Introduction to chapter books

The Magic Treehouse series was suggested to me by a friend as a good introduction to chapter books. We started borrowing them from the library a couple months ago, and we have not been disappointed! Each book has an illustration every 3 or 4 pages, teaches the child about a new place or time, and uses fairly simple language. John (5) has latched right on to them, and Daniel (3) will sometimes listen in but can't quite hang with them yet. What books do your kids like to read?


Photo courtesy of Yard Sale Mommy

Make your own Oobleck

Check out this week's giveaway here!

Ever read this book? We love Dr. Seuss, and this one's a classic. We've borrowed it a few times from the library, and this time around decided to make an afternoon of it and make our own oobleck after reading it.

Curious George and paper boats

The Curious George books are one of Daniel's favorite series. So after reading "Curious George Rides a Bike," we decided to make our own paper boats like George does in the book.

How to Raise Boys Who Read

Another article from Pete's parents. This one is from the Wall Street Journal, the link can be found here.



Amen to all of that! It goes along with what Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "Treat a man as he is, and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he could be, and he will become what he should be." Have your kids read books that will teach them something and that will help them become the person you want them to become. And as for video games and other forms of electronic entertainment... I feel like it's a touchy topic for some, but I agree with everything this guy said. Just last night I saw a commercial that advertised a free Xbox 360 for students who bought a PC. Nice job Microsoft. Let's encourage our young minds to fill their time with something other than books and learning.

A little structure

It's been a relatively relaxing summer. Not too much going on and a lot of time to fill. I know some people prefer to have a lot of scheduled things going on to fill up the day, but I love those days when I wake up, look at my planner, and we have absolutely nothing that we have to do. It's on those days that I can go with the flow and do whatever the kids want to do (within reason). But just recently I decided to try adding a little more structure to our weeks. Structure that will help me do all the things I want to do. I gave each day of the week a subject to focus on: music, arts & crafts, cooking, reading & nature. We don't spend all day focusing on it, just an hour or two that we fit into our loose schedule. And it has proved to be really fun! It gives the kids (and me) something to look forward to doing each day without taking away the freedom of summer.