can start at any time and last for hours. So, I thought it would be a good idea to give some pointers on how to get started with reading aloud or how to take the most advantage of it.

The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease is a fantastic book about the benefits of reading aloud to your kids at any age. This book along with a favorite children's picture book is my standard baby gift for new parents. If we travel in the same circles, please don't steal my idea!

Many of you probably are avid readers to your kids, but what do you do if you aren't or if you have tried in the past but have not been successful with it. Maybe your kids don't act interested. Maybe they are too squirmy. I can tell you I have been known to read to my kids two hours at a time and if I stop it is most likely in protest with kids yelling, "More!"

So, how do you get there? By just picking up a book and reading it to your kids. Enthusiastically and consistently. You can't lose!

Most kids enjoy sitting on the sofa or lying on a bed while you read. If you have little ones, they might enjoy some extra cuddle time while you read. Fidgety kids can take a spot on the floor rolling cars or playing with another quiet toy. Some kids really like to sit and draw while we read.

Know your audience! What book, story, plot line would most engage your kids? Do you have a wide age range? You may find you can't read the same book to the whole family. You might have to split them up and read different books to different kids. Even though toddlers can handle sitting in, it doesn't mean they can handle more emotionally mature material. Charlotte's Web is a great read, but it has some more mature themes including death. Make sure your choice will hold the interest of your audience and will be emotionally appropriate for everyone. Tall order? Maybe. So, that's where the choice to read different books for different kids comes in. But I don't have the time? That's where Mr. Trelease would say that parenting was never meant to be a time saving endeavor. So true...so true.

I think the biggest thing is your attitude and excitement over the tale you want to read. Gather the kids around and just start reading! Think about the best time of day for a read aloud. I like to read the most right after breakfast and right after lunch. The reading settles everyone down and gets them in the right frame of mind for doing school. I also read as I wait for doctors (mine or theirs as long as we are all together), on long car trips, outside on a blanket, outside while they swing or play in the sandbox, at home shows while your husband is busy with contractors (just sit the kids in a bunch and kneel down and start reading where ever he is chatting), or like today I read to them while my hair was waiting for the highlights to "take". Yup...foils and all I sat in the waiting area and read to them. You can read at night in the winter when it is dark so early in the evening. It is also a sure fire way to sooth grumpy beans!

So now you might be thinking...what in the world is a good book for reading aloud? The Read Aloud Handbook has a great anthology of book titles to share. Honey for a Child's Heart by Gladys Hunt is another book that has read aloud recommendations.

I thought it would be fun to share some of our all time read aloud favorites with you here:

• My Side of the Mountain
• Chronicles of Narnia
• The Doll People Triology
• Redwall
• The Little House series
• The Hank the Cowdog Series
• Nim's Island
• The Trumpet of the Swan
  

I'm sure there are more...if I come up with what I've forgotten, I'll be sure to add it. Read aloud veterans good for you! Keep up the great work. Those of you who have not tried or have not been consistent I urge you to keep on trying until it works. Often times I will read aloud to a timid reader until he wants to take the book on his own. I get them into the book and then when they are impatient waiting on me to finish, they pick it up for themselves. How's THAT for clever??

Lot's of really good family time in reading aloud. You won't regret it!