CONFESSION TIME: The beach, the park, the county fair, and lots and lots of sun this past month have left quite a thick layer of dust on our stack of books. We've tried to nab moments of literary adventure here and there as we've been able, BUT, with summer passing at supersonic speed I'm OK with letting the dust settle a bit longer in order that we can savor a few more moments running, swimming, and scratching mosquito bites in the sun.
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Here's what awaits us whenever we come inside.
Read Aloud- Everybody
Rabbit Hill- Similar to the sweet adventures of a classic Beatrix Potter tale, this book has been on my TO READ list for quite some time. We're finally getting around to it.
Jamie- that's me!
Conform- This highly controversial new book from Glenn Beck has me staying up until well past midnight each night. It's the kind of book that has me elbowing The Hubs and reading large portions of it aloud to him...whether he likes it or not. It is an eye-opening look at the hijacking of our country's educational system.
Sweetie Pea- 6th grade
Super Boy- 3rd grade
Turn on the Light, Thomas Edison- He's got about two more chapters left in the book he began last month.
Then, it's onto to...
Blonde Warrior- 2nd Grade
Greased Lightning- Kindergarten
Step Into Reading Phonics First Steps, set 2- This is a series of graduated phonetical readers that comes in a boxed set.
That's what we'll be dusting off during the month of August every chance we get. What about you?
I really enjoy your book lists. My son is seven and your lists give me a great place to start looking for good books for him. I have reserved at the library many of the character- building books for boys you suggested in previous posts. Thanks so much for your blog!
ReplyDeleteSo glad that you like my lists. I love writing them! But then again, I could talk about books ALL.DAY.LONG!
DeleteWhile I am no fan of Glenn Beck, I do have to agree with some of what he says in this book. The way the American education system is setup, does not allow for higher level of thinking, stifles imagination, and it doesn't even consider setting up for lifelong learning in any way. Democrats pander to teachers unions and Republicans to the companies who produce textbooks/tests, neither side really truly seems to care for the education of American children. Its a very very sad, low point in American education. Its why we homeschool. I am not about to out my kids in the system and hope they get things figured out in time for my children.
ReplyDeleteI read that Glenn Beck book as well. Really interesting. =)
ReplyDeleteI put the Glen Beck book on my "to read" list. Thanks, Jamie! We are a family that doesn't meet the requirements to opt out of mandatory testing starting in the 4th grade. We are ardently staying away from the Common Core in our curriculum choices but sometimes I wonder what my sweeties will do with their mandatory Common Core laden tests in years to come. Do you ever worry about that with your kiddos? Not that I am going to change our homeschooling in any way to accommodate CC but man! It does make me break out on a sweat for my kids come 4th grade.
ReplyDeleteYes, unfortunately, many of the same people in charge of writing the Common Core standards are also on the committees in charge of overseeing the main college-ready examinations like the SAT and ACT. One of the stages in this hijacking of our educational system is to rewrite those exams to reflect Common Core standards. Therefor, if you steer your child's educational course away from these dumbed-down, communistic learning standards, you put them at risk of doing poorly on these tests. It won't matter so much that they know that 1+1=2. It will only matter HOW they got their answer...by using Common Core steps. A child who is not familiar with those ridiculous steps of math ??problem solving?? will get the answer wrong even if they answer correctly.
DeleteI've looked into some practical steps for other mama's and myself in this predicament. And it seems there are two options from what I've read. (Though I'm sure there are more, these were the two I kept running into the most). 1.) Do not concern yourself with Common Core and trust that your kids will do well enough because of their innate intelligence (or well enough that the state won't say "boo" about their score. 2.) Teach both. Teach truth. Teach REAL math. REAL problem solving skills and high caliber teaching all around. And then before testing teach incremental bursts of Common Core "process". As in, if you want to do well on the math section this is how you'll have to do it. But both of these options seem scary to me. One could potentially allow my kids to do terribly on the test even though they are above average kids, thereby putting us on our state's radar-screen. And the other will find my kids overburdened with too much information. Even if I tell them after testing they can promptly forget everything they just learned in the Common Core vein they will still have had hold logic and nonsense in their minds at the same time confounding their efforts. Jamie, how do you and your mama friends plan on helping your kids succeed despite Common Core?
DeleteHey! I wanted to email this to you, but don't have your email and we can't talk on FB anymore... So...
ReplyDeleteOur oldest just started her own blog geared toward girls her age. She only has one post and an "about" page, but she's excited about it and working on her next post. I'm using it as her homeschool writing, photography, computer skills project for the year. Thought your daughter may enjoy looking it up. www.emiliachristine.com :)
I LOVE THIS!!! I will definitely pass it on to her. She has a blog too but it is currently locked for family or friends only. I'll have to email you and get your daughter an invite. Miss you on FB.
DeleteYes, please do! She'd love to read her blog. :) I know...I miss being on FB at times as well, but I'm such a scatterbrain at times and easily distracted. It's good for me to be off right now. :)
DeleteQuick question.... for family read aloud's, do you just read and discuss for fun or do require projects/notebook pages to be done with it?
ReplyDeleteOur read alouds are purely for pleasure. We talk about the story line a bit, but mostly we just enjoy the words. We have other opportunities to dissect books during history and science. I use read aloud time to instill a love of literature which I think would be lost if I required additional work with it.
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