- Tapping the Dream Tree, by Charles DeLint
- A Song I Knew by Heart, by Bret Lott
- Tomorrow, When the Way Began, by John Marsden
- The Last Colony, by John Scalzi
- House on the River, by Nessa Rapoport
- A Different Kind of Teacher, by John Taylor Gatto
- The Call to Brilliance, by Resa Steindel Brown
- Real Life, edited by Grace Llewellyn
- ADHD and the Nature of Self Control, by Russell A. Barkley
- Peace is the Way, by Deepak Chopra
- Quentins, by Mauve Binchy
- The Well Adjusted Child, by Rachel Gathercole
- Leven Thumps and the Whispered Secret
Sunday, July 13, 2008
May and June Books
Camping!
We're having a busy summer here. I'm behind in posting my books I know, I've read more than are currently listed, but not much more! :-)
I have my nephews with me for three weeks this summer. My brother is serving his second tour in Iraq right now, and my sister-in-law is working on her M.Ed., trying to finish up, since he is expected back this fall. She needed some to put in some extra work this summer, and also wanted her kids to have a chance to get to know their Colorado relatives, so all of us in CO are taking turns having them with us. My goodness are they a handful!
I have three boys of my own, ages 10, 7, & 3. My nephews are 10 & 8. That means I have 5 (!) boys with me 10 and under. I'm 5 feet tall, (when I'm not quite telling the truth ;-) ), so picture me surrounded by a pack of boys, 3 of them nearly as big as me. Boy, you should see the way folks cringe when we troop into a store! We get lots of attention. "Are they all yours?" :-D This one cracks me up, since the two nephews call me "Aunty April" pretty often, and VERY loudly. Also, their mom is black, so they look noticeably different than my kids. To be fair, we could be a blended or adoptive family. Still, what am I supposed to answer? It could be a personal question. Maybe I was free and loose with my affections! We've had some fun with it. My husband told someone "We've got a couple of rentals". I like to say "They're mine today." But sometimes I want to say "Why? Want to make me an offer?" "I'll take $5 for the noisy one."
We just got back from taking them all camping up at Glendo. We brought our kayaks and sailing dingy too. It was very brave of all of us to do this. My nephews had never been camping. They came with their own gameboys and gamecube. They told me that they don't like to go outside. So our life style of hiking, camping, boating, etc,. is a bit ...ahem... new to them. We have never had 5 boys in our care, so that's pretty new to us. My oldest didn't help, what with talk of mountain lions and bears and rattle snakes. I could have strangled him when my nephews nervously broached the subject with me one bedtime and I realized the source of their mis-information. I was worried - you know how fast a camping trip can go downhill, even with experienced campers. Luckily we had no major mishaps, good weather, and lots of s'mores. The children all had a great time. I did too, something I'm trying to remember as I wade through the piles of smoky smelling laundry.
Well, ok, there was one mishap. But it didn't involve the kids. My husband took our sailing dingy out in a stiff breeze and tried a new maneuver on it. One can presume, since he came to shore on a power boat w/ the dingy in tow, that it could have gone better. Still, since there were no children with him at the time, he was wearing his PFD, and the power boaters didn't claim salvage rights, all was well in the end.
It's interesting how 5 nice boys which ,when taken individually, are each great kids, become a pack of misbehaving miscreants when spending any time at all together. I can't believe I had to explain why chanting "Bacon! Bacon!" loudly at a restaurant isn't ok, even if it is just a fast food place. Then there's the difference in socialization. My youngest has taken to copying his cousins' speech. "Ya, Riiiight" he says sarcastically. Aghhh!! I don't need that from a 3 year old.
But it does go the other way too. Being UU's my kids have a concern for the environment and took to picking up every bit of garbage they found at the park. It didn't take long before the cousins were helping and being taught which was recyclable and which wasn't. Unfortunately there was a lot of it, the 4th of July weekend having just passed. "Mama, lots of people must like this kind of soda" said my 7 yo holding up another empty Bud Light can. LOL!
Life with 5 boys is busy, noisy, exhausting, and, yes, fun. But I'm not sure I'll be doing it again any time soon!
I have my nephews with me for three weeks this summer. My brother is serving his second tour in Iraq right now, and my sister-in-law is working on her M.Ed., trying to finish up, since he is expected back this fall. She needed some to put in some extra work this summer, and also wanted her kids to have a chance to get to know their Colorado relatives, so all of us in CO are taking turns having them with us. My goodness are they a handful!
I have three boys of my own, ages 10, 7, & 3. My nephews are 10 & 8. That means I have 5 (!) boys with me 10 and under. I'm 5 feet tall, (when I'm not quite telling the truth ;-) ), so picture me surrounded by a pack of boys, 3 of them nearly as big as me. Boy, you should see the way folks cringe when we troop into a store! We get lots of attention. "Are they all yours?" :-D This one cracks me up, since the two nephews call me "Aunty April" pretty often, and VERY loudly. Also, their mom is black, so they look noticeably different than my kids. To be fair, we could be a blended or adoptive family. Still, what am I supposed to answer? It could be a personal question. Maybe I was free and loose with my affections! We've had some fun with it. My husband told someone "We've got a couple of rentals". I like to say "They're mine today." But sometimes I want to say "Why? Want to make me an offer?" "I'll take $5 for the noisy one."
We just got back from taking them all camping up at Glendo. We brought our kayaks and sailing dingy too. It was very brave of all of us to do this. My nephews had never been camping. They came with their own gameboys and gamecube. They told me that they don't like to go outside. So our life style of hiking, camping, boating, etc,. is a bit ...ahem... new to them. We have never had 5 boys in our care, so that's pretty new to us. My oldest didn't help, what with talk of mountain lions and bears and rattle snakes. I could have strangled him when my nephews nervously broached the subject with me one bedtime and I realized the source of their mis-information. I was worried - you know how fast a camping trip can go downhill, even with experienced campers. Luckily we had no major mishaps, good weather, and lots of s'mores. The children all had a great time. I did too, something I'm trying to remember as I wade through the piles of smoky smelling laundry.
Well, ok, there was one mishap. But it didn't involve the kids. My husband took our sailing dingy out in a stiff breeze and tried a new maneuver on it. One can presume, since he came to shore on a power boat w/ the dingy in tow, that it could have gone better. Still, since there were no children with him at the time, he was wearing his PFD, and the power boaters didn't claim salvage rights, all was well in the end.
It's interesting how 5 nice boys which ,when taken individually, are each great kids, become a pack of misbehaving miscreants when spending any time at all together. I can't believe I had to explain why chanting "Bacon! Bacon!" loudly at a restaurant isn't ok, even if it is just a fast food place. Then there's the difference in socialization. My youngest has taken to copying his cousins' speech. "Ya, Riiiight" he says sarcastically. Aghhh!! I don't need that from a 3 year old.
But it does go the other way too. Being UU's my kids have a concern for the environment and took to picking up every bit of garbage they found at the park. It didn't take long before the cousins were helping and being taught which was recyclable and which wasn't. Unfortunately there was a lot of it, the 4th of July weekend having just passed. "Mama, lots of people must like this kind of soda" said my 7 yo holding up another empty Bud Light can. LOL!
Life with 5 boys is busy, noisy, exhausting, and, yes, fun. But I'm not sure I'll be doing it again any time soon!
Friday, June 13, 2008
On the road....with kids
My boys and I have done some long-ish road trips together. Given that we have 3 kids, still need car seats and boosters, and airports being what they are, we have found that driving when we can is a fun and economical way to travel, even including the cost and trouble of gas and hotels. We've come to look forward to our trips as special time together, as well as a way to get from point A to point B.
It helps to have a plan. Here's what has helped our family have a good time on the road.
Activities: Every kid has a pencil box of colored pencils and markers, sticky notes, tape, etc.. and a notebook of paper. If I need to push on when I don't think they'll want to, I keep a stash of crafts or toys to dispense as a bribe to get back in the car and keep going for a while, dollar toys, modeling wax (LOVE IT!), Wikki Stix, magic modeling clay (if you get white it's cheaper and then they can color it with their markers.), sticky notepads (great for making flip books), pipe cleaners, etc.. I tried beads once, that was a mess! Note: crayons will melt in a warm car, then leak through whatever they're in to find the lowest potential energy. Melted crayon does not come out of carpeting very well at all.
I also really like books on tape. I know a lot of families swear these days by portable DVD players and hand held gaming systems, but we haven't gone that route. What I really like about road trips is that we are all in one spot together sharing our experience for a good length of time. With DVD or electronic games, the driver isn't involved, and the kids don't interact with each other or the driver. With a book on tape we're all listening at the same time, sharing the experience. We stop it and talk about it, which is very fun. Also, because I have to turn it off when I need to concentrate, the kids tend to notice our surroundings and the traffic patterns more. They are actually helpful, being extra sets of eyes.
Food: We pack lots of healthy snacks and water, that way we don't eat junk and get grumpy and over-sugared because we were munchy when we stopped at the gas station. It also helps for any family where there are allergies or food issues. Rather than a gas station or fast food join, we tend to stop at the rest stops for snacks, picnic lunch, and running around when someone needs the toilet. We tend to feel like we really got a break when we play outside, which we don't get to do at commercial places. We'd rather eat McDonalds in the car and then have time to run and play when we find a park or rest stop.
Planning: Because I am the only adult, I'm doing all the driving myself. We stop at night, so I can sleep. I try to find hotels with swimming pools. I really like the AAA guides to help pick out places while on the road and then use the cellphone to call in a reservation - no hunting around a new town with a car full of fussy kids! (If you don't have a membership, you probably know someone who does and would be willing to lend you the books you'd need.) The novelty of swimming pools and cable TV makes the whole thing a great treat to the kids.
Stopping frequently is also helpful. On one leg of a journey my husband joined us, and so we didn't need to stop as often, or as soon. The kids really hated it! Taking a break every ~3 hrs and driving no more than 8hrs in a day really seem to work better for them. Driving at night while they slept might be an exception that would work.
In addition to designated rest stops, we have enjoyed visiting museums and sights along the way. With our membership to a local museum we get a list of reciprocal museums that we get into for free. We plan ahead to use as many of these for our rest/play stops as possible. We've had so much fun with this that the children now ask in advance what museums we'll be getting to see on our road trips.
Happy travels!
It helps to have a plan. Here's what has helped our family have a good time on the road.
Activities: Every kid has a pencil box of colored pencils and markers, sticky notes, tape, etc.. and a notebook of paper. If I need to push on when I don't think they'll want to, I keep a stash of crafts or toys to dispense as a bribe to get back in the car and keep going for a while, dollar toys, modeling wax (LOVE IT!), Wikki Stix, magic modeling clay (if you get white it's cheaper and then they can color it with their markers.), sticky notepads (great for making flip books), pipe cleaners, etc.. I tried beads once, that was a mess! Note: crayons will melt in a warm car, then leak through whatever they're in to find the lowest potential energy. Melted crayon does not come out of carpeting very well at all.
I also really like books on tape. I know a lot of families swear these days by portable DVD players and hand held gaming systems, but we haven't gone that route. What I really like about road trips is that we are all in one spot together sharing our experience for a good length of time. With DVD or electronic games, the driver isn't involved, and the kids don't interact with each other or the driver. With a book on tape we're all listening at the same time, sharing the experience. We stop it and talk about it, which is very fun. Also, because I have to turn it off when I need to concentrate, the kids tend to notice our surroundings and the traffic patterns more. They are actually helpful, being extra sets of eyes.
Food: We pack lots of healthy snacks and water, that way we don't eat junk and get grumpy and over-sugared because we were munchy when we stopped at the gas station. It also helps for any family where there are allergies or food issues. Rather than a gas station or fast food join, we tend to stop at the rest stops for snacks, picnic lunch, and running around when someone needs the toilet. We tend to feel like we really got a break when we play outside, which we don't get to do at commercial places. We'd rather eat McDonalds in the car and then have time to run and play when we find a park or rest stop.
Planning: Because I am the only adult, I'm doing all the driving myself. We stop at night, so I can sleep. I try to find hotels with swimming pools. I really like the AAA guides to help pick out places while on the road and then use the cellphone to call in a reservation - no hunting around a new town with a car full of fussy kids! (If you don't have a membership, you probably know someone who does and would be willing to lend you the books you'd need.) The novelty of swimming pools and cable TV makes the whole thing a great treat to the kids.
Stopping frequently is also helpful. On one leg of a journey my husband joined us, and so we didn't need to stop as often, or as soon. The kids really hated it! Taking a break every ~3 hrs and driving no more than 8hrs in a day really seem to work better for them. Driving at night while they slept might be an exception that would work.
In addition to designated rest stops, we have enjoyed visiting museums and sights along the way. With our membership to a local museum we get a list of reciprocal museums that we get into for free. We plan ahead to use as many of these for our rest/play stops as possible. We've had so much fun with this that the children now ask in advance what museums we'll be getting to see on our road trips.
Happy travels!
Monday, May 12, 2008
Audio Resources
Of the many resources we use for our homeschooling, one of the most flexible and fun are audio books and lectures. We listen in the car as we run our errands, or on car trips. We also listen at home as we do chores or crafts. We have found just about all of these through our library although some, as you can see, are on-line resources.
Check out the material from The Teaching Company. They have college level lectures on CD and DVD for just about anything you can think of. My kids have enjoyed the lectures "How to Listen to and Understand... Music" series. (We discovered the hard way that we should have skipped the plot reviews of the operas, they were a bit... graphic - at least for our sensitive kids. Oops.) For the most part the kids seem to absorb far more than I would have expected. It's amazing how little the language needs to change for the younger set to know just what you mean.
Another audio series we have enjoyed is from Recorded Books (itself a resource to investigate for favorite books), called the Modern Scholar. Don't miss anything by Prof. Micheal D.C. Drout. We've listened to his "History of the English Language" as well as "Way With Words: Writing, Rhetoric, and the Art of Persuasion". We've enjoyed other titles there as well. See what peaks your interest.
Blackstone Audio Books has an enjoyable recording of Puck of Pook's Hill, by Rudyard Kipling, that sparked an interest in history at our house.
Radio Lovers has had some great shows that Grandma and Grandpa might remember. We enjoyed listening to the adventures of Cinnamon Bear last December. Other on-line listening has come from favorite public radio show podcasts. The Splendid Table and NPR are two favorites.
Currently we're enjoying listening to Susan Wise Bauer's "The Story of the World" series, read by Jim Weiss (himself an excellent creator and teller of stories). We have found some small errors, for example, llamas were beasts of burden in South America, not Nepal - that would be yaks. So, as with anything, it can be helpful to be ready to stop the story and talk about what you're hearing (or reading). Don't miss the great reading lists in SWB's The Well Trained Mind. Many of the books and stories there are classics and also available in audio form.
It's a mistake to over look adult non-fiction for family listening. Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything", as read by the author was enjoyed by all of us.
Something special you can do for your child is to create a recording of you reading a favorite story, poem, meditation, or singing songs. I've recorded some meditations from "Star Bright Meditations" for my husband to play for the children when I'm away for an upcoming family wedding. I used Audacity to record directly onto the computer, which has so far been pretty easy and intuitive. This has been a lot less frustrating than the time I recorded all of one of the Moongobble books, just to have a toddler mangle the tape.
I'm sure I'm missing a favorite, Even as I write I'm remembering so much, Harry Potter on our way up to the mountains, My Side of the Mountain on our way to Texas, and "Bard of the Middle Ages: the Works of Geoffrey Chaucer" on the way to the Renaissance Festival. Sigh... :-)
Happy listening!
Check out the material from The Teaching Company. They have college level lectures on CD and DVD for just about anything you can think of. My kids have enjoyed the lectures "How to Listen to and Understand... Music" series. (We discovered the hard way that we should have skipped the plot reviews of the operas, they were a bit... graphic - at least for our sensitive kids. Oops.) For the most part the kids seem to absorb far more than I would have expected. It's amazing how little the language needs to change for the younger set to know just what you mean.
Another audio series we have enjoyed is from Recorded Books (itself a resource to investigate for favorite books), called the Modern Scholar. Don't miss anything by Prof. Micheal D.C. Drout. We've listened to his "History of the English Language" as well as "Way With Words: Writing, Rhetoric, and the Art of Persuasion". We've enjoyed other titles there as well. See what peaks your interest.
Blackstone Audio Books has an enjoyable recording of Puck of Pook's Hill, by Rudyard Kipling, that sparked an interest in history at our house.
Radio Lovers has had some great shows that Grandma and Grandpa might remember. We enjoyed listening to the adventures of Cinnamon Bear last December. Other on-line listening has come from favorite public radio show podcasts. The Splendid Table and NPR are two favorites.
Currently we're enjoying listening to Susan Wise Bauer's "The Story of the World" series, read by Jim Weiss (himself an excellent creator and teller of stories). We have found some small errors, for example, llamas were beasts of burden in South America, not Nepal - that would be yaks. So, as with anything, it can be helpful to be ready to stop the story and talk about what you're hearing (or reading). Don't miss the great reading lists in SWB's The Well Trained Mind. Many of the books and stories there are classics and also available in audio form.
It's a mistake to over look adult non-fiction for family listening. Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything", as read by the author was enjoyed by all of us.
Something special you can do for your child is to create a recording of you reading a favorite story, poem, meditation, or singing songs. I've recorded some meditations from "Star Bright Meditations" for my husband to play for the children when I'm away for an upcoming family wedding. I used Audacity to record directly onto the computer, which has so far been pretty easy and intuitive. This has been a lot less frustrating than the time I recorded all of one of the Moongobble books, just to have a toddler mangle the tape.
I'm sure I'm missing a favorite, Even as I write I'm remembering so much, Harry Potter on our way up to the mountains, My Side of the Mountain on our way to Texas, and "Bard of the Middle Ages: the Works of Geoffrey Chaucer" on the way to the Renaissance Festival. Sigh... :-)
Happy listening!
Saturday, May 3, 2008
April's Books
- Running wit Scissors, by Augusten Borroughs
- Look Me in the Eye, by John Elder Robinson
- Interred with Their Bones, by Jennifer Lee Carrell
- Evolution's End, by Joseph Chilton Pearce
- A Thousand Names for Joy, by Byron Katie
- Loving What Is, by Byron Katie
- Old Man's War, by John Scalzi
- The Ghost Brigades, by John Scalzi
- Listening from the Heart of Silence, by John J. Prendergast & G. Kenneth Bradford
- The Virtue of Selfishness, by Ayn Rand
- Alexander and the Wonderful, Marvelous, Excellent, Terrific Ninety Days, by Judith Viorst
- And the Skylark Sings With Me, by David H. Albert
- Marley & Me, by John Grogan
- A Choosen Faith, by John A. Buehrens and Forrest Church
- The Biz Agent to the Stars, by John Scalzi
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