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My Summer Reading List
09
June
admin

I’m not a big fan of summer, but one thing I do like about the season is the chance to be a little lazier and read more.  Since I still don’t have huge amounts of free time, I have to be somewhat selective about my reading list.  The other day I perused my shelves and assembled two stacks of books, one fiction and one non-fiction, that I’d like to try to make some dents in this summer.  Will I read all these books?  Probably not.  Will I read books that are not in this stack?  Probably.  But, regardless, this gives you a pretty good idea of what I’ll be doing with a little of my free time this summer.

Fiction…

Glimpses of Paradise by James Scott Bell

I just picked this one up at Good Will the other day.  It looked like it had an intriguing plot line.  It’s set around WWII, I believe, and I’m a sucker for good historical fiction.  I didn’t even realize this was a Christian author until I got it home and gave it a closer look.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

The last time I read this book was when Bonny Annie was an infant and did nothing but nurse and sleep.  I was bored out of my mind, and I loved this dark, brooding, romantic novel.  But it’s been so long since I’ve read it that I can’t even remember the main characters’ names.  Okay…Catherine and Heathcliff…but still, it’s been a long time, and I’ve been meaning to reread this for a while.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

I guess I’m on a bit of Bronte sister kick.  Again, it’s been so long since I read this, I barely remember the plot line.  And this time I seriously don’t.  I also have a wee confession about this book:  I didn’t actually read it.  I listened to an unabridged audio tape.

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

If I end up not reading one of these books, this one is the most likely.  I have intended to read this one for years.  YEARS.  As a former English teacher, it’s probably some kind of crime (get it?  CRIME?) that I haven’t read this one.  But it looks really nice on my shelf…

Darcy and Elizabeth:  Nights and Days at Pemberley by Linda Berdoll

This is one of the hundred or so Jane Austen knock-offs.  This one supposedly takes up where she left off in Pride and Prejudice.  I’ve purposely avoided these types of books because I feel pretty strongly about Jane Austen, but I read a few pages standing in the store, and thought the voice of this one sounded more authentic than most.  It was in the bargain book section, so I thought, “Oh well…why not?”  I’ll let you know how it goes.

Cane River by Lalita Tademy

This was another Good Will find.  It is an Oprah’s book club pick, and over the years, these have been hit or miss for me.  To be honest, mostly miss.  This one, however, intrigued me in that the author loosely based the plot on her genealogy research of her own family and their Louisiana slave roots.  I read about three chapters last night, and so far, it’s pretty good.

The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

This is another that has been on my “must read” list for too long.  I doubt that I read the entire thing this summer, but I plan to get through a few of the stories at least.  I’m already almost finished with “A Study in Scarlet,” and I’ve enjoyed it a lot.

Non-fiction…

The Journal of Charles Wesley by Charles Wesley…duh

A couple of years ago I read the journals of Jim Elliot and found myself extremely blessed and encouraged by a more personal look at one of the saints.  So, when I found this on our shelves I quickly added it to my stack.

Jane Austen by Peter Leithart

I’m actually almost done with this little biography.  It’s one that I’ve agreed to review for Thomas Nelson publishers here on my blog, so you’ll here more about this one shortly.

The Back Door to Your Teen’s Heart byMelissa Trevathan and Sissy Goff

A friend picked this up for me at conference that I had to miss a couple of years ago.  Seeing as how Bonny Annie is already thirteen, and I sometimes struggle with finding the front door to her heart, I figured it was high time I digested this material.

Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss

I read this humorous little gem about the importance of proper English and grammar a couple of years ago.  I want to reread it once more before I add it to Bonny Annie’s language arts curriculum for next year.

Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot

I started this last summer, I believe, but for some reason, never finished it.  I think I’m familiar enough with this classic missionary story to just pick up where I left off.

Wild Things by James and Thomas

This one is about raising boys.  Seeing as how I have two now, and they  are still somewhat a mystery to me, I figured this one better go in the stack.

Word Press for Dummies

I read this one last summer, but I didn’t completely “get it.”  I think I probably need to be reading Word Press for BIG Dummies, but that one hasn’t been written yet.

Real Simple:  The Organized Home

I’ve thumbed through this one about a dozen times, but I think I’m going to start going room-by-room and actually apply some of their practical principles.

And that about does it.

What are YOU reading this summer?

Category: Books  Tags: , , , , ,  7 Comments
The GOOD Toy: Usborne’s “That’s Not My_______ ” Books
25
January
admin

I know that technically books are not toys, but they are if you are fourteen months old, and these books have demonstrated excellent qualities as both books AND toys in our household.

First of all, I don’t think I’ve ever met an Usborne book that I haven’t liked.  We own TONS of Usborne books thanks to our main school curriculum Sonlight.  They use a lot of their books, especially for science.  So the Usborne reputation preceded the arrival of this line of books to our home.

My sister bought two of the above for Cap’n Jack Henry for his birthday in November and then another one for Christmas, and there is not another book in this house that entertains him more.

Let’s take a look….

The cover is the first page of the story.  Every page then goes through a series of four or five things that are not ours.  In essence we are looking for our thing…whatever it is.  In this case, it’s our pirate, and as you can see, the one on the cover is not ours because his scarf is too rough.  You can then touch the scarf and feel for yourself.  Yep, too rough.  Not our pirate.  (Not to mention that guy is waaaaaay too wimpy looking to be our pirate.)

Page after chunky page we look for our pirate, but there’s always some tactical clue that the pirate is an imposter.  This one has a shiny cutlass, but from the look of his cheek, I’d say it was perhaps too sharp.

And then, finally, on the last page, we find what we are looking for…

Our very own pirate…

We know he’s ours because his beard is so fluffy (and he has a skull and crossbones on his hat…always a sure sign).  *Contented sigh*

As far as quality, they are superior to most board books.  First of all, the textured pieces are very secure.  Your baby or toddler will not be able to rip off the beard or make scratches in the cutlass or whatever.  Secondly, the pages are very thick.  Jack Henry can turn them on his own very easily, and his little razor-teeth can’t, no matter how hard he tries, bite off a chunk.

The other books we own are…

and…

They run about $9 a piece, would entertain up to about a four or five year-old and can be purchased here or here or here.

I am definitely going to be adding to our collection soon.  I can’t wait to find out who our monster is and which snowman belongs to us.  Compelling stuff, indeed!

Category: Books, The GOOD Toy (toy reviews), The Pirate Mom Speaks  Tags: , , ,  5 Comments
History on Your Bookshelves
30
October
admin

I’ll bet that if you’re a reader like me, then you’ve collected a few….or a thousand….books over the years.  And I’ll also bet that even if you know you’ll never read a certain title again, that it’s hard to get rid of the copy.  And I’ll also bet that several of your volumes have thick layers of dust collecting on the spines.  If that last assumption is not the case, please don’t tell me, okay?

I have collected books for a couple of decades now and have several shelves laden with the contents.  Lately, however, I’ve been perusing them more often looking for things for Bonny Annie to read, and I’ve come up with some long-forgotten treasures.

Currently, we’re in the thick of a two-year study of American history.  Annaleigh’s curriculum is actually designed to be completed in a year, but we’re drawing it out over two in order to keep her and Dirty Harry covering the same subject matter simultaneously.  Bonny Annie reads voraciously though, so I’ve been trying to find extra books to fill in the holes.

Right now she’s in the middle of the series pictured above.  It’s The Keeper of the Ring series by Angela Elwell Hunt. Each book focuses on real and fictional characters that surround one of our country’s first settlements.  I had collected this series when I was a newlywed college student, almost twenty years ago…back before I had three kids and had the time and the metabolism to loll around reading thick books and eating entire bags of peanut M&Ms in one sitting.  When we got to this point in history, I remembered reading and enjoying them years ago and went searching for them.  As it turns out, I had to scrounge a couple of copies up on Amazon.  I guess I loaned a few out and never got them back.

Now, you can say what you like about Christian fiction.  I know, I know.  I’ve read some duds too.  Lots of them.  But there are some really good works out there, and this series….and really anything by Angela Hunt….is one of them.  For this series, don’t let the covers that are illustrated like this scare you….

Or this…

Just ignore and get past the simpering females, with swoony faces, heaving chests, and flowing tresses.  I promise you that these are not Harlequin novels.  You will find no bodice-ripping or sweaty, glistening muscles between these pages.  While there are some romantic elements, they are handled tastefully and surrounded by historical fact and sandwiched within a well-written yarn.

Other good series that I’ve found on my shelves include the following….

And I’m sure there are many, many more.  In fact, if you’ve read some great historical fiction, please leave your suggestions in the comment section.

Also, I’m not limiting my additions to Bonny Annie’s education to just Christian fiction.  Many, many good titles abound in the classics section.  I know she will be reading one of my all-time favorites, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith in about a year, when we to turn-of-the century times.

I know she needs to know the facts of history, and we spend a good bit of time on that too, but in the meantime, it’s okay to let those facts come alive within the pages of a good read.

Category: Bonny Annie, Books, homeschooling  Tags: , ,  6 Comments
Where it ALL Happens…
12
August
admin

(A quick side note before I jump right in here…..Sheesh!  I’ve been trying to blog since Sunday night.  We started back-to-school on Monday…more on that later…and I have not had a spare minute since it seems.  Sorry.  I think I am going to have to start getting up at 4:30am to blog.  Or maybe hire a nanny.  I’m not sure, but I’m going to find a way to be on here more regularly!  Promise!)

Okay, now on to business…

 

NBTSbloghop

This week the theme for the Not-Back-to-School-Blog-Hop is school rooms.  I have had a lot of fun perusing the pictures that everyone has posted of their rooms and such.

We are trying something new this year…the dining room table.

I have never liked the idea of doing school at the table.  Mainly because before Cap’n Jack Henry came along and took up a lot of our space, we had a whole bull-honkin’ school room.  I also didn’t want my dining room/kitchen space to look like this all day long….

But this is the way it has to be for right now.  As you can see, our living room (in the background) is home to much of Jack Henry’s “stuff”, so it just makes sense for us to be down here where he can be entertained.  The kids and I all have totes that we keep the books and manuals that we will need for the day, so it makes clean-up in the afternoons easy.

The above was a picture from our first day back to school.  It went fairly smoothly.  We only had two major meltdowns.  Jack Henry did great.  He spent part of his day at the table with us eating reading a book.

I found a little basket that we already had and filled it with small plastic cups.  It made a great table organizer for all the odds and ends that we need throughout the day.

Chalk?  Chalk?!  Why would we need chalk?  Well, because this messy area is going to be a wall chalkboard by next week…

Yep!  The whole wall…I can’t wait.  That area has been a dead zone in our house for a while, a total catch-all for clutter and junk.  Now, at least it will be functional.

Of course even with all the new bells and whistles of the dining room, the kids still find other places to hang out and do their work.

There’s our loft, complete with overflowing bookshelves and the comfy denim furniture…

Both of them have their own desks in their rooms where some work gets done…

Above is Bonny Annie’s desk, obviously.  I’m not the only pirate fan around here, you can see.  It’s in our blood. 

I’m sorry I can’t show you Dirty Harry’s desk.  It is…well…umm…dirty.

They also like to read in their beds.

Bonny Annie again.  I could show you Dirty Harry’s bed, but then I’d have to shoot you.

And then, finally, one of my students occasionally does his lessons on the sofa….

Sorta.

Good gravy.  I can NEVER send that one off to school, can I?

 

Category: homeschooling  Tags: , , ,  11 Comments
Books, Books, Books!
05
August
admin

Somehow in my sick, twisted, raised-in-the-80s-and-cut-my-musical-teeth-on-hair-bands mind, I imagine the above title to be sung to the tune of “Girls, Girls, Girls” by Motley Crue.  But you don’t have to do that to read this entry.  As a matter of fact, you’re probably better off NOT doing that at all.

NBTSbloghop

The above blog is hosting a back-to-school blog carnival of sorts, with this week being curriculum choices for this school year.  So, in the spirit of homeschool camraderie, I’m sharin’!

Bible:

Annaleigh is using the following…

It is a part of Sonlight’s Core 100, which I’ll talk more about in a minute.  Good grief….I think I need to probably do this Bible curriculum too.

Harrison will be using this…

His also came with Sonlight’s stuff, Core 3.  We’re studying American History this year, so the Indian prayer guide is a good tie-in, and I think I will read it aloud to both of them.

Math:

Annaleigh is taking math at her tutorial this year (Hallelujah!), and this is what they are using in this class…

Harrison, who is taking math with me ($#@&*@#!!!), will be using this…

He will be using the DIVE cd that goes with this edition, however, for the actual lessons.  So Lucky Me only has to grade his work.  And Lucky Him too.

History:

Like I stated earlier, we use Sonlightfor history, and this year we’re starting a two-year study of American History.  Annaleigh will be using the first half of Core 100…

Sonlight uses mainly good literature instead of textbooks to teach various subjects, with a strong emphasis on chronological history.  We’ve used it since Annaleigh was in 2nd grade, and it is fantastic!  Core 100 is actually meant to be a year curriculum, but we’re dividing it into to two, simply because Harrison’s studies (core 3 and 4) take two years, and I like to keep them together for history as much as possible.  I’m just adding in extra stuff as I come across it for Annaleigh, which is easy with American history.

I’m very exctied to be able to use these with both kids for the next two years…

I found some cool study guides for these at Rainbow Resource that I’m going to use for Annaleigh as well.

Harrison is going to be using Core 3…

We read most of these several years ago when Annaleigh went through this core, and I can’t wait to read them again….very good selections!

And then here are some extras that I’ve picked up here and there…

Science:

Annaleigh also takes science at her  tutorial.  Here is what she’s using…

She took the General Science course from Apologialast year as well, and these courses are highly recommended.  Annaleigh loved the course and claims she learned so much.  But perhaps that’s because I’m no longer teaching her for this subject….hmmmm.

Harrison and I are going to use this…

Normally, I use Sonlight for science as well, but I decided to take a break this year.  This curriculum goes through the seven days of creation, teaching scientific facts as you go along.  It also encourages notebooking, which I really love to do with the kids.

Language Arts:

Here’s a look at Annaleigh’s material….

She will do two lessons a day from the Easy Grammar, completing it in the first semester, and then we will spend the second half of the year going through the research paper book.  In addition, she gets a healthy dose of literature from her history curriculum that I’ve already covered.

Harrison will use these…

This will be the second year I’ve usedShurley English with him, and I like that it is all-inclusive.  It covers grammar, writing and vocabulary.  And….bonus….he really likes the program!

I use this for spelling for both of them…

Every year I always get them a new record book, which I think makes the program so much easier.  You don’t have to photocopy all of the forms from the book.  I also have the activity box, where your students can choose practice activities like writing their words in sidewalk chalk on the drive or singing them into a microphone.

Art:

Annaleigh will be using the one on the right and Harrison the other.  I have used various Barry Stebbing books before, andI have found them very user-friendly and thorough.

And I think that about does it!  Harrison will be using a transition handwriting book, which reinforces good printing skills the first half of the year, andthen covers beginning cursive in the second half.  Annaleigh also has a home ec program that she’s working through.  Both will continue foreign language studies:  Annaleigh in French using Rosetta Stone and Harrison in Spanish using Power-Glide.  PE will include TaeKwonDo and baseball.  Annaleigh also takes a drama class at tutorial.

I don’t have a music curriculum yet, and as you can tell by how I started this entry, I sorely need one.  Any suggestions?

Here is the calendar for this back-to-school carnival, in case you want to join in….

 

Category: homeschooling  Tags: , ,  10 Comments
Crazy Love Winner
23
June
admin

We have a winner!

But first, allow me to thank you all for entering my first “The Pirate Mom Dot Com” contest.  Thanks for posting the contest on your Facebook pages and blogs.  Thanks for all the encouraging comments.  I was pleased and gratified that so many of you wanted a copy of this book.  Some even let me know that they didn’t enter, but went straight to the website and ordered a copy.  I hope that all of you losers out there go and buy your own copies of this worthwhile book.  Wait….that didn’t come out just right….but I think you know what I mean.

Okay, so now onto business….

Many of you were allowed two entries since you posted about the contest elsewhere, so I thought that the folded-paper-in-the-hat-method would work the best.

Now, if you will please tilt your heads to the left, you can watch a brief video of the exciting drawing….

 

Please excuse the sideways video-shooting.  I…ahem…did it on purpose like that for…ahem…visual interest.

Congratulations, Corey!  Please send me your mailing address at kellie@thepiratemom.com , and I’ll send your book out very shortly.

Category: Books, Contests, The Pirate Mom Speaks  Tags: , ,  7 Comments
The Best Book You’re Probably Not Reading (and a Contest)
16
June
admin

I’m only about half-way through this book,  and it is scaring me.  It is haunting me.  It is making me a little bit sick.  It makes me try to forget that I’m reading it.  It makes me uncomfortable.

Nice way to start a book review, eh?

Big D asked me to read this book.  He was reading it, and he wanted to discuss it.  Big D doesn’t do that much reading, but I’ll read just about anything, so I casually picked it up one afternoon and started reading.  Then my heart got stuck in my throat, and I put it down and didn’t read anymore for about a week.  I think I got a little indigestion.  Then I picked it up again, read another chapter and pretty much did the same thing.  That’s sorta been my pattern with this book.  I’m on Chapter 7.

The book is Crazy Love by Francis Chan.  It’s basically about how God loves us and how we should be loving God.  It’s about lukewarm Christianity.  It’s about lazy Christianity.  It’s about…oh…I’m not very good at this.  Here, just read the description on the back of the book…

Whoa, huh? 

My conclusion, so far, is that indeed I am missing it.  I think that’s why I don’t want to read this book but feel compelled to read it anyway.  I think that’s why I have a little bit of acid reflux every time I crack it open.  I think that’s why I suddenly want to unload the dishwasher or bathe the dog or clean out my attic when I think I should be reading it.

I need to read this book.  Deep down I don’t want to be a casual Christian.  I want to live a victorious and meaningful Christian life.  I want to please God.  And this little book has inspired me to do so.  Even if it hurts a little.  Or a lot.

Because misery loves company, I’m giving away a copy of this book.  I wish I had unlimited funds and could give away a whole case, but I don’t.  So we’ll start with one.

If you’d like a stab at the free copy, here’s what you do:  Simply leave a comment on this post indicating that you’d like to enter my contest.  That’s it.  If you’d like for me to enter your name twiceinto the drawing, then you can post about it on your blog or facebook with a link to this post.  Just let me know that you’ve done that in the comment section as well.  One week from today I’ll announce who has won and ship your book.  Easy?  Yes.  The book is a little rough going down, so I tried to make the contest easy as pie.

Good luck!

Category: Books, The Pirate Mom Speaks  Tags: , ,  25 Comments
Readers Are Leaders.
15
June
admin

That is what we’ve always told our older two children.  Fortunately our encouragement has paid off, and both of them enjoy reading and do it often.

If my title statement is indeed true, then Jack Henry will probably be President of the United States someday.

Indiana Mimi, my mother, has said from almost the time he was born, “That Jack Henry….I think he knows things.”

I don’t know.  Maybe he does.  Maybe he’s wondering right now what inspired Dr. Seuss to write such a compelling piece.  Perhaps he’s contemplating his excellent use of alliteration.  Or maybe he’s more drawn to the art work and is trying to decode the abstract color themes.  Hmmmmm….

I suppose there’s a chance that his thoughts by now have taken an even deeper turn.  He may be wondering if AT&T really did help Kris Allen with a controversial win over judge-favorite Adam Lambert on “American Idol.”  Or it’s possible he’s thinking about how proud he is of the Ford corporation for not taking bail-out money.  I’ll bet he may even be envisioning how attractive “Jack Henry in 2048″ will look on a yard sign of red, white and blue.

Ya’ know, now that I think about it, he’s probably just wondering when I’m going to get this big piece of cardboard out of his hands, stop taking pictures, and change his stinky diaper already.

Aye-aye, Cap’n!

Category: Cap'n Jack Henry  Tags: , , ,  9 Comments

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