What We're Reading: September 2018

Rain. Rain. Soccer. Soccer. Severe poison ivy reaction. Lots of reading. A piano "strike."

The month has flown by in a flurry of simple meals, loads of laundry that were not hung on the line, and some expected and unexpected doctor appointments for me, baby, and my 6-year-old who had a terrible bout of poison ivy rash that required steroids.

The month is ending with my husband being away for the weekend at a conference and I'm missing him as usual. I'm also really missing his heroic devotion to nighttime parenting every non-baby of the house as my son is needing to take medication every 6 hours round the clock!

Every month it feels like we didn't do a crazy amount of reading but when I tally up the list I reflect back on the life-giving words and special memories hiding behind the titles.

This month, I witnessed my 4-year-old daughter begin to be captivated by a chapter book for the first time (Charlotte's Web) and I got to explore some really big, interesting ideas about chemistry with my sons who are both excited about this topic.

Along with the reading for our formal homeschooling lessons, we've nourished ourselves on beautiful ideas, art, and language. More and more I am convinced that a feast of arts, singing, handicrafts, history, and nature study, is worth the cost of squeezing out longer math sessions or more writing practice!

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Poetry

This term we are focusing on the work of Emily Dickinson. We read the following every day for one week at morning time:

Hope by Emily Dickinson
Morning by Emily Dickinson
A Day by Emily Dickinson
The Saddest Noise, The Sweetest Noise by Emily Dickinson

If you want to see more poems that we enjoy, check out Poetry to Read Aloud.

Morning Time

Morning time has been slowly getting longer again, but I was surprised to discover that we only finished two books this month! We are reading several longer books just a little bit at a time and will be finishing a few of those soon. Also, we've been doing MadLibs many mornings after breakfast. Eventually, my 6-six-year-old will stop asking me what a noun is every single day, right?

We finished the following books at morning time this month:


Gilgamesh by Bernarda Bryson
Handel at the Court of Kings by Opal Wheeler


We've also been reading at morning time, and will continue to read slowly for some time:
 
The Red Fairy Book by Andrew Lang
By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Story of Painting for Young People: From Cave Painting to Modern Times by H.W. Janson and Dora Jane Janson
The Wonders of Chemistry by Archie Frederick Collins (free online)
Bayou Backwaters by Allan W. Eckert

To see even more books we've enjoyed at morning time, check the Morning Time page.

Lunch-time Read Alouds

 
The Secret of the Andes by Ann Nolan Clark (finished)
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham
A Little Maid of New England by Alice Turner Curtis

Night Book


My husband has been reading to the kids:

Free Reading

Last month, Peter (8) read a lot of twaddle and some heavier nonfiction. This month, he has only completed 5 books, but they are all solid choices. He loved The Middle Moffat so much that he is asking me to read it! It is so cute that he really wants me to start reading this book ASAP that I will have to oblige him. 

With the younger children

A few of the books we've been reading this month include:

The Mysterious Tadpole by Steven Kellogg
The Magic School Bus Inside a Hurricane by Joanna Cole
If Dinosaurs Were Cats and Dogs by Alice Low and Colin McNaughton
The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
Owen by Kevin Henkes

I've been reading

I'm in the middle of several books right now, both fiction and nonfiction, but I did manage to finish two books that were super quick reads for me. Both gave me some things to think about.

Mere Motherhood by Cindy Rollins
Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown

I'm also slowly re-reading Home Education by Charlotte Mason with an in-person reading group.

These are most of the books we've been reading outside of our formal lessons. You can see the ones we use during school time at 1st-grade plans and 3rd-grade plans.

Past Months:


Read any good books lately?

2 comments:

  1. What a fantastic set of books! I remember loving Secret of the Andes when I was a kid. We, too, read the Magic School Bus Inside a Hurricane in September; it's great for their storm fascination.

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    1. I LOVED Secret the Andes. My young children were lukewarm about it. But I know we'll be reading this one again at some point!!! I had never even heard of it before homeschooling.

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