I know this is true of me, and I'm pretty sure that two of my four older daughters, Alisha and Alayna, have this "problem" as well. I'm thinking that the way things are headed with Maddy and Kenna, they too will have an endless reading list. Which is a good thing!

When you teach a child a love for reading, you are doing so much more than just "teaching them to read". When a desire to read is developed, instead of a "have to read for the assignment" attitude, your child learns to see every detail in the world around them. You child will learn to hear the sounds of distant rainforests and the sounds of wolves howling at the moon. They will travel not just to faraway destinations, but back in time and into the future. As they experience new books, they will learn to see with the heart, hear with their mind, and smell the scents and odors with their imagination and memory.

Books can teach a skill (how to cook, how to build a treehouse, how to fix a leaking sink, etc.), entertain, teach about history, show how to do a science experiment, and so much more. Books open the world up and bring it right into your home.

Take your child to the library at least every two weeks (that's usually how long most libraries loan books out for). Challenge your child to check out books beyond his present interests. Looking for a particular book but can't find it at your local library? Ask your librarian to do a search and borrow it from another library.

When your child loves reading, they will absorb so much information. Without "studying hard" and probably without even realizing they are taking in so much knowledge. And that, my friend, will give your child an advantage in this world.

Pizza Hut Book-It Program Certificates Arrived!

Our Pizza Hut Book-It! certificates came in the mail today. Only Maddy is participating. The rules said K - 6th grade, but also said ages 5 and up. Kenna may be a kindergartener, but she's only 4 at the moment. Has a month to go before she'll be 5. So rather than lie about her age and cheat on the program, we will gladly pay for her pizza when she meets her goals.

Both of the girls are members of the 500 Page Club at the library. So, we decided that for Maddy's Pizza Hut goal, we would only count the books SHE reads to me. Since I already read 3 books to them each day, her goal needed to be something she has to work toward.

And so, we have decided that if she will read at least 1 Level 1 or 2 book to me each week, at the end of the year, she will have read 25 books BY HERSELF. That seems a pretty fair goal for a 1st grader, who also completes her language arts lessons and has 3 books read to her each day.

Kenna is also included in the lessons and 3-books-a-day Story Time. That's why I read 3 books every day: Kenna picks one out, Maddy picks one out, and then we read 1 - 5 chapters of a bigger "chapter" book.

Why so much reading going on in our home? Because that's how you develop strong readers and a love for reading. We've been reading to our kids every since they were big enough to sit on our lap and look at the pages.

Our day began with a birthday breakfast celebration with pink princess pancakes, complete with chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and marachino cherries. We now (again, for the 5th time) have a 7 year old in the The Sisney Crew. After breakfast, she opened gifts. Her "big" party is coming up this weekend. Happy birthday, Maddy! We love you so very much!

             

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In Social Studies, while studying children around the world, we found the following website that shows what the bedroom of children from different countries looks like. My girls were quite shocked and worried about some the of kids after seeing these pictures. Definitely an eye-opener.

Good lesson in being thankful for where your live and the things you have. There is always someone, somewhere whom has it worse than your situation.

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/images-shown-where-children-sleep-around-the-world.html

In Science, with both kindergarten and 1st grade, we have been making observations about everyday, familiar things. For kindergarten science we use a Science Activity Book published by Harcourt School Publishing. For our first grader, we use First Grade Science: Earth & Space, Life, Physical by

D. W. Skrabanek.

We began by transforming a Primary Journal Tablet into a "Science Journal". We then had our very first lesson on "Science Safety", about thinking clearly, being careful, taking care of our science supplies, and on NEVER putting any science supply or experiment in our mouths unless the teacher (Mom, which is me) or the administrator (namely, their Daddy) tells them it is OK.

Since that first rather boring, albeit important lesson, we have had fun observing various objects, comparing objects, and thinking up some very good questions that a good scientist would ask.

We have sorted science tools that we would use to make our observations and comparisons from things that we would actually use the tools to study. We have sorted large rocks from smaller pebbles. We have had the girls think up questions about a picture of a house (Who lives there? What kind of tree is this one? Where is that snake going? and more).

We combine doing worksheets with keeping journals/notes with hands-on experiments.This is why we choose to homeschool using an eclectic approach. We are free to use textbooks and worksheets. We borrowed the Science Journal idea from "Sid the Science Kid" off one of the girls' favorite cartoons. And the experiments? Well, the ideas for those come from a wide variety of resources: textbooks, library books, magazines, the internet, and some we just decide to check out the possibilities with a "What if..." question.

The world is our science classroom!

500 Page Club

Having a kindergartener and a 1st grader is actually giving us twice the opportunity to cover concepts in math at one time! Today Kenna explored Counting Bears (sorting by color, counting) and Maddy joined in. Then we switched to Maddy's math lesson, with Kenna joining in, to learn about coins (names, values, sorting, counting nickels). They don't look at it as 2 separate math lessons. And at this time, I am not telling them any different! Both of my girls love math and I truly hope they continue to do so during the years to come!


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Today was the first meeting of the kindergarten / 1st grade 500 Page Reading Club. Meeting once a week at the local library. Sponsored by the Friends of the Library group. Co-led by myself and a local kindergarten teacher, Ms. Cheryl.

Kenna and Maddy love participating in their reading club. Kenna received her first library card today! They each borrow 5 books from the library each week.

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Loving animals ourselves, and living on a farm, we believe children should have - and learn to be responsible for - pets of their own. Today, Maddy and Kenna each added a new puppy to their growing list of pets which includes a Cockatiel and rabbits.

They did their own shopping (with assistance of course) for their collars and leashes, feed and water bowls, dog toys, flea stuff, dog Milk Bones, and Puppy Chow. Letting them choose and be there with the $51.73 bill rang up, lets them realize how expensive pets are and that it's important to take care of not just the pets, but also their pet supplies.

We drove a few towns over to pick up their "free" puppies from a friend. We actually sent them $20 in a thank you card to help cover the expense of the wormer and feed the puppies have consumed at during their 9 weeks of life. My Daddy says there's no such thing as a free pet. He's right! They have been wormed, but we have to make appointments to take them for their puppy shots and, when old enough, to be spayed. Maintaining a pet is pretty expensive. But the rewards of pet ownership, and our animals become part of the family, is priceless.

Lots of subjects covered during the time of preparing for and going to get their pets: economics (buying supplies and feed), animal science (animal breeds, selecting a pet, caring for a pet), geography (Where's Equality?), following directions (to reach our destination), math, a field trip, and some life skills.

As is now a tradition at our house, we had 8 for lunch. Two of my older daughters and their spouse and boyfriend joined us for homemade lasagna (hint: make two and free one for later in the month), Italian garlic bread, chocolate pie, and pineapple upside-down cake. Used to be 12 of us, but our oldest daughter and her family moved out of state. Can't blame them, my son-in-law's company offered him a huge raise to make the move.

All the dessert? For my husband's birthday, which was really Wednesday but he wasn't home much that day and asked us to put it off until today. Both of his favorites.

A fun afternoon at our local park helping with and participating in our church's "Outside the Walls" event. The park was filled with 5 inflatables for the kids to enjoy, snow cones, popcorn, and sodas (all free) for 2 hours. All free for anyone attending! Then a wonderful outdoor evening service with our preacher and song leaders turning a farm trailer into an outdoor stage.

Planning a National Geographic Birthday Party

The girls and I spent this morning planning Maddy's upcoming birthday party. When I asked her what kind of party she wanted to have, she didn't think long before saying, "National Geographic". I honestly tried to talk to her out of that theme. How do you plan a party themed around this child's favorite website and shows? She did not want to have a "safari" party...National Geographic or bust. And it HAS to have a "Dung Beetle Derby" after her very favorite game on the National Geographic Kids website.

So, this is the result of our brainstorming...

National Geographic Birthday Party

1) We designed our own invitation, inviting her guests to a "National Geographic Kids Birthday Party". Included the usual:  the date, time, location, a "star" that states her age, and to whom and where to R.S.V.P. Then came, what we think may be the coolest we've ever planned, the "themed" info: a warning to wear play clothes, a request to bring lawn chairs, the "Weird by Yummy" food menu, and the activities we plan to do.

2) "Weird by Yummy Foods" is a twist on National Geographic's "Weird but True Facts" they always have on their Kid's website. Our menu includes animal cupcakes (with a plastic animal on top), Dirt Pudding - complete with worms and a flower lollipop, worms & snakes (gummy - Oriental Trading Company has some giant ones), Jungle Juice (punch), and Swamp Water (bottled water with new label attached).

2) Games and activities include: Eggs-Periment: Balancing Egg Contest (taken straight from the National Geographic Kid's website), make a kaleidoscope (also from the website), a Dung Beetle Derby (using the kids as the beetles and a balloon for the dung ball), Feed the Tiger game (going to take a stuffed tiger we already have and place him in either a basket or a cage and let the kids stand about 6 feet from it and throw bean bags (the feed)  to feed the tiger (found this one on a safari party game site), and pony rides (she has a pony).

We will be holding this party in the backyard so a lot of decorating won't be done. There's a swingset and we'll have stations set up for the craft and experiment, and tables for eating. Isn't going to be anything fancy, but I think the kids are going to have a lot of fun.

We'll use things like play binoculars, butterfly nets, etc. for prizes. And will send each child home with a zebra striped bag with fruit snacks, a small plastic animal, etc. with a "Thanks for coming and have a wild time with me!" note attached from the birthday girl.

You know, I have found over the years, that if you actual follow a child's lead, they can take you on a some pretty wild and fun adventures. I hope this party coming up will be just that. For what I at first deemed "not going to work", has in fact, turned into a fun, educational, and busy birthday party plan!