Books We're Reading in January

While I don't keep track of the stacks and stacks of books the kids grab to read just because, I always love sharing what we are reading, and seeing what other people are reading. I'll sort this list by person, and just include current reads or books finished in January.

Rebekah (age 3) 

She's not reading on her own at all. But her favorite books right now are Black Beauty and anything fairy tale. 

Tobias (age 6) 

Not reading on his own yet. His favorite books currently are The Cat in the Hat and other books by Seuss, as well as fairy tales. 

Samuel (age 8)

January reads include Ollie the Ox and Other Animals, Ash to the Rescue, Secrets of the G.S. Ball, and The Kingdom of Wrenly: The Dream Portal. 

Mason (age 10)

His recent reads include Pumpkin, Ginger, and Spice; The Boxcar Children #17, The Boxcar Children #18, Who Was Elvis Presley?, What Was Hurricane Katrina? and stacks and stacks of nonfiction books.

Caleb (age 11)

He read book 5 of The Impossible Quest: Battle of the Heroes. He just started The Ruins of Gorlan (Ranger's Apprentice book 1). Also did a reread of Wings of Fire #4.

Oliver (age 12)

He read The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and now is working through Wings of Fire Legends: Darkstalker. 

Daniel (age 14)

He read Ella Enchanted and is reading The Phantom Tollbooth. He loves funny books and these both have been a hit!

Emma (age 16)

She just finished The Hobbit (again) and is rereading The Fellowship of the Ring currently. I love when kids reread favorite books because the conversations we have about them the second or third time through have great insights and connections.

Joseph (age 17)

He's read The Prophecy of Bane, The Curse of the Warmbloods, and is currently reading The Marks of Secret. Those are books #2-#4 of The Underland Chronicles.

Family Read Alouds

We are slowly working through Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix together. The boys have also been doing several books together. They finished Dragonwatch #5: Return of the Dragon Slayers, Eragon (a reread for them), Eldest (a reread for them), and are working through Brisingr right now. 

Mom (age 40)

I do a mix of reading for fun and reading ARCs (advance reader copies) of books for authors that I then post reviews about on Amazon. I'm also a decently fast reader, I made it through 200 books last year alone. My January reads have been:

• Hunted by K.M. Shea
• United by K.M. Shea
• Wren by Rachel Rossano
• The Wolf Gate by Hanna Sandvig
• The Rose Gate by Hanna Sandvig
• The Lily Gate by Hanna Sandvig
• The Masked Fae by Shari L. Tapscott
• The Baker and the Wolf by J. M. Stengel
• Charming Artemis by Sarah M. Eden (originally an ARC last year, this was a reread for me)
• Tex by Liz Isaacson (ARC)
• In the Waves of Tristwick by Deborah M. Hathaway (ARC) Currently reading
• The Gentleman and the Maid by Martha Keyes (ARC) Currently reading
• Raising Critical Thinkers: A Parent's Guide to Growing Wise Kids in the Digital Age by Julie Bogart (ARC) Currently reading
• The Beast and the Enchantress by Camille Peters - Currently reading
• The Snow Queen: Heart of Ice by K.M. Shea

It is almost February and we will pick up another read aloud as we start homeschool book club back up. Our February title is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. We haven't read it in years and years and years. I can't wait to see what my children think of it. 

Have you read any of the books on our January lists? Did you enjoy them?

April 3 - April 30: Catching Up

 General Conference was full of inspiring, encouraging talks. I have so much to go back and study! So much counsel to take in and apply to my life. Easter was pretty quiet as it was also Conference. We just celebrated with our own immediate family.

We raised caterpillars and released
them when they were butterflies.

Monday Apr. 5th was our first day back to homeschool after spring break. It was a little rocky, as usual. Some kids move right back into routine, while others breathe fire like fierce dragons over the return of lessons. I kept things light for our first day back. Two highlights - we started Ecosystems in science with from The Good and the Beautiful, and we made it to unit four in TGTB History 3, which is all about World War II. Many of my kids are excited to really dive in and study WWII. Each child picked a chapter book to read that relates to some aspect of the war, and we refreshed our library bookshelf with a lot of WWII books kids can explore. 

The rest of the week went on slowly, with cranky kids lingering for several days. We finished the week with roasted hot dogs and smores over the fire pit on Saturday, and church on Zoom Sunday. 

Week of April 12th

Monday we learned about a fascinating project in Arizona to create a closed off system that could sustain life. It is called Biosphere 2, and we were introduced to it in our Ecosystems unit. There was a neat video about it on YouTube, and there is a website as well. The idea of Biosphere 2 is that if they can be successful, this could be recreated on another planet. 

This week I drove for the first time since January. My broken foot did okay, but is not ready for a long drive. I had to take Joseph to the orthodontist, which is not too far from our house. My husband turned 43 this week. My birthday is in two weeks. We celebrated both of us together at a family party over the weekend. 

Week of April 19th

My x-rays this week show no healing progress. My doctor got my insurance to approve a bone stimulator device. I use it for 20 minutes twice a day. Hopefully it will help this bone to finish healing. If it does not, I will need surgery. Homeschool and Seminary proceed as usual. We are really having some great conversations around WWII during history. Some of the chapter books kids have or are reading for this include:

• The Hiding Place
• Twenty and Ten
• The Big Wave
• How I Became a Spy
• They Called Us Enemy
• The Winged Watchman

Week of April 26th

Another quiet week homeschooling and living life. We are enjoying the more spring-like weather and playing outside.

 I turned 40 this week.

June Summer Reading

Image Source

Reading is something that happens year round at my house. Even in the summer, kids are expected to pick up a book and read for at least 20 minutes a day. Beyond that, you will often find my kids reading to learn about things they are interested in, reading for pleasure, and listening to audio books. Every evening the kids go to bed at 8pm, but have an hour with book lights to read or draw if they wish. They read a lot, and reread favorites regularly. I decided to jot down the books being read during the month of June by the kids. This time I'm including the picture books and library books we read. I know I've missed a bunch of those because the boys take up a basket of books each evening. The list does not include my own personal reading.

Chapter Books (Finished or in progress) 

• The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
• The Hobbit
• The Fellowship of the Ring
• The Two Towers
• The Return of the King
• The Ruins of Gorlan
• Who Was Thomas Alva Edison?
• What Was Ellis Island?
  
• Who Was Leonardo Da Vinci?
• Mercy Watson to the Rescue
• Gregor the Overlander
• Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane
• The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma
• The Sea of Monsters
• The Titan's Curse
• The Battle of the Labyrinth
• The Mouse and the Motorcycle
• Runaway Ralph
• Red Rope of Fate
• Royal Magic
  
• Who's Your Hero? Volume 1-3
• Flat Stanley
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
• The Throne of Fire
  

Books from The Good and the Beautiful Library

• Mr. Apple's Family
• Luke's Adventure
• Lily's Pumpkins
• Ted and Tom and the Tall Tall Peak
• Blake the Brave
• Jack and the Lost Maze
• Jane and the King
• Summer on the North Star
• Number Eleven Poplar Street
  

Other books

• How to Knit a Monster
• The Little Green Girl
• The Bold, Brave Bunny
• Monster Motel
• The Little Island
• Sonya's Chickens
• Hippopotamister
• Policeman Small
• Chicken Chickens
• The Trouble with Time Travel
• Red Panda's Candy Apples
• Dough Knights and Dragons
• Edgar Allen Poe's Pie
• City Chickens
• Bear Came Along
• My Pet Wants a Pet
• Finders Keepers
• The Beginner's Guide to Fashion Design Studio
• Please Don't Eat Me
• Home in the Woods
• Bats at the Library
• The Hundred Year Barn
• Boxitects
• Anna at the Art Museum
• A Computer Called Katherine
• Hawkeye Comics #1-3
• The Friend Magazine
• The New Era Magazine
  
• The Sherlock Holmes Book (by DK Publishing)
• Several Childcraft Volumes
• Story Path
• Zootopia: The Big Case
• I Spy: Picture Riddle Books
• Insectlopedia
• 5 Minute Mickey Mouse Stories
• 5 Minute Star Wars Stories
  
• Lovely Beasts: The Surprising Truth
• Desert Giant
• The Magic School Bus Blows Its Top
• The Magic School Bus In the Rainforest
• What Should Danny Do? 
• What Should Darla Do?
• How Things Work: Inside Out
• New Testament Stories
• Old Testament Stories
• Book of Mormon Stories
• Doctrine and Covenants Stories
• Eyewitness: Vote
• Squeak
• Bunny's Book Club
• Last Stop on Market Street
• The 7th Garfield Treasury
  

Two Weeks of Books at My House

I've been jotting down books being read or listened to at my house for the last two weeks. I thought I would share them here. I am not sharing the countless picture books I have read aloud to the younger kids. We usually read a stack of 5 each morning, and often another stack each evening.  

Currently Reading:

Trapped by James Ponti - This is the third and final book in a fun series about two kids who use TOAST (the Theory Of All Small Things) to help the FBI solve some mysteries. I've read these aloud at the lunch or dinner table and can't wait to make it to the end of this final book. 

The Magician's Nephew by C. S. Lewis - Joseph is reading this. He decided that he wants to read/reread the entire Narnia series this summer.  

The Ballad of Snakes and Songbirds by Suzanne Collins - Emma is reading this. My sister dropped it off, and there is a line to read it among my teens and myself. 

Polar Bears Past Breakfast by Mary Pope Osbourne - This is one of the Magic Treehouse Series. Mason has been reading them, and is currently on this book.

Ranger's Apprentice: The Ruins at Gorlan by John Flannagan - Oliver is wading into this series for the first time. It's fantastic, and I can't wait to have conversations about it with him. It is a series I love enough that it has a home on my shelves, instead of just an Kindle book. I also love the related series The Brotherband Chronicles. 

Ben and Me by Robert Lawson - Daniel is currently reading this funny book about Benjamin Franklin.

Calico by Ethel Calvert Phillips - Daniel is also reading this book. It is a fun story about a pony that shows up at a farm, and the adventures the children there have with him.

Fablehaven by Brandon Mull - Caleb is reading/listening to this one. It is the first time he's asked to do a book for fun. I'm trying not to be super obvious about how thrilled that makes me, but he knows. 

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart - Several of the boys are listening to this currently at bedtime. 

The Heart of the Rebellion by Sian Ann Bessey - This is my current read. It is set in the 1400s in Wales, a time period and place I am not familiar with. So far, I love it!

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan - Joseph listens to this right now in the afternoon during quiet time. It's an old favorite.

The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan - Oliver started listening to this book today. He likes the Egyptian mythology themed series and hasn't listened to it in a year or so. 

Recently Read:

The Hound of the Baskervilles and several other Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Emma owns the complete collection of Sherlock stories and has been rereading.

The Magic Treehouse Series by Mary Pope Osbourne - Mason has read a stack of these and is still going.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin - Daniel finished this book and loved it. 

Bunnicula Strikes Again by James Howe - Oliver just finished this book. He likes Bunnicula and felt like it was a bit of mystery without being scary. 

The Lost Kingdom by Chester Bryant - This was Joseph's last read. It's about a boy from India who starts out living in an American foundation. Then he moves out to some ancient ruins that his grandfather owned. The boy wants to learn about his past, and eventually, he does. 

The Mysterious Children of Ashton Place series by Maryrose Wood - The boys have listened to this entire series recently.

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart - The boys just finished listening to this one. It's an old favorite. 

Heir of the Curse by Deborah Grace White - This is the first book in a series. I read it this week and enjoyed it. 

The First Girl Child by Amy Harmon - I finished this book at the beginning of the week. I really wasn't sure I would like this one, but I did. 

The Firethorn Chronicles series by Lea Doue - I read this series last week. I'm looking forward to when the rest of the books release. 

Notes for January 18th-24th

Saturday we finally started to see improvement in Samuel. The day was pretty laid back for most of the family. Emma and I headed to the city to drop off her art piece for the gallery mid-morning. In the late afternoon Emma, Joseph, and I went to see the new Dolittle movie. The kids buy their own tickets and then decide if they want to invite a parent along. They bought tickets a couple weeks ago and wanted me to join them. The movie was better than I expected, though I didn't always enjoy the humor.

Sunday we kept the whole family home from church to rest. Our low-key activities included playing Dutch Blitz, baking fresh bread, and having family scripture study. I was able to get a solid hour in of homeschool curriculum research for next year. In most areas we will simply continue using the same curriculum, changing levels as needed. However, I will have two high schoolers in the fall, and in high school our kids get a lot of input into which materials they use for courses.

One area they have options in next fall is language arts/writing. They can do the next level in The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts. It is a solid mix of literature, writing, grammar, spelling, geography, art appreciation that we like a lot. Or they can choose to do a writing focused year with a side of literature. I'm looking at three courses from the same company. The company is Clear Water Press and what I love about them is they take writing and provide interesting video lessons to draw you through the year of learning. Makayla used one of these courses during high school and enjoyed it.

• Cover Story - Writing a variety of pieces that combine to create a themed magazine at the end of the year. 
• Byline - Essay writing with a side of journalism that creates a newspaper at the end of the year.
• One Year Adventure Novel - Studying about and writing a novel. Makayla did this course. We would simply need to pick up new student materials.

Monday was 17 degrees of cold when Daniel and I headed out the door to do a grocery pick up order. Then the last two eye doctor appointments happened, followed by lunch, and then three of the last four dental cleanings. Daddy also had an appointment with his vein surgeon. He has some problems, including clots, and will be having surgery. They are doing updated scans and they will schedule surgery.

Tuesday we started the homeschool week with math for everyone. The oldest two had biology and are beginning a study of genetics beginning with Gregor Mendel. I love genetics, which they found hilarious. Then they had fun looking for evidence of some of their own family genetics based on traits like the ability to roll your tongue, attached or free earlobes, etc. History was learning about the beginnings of the last two American colonies we had to discuss - Pennsylvania and Georgia. For language arts various books were read, essays worked on, sentences diagrammed, and so on. We tossed in a quick trip to the doctor for Caleb to check on some illness symptoms he's dealing with.

Wednesday was the last day with a doctor's appointment this week, a checkup for Samuel. He is recovering nicely from pneumonia. The morning was school work, of course. In the evening the oldest 3 had youth activities. There were communication exercises, giving speeches, and doing family history research between the three groups.

Thursday morning I got desperate. Rebekah was in a mood and was just unhappy unless she had my undivided attention and was on my lap. This makes teaching some subjects a challenge. I finally pulled out some sensory bin materials I had gathered weeks ago. It was a hit, and various kids gravitated to the bin as they finished school subjects. We started studying forest fires, ecology, and firefighting in science.

Late Thursday afternoon I headed to the library with a couple of the kids, while Daddy held down the fort at home with the rest. We found a nice stack of books for various people's interests.

Friday is here and I'm listening to one child practice piano, dictating sentences to another, and just having a steady morning of learning. The kids also let me know it is National Peanut Butter Day, and that they plan to make no bake cookies this afternoon to go along with it. Yum.

Tomorrow is a special day. I'll try to get pictures and share more about it soon.

BOOKS

I try to share updates occasionally on the books my kids and I are reading because I look back at this blog when updating homeschool records. Here are some of the books happening around here lately, not including picture books or school assignment books :

• Maria's Many Colors (Mason)
• Dr. Seuss books (Samuel)
• The Tale of Peter Rabbit (Caleb)
• Grasshopper on the Road (Caleb)
• Childhood of Famous Americans: George Washington (Mason and Oliver)
• The Mysterious Benedict Society (Daniel)
• The Falcon of Eric the Red (Daniel)
• Race for the Prairie (Joseph)
• Trials of Apollo (Emma)
• Hawkeye Comic Books (Emma)
• Keeper of the Lost Cities (Me) - I'm on the 4th book in this series and it is fantastic. LOVE!
• Divergent (Joseph)
• Inheritance (All boys)
• Dragonwatch book 3 (Joseph)

The Brave Learner by Julie Bogart - Book Review

We have been homeschooling for 17 years now. I'm familiar with a variety of teaching/learning methods, have attended conventions and classes, tried things in my own little laboratory of home learners, and know that learning can be accomplished in a wide variety of ways. My own continuing education happens on a day by day basis. This winter I decided the next book in my reading list was going to be The Brave Learner (aff) by Julie Bogart.

I love Julie! She's a powerhouse of enthusiasm and encouragement. She heads Brave Writer, a company offering writing curricula, classes, book clubs, and more. We've used several of her writing curricula over the years, and the principles behind them are still in use in our home regularly. An entire new book from Julie? Sign me up!

As I started reading The Brave Learner my experience went something like this:

• I laughed. 
• I shook my head.
• I argued out loud with Julie's book.
• I loved some of the ideas.
• I felt conflicted and uncomfortable with some of the ideas. 
• I thought about them, pushed and pulled them, embraced some ideas and discarded others.

In other words, I took what feels right for my individual family and left behind the parts that do not fit us in this season. Different is a beautiful thing! There are many good ways to learn, teach, and grow. Even if one of Julie's ideas didn't quite fit my family, it often triggered ideas of things that could work for us. 

Some of my favorite things from The Brave Learner:

• Collaboration - the capacity to partner. I loved this section! When a child says "I want to learn..." Julie suggests you reframe that in your head to "I want to explore...". This makes it clear to you that your child is curious about something and will wander through the topic, but you do not need to come up with formal lessons. Your job is to enjoy the exploration with them. 
• Another idea under the topic of collaboration was that one way to help us appreciate both collaborative and independent learning is to make a list for each one. What does your child do independently already? What do they collaborate with you to do? Kids are not made to be only independent learners.
• One last idea that I loved: "There are no educational emergencies." School standards are aimed at moving a large group through a stack of facts/ideas that someone else decided 'everyone' should know at the exact same age. It has it's benefits and limitations. One of the freedoms of homeschooling is stepping off that conveyor belt model and embracing the learning path and speed of each individual child. When we recognize an area in need of work, we adjust course, but we don't need to panic. Even when your student is close to graduation there is no educational emergency. Learning is a lifelong endeavor and there will always be more to learn.  

My first read through of The Brave Learner was relatively quick. Now I plan to reread it slowly, taking time to think about individual children in my home. There is also free printable Companion Guide available, picture notebooking pages with space to journal and work through the ideas in The Brave Learner. Then I will take the ideas and questions that come to mind and bring them along with me to the Brave Learner Conference in July!

Christmas Week 2018

Tuesday Notes:

Christmas day was laid back and sweet. We made our traditional cinnamon rolls for breakfast. The kids opened their 3 gifts. Everyone was excited and spent the morning enjoying everything. A few kids chose 'experiences' this year, which is new for us. Makayla and Mommy will be going to see The Lightning Thief: The Musical at the theater the one night it is in Ohio. Joseph and Emma chose movie theater gift cards so they can see movies they are looking forward to in 2019. Daniel chose tickets for him and a parent (undecided which parent right now) to go to Cedar Point, an amusement park, which he has never done before. Some of us spent the morning watching a couple Christmas shows on Netflix while we relaxed. In the evening one set of grandparents and my sister's family came over for dinner (make your own subs), a cousin gift exchange, and games and gifts from grandma and grandpa. We ended the evening in a new way, and it was the highlight for me. My nephew brought his guitar and shared some Christmas songs with us, pulling Joseph in to play the piano for a duet, and then Makayla played some piano for us as well. So fun!

My sweet children. From left to right:

Emma 13, Rebekah 10 mos, Joseph 14,

Tobias 3, Mason 6, Samuel 5, Caleb 8, 

Daniel 11, Oliver 9, Makayla 17.

Wednesday Notes:

Re-entry to regular life after a holiday is always rough with kids. It was a cranky morning for a few but we let it work itself out. Daddy accompanied Joseph and Oliver to see the new Bumblebee movie in theaters. The boys paid for their own tickets and enjoyed the movie. We played Emma's new Marvel trivia card game shortly before bed and called it a night. I spent half an hour finishing up my 'high school counselor' duties on the Common App website, submitting Makayla's transcripts.

Thursday Notes:
I was up at 5am with Rebekah. Once she went back to sleep I stayed up to get some work done. My first task was going through each child's portfolio of school work for first semester. I sorted through papers and pulled samples to keep for the portfolio submission at the end of the year. I threw away the rest. For example, while the kids each had more than 50 math papers I only need a fraction of that for the portfolio. I made it through all but Makayla's portfolio. This is one way I gauge how our year is going and where we are at in our lessons.

Some subjects are obvious, they have lessons laid out in a book. Our history curriculum is set up this way. There are 60 lessons to cover during the school year. We can choose to do history frequently and finish the 60 lessons in a semester (leaving second semester to really focus on science), spread the 60 lessons out evenly over the entire year, or choose a completion date and do lessons at whatever frequency to meet that. We are on lesson 39.

Other subjects are a bit more free-flow and I evaluate how much work a child has done and how much more they need to complete to finish the course. Literature is a good example of this. I have a reading list that kids choose books from. They read most days of the week for a set amount of time. This means a quick reader will finish more books than an average or slower speed reader. I am okay with that. I simply want my children immersed in good books. They narrate to me as they read or after they finish. The older kids also have literature integrated within their language arts curriculum.

At 9am this morning Mason and I headed to the Physical Therapy office. He has been out of PT since his surgery in September. Now it is time to get back to work. Today we had an assessment with his therapist, set some goals, and lined up things that I need to do - like get an appointment with Mason's brace specialist to adjust his HKAFO braces if possible. He has grown and so we need to lengthen the current braces. If that isn't doable they will custom create new braces, which then takes getting a prescription for braces from the orthopedic surgeon or physical medicine doctor. While we wait for braces to be ready his PT focus will be core work, balance, and stretching.

Rebekah is enjoying reaching the table

to get food people leave unattended. 

The rest of our Thursday was spent cleaning, playing games, reading books aloud, cooking, and being a family.

Friday Notes: 
It is Friday morning and the kids are busy doing whatever it is they do on break. There is drawing, reading, playing Pokémon, enjoying gifts, and just spending time together. I plan to work on school preparations for second semester. We're also starting some short read alouds today. Have you seen the Tuttle Twins books by Connor Boyack? These are a fun introduction to economics and government. From their website: "Each book in this series focuses on a different aspect of the principles of a free society: free markets, competition, individual rights, the non-aggression principle, personal responsibility, protectionism, and a variety of other issues—all boiled down to core concepts that children ages 5-10 can easily grasp." 

Sounds fun, right? The titles are:

1. The Tuttle Twins and the Law
2. The Tuttle Twins and the Miraculous Pencil
3. The Tuttle Twins and the Creature from Jekyll Island
4. The Tuttle Twins and the Food Truck Fiasco
5. The Tuttle Twins and the Road to Surfdom
6. The Tuttle Twins and the Golden Rule
7. The Tuttle Twins and the Search for Atlas
8. The Tuttle Twins and their Spectacular Show Business
9. The Tuttle Twins and the Fate of the Future

We have books 1-8. We're just going to read and discuss as we go. My kids are always up for read alouds. 

Happy Friday all!

Using the Public Library to Expand Our Shelves

Our library shelf. The kids know this is where to find

any library books we have checked out -

and where to put them when they are finished reading.

I have shared before that we live in a smallish 3 bedroom house for the 12 of us (think 1200 sq. ft. of living space outside of the icky basement and unfinished attic). We own more books than the average family, I suspect, but even so, we make regular use of the library. We check out stacks of books, especially picture books or titles we wouldn't spend money on but the kids enjoy for a season. My kids like taking stacks of books to bed to browse through for the hour of flashlight time they have (8pm-9pm). I thought I would share this week's library haul. Of these books, only 2 were reserved ahead of time, the rest I found simply by browsing the shelves.

• Poppy and Vivaldi by Le Huche - We actually found four in this series at our last trip and the kids love them. These books play sounds, integrated with the stories, and focus on composers and their musical pieces, or groups of instruments. The kids wouldn't let me return them yet.
• Big Book of Pirates by Vinyoli - Thirteen suspenseful pirate tales for my pirate loving boys.
• How the Sphinx Got to the Museum by Hartland - This fits in well with our current history studies.
• PJ Masks Race to the Moon (and one other PJ Masks book) - This early reader is a great example of a fluff book we wouldn't spend money to add to our personal shelves, but that are a current favorite character for some of my littlest boys.
• There's No Place Like Space - This is a Cat in the Hat Learning Library title. These are always fun and educational.
• Hark! A Shark! - Another in the Cat in the Hat Learning Library.
• A Castle Full of Cats by Sanderson - The Queen's cats try to befriend the king, with mixed results.
• Nanuk the Ice Bear by Winter - We have polar bears at our zoo so it is a familiar favorite.
• Melissa's Octopus and Other Unsuitable Pets by Voake - A cute story of kids with very unusual pets.
• Goodnight Ark by Sassi - A laugh out loud tale set on Noah's Ark.
• Castaway Cats by Wheeler - Fifteen felines are marooned on an island and make a new home.
• One Night, Far From Here by Wauters - A trip through different biomes with see through pages.
• Seadogs: An Epic Ocean  Operetta by Wheeler - An interesting mix of comic book style illustrations with poems and songs along the way.
• The Whole Foods Diet by Mackey - One of the books ordered ahead of time, for me. 
• Land of Stories: Worlds Collide by Colfer - I found this one on the new titles shelves and picked it up for Emma, who loves this series.
• QB: My Life Behind the Spiral by Steve Young - The second book I ordered ahead of time, for me. 
• Dalmatian in a Digger by Elliot - Cute picture books with animals and a construction project.
• Over Under in the Garden by Schories - An alphabet book of plants with insects hiding on each page as well.
• Pirate Puzzles by Maidment - 30 puzzles to solve to follow the adventure of Pip.
• Cowboy Puzzles by Maidment - 30 puzzles to follow the adventure of Rocky.
• Curious George early readers - I grabbed Fire Dog Rescue and Dinosaur Tracks.
• Big Size Surprise by Baruzzi - This is a fun board book where each page shows a picture and then the page unfolds to expand that picture into something new. Tobias adores this one and also loved Look, Look Again by the same author.
• Picture Puzzle Book by Usborne - A very large board book with things to find on each page. As you will see in the next several titles of the list, I pulled a stack of search and find style books at this library trip.
• Under the Sea Picture Puzzle Book by Usborne - Another large board book with colorful illustrations to search through.
• Color Camouflage by Schuette - A spot it book where each two page spread has items jumbled together all in one color family. At the end of the book are extra challenge lists for the very enthusiastic.
• Very First Book of Things to Spot Out and About by Usborne - A board book with less cluttered pages for younger kids new to search and find books. This includes question prompts for me to ask my little ones to find something specific on each page, like who is wearing red boots or find a car with two passengers.
• Let's Find Pokémon by Aihara - My pokemon loving kids can find their favorite characters.
• Where's Waldo? Deluxe Edition by Handford - It was time to introduce some of my younger children to Waldo. Mason and Samuel are loving it! This is the first Waldo book that was created, with a few fun extras.
• Where's Waldo? The Wonder Book Deluxe Edition by Handford - Under the flap of each page of the deluxe editions is a list of more things to find in each puzzle. 

We still have some books from an earlier library trip up in the kids bedrooms. I know Makayla has a stack of chapter books and Emma probably has a few as well. Sometimes I order a lot of books ahead of time and pick them up at our library's drive through window. Our library has no late fees and large lending limits (99 books out per card). They have many other things available to borrow, including instruments, dvds, music cds, and board games, but we mostly stick to books. 

What are some of your currently checked out library titles? Have your kids read any of the ones on my shelf right now?

Teach Like Finland - A Book I'm Loving!

I am always reading a couple books and usually have 1-2 audio books going as well. Right now I'm a couple chapters into a new book and enjoying it so much I decided to tell you all about it!

Teach Like Finland: 33 Simple Strategies for Joyful Classrooms by Timothy D. Walker (aff) just came out this month. I had been following his blog and decided this would be a perfect book to listen to as an audio book. I like to listen when I am driving, doing chores, or grocery shopping - I've worked my way through nearly 100 audio books from Audible this way.

The book begins with Walker's story of being a teacher in the U.S., where he worked long hours and hit burnout before his first year was over. His wife, a native of Finland, had shared how very different a teacher's days were in her homeland. He didn't believe her tales of shorter days and a more relaxed pace. Finland was outperforming many nations in educational studies. Surely their educational system couldn't be as laid back as his wife shared. After a few years they decided to move to Finland for the slower pace and he ended up working in education.

The book really begins at this point to share the things he discovered first hand about the differences in the educational philosophies, and the similarities. Walker backs up his information with both published studies and personal experience. He also gets very practical in sharing how the day to day educational environment and practices in Finland could be adapted to fit American schools.

As a homeschooling family there have already been many ideas that I love and can incorporate into our days, from small tweaks like encouraging active breaks to interesting ideas like a gallery walk where kids can do presentations in a new way.

What books are you learning from right now?

Usborne Books - My Experience and a Giveaway!

I've been a homeschooling mom for a long time. Books have played a large part in our days and more than once I've found treasures at library book sales. Usborne books have often been those treasures. Recently I placed my first order of Usborne books through my friend Anna Case. She's been helpful through the process - and is offering a giveaway to one of my readers. I'll get to those details in a moment. First let me share a bit about my experience and the books I chose.

The Usborne website is full of so many books: fiction, nonfiction, activity books, wipe off books, chapter books. It can be a bit overwhelming keeping track of books that catch my eye. Anna reminded me that the wishlist feature can keep track of things for me. I spent time browsing Usborne categories over several weeks while I was thinking about my children's interests. When I came across a title that sounded promising I added it to my wishlist.

The Usborne website doesn't offer a detailed look into their books. There is a description and sometimes an extra picture or two. Once again, she was a great source of help - she pointed me to YouTube. Many Usborne books have been reviewed by people on YouTube. These video reviews share footage from the inside of books, comments about the book from someone holding it in their hands, and sometimes comparisons of Usborne books on similar topics to explain what age each book would fit best. I took my wishlist and spent a week checking YouTube for videos to see inside each book I was considering. That helped me narrow down my list to a more manageable size. I had a specific amount of money budgeted for Usborne books and stayed within that amount. Are you curious about what books I purchased? I'll go over them in groups!

Board Books

My youngest children are 1 and 3 years old. While the 3 year old can be trusted with paper pages, the 1 year old is not gentle enough yet. Both boys are enjoying these books. My 3 year old has some speech delays that we are working on. These board books are sturdy enough for my 1 year old but my 3 year old and I are using them as part of his speech therapy practice. The first book has many familiar things for him to identify or answer questions about. The second book has lifelike pictures of 1000 animals divided into broad categories. There are even some animals I've never heard of!

Activity Books

I chose two color by number books. One is aimed at younger children with bigger pieces of the picture to color in at a time, some portions already printed in color, and younger-child friendly themes. The other color by number has more detailed pictures to color. The smaller books are also activity books. The crossword book begins with simple crosswords of 6 words that grow larger over the course of the book. One hint I have for doing crossword puzzles with non-spellers - have them figure out the answer and you write it in. Simple and fun! The 100 Logic Puzzles has spent more time in my children's hands than on the shelf so far - it has a variety of colorful puzzles and mind-benders to solve.

I have lots of kids who love art and drawing. I have recently introduced some of my middle readers to children's manga books and they are fascinated by the comic book format. This book walks you through comic book creation with doable activities. Fingerprint art will be a fun addition for my littles who love messy art.

We love story telling games and I couldn't resist a storytelling book. You choose a character at the very beginning and on every page you are prompted to choose a path and add to your story. There are boxes prompting you with things to describe or decide. The illustrations are colorful and interesting. We used it as a group our first time through. Each person turned a page and made the decisions for the story, told us what happened next, and then passed the book to the next person, who turned the page and kept things rolling.

Learning Books

The Academy series is part activity book, part unit study. Kids are introduced to many topics related to the career theme. I LOVE these books because they pull together so much information on topics for me. I've taken some pictures from the Architect book to show you what I mean:

• Top Left: How to Build a Model House - Yes, it shows them how to plot out a house model on grid paper and cut it out to build. 
• Top Right: Climate - This is talking about how to make a house fit for the elements it will be in. This page includes some science investigations about insulating materials.
• Bottom Left: Offices - this explains many of the things an architect must keep in mind when designing a functional office complex. It also introduces kids to the Pentagon. (Earlier in the book children are introduced to other famous structures in relation to architecture. 
• Bottom Right: Area and Perimeter - Putting math to use in a real, applicable way.

Above and Below is a beautiful book about a variety of biomes and habitats. The bottom half of each page has a section that turns over to reveal the below the surface environment and creatures.

I like this book and card set to add some fine arts to our days. Lots of information in the book and on the back of the art cards. We will probably use these in our Morning Basket in the fall.

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION

Who doesn't love a giveaway? My friend Anna has generously offered to allow one winner a $25 shopping spree in Usborne books, which she will ship directly to the winner. There are lots of ways to enter, so use the Rafflecopter below.
This giveaway will end on April 15, 2017. Books will only be shipped within the continental US(sorry, this is not for international friends).

Ready to make an order already? I would love it if you shopped through this link - I'm hosting a party through Anna right now.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Homeschool Mom Hint: Go to Library Book Sales!

One of the easiest and least expensive ways to build a family library is to buy used books. Most library societies have book sales when they cull their shelves or when donations are turned in to make a bit of money for the library. Our local library used to do these yearly and now have a sale a couple times a year. I try to put these events on my calendar and set aside a little money to spend at the sale. Pricing can vary widely. Currently our library sale charges $5 per bag for books. I knew this and budgeted $15 to spend. I also brought along Makayla, my 15 year old, who is building her own personal library.

This time we came away with 45 books between the two of us, for an average cost of 34 cents per book. Makayla was most excited by the Merck Veterinary Manual she found. She started exploring it from the moment we got in the car after the sale, sharing facts and asking if I remembered how to convert Celsius temperatures to Farenheit.

I was most excited to come away with this nearly complete Childcraft set from 1976. It is missing two books (Volume 5 About Animals and Volume 15 Parent Guide) which are on their way to my house thanks to Amazon's used vendors. I've already started reading Volume 2 to my younger boys each day. Today was The Ugly Duckling, which had a mix of drawings and actual photographs of ducklings and swans. The little boys loved it. Middle kids are exploring different volumes based on interest - Daniel was giddy about Mathemagic. I'm also really excited to use The Indian Book in our history studies this fall.

Our children's education is worth investing in - but sometimes the wisest investment is spending a little time browsing used book sales.

Birdwatching, Broken Bones, and Books

Saturday was busy early on but slowed down after dinner. Jason had a driver's meeting at work, Joseph had a Merit Badge Powow for Boy Scouts, there was grocery shopping. We had a visit from grandma, cooking, cleaning, game playing, and then swimming for the couple of kids practicing. Home in time to cook dinner and then breathe a bit.

Makayla spent several hours drawing. She's picked zentangle drawing back up. Daniel, Oliver, Caleb, and Mason used magnet tiles. Mason stopped me at one point to demonstrate the grave he made for when he wants to pretend he's dead. It was all decorated with magnet tiles. (What can I say, he is a boy?!) We also watched and sang along with Fiddler on the Roof this evening.

Sunday found half the family sick and staying home from church while half of us went. Winter is so hard in a large family! Once one person gets sick we can pass it around for weeks. Sigh. It was a lovely day at church and our afternoon and evening were quietly spent as a family. Emma was inspired by her sister to do some zentangle drawing too, but has yet to let me take any pictures of her art.

Monday we were back to the dentist for 2 cleanings, 1 cavity restoration, and 1 child getting 6 baby teeth pulled. Daddy decided he would handle the dentist visits today as Mommy is sick. I was in charge of the homeschooling, which involved a lot of new math lessons, reading lessons, biology, notebooking, brainstorming for writing, and reading books. The zentangle drawing continued. Piano lessons for 4 children happened, with a few younger siblings sneaking in a turn at the piano as well.

Tuesday was a very rainy day. I have to admit I love that our winter has been super mild! I'll take rain over snow and ice any day. We had a relaxed school morning, which is my favorite. I feel like between doctors and dentist appointments the last two months have been much too busy for my liking. And we still have several dental cleanings to go at the end of this month. And orthodontist appointments coming up. And then it will be nearly time for the eye checkups again...Sigh.

Makayla had one final activity she needed to do for Biology - birdwatching at home and at another location. Today she and I went to a local arboretum to complete that task. We spent the majority of our time at the feeding station windows in the nature center, where we saw many different birds over the course of an hour. It was fun to watch their habits and identify each species. On our way out of the arboretum we chose two areas to walk (the rain had let up for a bit) to see if we could find more birds. Around the Japanese gardens we saw a few birds, heard birds, and saw a wasp nest hanging in a tree. In the swamp we saw and heard no birds - but it is beside a busy road so we weren't too surprised. Here is the list of birds she identified today:

1. American Goldfinch
2. House Finch
3. House Sparrow
4. Mourning Dove
5. Northern Cardinal
6. Hairy Woodpecker
7. Eastern Phoebe
8. White-Crowned Sparrow
9. Tufted Titmouse
10. Carolina Chickadee
11. Red-Headed Woodpecker
12. Carolina Wren
13. Downy Woodpecker
14. White-Breasted Nuthatch
15. Dark-Eyed Junco
16. Red Tailed Hawk

Oh, one more note about birdwatching. As we were getting in the car to leave Makayla commented that now all she wanted to see was a Red Tailed Hawk, Vulture, or Owl. We pulled out of the parking lot and not 100 feet down the road sitting on a bird house in a field was a Red Tailed Hawk. I had one happy daughter.

To celebrate finishing Biology we made doughnuts for the first time. Fun Fact - most of my children have never tasted a doughnut. With egg allergies in the house we simply never bring in food with eggs. That means no doughnuts. Ours turned out pretty great and we even had some left over from our two dozen for the next morning.

Wednesday was a quiet morning at home. Kids ate breakfast and did their chores first as usual. Then it was school work, piano practice, and playing. Listening to Peter and the Starcatchers for book club happened during snack time. Joseph worked on preparing for a lesson he is teaching part of this Sunday at church. Emma worked on a talk she will give in Primary - with a few tears because she doesn't like public speaking. I think she'll be ok by Sunday. She's going to practice every day before then. We also played storytelling games Wednesday and I posted about the games we played.

Joseph went roller skating for the first time Wednesday evening. He had a great time until close to the end when he took a bad fall. And broke his arm. Of course. Thursday morning we went to the doctor to confirm the break with an x-ray and get it casted. He'll be in a cast for a month and then a splint for a couple weeks after that.

Other than that, Thursday was spent doing school work, playing more Story Time Dice, and birdwatching at our feeder. We worked on some Cub Scouts activities as well.

Books this Week

• The Fairest Beauty by Melanie Dickerson - Finished. Book three in the fairy tale series. This is the retelling of Snow White. The creepy stepmother in this one made for an overall creepy feel to the book, but it was enjoyable.
• The Captive Maiden by Melanie Dickerson - Finished. The fourth book in the fairy tale series and probably my favorite so far. It is a retelling of Cinderella that doesn't follow quite the plot I expected it to follow. I really loved this one!
• The Princess Spy by Melanie Dickerson - Finished. The fifth book in the fairy tale series. I found the female main character in this one frustrating at first. She is the sheltered daughter of a duke, talks a mile a minute, if she thinks it she says it, doesn't take things seriously, etc. Over the course of the book she DID grow and mature.
• The Golden Braid by Melanie Dickerson - Finished. Book six in the fairy tale series, this one overlaps the time period of The Princess Spy but focuses on different characters. It also goes beyond the time period of the fifth book's ending. I liked how she put Rapunzel's story together in an unexpected way.

As I type it is mid-morning on Friday. Most of my children have worked steadily on school since breakfast and are nearly finished for the day. We plan to listen to more of Peter and the Starcatchers and stay inside where it is warm. I need to work on preparing my Primary lesson for church, so I'm going to push publish on this post and get that done. Have a lovely week!

Linking to Weekly Wrap Up, Homeschool Highlights, and Homeschool Blog and Tell.

A Heartstopping Week that Turns Out All Right

Monday - We started our week off with a full morning of schoolwork before Mason and Mom needed to head to the hospital for yet another appointment (we were only gone for 3 hours, so this was relatively short compared to last Friday's almost 7 hours). Daddy is home on Mondays so we started with everyone gathered on the couch to read more in the Book of Mormon. Then kids scattered to the four winds to do their assignments, grabbing a parent when needed. I did a lot of new math lessons today.

Caleb pulled out five activity pages from All About Reading level 1 and read 20 different words, then found the picture they went with on those activity pages. He did great! Oliver read another few pages in Grasshopper on the Road. It was the end of the chapter about the beetles who love mornings. Daniel did his math on the dry erase board today and enjoyed the change, so I fully expect him to continue doing so this week.

Late in the afternoon things came to a stumbling halt. The orthopedic surgeon's office called. During the abdominal x-ray taken Saturday for today's appointment with a different specialty something was flagged. The people who read that scan flagged it because part of his thigh bone looks like it may have bone cancer (tumor). The x-ray that was done just happened to capture a partial image of his thigh bone and it is suspicious enough that his orthopedic surgeon wanted to do full x-rays asap. There were other possibilities, this is an area where Mason broke his femur 2 years ago so it may just be a bone callus. We already had a checkup with this doctor for 2 weeks from now, but they wanted to see him sooner. Wednesday. Two days from today.

Nothing like a reality check to shuffle the priority list, right? Perspective comes when we least expect it. I will share more about this another time.

Tuesday we had already planned to begin potty training Samuel, so that is exactly what I did. This was one of those mornings where I truly appreciate the routines and independence we have built in our home and homeschool. The kids did their chores, they helped one another, they worked without me needing to stand over their shoulder and keep them on task, and they came to me when they needed help or wanted mom to buddy up with them. I praised, encouraged, corrected, and spent a lot of time just focusing on making the potty training experience pleasant for my 8th child while keeping an eye on the other 8 children.

In the potty training arena it was a typical first day with a mix of peeing in the toilet and peeing in his underwear. I know that he will figure out his body signals and how to manage pausing those long enough to get to the toilet sometime in the next week. And my floors will get extra scrubbing for a while.

Playing Scrambled States

We cancelled school for Wednesday. Mason's appointment was not until mid-afternoon and we spent the morning playing, reading together, and just being a family. After lunch and a long drive to the surgeon's office Mason had several x-rays. Happily the doctor is confident that what we see on x-ray is simply the remodeling of a bone callus from the broken femur Mason had two years ago. Nothing to worry about. My heart started beating again. On the way home we made a stop at the orthotist to pick up some of Mason's braces that were getting adjustments.

Daniel made the Batmobile.

The evening contained youth activities, a Pinewood Derby for my Cub Scout, and school work for my husband.

The Pinewood Derby track.

Thursday morning brought us happily back into our routine. Seminary, breakfast, chores, and homeschooling were the order of the morning. Swimming or running at the Y for a couple of us in the afternoon. Then making caving jeans for Joseph's camping trip this weekend with the Boy Scouts They'll be camping in caverns in another state, doing a service project while they are there.

Caving Jeans for my Boy Scout

What are caving jeans? They are jeans that you've added carpet and fabric to the inside at the knees for built in knee pads to make crawling on rock more comfortable.

The Thursday potty training report is mixed still - he's had a couple times where he just peed in his clothing, and more times where he used the toilet. I left longer periods of time between required potty visits today because now that he's getting the idea of using the toilet he needs to take ownership of recognizing and responding to his body's signals. Again, it won't happen overnight, but Samuel is well on his way.

Tomorrow is Friday and it's time for our Homeschool Book Club to meet. This month we're hosting, we'll be talking about Little Women and doing some games they would have played at that time in history. I'm just going to go ahead and put this post up tonight instead of waiting for tomorrow.

My three youngest boys playing piano together.

And just because they're all super cute here is another picture from that piano playing session:

Yes, they really are that adorable.

Left to right: Tobias age 13 mos, Mason age 5, Samuel age 3.

Books I'm Reading or have Finished This Week - These are all mine!

• Persuasion by Jane Austen - Finished. This is actually for my Reading Challenge for February. I love Jane Austen and had not read this book yet. Because I had so much time driving back and forth to the hospital with Mason in the last week and sitting in appointments I decided to start listening to the audio book. I plan to listen to it all the way through a second time during February before I share my review of the book. This one is FREE for Kindle and when you get the Kindle version you can then add the Audible narration (audio book) for 49 cents. I adore the Audible reader who does this one, Juliet Stevenson, she's my go-to narrator for Jane Austen's books.
• The Landmark History of the American People: From Appomattox to the Moon by Daniel J. Boorstin - Still reading. This is the second in a series I'm considering using as a spine for our history studies. I've not read the first book, but this one came in at my library so I'm reading to see if I like it enough to share with the kids.
• Becoming Beauty by Sarah E. Boucher - Finished. I enjoy fairy tale retellings and this one caught my eye so I picked it up on Kindle for 99 cents. It was a very interesting book, one I'll probably read again some time. 
• A Spy's Devotion: The Regency Spies of London by Melanie Dickerson - Finished. I read this one at night when I was up with Tobias, my teething 1 year old. I've read some other books by this author and enjoyed them. This one was good mix of light romance, mystery, and history.
• The Captive Heart by Michelle Griep - Finished. I picked this up when it was on sale for just over a dollar. It tells of an English woman who ends up in colonial South Carolina married to a stranger and caring for his young child. The romance was a bit more intense than I usually like, the history was really interesting as it was set during a time when Cherokee and colonists both loyal to England and readying for revolution were rubbing against one another and some characters straddle several worlds.
• North and South by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell - Just Starting. In case you don't know, this is NOT an American Civil War novel, which the title might lead you to believe. It captures the uniquechanges industrialization brings to 1850s England. I've never read this one so I'm excited to finally do so. Note: You can get this Kindle book FREE and then add Audible narration (audio book) for $2.99. I got both because I can switch back and forth between reading at home and listening when driving and it synchronizes my position in ebook and audio book automatically.

I'm linking up at Weekly Wrap Up , Homeschool Blog and Tell, and Homeschool Highlights.

Our Library Book Shelf, or how I get my kids to try new books regularly

One of the best investments we ever made was at a library sale, when we picked up this forward facing book shelf for $12. We call it our 'library book shelf'. I use it to display a selection of library books and books we already own that I think might interest my children, or that go with the season or topics we will be studying. Seeing bits of the covers is nearly irresistible and they are browsing pages before they know it.

Today I had a quick library trip to look for books. I also brought some books down from our attic boxes. I was looking mainly for books about winter, snow, and wool but I always keep my eye out for books I think will interest someone in my family, so there are a few oddballs here too. I made sure to find at least one poetry book for future poetry tea times. I already had a few books to go with our read aloud Little Women. Want to see the books? Here they are, with links to Amazon where available (I'm an affiliate, so while it doesn't affect your cost at all, I get a small credit on any purchases you make through my link - even if you buy something totally unrelated to the link you click through. My budget thanks you!).

• The Louisa May Alcott Cookbook
• The Little Women Book
• Louisa May's Battle: How the Civil War Led to Little Women
• Little Women: A Playtime Primer
• If you Give a Dog a Donut
• If you Give a Moose a Muffin
• The Valentine Bears
• Snow Moon
• Owl Moon
• Snowflake Bentley
• The Big Snow
• The Bear Report
• One Day On Our Blue Planet in the Antarctic
• Gingerbread Baby
• Warm as Wool
• Charlie Needs a Cloak
• Snow Sounds: An Onomatopoeic Story
• Julia's House for Lost Creatures
• Owl Babies
• Snow Globe Family
• Snow
• A Castle Full of Cats
• Winter Poems
• Curious George: Farm to Table
• Dinosaurs in Disguise
• Walking in a Winter Wonderland
• Three Little Dinosaurs
• The Snow Bear
• Trouble with Trolls
• The Hat
• For the Children's Sake
• Fairest
• Stars Above

I set the books out on the shelf from my library trip around dinner time. It didn't take long for people to start browsing books, commenting on old favorites or asking for someone to read new ones. Samuel was especially happy with the dinosaur books. I was thrilled to find these because I've read aloud the ones we have many times in the last few weeks. We started with Three Little Dinosaurs and most of my younger boys enjoyed it. Makayla, my 15 year old, was apparently listening in from another room because when the three little dinosaurs who wanted to fly were introduced to 'Terry Dactyl' she laughed and groaned at the literary wordplay.

Do you ever gather a bin or shelf full of books and put them out to be discovered? What are your favorite winter or dinosaur books?

Our Favorite Books Read in 2016

I decided to ask my children about the books they've loved this year. It's quite a process to do this because if I ask one of my middle or older children in front of my younger ones, the younger will often parrot the older sibling's answers - for books they've never even read. It took a bit of work but I managed to ask each child separately and the results are in.

My favorite books for 2016:

• Ella Enchanted was my favorite for Book Club. My second favorite in this category was Prince Caspian.
• For my own personal reading my favorite books were Seeking Persephone by Sarah M. Eden (I love her books), The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest by Melanie Dickerson, the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer (my favorite of the four books is Scarlet), and Heartless also by Marissa Meyer.  Oh, and I reread The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini twice, it's a favorite too.
• My favorite non-fiction books this year were Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis and The Five Love Languages of Children by Gary Chapman (a reread for me).

Makayla's favorites for 2016:

•  Book Club: She loved poetry month.
• Assigned Literature: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, The Work and the Glory series by Gerald N. Lund, and The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom.
• Personal choice reading: Uglies by Scott Westerfield, Michael Vey book 5.

Joseph's favorites for 2016:

• Book Club: The Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop
• Assigned Literature: The Giver by Lois Lowry
• Personal choice reading: Cragbridge Hall Series by Chad Morris

Emma's favorites for 2016:

•  Book Club: Rascal by Sterling North
• Assigned Literature: How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell
• Personal choice reading: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling

Daniel's favorites for 2016:

• Book Club: Rascal by Sterling North
• Assigned Literature: Half Magic by Edward Eager
• Personal choice reading: The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary

Oliver's favorites for 2016:

• Book Club:  Rascal by Sterling North
• Assigned Literature: Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
• Personal choice reading: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling (audiobook)

Caleb's favorites for 2016:

• Book Club: Stuart Little by E. B. White
• Assigned Literature: Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss (read to him)
• Personal choice reading: Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins (audiobook)

Mason's favorites for 2016:

• Book Club: Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
• Assigned Literature: If You Give a Moose a Muffin by Laura Numeroff (read to him)
• Personal choice reading: A Tale of Peter Rabbit and others by Beatrix Potter (audiobook), anything about pirates.

Samuel's favorites for 2016:

• Book Club: He didn't have a favorite. He's 3, I'm not surprised.
• Personal choice books: Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Eric Carle, The Best Mouse Cookie by Laura Numeroff

Tobias' favorites for 2016:

• Any book we will let him chew.

Just in case you are interested, here is the complete list we read this year for Book Club:

·         Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (reading Dec 2016-Jan 2017)

·         Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis

·         Rascal by Sterling North

·         20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

·         Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers

·         Stuart Little by E. B. White

·         The Inventor’s Secret by Chad Morris

·         The Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop

·         Poetry (varied, for a Mad Hatter Tea Party)

·         The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder

·         Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

What have been your family's favorite books this year?