This week we didn't make as much progress as I would have liked in our book stack. Considering two of them are library books, I need get further in to them or we may be better off buying a copy! Actually, the sad thing is, we own copy of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. However, since the move, I can't find some of the more adult-level books so it was easier to just borrow a copy from the library than move crates of boxes to find our copy. I already warned the librarian we may have to renew this....a lot!
The book on top is called A Midsummer's Night Dream for Kids. It's a retelling done in rhyme at a child's level. I love the illustrations - all done by children - as well and I am very much enjoying this book. While it could easily be read in one long sitting, I've been breaking it up a bit since we have so many read aloud books going at the moment. At the end of next month, we will be heading to a local theater to see a production of this play so I wanted the boys to be familiar with the story ahead of time.
Next we are going through A Gathering of Days. Honestly, I'm not enjoying this one. We just finished a journal style book from a boy's perspective in the early 1800's so I thought this would be a nice contrast. It isn't. I'm going to keep pushing through, but I don't like it very much at the moment. I hope it gets better.
I am a huge fan of Jean Fritz books so when I spied I, Adam at a book sale I had to snatch it up. I happen to love old library bindings so that is a plus for me as well. This is a great story so far and I think it will be good for my boys to hear. It's again set in the 1800's (can you tell we are studying this time period in history?) and the main character is a young boy of 15 who is embarking on a new adventure. I'm sure there will be lots of adventures, but we are only a few chapters in so the characters and plot have been setting up. I am enjoying this one and I think my boys are as well.
Of course next is the The Fellowship of the Ring. I have to admit to never having read this series. I attempted it after the movies had been out and I had seen all of them. As is often the case, the books and the movies are vastly different and I simply couldn't get the movie out of my head enough to enjoy the books so I abandoned them. I even joked about this with the librarian who admitted to the same issue. While that made me feel better, I am jumping back in with both feet as I read these out loud to the boys. I will freely admit that I skipped half the prologue as it was simply utterly boring. I hit the highlights and moved on to the story. So far so good....
The book on the bottom of the pile is the Hero Tales Volume 1 book I broke out again. It's been awhile since I've used this particular volume and none of the boys remember it. They are short snippets of stories about missionaries. I have my two older boys read a "devotional" type book or a biography of a missionary as part of their regular school day. For example, my middle son is reading a book about John Bunyan at the moment. I have some missionary biographies I'll be adding in as well. The Hero Tales book, however, is a nice introduction to various missionaries.
While this seems like a lot of reading, and it is, I don't actually sit down with that stack and read for hours straight. We do "together school" each day and I break up the other things we do with the reading. For example, I may read a few pages from A Midsummer's Night Dream and then the boys will do math drill. Then we complete our Draw Through the Psalms assignment together while listening to our current hymn we are learning. I will then read from Hero Tales. From there I read a few pages in A Gathering of Days. We then work on our writing assignment for a bit and I end with a chapter each from I, Adam and The Fellowship of the Ring.
I'm also starting to try reading to the boys during lunchtime. The only thing I'm still working on is how I get to eat at the same time. I know many homeschooling moms read during lunch. Care to share how you make it work?
So now I have more things to go look for at the library!! I'm already waiting on LOTR. Nice to have the heads-up about the prologue. My boys may not let me skip it though.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to have to look for I, Adam. We have enjoyed Jean Fritz books as well.
ReplyDeleteI have not figured out how to read out loud and eat at the same time either. I know lots of moms say they do this, but I don't know how! =0) We usually listen to audiobooks instead while I'm making lunch and we're eating. I do my reading aloud to them in the late afternoon and at bedtime.
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