The Reading Corner Overfloweth

Given my obsession for books, I thought participation in The Happy Housewife's Book Basket would be apropos. Our Reading Corner is still going well; it's turned out to be a motivational place for the kids to read as well as a great way to occupy one child while I school another. Our current library list is 30 books long. Since we just checked them out, I can't offer a lot as far as reviews go...

1. Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder - This is the 3rd book of the Little House series we've read. Just finished it yesterday. We enjoyed it, but I think we may take a break from the series. In fact, I have DVRed Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which comes on tomorrow evening on Disney. Today I think we'll begin the book as a read-aloud. Maybe finish it in the next couple weeks and then watch the movie (with chocolate, of course!!). Incidentally, this book doesn't come from the library; it is my own, personal childhood copy, so it is nicely aged.

2. Nate the Great and the Snowy Trail by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat
3. Nate the Great on the Owl Express by MW Sharmat
4. Another Pet by Trisha Speed Shaskan
5. Get Well, Good Knight by Shelley Moore Thomas
6. Eek! Stories to Make You Shriek by Jane O'Connor
7. Marvin One Too Many by Katherine Paterson
8. Celebrity Cat by Meredith Hooper

#2-8 are all easy readers for the boys.

And for a read-aloud picture book for the Audrey:
9. A Packet of Seeds by Deborah Hopkinson - Also chosen because it's in the plans to plant some herbs. Not sure if that will actually transpire in the next couple weeks or not, but it's penciled in anyway.

10. Stage Fright on a Summer Night by Mary Pope Osborne - We just studied William Shakespeare, so this is an easy read aloud for the boys; Alex informed me she has "already read it several times" (exasperated eyeroll).

11. Starry Messenger: A Book Depicting the Life of a Famous Scientist by Peter Sis - We also met Copernicus and Galileo Galilei around the same time we met the Bard of Avon. This was a great book...short enough to hold everyone's attention but informative. It also had interesting illustrations as well as journal excerpts which older kids enjoy.

And for Science, we just finished our study of vertebrates, so the kids each chose a vertebrate to research and study in-depth style.

Alex chose penguins (no surprise):
12. Penguins by Deborah Nuzzolo
13. The World of Penguins by Evelyne Daigle
14. Penguins (original, isn't it?) by Lynn M. Stone
15. Penguins: From Emperors to Macaronis by Erin Pembrey Swan
16. My Season with Penguins: An Antarctic Journal by Sophie Webb (looks interesting!)

Much to my surprise, Michael opted for the delicate, little chickadee (I though he would be all about tigers or bears or anything that goes grrrr):
17. Birds of All Kinds by Rebecca Sjonger
18. Everything Bird: What Kids Really Want to Know About Birds by Cherie Winner
19. Birds in Your Backyard by Barbara Herkert
20. Birds by Gilles Martin
21. Bateman's Backyard Birds by Robert surprise! Bateman
22. The Life Cycle of a Bird by Bobbie Kalman
23. Birds (another original title) by Angels Julivert
24. Backyard Bird Watching for Kids: How to Attract, Feed, and Provide Homes for Birds by George Harrison (not, I think, the George Harrison)

And Jacob chose Lizards:
25. My Pet Lizards by Lee Engfer
26. Incredible Reptiles by John Townsend
27. Reptiles by Claire Llewellyn
28. Life-Size Reptiles by Hannah Wilson
29. and Reptiles again by Allen E. Greer
30. and once more: Reptiles by Simon Holland

I didn't get the pick of the bookshelf for Jacob's topic because apparently someone else in my community is doing the same research, and I really didn't want to have to wait for the coveted books to be transferred from all over the state.

I really did want the lizard identification book, though, because we have a couple of odd lizards that hang around our house that I'd love to ID. There's this one little guy who looks like an ordinary lizard, but when he does his little push-up like lizards do, his neck blows up into a big, red bubble. Anyone know what kind he is?

Desperate Reading Measures

Before this second half of the school year began, I resolved to make reading the focus for the remainder of our academic time here at the home academy. This focus has really paid off. Alex of course still continues to devour any book she can get her hands on. For Jacob, something clicked seemingly overnight, and he is well on his way to becoming a successful reader. As for Michael, he has improved a whole lot as well; the only obstacle he still has to overcome is his general dislike of reading, an attitude that is difficult for me to understand and therefore near impossible for me to "fix". I guess that's what attracted me to How to Get Your Child to Love Reading by Esme Raji Codell. It's really a book for classroom teachers or for parents with children in a traditional school, but I was able to glean a lot of wonderful ideas from it, and it makes a great resource for any teacher's bookshelf.

Although some of Ms. Codell's ideas--like making a Time Machine--are certainly more "classroom-y", our Reading Corner was an offspring idea from her brainstorming. I took over a corner of the family room, set up a comfy chair, and placed a huge basket beside it that is now crammed full of books and books on tape/CD. Perhaps the biggest allure of the Reading Corner is that as soon as a child is seated in the chair, I serve him or her a special snack to munch on while reading. Since food is otherwise prohibited anywhere but at the table, this is quite a novel idea and thus a huge draw for them. Regardless of the true reason they fight over who goes first in the Reading Corner, they are nevertheless spending a half hour each day reading on their own.

One other idea I wrestled with for quite some time. I heard about the Captain Underpants series back when I taught second grade. I was then appalled by such titles as "Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants." However, that was before I realized I had a struggling reader. And a struggling reader who giggles at the mere mention of underwear or poop. While the Captain Underpants series goes against all I value as an English teacher and lover of good literature and all I strive for as a well-mannered mommy, I knew the series was a match for my boys.

So I ordered five of them, and they came yesterday afternoon. The boys couldn't wait to get to them after basketball and showers. Funny thing is the boy for whom I really bought these books said they look too hard for him to read and thus did not even try. Instead, he quickly settled for letting his little brother read the good parts to him....while he zoomed around the house in his skivvies and a cape (sorry--these pictures are reserved for my scrapbook only...and perhaps the wedding rehearsal dinner of a certain young man). I suppose I shouldn't be so critical of books about poop; I did, after all, once write my own little potty book.