Joyfully Weary

My goal is to post our morning basket every month, but I haven't done it since  September ...trying to be more organized with this space but life continues to get crazy and hectic. I call it our morning basket because we always pull out it out during breakfast, but we read through the books in it several times during a school day.  Every month I choose a poet, a composer, and an artist for us to study. My goal is not for my kiddos to have mastery on these people/topics but for them to become acquainted with them. I want to help them develop an affection for what is good and beautiful. Our poet this month was Robert Frost. Both my boys have been reluctant readers, but one of their stronger skills is their ability to memorize poems. At breakfast I have them read the same poem for a week or so and that usually leads them having it memorized. Poetry has helped improve their vocabulary and helped them develop a cadence when reading other works.  I re...

Tomorrow is Dr. Seuss's birthday, so this week we've been reading a few of his books and doing a couple related activities. The Boy on Fairfield Street   is probably my new favorite Dr. Seuss biography for kids. I love children's biographies that actually talk about famous people's childhoods. The paintings in this book are also very nostalgic - they make you feel like you are going back in time.  These messed up hats were something I made awhile ago when my kiddos were still in the preschool stage. Back then they just had fun matching them. Now they've moved on to playing memory. Based on the ages of your children you might want to use only 1/2 the cards for a game; they are so much alike it can be difficult. Click here for the free printable ; you'll need to print it twice to make a memory game. I don't think you can study Dr. Seuss without making Oobleck. Mini Man loves Bartholomew and the Oobleck . When I told him we were going to be...

All of our snow has melted away, but we are still holding out hope for more. Living in Illinois means that most likely the next month or so will be full of dull gray days. Bright white snow just makes the gray more bearable. We are going to continue doing some snow themed activities in our schoolroom in the hopes that nature takes the hint and gifts us with a real snowstorm. Today, we read a couple mitten themed books: The Mitten by Jan Brett and The Little Kittens by Paul Galdone . Both authors are known for retelling classic stories with exquisite illustrations. Jan Brett uses watercolors to create realistic illustrations. Her books also commonly have border art that offers a new vantage point to the story or foreshadows a coming character.  Some other winter themed books by Jan Brett are: The Three Snow Bears and The Hat . Paul Galdone's illustration are usually ink sketches with a watercolor wash. His illustrations are more impish and whimsical, but still are very r...

In years past, we've been working our way through Story of The World by Susan Wise Bauer. This year, however, we are taking a break from world history and studying American history. We joined a co-op and one of the classes the kids are taking is Hands On American History. Originally, I had planned on continuing Story of the World   at home. We are about half-way through Vol 3, early modern history , so in some ways the lesson would coincide. I quickly realized, however, that it wasn't going to work. In class they do a lot of games and skits to make history come alive; but I also wanted to supplement what they were learning with some living books. There just isn't enough time to do the reading for both. For now, we've pressed pause on Story of the World and will probably pick it back up come May when the class ends.  We are just wrapping up our books on the America Revolution and the Founding Fathers; I thought I'd share what we read. Jean Fritz is one ...

We just started our picture book Advent today. I wrap 24 Christmas themed books each year, and every morning leading up to Christmas we open one and read it. Jeremy does a J esse Tree Advent that we made using The Jesus Storybook Bible at night, but since we homeschool I wanted something we could work into our school day.   It's a good problem to have, but it was actually hard narrowing down our favorite Christmas books to 24. I struggled with which on ones to wrap; then Jeremy remind me that even if I didn't wrap them we could still read them. So we have our wrapped books and a few other picture books in a basket.  Read-aloud-time is one of my favorite activities to do with my kiddos and Christmas books are just so fun! Here is the list of the 24 I finally narrowed it down too.  The Story of the Orchestra, The Nutcracker ,  by  Jessica Courtney-Tickle If Picasso Had a Christmas Tree , by Eric Gibbons  Voices of Christmas , by Nikki G...

One of the read-aloud books we've enjoyed this fall is Swallows and Amazons . This was a really fun book to introduce to the kiddos, because it was one of Jeremy's favorites as a child. It ignited his love for seas and sailing. The book is centered around the four older Walker children: John, Susan Titty, and Roger. They are on vacation with their mother in the Lake District of England. There is a sailboat (the Swallow) at their cottage; after getting permission from their father, and swearing not to be duffers, they set sail to deserted tiny island to camp. While on the island they meet a group of sailing sisters - the Blacketts, owners of the Amazon. They pair up with them to wage war against Captain Flint - the Blacketts' reclusive uncle. The book is full of exploring, discovery, and imaginative play. Most of the adventure surrounds the Walkers and the Blacketts having a capture-the-boat-contest to see who should be commander of their fleet. There is also suspen...