Thursday, September 1, 2011

Reading Aloud Challenge: September 1

September?  How in the world did that happen?  Yikes, yikes, yikes.

Okay, so it has been a pretty good read-aloud week.  Not as good as I'd like, but hey.  Part of it was laziness (I decided not to leave the house on Saturday, which means I didn't pick up books at the bookmobile) and part was technology (couldn't figure out how to get a downloaded ebook into a format we could use) but still... it has been a good week.

Here is what we've been reading this week.

Banner in the SkyBanner in the Sky.  This definitely turned into a family read-aloud.  We had a lot more of the book left than I thought, but we ought to finish it today.  I think we're down to the final couple chapters.  Lessons upon lessons upon lessons in this one.  Wow.

Snow TreasureSnow Treasure.  We finished this one up last Thursday, I believe.  The kids loved it as much as I thought they would.  This is one of those books I wish I had discovered as a kid.  <sigh>  There are a lot of those.

The Endless Steppe: Growing Up in SiberiaThe Endless Steppe.  Oh, wow.  We aren't terribly far into this one.  But wow.  There really is some incredible World War II kids' literature out there.  This is not a book I've ever seen before.  We are loving it.

It starts off in Poland, during the war, from the point of view of a fairly wealthy Jewish girl.  The subtitle says a lot:  "Growing Up in Siberia."

Charlotte's WebCharlotte's Web.  Okay, so we barely started this.  This is the one I downloaded from the library on audio... and couldn't get put anywhere that we could actually LISTEN to it.  I know, I ought to read it myself, but I have enough of that on my plate.  Anyway, finally got it put onto a non-iPod mp3 player.  At least now I know.

The Golden Goblet (Newbery Library, Puffin)Golden Goblet.  With changing our start date for school, I really wasn't motivated to get going on this.  But I will need to get it back to the library.  So... we barely cracked open the cover.  This one is for William and Thomas.  I'm really looking forward to doing Sonlight Core 6 (now called Core G) with them.  Though honestly, I could have done without re-reading this particular title just now. 

Plans for this coming week? Finishing up the above.  Richard and Trina will probably start Homer Price.  William and Thomas will be starting  Mara, Daughter of the Nile.  Connor will be starting Number the Stars (we had to swap books around when I didn't go to the library last weekend!)  and The Singing Tree. 

I've also been sorting through a lot of material from Yesterday's Classics, and am planning to incorporate a fair amount of that into our studies this year. I also need to sort through material for Core 100 for Connor, because I am *not* going to stop reading aloud to him.  I believe reading aloud is way too important for me to completely give it up now that he's in high school...

How did your week go?  Sign the linky to link up your reading aloud post and I'll definitely come visit your post.   Love having you here... you motivate me when I feel like NOT reading aloud.

To see my first post when this turned into a linky thing, check here.

10 comments:

Cristi said...

Thanks for the Homer Price suggestion. I remember how much I enjoyed it when I read it to Addison during our first homeschool year.

Tess said...

I posted about our trip to the library. I'm hoping to do another link up with more of what we're actually reading aloud but we hadn't been to an actual building library in a long time.

diane allen said...

My boys loved *Banner in the Sky* years ago and I enjoyed it as a child. Same with *Snow Treasure*, my fifth grade teacher read it aloud ot the class and then I read it to my children. These are undervalued books - so glad that you are promoting them.

Jennifer said...

Thanks for the new ideas. The Endless Steppe looks interesting.

Mrs. Laura Lane said...

Endless Steppe and Golden Goblet...excellent books...read them while doing Sonlight.

Blessings!

Laura Lane
from the Crew

A Thoughtful Spot said...

Oh, you guys are reading some good books. :) I love picture books and don't want my kids to grow up, but there are a lot of chapter books that I just can't WAIT to read to them!

Our Homeschool Reviews said...

We've read Charlotte's Web and I think I may have Snow Treasure. I'll have to check.

Michelle Smith said...

Good week, Debra. I am supposed to have my children reading The Golden Goblet and Mara, Daughter of the Nile. Yet I decided to have my older ones use Lord of the Rings for their primary literature this year instead. Enjoy! :)

Tess said...

I just posted more of an accountability post about what we've read this week. Thanks again Debra for hosting this!

Jill said...

We love Charlotte's Web too, and I don't think you should feel bad one bit about "reading" it on audio book. I will have to look up The Endless Steppe. Sounds very interesting. Thanks for hosting. Hopefully now that we are all moved and my company has left, I can join in more regularly.