Book List Review

We've been working through the 100 Children's Books list and having a great time!

We are working through the books order for the most part, but we have to skip around as we are waiting for some of the books to come in.

We decided to revisit books that we are already familiar with on the list. It's been great sharing so many old favorites with D (age 3). He absoltely loved, "Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom." We own the book, but the girls keep it in their room. It was a great reminder to pull out some favorites to share with him.

We have used the list as a starting point to read books that aren't on the list, but are written by the same authors. Of course, one of our favorite authors is Mo Willems. We grabbed, "Knuffle Bunny" in addition to, "Don't let that Pigeon Drive the Bus," as well as a bunch of his easy readers to revisit. David Shannon is another one of our favorite authors. We loved reading, "Duck on a Bike," again as well as some new ones we have never read by David Shannon. And we grabbed some extra Froggy books by Jonathan London too! My little three year old, D, has loved the Froggy stories.

The girls loved, "George and Martha"! We all got a good laugh reading the short stories in the first book. Another fun find was, "Abuela". This book mixes some Spanish vocabulary in the story. I loved the illustrations in this book as well.

It's not going to take too long to get through the list, but there are plenty of lists to choose from!

Imagine A Night

I love to walk through the library to check out the books that the librarians put out on display. Often they have picked out great books to display on the top of the shelves.

And sometimes we hit one that becomes an instant hit.

This summer we happened upon the book, Imagine a Night, by Rob Gonsalves. The book features his artwork and poetry. The artwork is indescribably AMAZING! Every person in this house enjoys looking at this book, including D (age 2).

The artwork is fabulous and the poetry is perfectly written to fit the mood of the paintings. We love to whisper as we say, "Imagine a night..."

My mother loved this book so much that she immediately bought a copy to have at her home. And we were so excited to discover that he has two more books:

Imagine a Place and Imagine a Day. We liked them just as much. There is no way I could pick a favorite. These books are amazing.

The best part for us? His artwork is displayed at a gallery within an hour from our home! We can't wait to go.

I HIGHLY recommend reading these!

Wonders of God's Creation Video Series

We purchased this video series this weekend at the Family Christian Bookstores. I took a chance on it because I had never heard of it at all. I hoped it would be educational as well as kid friendly.

The series is called, "Wonders of God's Creation", and includes 6 DVD's (totalling over 10 hours of video) on topics from the galaxy to the animal kingdom, to forces of nature, to human development.

I reminded me of something you'd watch on the Discovery Channel, yet this appeared to have a Christian "spin" on the topics.

It is normally $59.99, but was on sale for $29.99. AND this weekend the Family Christian Bookstores have put out a 25% off coupon, so you can purchase the series for $23. So I took a chance.

I am SO GLAD that I did. We have watched the Animal Kingdom video and some of the Astronomy video. Each topic begins with a 5 minute talk about God being revealed in his creation, which includes appropriate scripture. Each DVD topic ends with an appropriate reflection on the imprint of God upon creation.

Now, the actual videos have been filled with amazing images and fasinating and informative information!

Did you know that all Monarch butterflies head south to California or Mexico for the winter. ALL of the Northern Monarchs gather in these two locations and the footage of millions of them clinging to the trees is amazing! They look like the leaves! My girls loved it!

And the information on the lives of bees was fascinating. We got to see the Scout bee return to the hive and communicate through a series of dances and shakes. He communicated the taste of the nectar he found (and distributed samples) as well as the LOCATION! It was so cool.

We are midway through our Solar System. Tomorrow we'll head to the Gas Giants and explore. The girls are pretending that they are on a space shuttle.

Clearly, we are loving these so far so I thought I'd pass on a heads up on the sale. I haven't watch the human development one to see how much is revealed, so I can't speak to that. I intend to preview it before the kids view it. And I can't wait to watch the forces of nature!

Homeschool Share

A fellow homeschooling mom recommended the website, Homeschool Share, to me.

WOW!

Let me pass on the recommendation that you go to this site! There is a wealth of information, resources, and links.

If you are using any volume of Five in a Row, then you'll be interested in the FIAR resource section.

The unit study section is another favorite of mine! Just click on the age you are teaching and go to a list of literature titles appropriate for that age group. Click on a title and you are given an entire unit study, complete with links, worksheets, and extensions.

Take some time to explore the site. We have found it quite useful this year. In fact, as I sit at this machine, I am using this site to plan a study on Curious George next week.