COD posted about this list of 100 books every child should read published by the UK Telegraph. I’ve read about a third of the books listed. A few are on the list of books I will be recommending to my kids. But mostly? Meh. Some of them I didn’t think belonged on the list. Others I’d never heard of (maybe UK only printings?).
What are YOUR must read books for kids?
I’m only a little late in sharing the news, but if you’re curious about which books passed from the first round of judging to the finals, you can check it out here:
Over the weekend our homeschool group had the opportunity to visit a citrus grove owned by one of the members. The grove is in such a remote location that the owners don’t harvest the crop beyond their own needs, so we were invited to help ourselves. The kids had a blast picking the fruit and we came home with an abundance of oranges, tangerines, lemons, and pumellos. We’re planning to make marmalade and an organge chutney, but I’m open to suggestions - what would YOU do with 50 pounds of oranges?
Tim tagged me awhile back for a meme and I’ve been kind of ignoring him postponing my participation because I really didn’t think I had much on this blog that fit. But then I saw that somebody named Mark Larson linked to me. I don’t know who Mark Larson is, so I clicked over. Apparently, Mark Larson is part of the meme police, pointing fingers and waving madly at those of us who haven’t yet completed the memes to which we’ve been assigned. Okay, okay. I’ll see what I can do. I most definitely don’t want to land on the wrong side of the meme police. (Mark, I jest)
Here are the rules:
Go back through your archives and post the links to your five favorite blog posts that you’ve written. But there is a catch:
Link 1 must be about family.
Link 2 must be about friends.
Link 3 must be about yourself, who you are… what you’re all about.
Link 4 must be about something you love.
Link 5 can be about anything you choose.
Post your five links and then tag five other people.
1. On Moving to Hawaii - because this pretty much started it all and it’s a good glimpse into how wacky my family can really be.
2. Team Building on the Beach - because this was so much fun to watch.
3. Silent Judgment — because this is me being honest and coming to grips with the fact that I don’t need to conform.
4. An Utterly Odd Post about Dishwashing — because while there are tons of other things here that I love, this one is not trite and has improved my life in the kitchen. And because I figure this is as good a time as any to find out if any of you have converted.
5. Queen of Hearts — because my mom’s still asking about the prom.
If you’re so inclined, consider yourself tagged. But I’m not naming names. I don’t want to get anyone else in trouble with Mark.
I’ve heard homeschooling critics complain that if kids don’t learn to get up and get ready for school regularly, they’ll never know how to participate in the real world complete with all its deadlines. They won’t be able to drag their butts out of bed for work or be responsible enough to get to a job on time.
Baloney.
Brad has been working two days a week for the past year and a half and on those mornings he’s up and out of bed by 6:30 am, with his own lunch packed, dressed and ready to go. And he’s only been late once, and that’s a certain someone else’s fault because she couldn’t find her keys.
The deal is, it’s important to him so he puts forth the effort needed to succeed. Even without practicing five days a week.
Theresa wondered about a typical day and quite by chance, I wrote this up yesterday. Here’s a [long] random peek at one of our days:
My oldest (Brad, 15) is unexpectedly home today. He normally works at the library all day on Tuesdays, but he had a run in with a flu bug yesterday and opted to stay home to recover. He spent the morning tracking stats for his website and worked on tabbing out a song for ‘ukulele that he’ll post to his site as soon as it’s complete.
Last night’s dinner dishes are still in the sink, since Brad was ill on the couch and we were trying to be quiet so he could sleep. My youngest (Evan, 12) asked if he could wait until he finishes his book to do the dishes (his chore) this morning; “I only have 77 pages left.” He’s reading The Lightning Thief for the fourth or fifth time. I’m working on laundry and managed to send out one submission so far this morning. I started to make myself breakfast, but when Evan smelled it, he asked if he could have it. The boy eats!
Mid-morning, Brad heads upstairs to practice ‘ukulele (he’s fiddling around with writing some of his own songs) and then moves to drums. Evan starts the dishes but finds that the water heater timer has clicked off because he’s waited so long. While waiting for the water to heat, he outlines some of the United States for a project he’s working on.
Dishes (finally!) done. Evan, a hesitant musician, picks up his ‘ukulele to practice of his own volition. Brad writes a tutorial for his website and decides to add digital images to make his instructions clearer, then moves to practicing an Eric Clapton song on his electric guitar (quietly, thank goodness!).
Evan makes lunch for himself and me (making up for eating my breakfast, I suppose) and works on some math while it’s warming. He’s working on the last lesson in his Math-u-See Epsilon book. Next, he’s off to build with legos. Brad works more on his website, does a page of math (Math-u-See Algebra), and listens to Bela Fleck.
Both of them (and me intermittently) finish watching Whale Rider, which we had started yesterday. I cleaned one of my windows (!). We photographed Evan’s lego creation so that he can send it in to the lego magazine (we do this roughly monthly – photographing, I mean. We never seem to actually get the photo sent).
I prepared dinner and popped it into the oven while the kids read. Their dad came home and we talked for a bit and everyone asked 50 million times when dinner would be ready. The boys disappeared upstairs, Evan to read and Brad to play more ‘ukulele.
We have dinner together, Evan does the dishes, and we finish off our night together reading aloud from The Witch of Blackbird Pond. It’s the first family read aloud we’ve done in quite some time and they boys are both enjoying it. The kids head to “bed” where they will read or listen to music quietly for an hour or two before they fall asleep.
If every person in the world lived as Americans do—that is, consuming as Americans do—it would take more than six-and-a-half earths to sustain the human race.
Found here.
Snow on Mauna Kea
Think that looks like fun? Check out what the weekend on Oahu looked like!(I seem to be having editing/photo sizing issues. Anyone else? Or can this be because I’ve switched to a different computer)
Taking your girlfriend out into the raging surf was probably not a good idea. However, saving yourself and leaving her in the water to battle the waves was probably a worse idea, as far as the whole relationship thing goes. And when she panicked and tried to climb onto the rocky shore to beat a huge wave instead of sensibly ducking under it and was slammed into the rough lava? That was your clue to GO HELP HER!
