Friday, January 25, 2008

We're Still Here


We're still here, we just aren't doing anything worth posting. Ha
We are just doing basic school. It is too cold to do much else.

We are reading a couple of fabulous books though!
God's People: Stories from the Old Testament by Geraldine McCaughrean
The Children's Book of Heroes by William J. Bennett

Mc
Caughrean's writing is so vivid! G just hangs on her words.
And I love the message of the Heroes book. Before each story, Bennett states a heroic quality. Qualities I want G to learn. So far we have, Hero's use their brains and Hero's use Self Control.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Happy Birthday to G!


G is 6 today!!
I cannot believe it.
We surprised him with dinner with his cousins at Chuckie Cheese.

Friday, January 11, 2008

Dangerous Book for Boys

G's library class, the Adventure Zone, started up again this week. Last semester they read Tom Sawyer and a little Sherlock Holmes. This semester they are going to be doing activities from the Dangerous Book for Boys and Daring Book for Girls. If you haven't seen them, the books are filled with information, activities, and reading list that the author believes every one should know. The librarians said they will be learning to juggle, make paper airplanes, STINK BOMBS, learn some French, among many other things. This adventurous attitude has really inspired G. He has decided to be a daredevil and now practices many times a day climbing the doorway. We have 10 foot ceilings so this is quite a challenge. After a couple of days he is almost to the TOP! It's wonderful to watch his enthusiasm.

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Triple 8 Challenge

Last week, Mother Crone wrote about a reading challenge called the Triple 8 Challenge.

Here are the Rules...

1. Challenge runs from January 1 through December 31, 2008.

2. Choose 8 categories of your own that you would like to read 8 books EACH in.

3. You will be allowed 8 overlaps, for a total of 56 unique book titles.

4. You may overlap these 56 titles with any other challenge.

5. You may change your list or your categories at any time.

So as I do not take time to read for myself I am going to join this challenge to help motivate me. I definitely used the 8 overlaps (noted with a *). Here is my list....

Thomas Jefferson Education Book List

Little Britches- Ralph Moody

Jane Eyre- Charlotte Bronte

The Lonesome Gods- Louis L’Amour

Laddie – Gene Stratton- Porter

Les Miserable- Victor Hugo

The Chosen- Chaim Potok

The Abolition of Man – C.S. Lewis

Uncle Tom’s Cabin- Harriet Beecher Stowe

Christian Fiction

True Light- Terri Blackstock *

The Parting- Beverly Lewis

Levi’s Will – W. Dale Cramer

Shadowed- Jerry Jenkins

Silenced- Jerry Jenkins

The Bark of the Bog Owl- Jonathan Rogers*

Summer Hill Secrets Vol 1- Beverly Lewis

Summer Hill Secrets Vol 2- Beverly Lewis


Children’s Classics

Robin Hood - Pyle

The Jungle Book- Rudyard Kipling

Winnie the Pooh- A.A. Milne

The Book of Virtues- William J. Bennett

Complete Fairy Tales- Brother Grimm

Fairy Tales- Hans Christian Anderson

The Children’s Book of Heroes- William J. Bennett

The Children’s Book of America- William J. Bennett


Collecting Dust on My Bookshelf

The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver*

The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath*

To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee*

Eragon- Christopher Paolini

Eldest- Christopher Paolini

The Bears of Blue River- Charles Major

The Dante Club- Matthew Pearl

The Jane Austen Book Club- Karen Joy Fowler


More Dust

Where the Sidewalk Ends- Shel Silverstein

Falling Up- Shel Silverstein

Night – Elie Wiesel

The Bark of the Bog Owl- Jonathan Rogers*

The Complete Poetic Works of James Whitcome Riley

The Quiet American- Grahme Greene*

The Power and the Glory- Grahme Greene*

A Girl Named Zippy- Haven Kimmel


Narnia

The Magician's Nephew

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

The Horse and His Boy

Prince Caspian

The Voyage of the "Dawn Treader"

The Silver Chair

The Last Battle

The Narnia Trivia Book


Unread Books by Favorite Authors

Northanger Abby- Jane Austen

Persuasions- Jane Austen

Broker- John Grisham

Ya- Yas in Bloom- Rebecca Wells

The Quiet American- Grahme Greene*

The Power and the Glory- Grahme Greene*

True Light- Terri Blackstock*

Charlie & the Chocolate Factory- Roald Dahl


1001 Books to Read Before You Die List

The Devil and Miss Prym – Paulo Coelho

The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver*

The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath*

To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee*

The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald

Tarzan of the Apes – Edgar Rice Burroughs

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Playing Catch Up

(Our Gingerbread Tree... Same as School for Us, LOL)

Whew, I cannot believe it has been almost a month since I last blogged. It has been a busy, sickly holiday season. We have all been in some state of sickness, I being the only one to sneak by without a round of antibiotics. It has been wonderful to simply lay around and recoup these passed couple of days. So... what have we been up to besides keeping Kleenex and Mucinex in business?

School
Reading
  • Bob Books box 1
  • Study Dog
Math
  • Skip counting
  • Adding 2
  • Writing numbers past 100
Other
  • Seeing the Nutcracker
  • Cha Cha Cha Chia


Life
  • Family Get Togethers
    • 4 Christmas
    • 1 New Years
  • Alvin & the Chipmunks Movie
What is next?
G
Long Vowels
More adding
Formal Handwriting lessons

Me
Researching & Organizing resources for next year
Contemplating joining Triple 8 Challenge Mother Crone turned me onto