Doing the Next Thing

got to meet Spot at library storytime today

... Shannon ! Congratulations - you are the proud new owner of Exploring God's Creation! This was a fun giveaway , and I wish I had something to mail to all of you! Thanks for visiting and commenting. If I can ever find time to blog again (with the craziness of illness, last-minute end-of-summer trips, and school starting) I look forward to making some new homeschool bloggy friends! Have a great week!

*******Update: the Giveaway is over. Go here to see the winner! Have a great year, everybody! Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations is sponsoring a Curriculum Cleanout. Now through August 15, lots of great resources will be recycled through giveaways. Have something that needs a new home? Need a few items to round out your curriculum? Then check out this great blog carnival that grows daily! My giveaway is for Exploring God's Creation Science workbook from Christian Liberty Press. First, I just want to say how much I love Christian Liberty Press! They are affordable, user-friendly, and have a solid Biblical worldview. This science workbook (we used it more as a "text") has information and activities on a range of topics in all the major areas of elementary science. It's listed in their 3rd grade materials, but we used it as a group when my kids were in 4th, 2nd, and K. (The first couple of lessons have some marks - before I got smart and photocopied the lessons.) Each cha...

I admit it: I'm not a huge fan of comic books. In fact, I could probably live happily ever after never reading a single one. I am, however, a mom of three boys. For a while, the big boys played Anachronism (history-based trading card game) at a local comic store, and the little guy is quite obsessed with superheroes of all kinds. I also live in a culture full of comic-heroes- cum- blockbuster-hits. My comic education may be limited, but I am aware of some basics. First, many comics - the good ones, anyway - are really a type of pop art. Second, many of the themes are too mature for children. This doesn't stop kids from wanting "picture books" of their favorite heroes, though, creating a bit of a dilemma for us moms. Solution: my latest book find at the local library. (Well, Children's Librarian Amy, knowing A's love of comic heroes, actually found it for us.) What book? you ask: Batman : The Story of the Dark Knight by Ralph Cosentino . The author very skill...

What's been going on, you ask? Well... on the one hand, it feels like a whole lotta nuthin! On the other hand, I've been incredibly busy with daily life. You know the drill, the kind of busy where everyone gets fed, clothed, cleaned, and tutored each day and you fall into bed at night - only to get up and do it all over again. The weeks fly by, and poof! It's Thanksgiving before you know it! That's ok, though. We've laughed, loved, learned, and served. K (2) continues to keep us in stitches with the funny things she says and does. The latest is her announcement that "I go bafroom you" each time I say I have to go to the bath*room. She runs in, lifts the lid, and stands ready to assist me in any way. Future attendant at a 5-star hotel? The Big 3 have enjoyed their enrichment classes, culminating in a medieval feast for M (9) and some pretty amazing President projects for S (14) and C (12). A's (4) obsession with the human body has been replaced with Spi...

I promise this is not turning into a book blog! But I do love books and I want to post about things I love, so... Bear with me as I share another book discovery. I've been taking the Littles to weekly preschool storytime at the library. Last week, the librarian read a funny book entitled Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus ! I liked the simple illustrations that had an almost retro feel. I liked how author used speech balloons to convey the plucky pigeon's personality. It made an amusing read-aloud, since every page presented the children in the audience an opportunity to shout, "No!" (when the pigeon begs and pleads to drive.) I admit to laughing out loud during storytime and enjoying the book as much as the 4-year- olds ! I had seen the book at the bookstore (on date night, of course!) and noticed there were others in the series. But when I went to the library the other night (to pick up school books I had put on hold,) I couldn't for the life of me rememb...

Well, I just can't contain myself. I have to tell you about another serendipitous find at the local library. As I was browsing last week for "B" books, I saw Bats at the Library by Brian Lies. Bat starts with B. We love libraries. Illustrations look cute. Let's check it out. Turns out I picked another winner. Before we even had a chance to read it, My Sweetie and I spotted it on a display at a bookstore on our date night. I thought to myself, "hmmm...maybe it's actually a decent book." When I finally sat down to read it to the kids we had a blast. The story is a funny one about some mischievous bats who discover an open window at the library and let themselves in. They make all kinds of silly fun, such as photocopying themselves and "swimming" in the water fountain. What captivated the Big 3, however, were the scenes of the little bats imagining themselves in all the stories they read. Mr. Lies puts a clever twist on many classic stories - lik...

I wasn't planning to compose anything today, simply to post the book reviews I wrote over the weekend. (scroll down or click here to find those) But I just had to tell ya'll about this book. It's called simply Apples and it's written by Jacqueline Farmer. It was a random find at the library last week. For my little pre-K "program" with A (4) I am doing a "Letter of the Week" theme. We're on our 3rd official week of school, but we're still doing fun "A" things, because I keep finding fun things to study and do! (Plus it's the first letter of his name and therefore kind of a pet.) Naturally this book caught my eye as it lay on the shelf, discarded by some previous library visitor. Apples not only start with "A," but are a fun topic for this time of year. I liked the cover art; I picked it up and thumbed through a couple of pages. Looks good - let's get it. We finally got around to reading it today and I have to say ...

Things that made today sweet: -some good finds at the library -some awesome deals at Good*will: bike $8; boots $3; kids on bike and in boots-priceless -finding three of these that call our garden home -fresh air on a pretty day -ending the day, thanks to a Star Wars cookbook found at the library, with yummy "Darth Malts."

This is a question I asked myself the other day when A. announced after rest time: "Mom, I ate a sugar cube." Let me explain... All last week, while the Big 3 were working on history projects, A. kept saying, "I wanna do a projrect!" I told him we'd do a project on Saturday when all the others were done. He loves the book The Three Snow Bears , so I decided we could build an igloo out of sugar cubes and talk about living in the arctic with the Inuit people. It was honestly a blast - he enjoyed making his " 'gloo house projrect." The igloo is now proudly displayed on his dresser. And yes, Tacky glue is non-toxic!

On this blog, I have reviewed several "grown up" books and a couple of children's novels. This time I decided to give children's picture books some time. With two Little Ones in the house, you can imagine that we read our share of these treasures each day. Here are some of our recent favorites. I 'm Dirty! by Kate and Jim McMullan . Isn't that a funny title? We discovered this one quite by accident, but it has become one of A's favorites. For our vacation last fall, we checked out "Mike Mulligan" DVD from the library that had the prequel, I Stink! on it. A (3yo) fell in love with the funny, grumpy, "trashy" book about a garbage truck. When I saw I'm Dirty - about a backhoe loader with an attitude - I just had to buy it for Christmas. We all love it, though Mommy and Daddy are going hoarse from reading it in the tough-guy voice it demands. Cute book with funny illustrations. There are several other titles in this series, and we pla...

I made a personal "rule" several years ago to stay home on Mondays. It simply gets our week off on the right foot if we can regroup after the weekend and be busy at home. This Monday we had the added issue of sick little ones to nurse. While I comforted them and tried to get some housework accomplished, the "Big 3" did their morning chores and some independent schoolwork. By the time the little ones went down for their naps, I was exhausted. When we finally got our late lunch cleaned up, I decided to spend some time chilling out and reading Leepike Ridge to the kids. We started the book weeks ago, but had only read a few chapters. We kept putting it aside to read our science or history books. We picked it back up over the weekend and were quickly hooked. On Monday, we ended up reading together the entire nap time and finished the book! We just couldn't stop until we found out how it ended. I was originally inspired to buy the book after reading what Laurie Det...

I love historical fiction! It's probably my favorite literary genre. So when I put God King by Joanne Williamson on my sons' reading list for this school year, I knew I would have as much fun reading it as they would. The last time we were studying ancient history, we read Williamson's Hittite Warrior , set in the biblical time period of the Judges. We fell in love with her vivid characters, readable style, and exciting way of making the action of the Bible come to life. This book was no different. God King is set in the time of King Hezekiah, when the Assyrians had already conquered the northern kingdom of Israel and were knocking on Jerusalem's door. True to form, the book was easy to read and action-packed. Taharka , a young Egyptian pharaoh (thus the god king reference) must flee for his life to Judea. Once there, he witnesses first-hand Sennacherib's siege of Jerusalem, coming away with a respect for Yahweh, the God of Judah. I came away with a neat discover...