Books Read #11-16 ⎮ Arpil 2017

The month of April was another good month for reading, not only for myself but also our kids. We have been adding library visits as part of our monthly activities. Jack loves picking out new books for himself, some chapter books and a lot of picture books. We read every night at bed, but also during the day. Isaac is getting in on the reading action as well. He brings me picture books all day long to read. He insists on two at a time – one for him to hold while I read the other aloud, and then we switch.

The best book I read this month was Creative Schools: The Grassroots Revolution That's Transforming Education by Ken Robinson. I wrote more extensively about it in my recent blog post about our plans to homeschool. If you are interested in the directions of schools in our country (regardless of how your child is being educated), this book is worth reading.

I gave it a 5/5 on Goodreads.

One of my favorite blogs is We Are THAT Family by Kristen Welch. I enjoy her style of writing, her view of the world, how she's raises her children and shares her faith. Last month I finally had a chance to finish her book Rhinestone Jesus: Saying Yes to God When Sparkly, Safe Faith Is No Longer Enough. This book shares her personal story of how God can work through ordinary people to do amazing things. In her case, this meant opening Mercy House, a home for single mother's in Kenya. I think her story is an encouraging one, though I have to admit I like her writing style more on her blog than the book. But it is still a worthwhile read to see how God works through people today.

I gave it a 3/5 on Goodreads.

Our small group has been making it's way through the book Graced Filled Marriage: The Missing Piece, The Place to Start by Tim Kimmel over the course of the last several months. While this book has some good nuggets in it, it's not the best marriage book I have read. However, it did work as a good catalyst for discussion in our small group. But that probably has more to do with our group than the book.

I gave it a 3/5 on Goodreads.
 

Since we are on the brink of starting homeschool, I have been doing a lot of research on what I will be teaching this fall. Give Your Child the World: Raising Globally Minded Kids One Book at a Time by Jamie C. Martin is a book that kept showing up on my radar. Then Amazon had it on sale, so I went ahead and ordered it. It is written by the author/founder of SimpleHomeschool, a blog/resource for homeschoolers, and her book is a resource for bringing the world to your child. She writes about her multi-national family and how that has affected her life and the second half of the book is a source list, broken down by country, continent and age appropriateness. I look forward to diving into the books she listed and bringing the whole world into our home.

I didn't rate this on Goodreads since I have not actually been able to use it as a resource yet.

Another school-related book I picked up last month was Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever by Mem Fox. Mem is an Australian author and literacy expert who travels the world sharing her incite on how to teach children to not only read, but to love reading. This was an encouraging book to read. I naturally do a lot of the principles that she teaches and this book instills confidence that I am on the right path with my own children. The last chapter of Mem's book shares a list of books to read aloud to your children. This list is now top on my list of reading resources for our kindergarten homeschool experience this fall.

Passages that really spoke to me from Reading Magic:
Children who are read to early and regularly quickly acquire the skill of listening and the desire to hear stories. They understand the immense pleasure waiting for them in books and develop the ability to concentrate and relax.

The more expressively we read, the more fantastic the experience will be. The more fantastic the experience, the more our kids will love books...

Children who have been read aloud to regularly do expect to make sense from print. They know about rhyme and rhythm and repetition. They know how real stories work, which makes it easier for them to read real stories. They can predict that certain words, patterns and plots will occur, and they're proven right. *I have seen this first-hand with Jack. He naturally expects words to rhyme and can often guess what comes next. Rhyme, rhythm and repetition are huge for me and my own love of reading stories to him.


The more we know about life, the universe, and everything, the easier it is to read.

...we need to help beginning readers make rapid progress through a story so they're able to remember what they're reading. Then they'll relax and make more sense of the print...

The whole point of books is to allow us to experience troubled realities that are different from our own, to feel the appropriate emotions, to empathize, to make judgements, and to have our interest held. If we sanitize everything children read, how much more shocking and confusing will the real world be when they finally have to face it?

A phonics-only approach can never teach children to long to read.

If you are teaching a child to read, or just want to help your child along, this book is worth taking the time to read. At the very least, the biggest take-away is READ ALOUD, READ ALOUD, READ ALOUD.

I gave it a 5/5 on Goodreads.

I read the second book in The Guardians series, E. Aster Bunnymund and the Warrior Eggs at the Earth's Core by William Joyce aloud to Jack (and Isaac). Like Nicholas St. North, it is slightly above his age level, but he sits and listens to me read. He has enjoyed the pictures throughout and especially likes to hear about the fight scenes. We are moving on to the third book in the series now. I am enjoying it and I think we will re-read the entire series in a few years when he shows a bit more interest. 

I gave it a 5/5 on Goodreads.

Honorable Mention:
Jack continues to love the Flat Stanley series by Jeff Brown. This month we read Flat Stanley in Space. By reading a chapter or two each night, we were able to read this book twice before he it had to go back to the library.

My favorite picture book in the month of April was The Pirate Jamboree by Mark Teague. I read a ton of picture books to both my boys. I am ONLY including chapter books in these blog posts because these otherwise these posts would be incredibly long.

Homeschool

"I just like to know," said Pooh humbly.

Have you ever had a quote that really resonated with you? This line from "Winnie the Pooh" by A.A. Milne has always stuck with me because it summarizes how I approach life. For me, the knowing involves a constant state of learning. And even in the busier phases of my life, I find myself itching to learn more about everything. So I devour more books than most adults (mostly of the non-fiction variety), I scour the internet, I read blogs and listen to podcasts, and I constantly stretch myself to learn all manner of subjects. It's what I do. It's what I've always done.

I hadn't planned on homeschooling. One of the reasons we moved to where we live is the excellent school system. But, here we are, on the brink of homeschool.

Last year I experimented with getting my kids outside daily and I also happened to read a book called "Last Child in the Woods" by Richard Louv. This book got my wheels turning. Why are kids expected to start spending so much time inside at an early age? Why were we in such a hurry to speed childhood along? Why this diversion from play-based learning and more of an emphasis on medicating kids that have trouble sitting still in school? I couldn't shake the thoughts.

Then all of a sudden we were in the middle of kindergarten readiness activities (it creeps up on you!). These activities included attending a parent-teacher conference with Jack's preschool teacher, going to a kindergarten readiness meeting, and taking a tour of the school we are zoned for. While we checked these items off our list of things to do to prepare for kindergarten, I happened to read the book "The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education" by Diane Ravitch.

If you don't want to question how school is being done in America, don't read this book. But I did read it, and my doubts about public school, especially in regards to kindergarten, grew.

I was torn because we have excellent schools without having to pay for private, but I have strong feelings about the requirement of a seven-hour school day for kindergarten. Can Jack attend school for that long each day? Sure, he's capable. But what would he actually gain from that amount of time in a classroom? When I look at my child and his capabilities and the things he loves, I don't know that a classroom setting with 20+ kids and one teacher is the right fit.

Am I worried about his socialization? Nope. Jack does not meet a stranger and we have constant exposure to other families and kids that I think will provide enough so-called socialization.

Do I want to homeschool for religious reasons? Sure, we can instill our family values and beliefs in our children through homeschool, but we would do that regardless of where they attended school.

What if he gets behind? Based on the things Jack has already learned from us (with minimal effort), I am confident that formal education at home will allow him to blossom further with the added benefit of us being able to tailor his studies to topics he loves.

A third book that I recently finished was "Creative Schools: The Grassroots Revolution That's Transforming Education" by Ken Robinson. Robinson is an internationally recognized leader in the development of innovation and human resources who shared a TED talk about education in 2006. He inspired so many people, he has gone on to share his knowledge and inspire even more through books he has written. 

I have not watched his TED talk, but his book Creative Schools is chock full of observations and recommendations from professionals that emphasize rethinking how education is currently done. I could have highlighted the entire book! The book is engaging and informative and gave me a lot to think about in regards to how homeschooling will look for our family (in light of the ways it needs to change in the public school sector). Here are a few of the passages that especially resonated with me:

When standardized tests are the primary factor in accountability, the temptation is to use tests to define curriculum and focus instruction.

In my view, a balanced curriculum should give equal status and resources to the following: the arts, humanities, language arts, mathematics, physical education, and science. Each addresses major areas of intelligence, cultural knowledge, and personal development.

"Failure is an important part of the process... This critical part of the learning experience– the learning that comes from failure– is far too often programmed out of the academic curriculum." – Larry Rosenstock, High Tech High

"The world economy no longer pays for what you know, Google knows everything. The world economy pays you for what you can do with what you know." – Andreas Schleicher, Secretary General, OECO

In national and global surveys, employers don't complain about applicants lacking specific knowledge or technical skills, which are easy to test and express in a letter grade; they want employees who can analyze critically, collaborate, communicate, solve problems, and think critically." – Joe Bower, science/language teacher in Alberta, Canada

...in most respects, individuals are most like themselves with their own temperatures, interests, talents and dispositions. You can help your children by treating them as individuals and not by assuming that they should follow the same paths or be judged by the same criteria at school.

...the greatest argument for homeschooling: that it allows you to push your children where your child needs pushing... while also letting you give your child enormous room for improvisation and discovery.

Effective education is always a balance between rigor and freedom, tradition and innovation, the individual and the group, theory and practice, the inner and the outer world.

It has always been my belief that no matter where our kids attended school, we would supplement their education at home. I still believe this, but for the time being, supplementing will actually be teaching. I don't believe it is possible to teach everything there is to know, but I can teach them how to learn and equip them with the desire to learn. With that ability and desire, the world will be at their fingertips.

Here are a few podcast series about homeschooling that have really resonated with me and shaped how I think our homeschool will work:
The Homeschool Sisters
Wild and Free Children
Brave Writer