Books

Right now I'm reading Mitten Strings for God: Reflections for Mothers in a Hurry by Katrina Kenison. She's such a good writer and I'm really enjoying this collection of reflections. Last month I read her book The Gift of an Ordinary Day ~ also a great read for mothers.

Anyway, if you could use some encouragement when it comes to mothering, get yourself a copy of this book to read. I think you'll enjoy it.

The girls and I have discovered an author that we really like - Susan Middleton Elya. We are learning Spanish in the Foley household, and these books make it fun. Ms. Elya has created stories and she pops Spanish words into the text. She has written quite a few books and we've been able to get many of them from our library.

Some of our favorites are:

• Bebe Goes Shopping
• Bebe Goes to the Beach
• Oh No Gotta Go!
• Say Hola to Spanish
• Say Hola to the Circus
• Eight Animals on the Town

What are you reading?

Books and Twaddle

In my kids' early days, we read anything and everything we could get our hands on. It's easy to tell that some books are just better written than others, but for some reason, my kids seemed drawn to twaddle.

What's twaddle? Twaddle is literature that has been dumbed down and has an absence of meaning.

What's the opposite of twaddle? Living books....in living books the narrative and the characters come alive. I am loving that our Five in a Row curriculum is not only based on living books, but we have learned how to get more out of the stories.

If you want to read more about twaddle and living books, and see a wonderful list (by grade) of living books, go HERE.

If you are still wondering what counts as twaddle, let me give you an example from our own library - these particular books are cherished by our youngest and they are twaddle at it's finest!

To be honest with you, when I first heard about twaddle vs. living books, I was not all that interested in figuring out the difference. I wanted my kids to enjoy reading and being read to. However, now that we've been doing school with a reading based curriculum, my own reading tastes have changed. Even in my own reading, I don't want to waste time with twaddle. Here are some of my favorite books we've read from Five in a Row.

I've also recently run across this series. Many of our FIAR books take place in other countries and we have learned so much about our world. These are full of interesting facts about the geography, culture and people of different countries. The photos are also quite nice.

Animal Friends by Janette Oke

We are also working our way through this series, and both girls seem to be enjoying them. Unfortunately our library doesn't have these, but I was able to get these all free through paperback swap.

These are the same stories in expanded form. Spunky's Diary was my favorite when I was little. This copy is my original one. The others I've gotten through paperback swap. We haven't started reading these yet.

And finally...the Serendipity books by Stephen Cosgrove. We don't have many of them, but we enjoy the ones we have.

What books are your kids enjoying lately?

Books for the Start of 2011

Something you may or may not know about me is that I love to read, and I read a lot. Maybe not as much as some avid readers, but on average I read 3-4 books a month. Over the years my reading tastes have changed from mostly fiction to mostly non-fiction. Does that mean I'm getting older or wiser?

I am excited about the first three books I have lined up for 2011, and I'm trying to only read one at a time!

I've already started the first one and hope to finish in a couple days. I bought this for Kevin for Christmas, but he's reading something else right now, so I'm being rude and reading his gift. Dan Woolley, author of Unshaken, is an employee of Compassion International and survived the earthquake in Haiti nearly a year ago. I followed his story as he was rescued and I've been eagerly waiting the release of this book for many months.

The next book on my list is The Divine Mentor by Wayne Cordeiro. As I read through the Bible again this year, I want to learn as much as possible. Last year I read through mostly for the sake of reading. This year I want to go deeper and this book looks like it will give me many ideas for listening to God through his word.

This third book was highly recommended to me by a fellow homeschooling mom and friend. Homeschooling with a Meek and Quiet Spirit by Teri Maxwell. I am looking forward to letting God grow me in this area - to depend on Him completely as I lead my children down this path.

What books are you looking forward to reading this year?

One Hand, Two Hands by Max Lucado

In this delightful book for toddlers, Max Lucado describes the many ways we use our hands. I love the descriptive words and the rhythmic feel of the book. The book ends with wonderful examples of how our hands can be helping hands, kind hands and loving hands. This book is a great way to teach even the youngest children that God has created our hands to do His work.

I received a free copy of this book from Tommy Nelson in exchange for my honest review.

Fun Books

We have discovered a few fun books I thought I would tell you about...

Look-Alikes Around the World by Joan Steiner
This is a very fun book. The author has taken famous landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and the Great Wall of China and recreated them out of really interesting things. This is a book your kids (and you) can look at over and over. And it opens up opportunities for learning more about each country or landmark.



Aa is for AARDVARK by Mark Shulman, illustrated by Tamara Petrosino
This book is about words that have two of the same letter in a row. This opened up opportunities for us to look for other words like this in other books we are reading. We were having all sorts of fun with this idea after reading this book!



The third and final book is This is the Sunflower by Lola M Schaefer, illustrated by Donald Crews. I really liked this one...loved the pictures, the story and "extras" on the last page. You can actually look at this book HERE.

What We're Reading

We've been reading some great books lately and I'm finally sitting down to share with you!

First of all, I found this set at Goodwill a couple weeks ago. The books were only $.99 each! Sydney LOVES them...she is eating them up!




We've also discovered books by Bill Peet.

The stories and illustrations are great and both my girls enjoy them (and I do too!)

Then there is Tana Hoban...great photographs and great concept books! The girls really enjoyed the books on signs and what they mean. They get very excited when we are out and they recognize signs we see.



Our current read-aloud is The Three Tales of My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett.


I have read two books by Gary Thomas so far this year...
Authentic Faith (What if Life Isn't Meant to be Perfect but we are Meant to Trust the One Who Is)

and Sacred Influence (How God Uses Wives to Shape the Souls of Their Husbands)

I loved both of these books and while I was reading them, I kept thinking that I wanted everyone I know to read these. I'm looking forward to reading more of his books.

And currently I am reading Francis Chan's Forgotten God, Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit.



What are YOU reading?

Another Great Book for You and Your Kids

Here is another great book for you to check out from your local library. The girls and I had so much fun going through this book...learning about other countries. Homeschooled or not, I think you are going to love this book!

Great Book

There's a Baryard in my Bedroom by David Suzuki

I just love it when I stumble upon great books at the library. I have found so many great resources for homeschooling and this one was a pleasant surprise. There are three different stories in this book, and each is full of science information and facts. Sydney was loving it and I learned so much!
I think this is a must-read for all kids...homeschooled or not!

Today

There are many days when I don't have the slightest idea why I decided to embark on the homeschooling journey. I feel like I don't have a clue what I am doing. The past couple weeks, I have found some great resources at the library and that has given me more direction.

The library has definitely been the biggest resource for me, and I love it when I stumble upon books that teach and entertain. Today was one of those days.

This is the book....Fish Eyes by Lois Ehlert


It was perfect for both of my girls....counting for Kayleigh, math (adding) for Sydney). And the pictures are so cool. We were inspired to try making our own fish by cutting out shapes.



The girls just finished playing a new game they made up....Hide things around the house. Each girl takes turns hiding 10 things and then the other one has to find them. The only problem with this game is that they don't collect and pick up the things they have hidden when they find them. So now we have many random things "hidden" around the house!

We are listening to lots of Mozart today as this would have been his birthday! And we are off to the final installment of Symphony Story time at the library this afternoon.