Reading out loud has always been welcome by my younger children. Reading to a 5 year old is very enjoyable for me because at 5 they are able to listen to a longer story and follow more complicated plots. (Not that we're done with Dr. Seuss by a long shot!) My kids seem more sensitive to tension and suspense than some, so it's been challenging to find longer stories that aren't to scary to them. Here are some chapter books my boys have enjoyed around the age of 5 years old.
Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner both by AA Milne. These are classic, and rightly so. These have been much requested recently for listening in the car.
The Teddy Robinson Storybook, by Joan G. Robinson is another great find with a stuffed bear for a character. It's got an entirely different flavor than Winnie-the-Pooh, and we like the interaction between Teddy and his little girl Deborah.
Milly Molly Mandy, and More Milly Molly Mandy, by Joyce Lankester Brisley. Each chapter of these stands alone as the not so scary adventures of a young British girl around the early 1920s.
My Father's Dragon and it's sequels by Ruth Stiles Gannett. In these books a child tells about the adventures his father had with a baby dragon. Fun, not too scary, but it does have a bit of suspense.
Twig, by Elizabeth Orton Jones is the gentle fantasy of girl who meets an elf, gets shrunk to his size, and the adventures that then commence. This was an unexpected find through Chinaberry, which has in depth book reviews to go with their offerings.
The Mouse and the Motorcycle, and it's sequels Runaway Ralph, and Ralph S. Mouse, by Beverly Cleary. This book is full of more tension and getting into trouble than many of the others listed here, but it's told in such a way that the kids have enjoyed it. Beverly Cleary is a treasure trove for children's books, but these are the favorites around here at this age.
My youngest is now 5. I'm so treasuring this time and these stories. My 8 yo still enjoys listening to these, so hopefully we'll be seeing these again in the coming years. I'm not ready to say good-bye!
Leave me a note and let me know some of your favorites. We've always got room for more good books.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Friday, January 8, 2010
Khan Academy
Just a quick note to share a find.
The Khan Academy is a new old find. It's got some nice visual tutorials on math and science, SAT tutorials in math, and much more than I can describe here. I'd found it months ago, but then didn't get back to it. NPR recently did an interview with the man who's doing it and so I was reminded of it.
My oldest recently purchased an refurbished ipod classic, and so has been enjoying some audio finds. Playing with the Khan Academy youtube video I discovered it can be downloaded and that my computer knows how to change it to an Apple ipod format. Yea! Now these tutorials can be watched on a portable device anywhere.
I sound like a commercial don't I? :-p
The Khan Academy is a new old find. It's got some nice visual tutorials on math and science, SAT tutorials in math, and much more than I can describe here. I'd found it months ago, but then didn't get back to it. NPR recently did an interview with the man who's doing it and so I was reminded of it.
My oldest recently purchased an refurbished ipod classic, and so has been enjoying some audio finds. Playing with the Khan Academy youtube video I discovered it can be downloaded and that my computer knows how to change it to an Apple ipod format. Yea! Now these tutorials can be watched on a portable device anywhere.
I sound like a commercial don't I? :-p
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Audio Finds
We're big fans of audio books and lectures here. I've written before about how we like to listen in the car, around town or on road trips. Mostly we've gotten stuff from the library, CD's, cassettes, and those little sound media players than you can just check out and stick your own ear buds into. We've also enjoyed podcasts from the likes of Car Talk, The Splendid Table, and Grammar Girl.
Recently I've found a couple of new resources. One of my groups posted a link to My Audio School. A homeschooling mom has pulled together an amazing group of free audio books (and some videos) available on-line. There's a subscription option, but about 25% of the content is listed free of charge. It's aimed at those interested in classical education. Great finds here!
Poking through that I discovered LibriVox. There are over 3000 recordings of books, recorded by volunteers and available for down load free of charge. LibriVox is entirely volunteer run and founded on the ideals of open source and open intellectual property. Pretty amazing! LibriVox has only offerings available in the public domain, so you'll still need the library or book store for Harry Potter and the like.
There's also the Net Library which is accessible through a local public library. Through Net Library you can check out audio books to down load and play on your computer or mobile device. I say "check out" because the books do expire.
What resources do you know about? I'm always looking for more!
Recently I've found a couple of new resources. One of my groups posted a link to My Audio School. A homeschooling mom has pulled together an amazing group of free audio books (and some videos) available on-line. There's a subscription option, but about 25% of the content is listed free of charge. It's aimed at those interested in classical education. Great finds here!
Poking through that I discovered LibriVox. There are over 3000 recordings of books, recorded by volunteers and available for down load free of charge. LibriVox is entirely volunteer run and founded on the ideals of open source and open intellectual property. Pretty amazing! LibriVox has only offerings available in the public domain, so you'll still need the library or book store for Harry Potter and the like.
There's also the Net Library which is accessible through a local public library. Through Net Library you can check out audio books to down load and play on your computer or mobile device. I say "check out" because the books do expire.
What resources do you know about? I'm always looking for more!
December's books
- Lips Touch, by Laini Taylor
- Ballad, by Maggie Stiefvater
- Still Life with Chickens, by Catherine Goldhammer
- Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys, by Melissa De La Cruz & Tom Dolby
- Stocking Up III, by Carol Hupping
- Such a Pretty Fat, by Jen Lancaster
- The Encyclopedia of Country Living, by Carla Emery
- Sunshine, by Robin McKinley
- Shiver, by Maggie Stiefvater
Friday, December 4, 2009
Finding friends
A question has come up on one of my groups again. It's an issue often enough that I decided to blog about it.
The question goes something like this: (please,forgive all the slashes)
"My child doesn't have any friends. S/he is quiet/reserved and imaginative/creative and/or active/physical/kinetic. S/he doesn't seem to "click" with others easily."
First of all, why is this an issue? (No. I'm not being facetious.) Does your child want more friends or do you want your child to have more friends? Some kids really would rather not bother with friends, especially when they're very young and/or have siblings they enjoy. Is your child content playing on their own or with siblings? Is your child asking you to be their playmate more often that works for you?
It's important to understand how much of this is your issue and how much is theirs. It's perfectly legitimate for it to be your issue. Something like "My kid is driving me crazy. He has too much energy for me and needs someone else to work it out with" is a perfectly good reason to search out friends, but it may require a different approach than "My child was crying and told me that he wanted more friends." There seems to be certain Right Brained kids that are not extroverts and it's important that we respect that, even if we have compelling reasons for wanting to them make more and deeper connections with others.
My middle child suddenly noticed he didn't have any friends a couple of years ago when he was six. My heart just ached for him. I wanted so much to fix it, but it wasn't something I could "do" for him. It's been a process for both of us.
I noticed much earlier, but since he didn't care I gave up worrying about it. Once he expressed a desire for friends it became something we've worked on together. While he's very empathetic, he's not one for whom friendship has come easily. We've had to talk about what makes a person a friend and how to be a friend.
We've talked about what it means to be a friend, how you know if someone is your friend, the different kinds of friends. There are friendships based around a shared activity, friendships based on physical location, friendships based on a feeling of kindred spirit, etc... It's possible to have many different kinds of friends to meet different needs.
I have boys, and I know their friendships can be different than that of girls, but here's my experience, for what it's worth.
Park days, church, classes and such are a great way to meet people, but not a great way to build a real friendship. When we have the opportunity to meet new friends I look for characteristics I know will be good matches for the child I'm thinking of. I look for similar interests, similar energy level, emotional maturity/awareness (or lack there of :-P ). For instance, my oldest loves books, games, robots, electronics, so it's easy for him to build friendships around these interests. My middle child has more energy than an entire gymnastics team, so he does better w/ someone who also has a lot of physical energy and doesn't mind a bit of tussling. (Also, the child's parent needs to be ok w/ that level of physicality, so if their child is already like that I don't have to explain so much). At different times my kids have done better with kids older or younger than them.
When we really want to make a friend we arrange a one on one play date with someone that we'd like to know better. It's nearly always a "family" play date. In fact, sometimes the other parent and I will not point out that it's a "play date" for the kids at all. We'll just say "we're going to visit my friend" or "my friend and her kids are coming over" and then encourage the kids to get out of our hair by giving them an activity near us while we chat. That takes some of the pressure of playing together off the kids. They're just hanging out because we make them, not because they're trying to be friends. I'm pretty up front w/ the other parent about how we need one on one time for the kids to warm up to a real friendship and most other parents have understood that.
If your child is having problems with friends gravitating towards a sibling rather than him/her, you might try looking for friends that are not likely to be as attracted to, or attractive to, the sibling. Maybe someone younger or older than the sibling, or w/ interests that are unique to your child? We've had that problem with my middle son. He's a bit wild, and wears out even the most energetic kids, isn't really great at using his words... His current two good friends are both also very energetic and creative, one a year older and one a year younger. The older one can gravitate to my oldest boy, which has hurt middle's feelings... We talked it through, and oldest becoming aware of the situation has worked to turn attention back to his brother sometimes, which has helped. Middle is learning to pay attention to body language and spoken language has also helped him realize that he needs to tone it down sometimes. (Room for growth here!) It's amazing what a couple of years of growth and intention have done though.
The final thing I would say is that it's more important to be comfortable in your own skin than to be popular. If a child feels good about himself it's easy to find others whose company he enjoys or to be comfortable without company.
OK, not the final thing. I never shut up, so there will probably be more somewhere later. ;-)
The question goes something like this: (please,forgive all the slashes)
"My child doesn't have any friends. S/he is quiet/reserved and imaginative/creative and/or active/physical/kinetic. S/he doesn't seem to "click" with others easily."
First of all, why is this an issue? (No. I'm not being facetious.) Does your child want more friends or do you want your child to have more friends? Some kids really would rather not bother with friends, especially when they're very young and/or have siblings they enjoy. Is your child content playing on their own or with siblings? Is your child asking you to be their playmate more often that works for you?
It's important to understand how much of this is your issue and how much is theirs. It's perfectly legitimate for it to be your issue. Something like "My kid is driving me crazy. He has too much energy for me and needs someone else to work it out with" is a perfectly good reason to search out friends, but it may require a different approach than "My child was crying and told me that he wanted more friends." There seems to be certain Right Brained kids that are not extroverts and it's important that we respect that, even if we have compelling reasons for wanting to them make more and deeper connections with others.
My middle child suddenly noticed he didn't have any friends a couple of years ago when he was six. My heart just ached for him. I wanted so much to fix it, but it wasn't something I could "do" for him. It's been a process for both of us.
I noticed much earlier, but since he didn't care I gave up worrying about it. Once he expressed a desire for friends it became something we've worked on together. While he's very empathetic, he's not one for whom friendship has come easily. We've had to talk about what makes a person a friend and how to be a friend.
We've talked about what it means to be a friend, how you know if someone is your friend, the different kinds of friends. There are friendships based around a shared activity, friendships based on physical location, friendships based on a feeling of kindred spirit, etc... It's possible to have many different kinds of friends to meet different needs.
I have boys, and I know their friendships can be different than that of girls, but here's my experience, for what it's worth.
Park days, church, classes and such are a great way to meet people, but not a great way to build a real friendship. When we have the opportunity to meet new friends I look for characteristics I know will be good matches for the child I'm thinking of. I look for similar interests, similar energy level, emotional maturity/awareness (or lack there of :-P ). For instance, my oldest loves books, games, robots, electronics, so it's easy for him to build friendships around these interests. My middle child has more energy than an entire gymnastics team, so he does better w/ someone who also has a lot of physical energy and doesn't mind a bit of tussling. (Also, the child's parent needs to be ok w/ that level of physicality, so if their child is already like that I don't have to explain so much). At different times my kids have done better with kids older or younger than them.
When we really want to make a friend we arrange a one on one play date with someone that we'd like to know better. It's nearly always a "family" play date. In fact, sometimes the other parent and I will not point out that it's a "play date" for the kids at all. We'll just say "we're going to visit my friend" or "my friend and her kids are coming over" and then encourage the kids to get out of our hair by giving them an activity near us while we chat. That takes some of the pressure of playing together off the kids. They're just hanging out because we make them, not because they're trying to be friends. I'm pretty up front w/ the other parent about how we need one on one time for the kids to warm up to a real friendship and most other parents have understood that.
If your child is having problems with friends gravitating towards a sibling rather than him/her, you might try looking for friends that are not likely to be as attracted to, or attractive to, the sibling. Maybe someone younger or older than the sibling, or w/ interests that are unique to your child? We've had that problem with my middle son. He's a bit wild, and wears out even the most energetic kids, isn't really great at using his words... His current two good friends are both also very energetic and creative, one a year older and one a year younger. The older one can gravitate to my oldest boy, which has hurt middle's feelings... We talked it through, and oldest becoming aware of the situation has worked to turn attention back to his brother sometimes, which has helped. Middle is learning to pay attention to body language and spoken language has also helped him realize that he needs to tone it down sometimes. (Room for growth here!) It's amazing what a couple of years of growth and intention have done though.
The final thing I would say is that it's more important to be comfortable in your own skin than to be popular. If a child feels good about himself it's easy to find others whose company he enjoys or to be comfortable without company.
OK, not the final thing. I never shut up, so there will probably be more somewhere later. ;-)
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