Reading Independence & Booklists

Gracie will be in second grade this fall, and most of the reading we've done has been together.  I want to start fostering some independence in her for next school year by assigning a book each month and completing a related project.

So why am I doing this?

1.  To make her an independent learner.
2.  To guide her reading selection. 
3.  To teach her responsibility.
4.  It's something she is excited to do.

What will she read?

I'm still narrowing it down.  I want to preview each book to make sure it will be a good fit and doesn't have any surprises!  The books that she doesn't have assigned as independent reading will still probably find their from the library to our mantel.

Middle Ages Literature
(aligned with chapters of Story of the World Vol. 2)

The Sword in the Tree (2)
Marguerite Makes a Book (3,11)
Viking Adventure (14)
Minstrel In The Tower (16)
A Medieval Feast (16)
Castle Diary: The Journal of Tobias Burgess (16, 19)
The Making of a Knight: How Sir James Earned His Armor (17)
The Door in the Wall (19)
Joan of Arc (26)
Columbus (31)
Leonardo Davinci (35)
Leonardo and the Flying Boy (35)
Good Queen Bess : The Story of Elizabeth I of England (38,42)
William Shakespeare & the Globe (39)
Pirates (Reading Railroad) (42)

Earth Science Literature
(aligned with R.E.A.L. Science- Life)

Weather/Water
The Cloud Book
A Drop Of Water
Water Dance
Earth's Surface
Hill of Fire
The Magic School Bus Blows Its Top: A Book About Volcanoes
How to Dig a Hole to the Other Side of the World
Rocks & Minerals
Rocks in His Head
Rocks: Hard, Soft, Smooth, and Rough
Solar System
Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei
Footprints on the Moon
If You Decide To Go To The Moon

I love finding relevant booklists, so I hope this is helpful.  I will post the finalized list as I make my way through previewing these books.  Anything you would add?

Great Outdoor Challenge: Day Whatever (Taking Time & Seeds)

Let's face it.  I can't blog every day.  But I'm still participating in the challenge.  And this week it really has been a challenge because of an extra busy schedule.  But I guess that's the point isn't?  To not get so caught up in the busyness that keeps us from going outside in the first place.  To take the time to enjoy the beauty of creation.   To make time to be still and to breathe. 

Yesterday we had some great outdoor time, it just took us a while to realize it.  We went to a local park, but bypassed the green grassy playgound area, for a rugged little trail off the parking lot.   A few hundred feet up the trail, the whining began.   

"I'm tired!"

"Can we have lunch now?"

"I'm hot"

"Ugh!" 

(That last one was my two-year-old pointing in the direction of the playground that we wer not heading to.)  

"Well, let's do our science experiment just up the trail a bit, and then we'll have lunch at the playground,"  I replied in my best mother voice.

Once we did get up to our experiment spot, I asked Gracie to take our supplies out of her backpack.  But she had taken the most important supply out in the van, where it still remained. 

So back to the van we went. 

When we returned with the crucial supply (more on that later), we found a little spot just off the parking lot and settled down to work.  It was just a weedy little patch, but once we sat down and took a closer look, we were amazed by all the beauty we saw:  tiny yellow flowers, ladybugs (in several stages), some edible greens, baby sunflowers, and even a hawk!  Once we slowed down, we were able to appreciate what had been around us the whole time!

And that crucial supply?  Socks! 

The girls put some of their dad's old socks over their shoes and walked through the weediest patches they could find. Today Gracie sorted through the seeds and examined them more closely.

We even found some very cool maple seeds that spin like helicopters as they fall!

Here are some great books to go along with a seed study.

Children and Nature Awareness Month Challenge: Day 3

Taking the Children and Nature Awareness Month Challenge has really encouraged me to do more outside.  Why be inside, if I can be outside?   My husband put together our new picnic table just in time.  Since its  arrival (8 hours ago):  meals eaten outside-100%, days of school done outside-100%.  What else can we do outside?   I can't wait to see what we come up with!    

We started our plant unit today by looking at flowers. We were able to see almost the whole life cycle of a flower in our lemon tree: bud, blossom, and the very beginnings of fruit.

The Reason for a Flower (Ruth Heller's World of Nature) is a wondeful book to explain the science behind flowers to children.  It's simple enough to make the concepts clear, but includes scientific vocabulary such as anther, stigma and angiosperm.  The illustrations are beautiful and will get the attention of even young listeners.

 

Critter Update

See those tiny little yellow things in a cluster?  They're ladybug eggs!  It looks like our little ladybug friend is going to be a mama!  It will be exciting to watch and observe them!

The Critters

You know you homeschool when the number of critters living in your home start to outnumber the people. 

Meet Betty the Beta fish,

our three painted ladies in their brand-new chysalides,

 

and a lovely little ladybug feasting on aphids.

And of course Lily, the dog.

Other temporary visitors have included earthworms, mealsworms, and a ziploc bag of snails, who were recently misplaced somewhere in my home. 

Yikes.

I hope that I am not the one to receive the honor of finding that bag.