Book Project ~ Participation Request!

I’m working on a major book list project. It’s a combination of my own must-read suggestions and a “best books to read” challenge for myself this coming year—something similar to Amazon's 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime.

So give me your top 5-10 must-read books.

Classics. Modern fiction. Non-fiction. Historical fiction. Children’s books. Poetry. Short stories. The best of the best.

My book list includes books I loved, obscure (The Little French Girl) or well-known (To Kill a Mockingbird), books I hated but everyone should read anyway (1984), and books that made me think (Hamlet).

Help me create my “best books to read” 2015 Challenge!

 

Share your best books. Tell me what genre. And give me a reason.

Hallelujah

Because Everyone Needs a Little More Lola

Challenge A Update and Thoughts

Or “On Adolescence and ‘I’d like that hindsight NOW, please.’”

Or “More Questions Than Answers”

Raising adolescents is a tough job. Homeschooling adolescents is like training a magnifying glass on the process! All those bumps and imperfections and struggles stand out in sharp relief when you’re at it 24-7 and wearing both the teacher and parent hats!

I read this on the Libertarian Homeschooler’s Facebook page a couple days ago:

“Toddlerhood and early adolescence told me more about myself than they told me about my son. They were a crash-course in what was potentially ugly inside of me: ...impatience, anger, ignorance, lack of charity, selfishness, lack of self discipline, pride.

They outgrow toddlerhood and adolescence. It leaves them. But we are left looking at our flaws and asking ourselves, 'Was that really the best you could do?'”

Like a knife, people.

Even when I’m at my best [not often], the questions keep coming.

Grace or tough love?

Let up or buckle down?

Relationship or character?

Help or step back?

Raise expectations or cut some slack?

Adjust according to personality, gifts, and weaknesses (don’t shove a square peg in a round hole) or do hard things?

Medicate the child or medicate the parent? [Half of me is kidding, half of me is very, very serious. Vats of Dr. Pepper, people.]

Give rewards or exact consequences?

Increase freedom or responsibility?

Hold their hand or let them fail?

Some kids thrive on one, some the other. Some parents are gifted with intuition. Some are not. [sigh]

Every child/student is different.

Let me repeat that.

Every. Child. Is. Unique.

Each enrolled student is going to have a different experience with the Classical Conversations Challenge Program.

• Some kids are going to find Challenge a piece of cake. Work done independently. Work done neatly and thoroughly. Work done in just a few hours daily during the work week.
• Others (and their parents) are going to spend hours and hours and hours and hours. Some in a state of constant focus. Some in a constant state of distraction. Either way: blood, sweat, and tears. [Levi]
  
• Some kids are going to excel in the group environment with presentations and discussion (and possibly struggle at home). [Levi]
• Others are going to excel in the work done at home (and possibly struggle in class).
  
• Some kids will want to do the bare minimum. [Levi]
• Others will spend 10 hours reading about the science topic (or the entire science encyclopedia) or drawing one perfect map. [Levi]
  
• Some kids are sweet, compliant, and mild-mannered.
• Others are in the wild, unpredictable, unrelenting, exasperating throes of adolescence. [Levi, heaven help us]
  
• Some kids fill their schedule with Challenge work.
• Others have several extra-curricular activities to balance. [Levi]
  
• Some kids are only-children or have older siblings and a quiet, study-conducive environment.
• Others have several younger siblings who are insanely distracting and require much of their parents’ time and energy. [Levi]
  
• Some kids are focused and internally motivated.
• Others are imaginative, wiggly, and distracted by pieces of fluff or a pencil and paper or their hair or a cloud in the sky and are neither internally nor externally motivated. [Levi]
  
• Some kids find the busy work easy and the concepts difficult.
• Others grasp the concepts quickly and find the detail work tedious. [Levi]
  
• Some kids rise to a challenge.
• Others get overwhelmed and defeated quickly. [Levi]
  
• Some kids prefer to work alone.
• Others thrive on constant interaction, discussion, and affirmation. [Levi]
  
• Some kids have consistent, self-disciplined, patient, understanding, intuitive, wise parents.
• Levi has me.

I could go on and on here, but you get the idea. For a few kids, it could be a maturity issue and one year might make a difference. For others [Levi], it is a personality thing and 5 years might not change a thing [again, hindsight NOW, please!].

What I love about the Classical Conversations program is that it is customizable and the parent has the authority to adjust the program to fit the student. Most of the seminars are easy to lighten or supplement. Just communicate with your student’s tutor!

A few ideas and examples:

:: Exposition and Composition (Literature and Writing)

Lighter work: audio books, fewer items on the ANI charts, worksheets as oral discussions, parent-typed reports, skip occasional papers.

More challenging work: literary analysis using Teaching the Classics, enter authors and historical events on a history timeline, use more elocution tools in each paper (IEW style elements), read additional books with or without writing corresponding essays.

:: Research (Science)

Lighter work: single paragraphs, no style elements required, write papers every other week, parent-typed reports.

More challenging work: longer reports (3-5 paragraphs) and style elements required, research animals specific to geographical region being studied in debate/geography, watch documentaries, dissections, watch Khan Academy videos.

:: Logic (Math)

Lighter work: lower level of math (below Saxon 8/7) or a different math program such as Teaching Textbooks or Life of Fred, modify the amount of work done for each lesson (just drill and practice or odds or evens), work through problems orally, complete lessons at a slower pace and continue through the spring and summer, skip investigations and tests and return to them after Challenge classes are finished in the spring.

More challenging work: higher level of math; complete all drill, warm-ups, lessons, practice, problems, investigations and tests on schedule (in Saxon math, this is quite an accomplishment); define all math terms and rules in notebook and memorize; watch Khan Academy videos.

:: Debate (Geography)

Lighter work: label black-line maps (possibly countries only) rather than hand-drawing maps and study using the free online games at Sheppard Software; skip capitals, geographical features, and/or geography terms.

More challenging work: define (look up in dictionary) and illustrate all geography terms in notebook, study each geographical region using the information in the atlas, read additional books about each region, prepare food from various countries, watch documentaries or travel shows, or learn about the culture, arts, and literature of a country of each continent.

:: Grammar (Latin)

Lighter work: study vocabulary, grammar rules, and declensions only (no exercises); do all work verbally or with flash cards [students repeat all Latin lessons in Challenge B].

More challenging work: complete all exercises, memorize prayers or songs in Latin, add a Latin roots vocabulary program, diagram complex English sentences.

:: Rhetoric (Clear Reasoning and Apologetics)

Lighter work: read chapters of It Couldn’t Just Happen together and discuss (no written summaries).

More challenging work: any ideas? Maybe additional reading?

:: Extracurriculars

Consider clearing your student’s schedule of busy activities during the Challenge year if they are overwhelmed. We eliminated many commitments, field trips, and errands this year so that there wouldn’t be as many distractions.

Or maybe your student will need additional activities or learning projects to round out their education and fill gaps of time. Art, history, additional foreign language, volunteer positions, family Bible time.

We’ve chosen a few priority activities:

Church

All the kids are attending AWANA this year one evening each week (in addition to church on Sunday). This is great mid-week social time for Levi in addition to the Bible studies (and much-needed date night for Russ and me).

Music

All three boys participate in a weekly choir rehearsal with music theory homework and seasonal performances.

Sports/Exercise

Levi swims with the swim team for an hour, 3-4 afternoons each week. (He often has another hour to socialize or try to complete school work while his brothers swim with a different group after his is finished, so swim team consumes 3 hours almost every afternoon—year round—as well as swim meets on occasional weekends.)

One last thought:

While Challenge students are (ideally) learning how to manage their time and take ownership of their education, this does not mean that parents should remove themselves from the process. The reward of making it to this stage should be the shared dialogue, the conversations, the big questions, the engaging content, and the interaction. Learn along with your student!

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Levi’s Challenge A class meets tomorrow and then again on Monday (due to classes that had to be postponed and rescheduled) for Blue Book assessments and a class party. After that, he’ll have a solid week’s worth of school work in addition to some catch-up work, but I’m hoping he’ll manage plenty of down-time over the break, as well. And after Christmas and his 13th birthday on New Year’s Day, we’ll gear up for second semester. I’ll let you know how that progresses!

Grandpa

My grandpa, who lives in California, was here visiting last week. We are so thankful for the time we spent together! Lola spends Mondays at my mom’s house while the boys are at Classical Conversations, so she had a day with Grandpa all to herself! My mom took the above pictures of them playing a Peter Rabbit game together. (Mom posted more pictures here.)

I’m so sad that I didn’t get more pictures of our Thanksgiving together, but I did get this decent shot of him with my ragamuffin kids the day before he left.

Just for fun, I’m sharing the newspaper article about my grandpa that ran in his local paper for Veteran’s Day this past month.

 

My grandpa also received the French Legion of Honor Medal in a ceremony last year. He has been knighted by the French government! I just discovered a YouTube video of the ceremony.

We love you, Grandpa!

Details

As I child, I loved books that had detailed illustrations I could pore over for hours. My most favorite was The Littles and Their Friends by John Peterson—not the chapter books, but an illustrated picture book that showed where (and how) each group of friends lived (under tree roots, at the garbage dump…). I can’t tell you how many hours I spent with that book.

As an adult, I discovered more books with detailed illustrations that I would have adored as a child such as Peter Spier's Circus (or any books by Peter Spier, People is another great one), any of the books in the Anno's Journey series (Anno's U.S.A. is a great one for our U.S. studies this year, but I’ve also collected Spain, Britain, and Italy—each has so many little hidden gems that adults can appreciate as well from history, art, and literature), What Do People Do All Day? (or any other Richard Scarry books), In the Town All Year 'Round, Through Time: London, and so many others. As you can see, I have a soft spot for them!

These books do not make excellent read-alouds. They are not for “get-to-the point, already” children. They are not ideal for children who are overwhelmed by a lot of detail. They are for children who will pore over them during quiet time, one-on-one, until the books become a part of the landscape of their imagination.

This past month we’ve enjoyed three more books with detailed illustrations.

:: The Way We Work: Getting to Know the Amazing Human Body

We’ve been studying the human body for the past few months, and a friend introduced us to this work by David Macaulay. We’ve enjoyed several other books by the author, most notably The Way Things Work, so I knew my boys would love this one as well. Macaulay draws fascinating illustrations and describes the body systems in a compelling way! (Some of you may want a heads-up that he indeed describes in detail the reproductive systems and how they work.)

 

:: Underworld: Exploring the Secret World Beneath Your Feet

This picture book alternates between hand-drawn illustrated pages (my personal favorite) and pages with photographs (more of a DK or Usborne style).

 

:: Tiny Creatures: The World of Microbes

This book has lovely thick papery pages, and works well as a read-aloud also.

 

Do you have favorite picture books with detailed illustrations?

Do your children spend time just looking at books?

What We’ve Been Reading [part 2]

[Again, a sincere, gigantic thank you! to those of you who have clicked through to Amazon from my links. I receive a small commission on anything (shoes, tires, dried berries, sunglasses, anything!) you put in your cart and purchase after going through my links. And those small commissions go a long way in supporting my book addiction children’s education.]

So many books have slipped through the cracks. I need to write up a “what we’re reading” post weekly!

I completely forgot that Luke has read (recently?) all seven of the Terrestria Chronicles (also available in kindle edition), a Medieval-themed Christian allegory series that was recommended (I think!) by my friend Rebecca from Renaissance. (See, I’m losing my mind!)

And also:

:: Christopher Mouse: The Tale of a Small Traveler

:: Ice Whale by Jean Craighead George (author of my boys’ favorite My Side of the Mountain trilogy). Luke really enjoyed this one.

:: The Great Cake Mystery: Precious Ramotswe's Very First Case: A Precious Ramotswe Mystery for Young Readers by Alexander McCall Smith. The boys previously read Mystery of Meerkat Hill, and Leif will be receiving The Mystery of the Missing Lion for Christmas. These are fantastic easy chapter books that stand out from the usual twaddle of that category. [Also check out the author’s Akimbo series!]

:: Brother Hugo and the Bear by Katy Beebe (picture book). This story is a delightful and humorous way to explain the process of making books at a monastery during the Middle Ages.

:: The Vermeer Interviews: Conversations with Seven Works of Art by Bob Raczka. I love Vermeer’s paintings, and this book is an entertaining way to learn about them!

:: A Voice of Her Own: The Story of Phillis Wheatley, Slave Poet by Kathryn Lasky (picture book). Phillis Wheatley shows up in Liberty's Kids, the animated series about the Revolutionary War (one of our must-own video series), so the boys were interested in reading her story.

:: Master Cornhill by Eloise Jarvis McGraw. Luke just finished this adventure story about a twice-orphaned eleven year old boy set in London in the 1600s during the Black Plague and the Great Fire—perfect complement to our current history studies.

Leif has also read a few of the books I posted in Luke’s list (Peter Nimble, The Night Gardener, Gulliver’s Travels), but we found two more Treasure Chest books (Alexander Graham Bell and Leonardo da Vinci) at the library.

Levi has been reading random books (and many of the books I’ve already listed). Or, I should say sneak reading, because he uses up all of his free reading time in not focusing on his school work (and reading when he is not supposed to be reading).

And then there is my reading, which slowed way down when September hit.

It took me a while to get into The Scent of Water by Elizabeth Goudge, but then I loved it very much. I realized how much I prefer to have my own books rather than borrowing from the library, because I couldn’t underline my favorite passages and then revisit them later. I did, however, manage to type up a couple:

p 155

Charles lit another cigarette and the spurt of flame illumined cruelly the sly weariness of his face. His father’s grief went through him like a sharp physical pain and he shifted in his chair. Parsons when they preached did not stress sufficiently the weariness of sin. That was its chief punishment, he believed, for sensitive temperaments like that of his son. You could be a cheerful sinner if you were tough, but you had to be tough.

p 164

[I]f you understand people you’re of use to them whether you can do anything tangible for them or not. Understanding is a creative act in a dimension we do not see.

p 260

So this blessing of loneliness was not really loneliness. Real loneliness was something unendurable. What one wanted when exhausted by the noise and impact of physical bodies was not no people but disembodied people; all those denizens of beloved books who could be taken to one’s heart and put away again, in silence, and with no hurt feelings.

Then we must talk about Marilynne Robinson.

Or, rather, mention her, because talking about her will be a post all on its own. A very long post.

I will simply share here that I read and fell in deep love with Gilead some time ago. Robinson just recently came out with Lila, and I set my heart on reading Housekeeping and then Home before Lila. Well, Home split my heart wide open and I just couldn’t move on to Lila without a break. (For those of you who have not read Robinson, you do not read her books for the plot. You read her books to feel what it is to be another person. To think and feel as they do. And to think about the thinks and feel about the feels.)

I made the mistake of reading Gone Girl instead. As if that would help me feel better. Ugh.

So I went on a crash diet of modern romance books, a couple Katie Fforde's and The Rosie Project, and now I think I might be able to handle Lila. We’ll chat about all four books when I’m finished.

I also read Number the Stars and Amos Fortune, Free Man so that I could participate in literary discussion with Levi as he is working on his persuasive essays for Challenge.

Three more picture books to share tomorrow, and then maybe we’ll move on from talking about books for a while. At least a day or two. Grin.

What We’ve Been Reading [part 1]

Luke

Luke has been the most consistent reader in our house the past couple months. He’s the child most likely to get his work done and most likely to read what I suggest.

Fiction

:: The Chronicles of Prydain is one of the most frequently recommended series on book lists that I’ve perused (along with The Chronicles of Narnia), particularly on classical school book lists. Luke declared this series his favorite reading of the past few months. [Levi has enjoyed many Lloyd Alexander books such as Time Cat: The Remarkable Journeys of Jason and Gareth.]

:: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman is another oft-recommended book on the lists I’ve been using, so I passed this one on to Luke.

:: Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes. I think a Mt. Hope reader suggested this one some time back. All three boys read and enjoyed it, so I purchased Jonathan Auxier’s most recent book, The Night Gardener. Luke gives it nine out of ten. Here is a short video of the author sharing his own favorite children’s fiction:

 

:: The Boundless by Kenneth Oppel. Luke gives this book ten out of ten.

:: The Dark Is Rising Sequence: Over Sea, Under Stone; The Dark Is Rising; Greenwitch; The Grey King; Silver on the Tree is another series frequently recommended (in particular, by Susan Wise Bauer), so I’ve borrowed them all from the library and Luke is just getting started.

Historical Fiction

:: Number the Stars was on Levi’s reading list for Challenge A, and after reading it myself I decided that Luke would really enjoy it, which he did. The story is set in Denmark during World War II but isn’t quite as heartbreaking as other books from that time period, which makes it a great introduction for younger kids.

:: I Am David was a logical next choice. A twelve year old boy escapes a prison camp in Eastern Europe and travels to Denmark. This is one of my absolute favorites from my childhood. Luke declared that he wished it were longer because he enjoyed it so much! We may have to watch the movie version in the next week or two.

Literature

We are studying modern history this year (1600 to present). I’ve read aloud chapter after chapter after chapter (seventeen, to be exact) of The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child, Volume 3: Early Modern Times, and we’re still in the 1600s. It was a happening time in history! I try to weave in (though not perfectly) literature from the time period we are studying. Beginning in about the 1600s, the literature selections we have to choose from widen considerably.

:: The boys had been complaining that the retellings of Gulliver’s Travels that we own all only tell the first two of the four stories. And, by golly, we can’t have that. So I purchased (and they all read) the Classic Starts version of Gulliver's Travels, which contains all four stories (abridged). I completely forgot about the masterpiece Jonathan Swift's Gulliver retold by Martin Jenkins and illustrated by Chris Riddell, so that’s on its way from Amazon as well. Is it wrong to own more than three retellings of Gulliver’s Travels?

:: I tried to get Luke to read the original Robinson Crusoe by Defoe, but he wasn’t quite up to it. We also have a few different retellings of that one, so he picked up a new-to-us vintage copy and enjoyed it.

:: Luke wasn’t quite ready for Don Quixote retold by Martin Jenkins (another masterpiece, hilariously illustrated but quite long), so I had him read Don Quixote and Sancho Panza retold by Margaret Hodges.

:: The Family Pilgrim's Progress by Jean Watson. This meaty picture book is a great introduction to the classic.

History

Luke has read many history-related picture books and chapter books recently (especially from around the time of the Pilgrims), but the following are a few of our favorites.

:: The King's Day: Louis XIV of France (wonderful illustrations, fascinating life)

:: Hana in the Time of the Tulips (historical fiction, beautiful Rembrandt-style illustrations)

:: Peter the Great (Diane Stanley’s biographies are excellent)

:: Don't Know Much About the Kings and Queens of England (We’ve referenced this one over and over again. Short one to four page entries for each king or queen with highly entertaining illustrations.)

:: Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin by Marguerite Henry (author of Misty of Chincoteague) tells the story of the American artist Benjamin West. The Boy Who Loved to Draw: Benjamin West is a lovely picture book option.

[Again, this post contains affiliate links. I receive a small commission on purchases made through these links—even if you do not purchase the recommended item! Thanks for generously supporting my book addiction children’s education. I greatly appreciate all of you who have recently shopped Amazon through my links!]

The Walk

I managed no photos of Thanksgiving dinner. I’m particularly disappointed that I didn’t snap a picture of my grandpa who is visiting from California. [I’ll be sure to get a picture this weekend before he heads home.] Having him here this week is a huge blessing. The whole family was present (my grandpa, my parents, the three of us girls with families, and Olive). Casey made the turkey on his Traeger grill. Holly made rhubarb pie. Shannon made bread dressing and rolls. Olive brought delicious mashed potatoes. We brought marionberry and pumpkin pies and our traditional jello salad. Mom made gravy and yams and pecan and apple pies. We also had ham, a veggie plate, and our traditional Martinelli’s sparkling cider.

It was rainy and dark for most of the day, but we took advantage of a short break in the precipitation for our traditional after-dinner walk. I snapped some pictures of Holly’s kids for Christmas cards.

There was a lot of game playing after dinner was cleaned up.

Oh, how thankful I am for my family.

Give Thanks

Paddington! [Speaking of Upcoming Shows]

This looks perfectly delightful.

My boys read five of the original chapter book series by Michael Bond (first published in 1958), beginning with A Bear Called Paddington, and Lola is enjoying the audio book performed by Stephen Fry. I think a plush Paddington Bear may find his way into her stocking this Christmas.

Oh, the Anticipation!

The Librarian - Quest for the Spear is one of our family favorites, and this new spin-off tv series looks like a blast!!

If you’ve enjoyed the National Treasure movies (or Indiana Jones), give these a try! Adventure, humor, and smarts—my kind of movie.

Be Blessed

Christmas Gift Inspiration

I’ve shared confessions of “terrible gift shopper” in previous posts (notably here and here), so I won’t bore you again with the details. You will notice, however, that the following list is short on toys. My kids don’t play with them. They don’t clean them up. They can’t even think of any to put on their wish list. So I’m okay with not buying them.

Without further ado, I offer you the start of my Christmas shopping list.

:: Fisher Price Classic Record Player

How many of you had one during your childhood? My sisters and I did not, but our family friends did and I loved to play with it! I think I might have to get the Fisher Price Classic Changeable Picture Disk Camera for Lola.

:: The Iridescence of Birds: A Book About Henri Matisse

This simple picture book looks delightful for young children.

:: The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus

Lists of words? Yes, please! Melissa Sweet is one of my favorite illustrators. Check out this lovely book trailer:

 

:: The Boy Who Loved Words

This would be a fun fiction book to pair with the above biography.

 

 

 

:: Snap Circuits Lights

 

For the fantasy-loving child:

:: Harry Potter Marauder's Map Tapestry Throw

:: Dr Who Wibbly Wobbly Quote T-shirt

:: Schleich Griffin Rider Toy

If I have to purchase toys, Schleich figures are among my favorites—animals, knights, dragons, fairies, ooh-la-la!!

 

Several people on my list, young and old creative adults, are receiving drawing books this year. So many inspirational titles to choose from!

:: Ed Emberley's Drawing Book of Animals

:: Illustration School: Let's Draw Happy People

:: 20 Ways to Draw a Tree and 44 Other Nifty Things from Nature: A Sketchbook for Artists, Designers, and Doodlers

:: Craft-a-Doodle: 75 Creative Exercises from 18 Artists

:: Creative Doodling & Beyond

:: The Art of Whimsical Lettering 

 

:: Andrew Peterson: Light for the Lost Boy

My boys have become huge Andrew Peterson fans. They’ve devoured all four books in his Wingfeather Saga, and they continuously listen to his album Light for the Lost Boy. I think it’s time for a new album to play on repeat.

 

:: Omnisax Anastasia Reusable Shopping Bags 5-pack

I have several of these bags, and they are incredibly handy to slip in my purse. Rolled up, they take up little room and weigh almost nothing, and yet they are extremely sturdy and hold an astonishing amount of groceries or books (whenever we have an impromptu library visit). Beautiful, functional, take up no space—perfect.

 

:: My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method

:: Lodge Pre-Seasoned Cast-Iron Dutch Oven with Dual Handles, 5-Quart

Because easy, hot, homemade bread. Nothing else to say, right?

 

[You will notice there are no gifts for men on this list. All of the men in my life are notoriously difficult to buy for.]

 

What Christmas gifts are you most excited about this year?

 

[This post contains affiliate links. I receive a small commission on purchases made through these links—even if you do not purchase the recommended item! Thanks for generously supporting my book addiction children’s education.]

Better Late Than Never

I think “better late than never” is my new “reaching for the stars.” Because I still hit “never” more often than I’d like to admit.

We had a belated costume party with our best friends, and now I’m posting belated pictures of the belated party. Impressive.

Do you remember last year when I lost Lola’s mermaid costume? I’d love to pretend that I found it, but in reality my “make everyone’s dreams come true” best friend found the exact mermaid costume on Ebay and bought it for Lola for Christmas. And this year she got to be a mermaid. I bought both a George Washington and an Abraham Lincoln costume this year. Leif refused to wear one. (Surprise.) He made his own Creeper head, and I suppose that was better anyway. Luke happily chose George Washington. Levi went as himself (ha!!).

I dressed as a lady in waiting (yes, I did). We joined Harry and Hermione and made marzipan pumpkins. Because no party with these 6 kids is a party without marzipan.

Christmas Reading

 

Are all your Christmas plans in place?

I used to be a big planner. Now I plan about an hour ahead. Sometimes I just wing it as I go along. Who is this person I’ve become?

But who needs gifts and decorations and yummy food when there’s a towering stack of Christmas books to be read?

I’ve been collecting for years, and now I’m not certain if my shelves can hold one more Christmas book—but I’m willing to risk it!

Have you added any Christmas books to your collection this year?

I’ve shared many of my favorites in past posts:

• Favorite Christmas Books
• Favorite Christmas Books ~ Around the World Edition
• Favorite Christmas Books ~ Pioneer Edition
• Advent (many resources)

I noticed with excitement that two of my favorite out-of-print Christmas books are available used on Amazon for reasonable prices right at this moment (they’ve often been available only at much higher prices!). Snatch them up before they’re gone!

• Maggie Rose, Her Birthday Christmas by Ruth Sawyer (an adored chapter book favorite from my own childhood, reviewed here—it makes a wonderful read-aloud!) 
• Handel's Messiah Family Advent Reader (short review here; last Christmas season I posted corresponding readings, picture books, videos, and other resources for each day’s topic)

This year I’ve added The Wee Christmas Cabin of Carn-na-ween to our collection since Ruth Sawyer is the author of two of my most favorite Christmas books. We’ll also be enjoying Christmas Day in the Morning by Pearl S. Buck (because, well, Pearl S. Buck), The Christmas Wish (the photography—oooohhh!), and Christmas Farm (perfect for reading the day we get our Christmas tree).

 

Next up, Christmas gift ideas!

More Lola Lovely

[She had to give herself “bunny ears” since her brothers weren’t around to do it. Giggle.]

La, La, La

[only two of my many favorites from an impromptu photo shoot this afternoon]

Poetry, Music, the Nine Muses, and More

I went down a bit of a rabbit trail earlier today, although the subject matter has (obviously) been on my mind recently.

It started while reading the language arts series by Michael Clay Thompson. I am re-reading the Island level with Luke and including Leif this time around. We diagram sentences together daily from one or another level of practice books (we have Island, Town, and Voyage), and Levi often joins us. MCT provides wonderfully imaginative sentences to analyze, and he includes fantastic comments for each one including vocabulary and Latin stems, grammar notes, and poetic devices (alliteration, assonance, etc.).

Today’s sentence was “Yes, after the ceremony the enthusiasm was manifest.” I always write the sentence on the white board incorrectly (e.g. missing punctuation, misplaced capitals, duplicate words, or misspellings), and Leif and Luke’s most favorite task is the “mechanics check” when they are given the chance to correct all my mistakes using editor’s marks. We then identify the parts of speech, parts of the sentence, purpose, structure, and pattern. After the hard work of analysis comes the delightful reward of diagramming.

After our grammar work this morning, we moved on to start the vocabulary book, Building Language, in which the author takes us back to the history of Rome and the beauty and strength of the arch as it relates to architecture. He then compares the arch to the Latin language and how it influences our own.

The boys began to construct Playmobil worlds in the front room while I continued to read aloud from the poetics book, Music of the Hemispheres. It opens with a poem by Emily Dickinson: "How happy is the little stone/ That rambles in the road alone/ And doesn't care about careers/ And exigencies never fears..." [My oldest son piped up to tell me the definition of "exigencies" as applied to logical fallacies. As hard as this life can be many days, I was reminded why we’re on this adventure called homeschooling.]

In the preface of Music of the Hemispheres, Michael Clay Thompson writes:

“Being a poet is much like being a composer of symphonies. Just as a composer writes each note on a musical staff, and composes harmonies for the different instruments, and knows when to enhance the percussion or the woodwinds, a great poet has an array of tools and techniques at hand, and puts each sound on the page, one sound at a time, in a deliberately chosen rhythm, for a reason.”

MCT talks about poetry being the "music of the hemispheres" meaning that poetry uses both sides of the brain in a way similar to music (utilizing sounds, rhythm, precise form, and creativity).

Just a few short minutes after finishing our reading for the morning, I came across the following short, entertaining, and fascinating video (thank you, Facebook).

 

I started wondering if structured dance affects the brain in the same way, as it is musical and physical. A smidge more rabbit-trailing, and I came across this video (also short, fascinating, and entertaining—oh, how I love TED). Ah, of course. The nine muses of Ancient Greece: tragedy, comedy, poetry, dance, songs, history, astronomy (music of the spheres!), hymns, and epic poetry.

 

[At this point in my rambling, I’m itching to share twenty quotes about educating the poetic imagination, music, and the history of classical education from Beauty for Truth's Sake: On the Re-enchantment of Education by Stratford Caldecott, but that would make an already lengthy blog post unreasonably unwieldy. You’ll just have to read the book yourself.]

And then I began free-falling down a rabbit hole.

::  How to Read Music (engaging introductory video, again by TED). This brilliantly sums up the current music theory unit we are studying in the Classical Conversations Foundations program.

 

::  Reading a Poem: 20 Strategies @ The Atlantic. This is a surprisingly humorous and quite helpful how-to essay.

7. A poem cannot be paraphrased. In fact, a poem’s greatest potential lies in the opposite of paraphrase: ambiguity. Ambiguity is at the center of what is it to be a human being. We really have no idea what’s going to happen from moment to moment, but we have to act as if we do.

12. A poem can feel like a locked safe in which the combination is hidden inside. In other words, it’s okay if you don’t understand a poem. Sometimes it takes dozens of readings to come to the slightest understanding. And sometimes understanding never comes. It’s the same with being alive: Wonder and confusion mostly prevail.

::  This Bird’s Songs Share Mathematical Hallmarks With Human Music @ Smithsonian. The hermit thrush prefers to sing in harmonic series, a fundamental component of human music.

::  50 Great Teachers: Socrates, The Ancient World's Teaching Superstar @ nprED. [Yes, this is a stretch, but we’re talking about education in Ancient Greece, right?]

"That's at the heart of the Socratic method that's come down to us from the streets of Athens: dialogue-based critical inquiry. The goal here is to focus on the text, ideas and facts — not just opinions — and to dig deeper through discussion."

"The Socratic method forces us to take a step back from that and ask questions like: What's going on here? What does this possibly mean?" Ogburn says. "What's important? What's less important? What might be motivating this person to say this?"

::  Researchers explore links between grammar, rhythm @ Vanderbilt University. [If this doesn’t bring us full circle, I don’t know what would.]

In grammar, children’s minds must sort the sounds they hear into words, phrases and sentences and the rhythm of speech helps them to do so. In music, rhythmic sequences give structure to musical phrases and help listeners figure out how to move to the beat.

And to reward you for your perseverance all the way to the end of this post:

Psyching Myself Up for the Week Ahead