I am Enjoying Read Alouds with the Children

A mom reading to her children

The children and I finished with our first two read alouds, Willie's First Lessons in Drawing and Number Stories of Long Ago. And you know what? We are hooked! Of course, the children have always like to be read to. So I guess I should say I'm hooked. Because really, the only one who was a bit  skeptical of the whole process was me. I like to read to the children but I tire quickly of the books that we get from the library. Particularly since there almost winds up being a favorite that I am asked to read over and over and over again.

But I am finding out that living books are so interesting that they draw you into the story. Even books that are written specifically for young children are still quite amusing to me. At the moment one of the books we are reading is Grammar-Land. It was definitely written for little ones but both my 13 year old and I are finding the book to be very comical.

For the past few days I have been compiling a reading list for our upcoming school year. I know that reading aloud will continue to be a success in our homeschool as long as I utilize the following guidelines for myself.

Pick books that I find interesting.

There is no sense in trying to get through a book that I find boring. After all, I am the one who is doing the reading. There's no way I will be able to read a book with expression or enthusiasm for very long if it doesn't appeal to me. Just saying...

Only read one chapter a day.

This is for the children's sake and for mine. I don't burnout from doing too much reading; and, the children are left hanging  waiting for the next chapter. Charlotte Mason explained that this sparks additional interest in our children. If the chapters are too long then I will divide them up over a couple or a few nights. But, I haven't encountered that yet with the few books that we have read so far.

Allow a moderate amount of "on topic" discussion.

I don't mind if the children ask questions as I read or if they add a few relevant comments along the way. If they start saying something that is clearly unrelated to what we are reading then I remind them that we need to stay on topic. Or I might tell them to save what they have to say until we are completely done with our reading time.

Read at certain times a day.

I will definitely need to establish a routine in order to make sure that we get all of our reading in. Right now I am working on establishing reading times before breakfast, before quiet/nap time, and before bed. The Word is always our morning selection. So that leaves room for us to read two living books at a time. 

Menu Plan Monday - Week of 07/08/12

I know that by Jesus' stripes I was healed of all sicknesses. By faith I know I'm healed and I am resisting all diseases knowing that illness has no choice but to flee from me. Today I found a great website all about believing, claiming, and receiving healing. I know that God has done His part and I will continue to do my part by taking care of the body that the Lord has blessed me with.

I had a great week of eating mostly plant based meals. I did have some homemade gluten free pizza at a friend's house on Friday. And on Sunday the children and I ate at the new Popeyes that we had been waiting to open near us. And you know what? I'm fine with that. I enjoyed delicious food with friends and family. But the rest of the week I ate the way that I prefer to eat.

I also exercised last week after not doing so for over a month. I walked a mile to a Leslie Sansone video on YouTube. This week I am moving up to 2 miles. Slow and steady wins the race.

Menu Plan Monday

(Mostly) Plant Based Meals (for breakfast, lunch, or dinner)

• Salads with mashed avocado and lemon as dressing
• Black bean soup
• Guacamole
• Black bean burgers
• Egg, veggie, and bean scramble
• Microwaved sweet potato with nuts and raisins
• Crustless vegetable quiche with nutritional yeast (cheese substitute)
• Fish and veggies steamed in the microwave 
• Tuna salad in a corn tortilla

Dinner for the Children - served with vegetables and bread (as needed)

• Loaded baked potatoes
• Cheese pizza
• Hot dogs 
• Taco bake
• Spaghetti
• Hamburgers on homemade buns, French fries
• My version of chuck wagon chow, where I use ground beef instead of steak and put all of the ingredients in homemade gravy

I have been missing my Honey who is in CA; and, since we have been staying with friends I haven't had much desire or drive to make any bread dough by hand. I've only done it twice in almost 2 months. But I WILL make some this week for the pizza, hamburgers, and sandwiches for lunch. Praise God for a kitchen to bake in regardless of whether it's mine.

HEBuddy Summer Reading Program - 2012

I found out about HEBubby's Summer Reading program in 2001 when I moved back to San Antonio from Virginia Beach. That year I only had one child participate. But by 2007 that number had grown to 4. And we have participated every year; except, there was that one year when the t-shirts awarded were of HEBuddy dressed as a wizard. The children still did a lot of reading that summer but we skipped sending away for that prize.

With moving from our house almost 2 months ago, my husband going to CA, and us staying with friends waiting to join him, I had completely forgotten about the reading program this year. I must really have a  lot on my mind because I usually start talking about summer reading before school is even over with. Thankfully, a few days ago my children spied a stand at the front of  HEB that reminded us. So we picked up 3 submission forms and went on our merry way. Sadly, my eldest who is now 13 feels that he is too old to wear an HEBuddy shirt. How did that happen?

We will be completing our reading and have our reading lists mailed in pretty quickly in hopes that we will still be in town when the t-shirts arrrive. In the past, it has never taken more than three weeks for us to receive them.

The San Antonio Public Library system also has a summer reading program each year ending with a big library party. I used to let my eldest participate in those but the themes changed from cute and kid related to magic. I tried to ignore it the first year and let my son do the reading so that he could pick out a free book. But surprise, almost all of the choices were books about magic. Maybe they have since changed their ways, but we decided to just stick with HEB's program.

Learning to Draw with Living Books

Last week I read the children a book called Willie's First Drawing Lessons: Simple Lines of Nature. I like how book titles were so self explanatory back in the day. It is a small book of approximately 40 pages. But despite it's length (or lack thereof), it is a great living book that teaches children some important basics for drawing. 

This is what is stated in the beginning of the book:

This little book has been written chiefly with a view to interest a young child in Form by associating its instruction with familiar objects; but it has further been attempted to render the attainment of the first ideas of drawing more easy, by classifying all lines into two kinds only.

****Random fact**** I have to mention that the book is written by "A. Lady". How cute is that? ****End of random fact****

By the time we finished the book the children knew that basically drawing comes down to straight lines and curved lines. Willie points out these shapes in his everyday surroundings to his mom and dad. The book came out in 1857 so in Willie's day that meant nature, steamboats, Bricklayers, and Milk Maidens - to name a few.

Straight Lines

The above illustration is used when Willie explains to his father the four types of straight lines. The children and I learned that some lines had different names 150 years ago. What we know as vertical lines today were called perpendicular back then. And diagonal lines used to be called oblique. Who knew?

Curved Lines

Willie explains to his father that a curved line "is a line which does not go the shortest way between two points, but sweeps evenly out on one side or the other." Circles are touched on a bit as well. 

Angles

Even though angles are really just two straight lines that meet at a point, the book does dedicate a chapter to them. Acute, right, and obtuse angles are illustrated and explained in a way that isn't confusing to little ones.

Short and Sweet

The beautiful illustrations and the quaint story kept the children very interested. Also, I just read one chapter a day before Quiet Time in keeping with Charlotte Mason's belief that short, concise lessons are best to keep the children's attention. 

Drawing Lessons

Willie's First Drawing Lessons and Teaching Children to Draw compliment each other. TCTD gives practical application to the concepts that Willie explains.

Menu Plan Monday - Week of July 2

About a month after I became lax with my eating habits I started having some health challenges. I prayed and asked the Lord what to do. And I was reminded of what I already know is right - eating right and exercise! So, I am returning to cooking with NO: milk, cheese, refined sugar, wheat, red meat, pork, oil, or salt, bleached or white grains and flours.

Easy Breakfasts and Dinners

So this week I actually have 2 menus. One is for the children and the other is my plant strong eating plan.  Because of the additional food prep I will keep breakfast and lunch for the children very simple. Breakfast will either consist of hot or cold cereal; or, it will be my easy - yet delicious - eggs, potato and toast. And lunch will be various kinds of sandwiches on homemade bread served with a fruit or quick pizza.

Plant Strong Anytime Meals - served with additional  fruit or veggies (if needed)

• Microwaved sweet potato with raisins, nuts, and sweet potato spices
• Slow cooker beans
• Stir Fry - without oil, with tofu
• Tuna on a corn tortilla 
• Mashed bean tacos with nutritional yeast
• Salad full of nuts, fruits, and veggies - with mashed avocado and lemon juice or hummus in place of  salad dressing
• Steamed fish, baked potato
• Fruit and veggie smoothies
• Homemade granola
• Scrambles eggs with veggies and beans (one of my faves)

I have never been big on "breakfast foods" vs. "dinner foods". I will eat whatever strikes my fancy any time of day. So that is why I called these anytime meals. I will eat variations of the foods listed above plus snacks like: air popped popcorn sprinkled with nutritional yeast, raw fruits, and veggies dipped in homemade hummus without oil and without tahini.

Dinner for the Children - served with bread (if needed) and a vegetable

• Baked BBQ chicken
• Chicken fajitas
• Honey BBQ ribs
• Pinto beans and rice
• Bean and cheese tacos
• Homemade cheese pizza
• Hotdogs on homemade buns

Free Scripture Songs: ScriptureSongs.net

The children and I are huge God Rocks fans. We discovered them a couple of years ago on TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network). God Rocks have songs that they call Bible Toons which are NIV scripture set to catchy tunes. I used to record the shows and then we'd listen to them during lunchtime. But we got rid of cable some time ago. So, there went our God Rocks.

I managed to find one of their CD's on Amazon for just a few dollars. But it only has 13 songs on it and the songs are very short. You can purchase the complete set of Bible Toon songs from their website but with the cost and shipping charges from Canada that would have to be a Christmas present for the family.

Of course, for every thing that cost money there is some sort of free equivalent available online. And thankfully I found a great site that has free songs that are scripture set to music.  ScriptureSongs.net was a wonderful discovery. The artist who's songs are on this site  plays the guitar and sings scriptures in a serene, folksy way. Think of  James Taylor singing the Word of God. Amazing! 

No Distractions

The songs really are uplifting and very beautiful.  And they stay in your mind. I have been humming and singing songs from the first CD off and on all day, and I just discovered the site yesterday. Since it is just a voice and an acoustic guitar, the scripture is what it's all about.

To King James or Not to King James

Sometimes I can not tell for sure what translation he is using. And the artist himself said in his Q&A that he is not tied to one particular translation. If that is not a deal breaker for you then you might want to check out some of the songs. You can listen to the songs individually or you can stream entire CDs. You can also download the music or burn it onto CDs and distribute it freely to bless others.

Scripture Memorization Here We Come

I can definitely see us using these songs as part of our Bible time. This is definitely a beautiful way to meditate on and memorize the Word of God

Living Books for Math - Number Stories of Long Ago

Yesterday was the first day of a new schedule that I started with the children. It is summer time but we needed a little structure, regardless. Also, I wanted to start doing some reading aloud. And since we have done zero math since our school year officially ended, that seemed like a good place to start. 

Admittedly, I was a bit inclined to be skeptical of the concept of children learning math through living books. But I am trusting in the method and giving it a go. I have one child who experienced frustration last year with math, A LOT of it. So, I figured just listening to some fun stories about it will help to get rid of the hard feelings he may have developed regarding arithmetic. 

Before bed last night I read the intro and first story in Number Stories of Long Ago. I had skimmed the story beforehand to make sure it was appropriate and was left wondering if it would hold everyone's attention. My two youngest were tired after a long evening of VBS and it showed while I read the story. But the one child that I wanted to benefit from the story the most DID! 

A look at the 2nd preface of the book explains why Number Stories was written.

PREFACE NUMBER TWO

FOR THE GROWN-UPS, AND NOT WORTH

READING

The story of our numbers, of the world's attempts

to count, of the many experiments in writing numer-

als, and of the difficulties encountered through the

ages in performing our everyday computations — all

this is so interwoven with the history of humanity

as to have an interest for every thinking person. As

the world has grown, so the work with numbers has

grown; when the world has faced the mysteries of

the universe, numbers have assisted in solving its

problems; when commerce and science have shown

new needs in computation, arithmetic has always been

ready to lend a hand. The history of mathematics is

no small part of the history of civilization.

This being the case, it seems proper to relate at

least some portion of the story of numbers to the

pupils in our schools. It can be made quite as inter-

esting as any other story of civilization, for it touches

upon a subject with which the pupils in our schools

are in daily contact, adding new values to the prob-

lems of arithmetic and giving a new perspective to

the whole study of mathematics.

This book is intended for supplementary reading

in the elementary school. It is written in nontech-

nical language, and the effort has been made to con-

nect with the history enough of the human element

to make it more interesting than any mere recital of

facts. With it there is also joined something of the

history of writing materials, this being connected nat-

urally with the story of our numbers. Chapters I-VIII

can easily be read aloud, and the Question Box at

the end of each chapter can be used as a basis for

conversation or for written work.

The facts stated in the book are as nearly exact as

the circumstances permit. It is not to be expected,

however, that changes in the form of various nu-

merals will be considered. Such changes are of no

moment in a work of this nature and do not con-

tradict the statement that the historical facts are

presented with substantial accuracy.

It is the author's hope that this little series of

human incidents will create a new interest not merely

in the study of arithmetic but in the story of the

development of our civilization.

DAVID EUGENE SMITH, author

(emphasis mine)

Wow, those were high hopes for a book! But because of how engaging the first story is I know that the author accomplished his goals.  This is the page that got my son excitedly doing mental math right before bedtime late on a Monday night.

"FIVE!!!!"  My son excitedly shouted that out without any prompting right after I read "two twos and one". And this morning he asked me if I would read another story "right now". All I can say to that is thank you Lord!