The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore - Complete Movie

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. It is beautiful and as book lovers, we adored it! If you have 15 minutes to spare, I recommend you watch it too.

You can also go visit Morris Lessmore website for more information. I enjoyed looking at the art of Morris Lessmore (click on gallery at the bottom of the site).

Book Sharing Monday :: The Thinking Girl's Treasury Series

We discovered the Thinking Girl's Treasury of Real Princesses a few months ago and have read a few titles. On a more recent library visit, we noticed another series by the same publisher, Goosebottom Books, called "The Thinking Girl's Treasury of Dastardly Dames". I am sharing the two series with you today because I feel that both of these series would make a great addition to history lessons, or could be enjoyed on their own.

The Thinking Girl's Treasury of Real Princesses highlight one princess in each book. Each biography is filled with illustrations, photographs, and interesting text. We learn about what the princess wore, ate, along with her life story.
Both photos below come from "Nur Jahan of India":

"Nur Jahan was not born a princess, although she was a distant cousin of the Persian royal family. In fact, she was not born Nur Jahan at all. Her birth name was Mihr al-Nisa (Sun Among Women), and her father was a Persian nobleman who had come to India to work in the Moghul court."

The Thinking Girl's Treasury of Dastardly Dames highlights the stories of women through history that were a little more "nasty". These are also queens, princesses, empresses, but their reputations aren't as polished as the ladies presented in the Treasury of Real Princesses!
We read "Cleopatra: Serpent of the Nile" and I am sharing with you "Cixi: The Dragon Empress".

We read about the last empress of China. In a similar layout as the real princesses' books, we found out where and when she lived, what she ate and wore. We also learned how she treated others and how she was able to rule her country through her son.

"Cloistered within its thirty-foot walls, Cixi had lived a pampered life while her people starved. Her extravagant lifestyle, displays of bad temper, and brutal punishments on those who opposed her earned her the nickname, the Dragon Empress."


Goosebottom Books has extra resources for each of the titles. You can visit at this site: Resources. 


If you would like to participate in Book Sharing Monday, please leave a link to your book sharing post below. Thank you and happy reading!

The Hunger Games - Homeschool Fun!

The Hunger Games will be in the movie theatres in one week and the excitement is building all around us! It almost feels like Harry Potter and Twilight all over again!

In our home, my two older children have loved reading this trilogy and I am currently reading aloud the first book to my youngest so she can come watch the movie with us next week.

I searched this morning for interesting activities but came up only with ones that had fees attached. I voiced my disappointment on my blog FB page and right away two friends shared their findings! Thank you :)
I then created a Pinterest board and it soon filled with ideas for activities that would be perfect for homeschoolers in my opinion. Fun, creative and without the need for a crowd (many activities that I was finding before were classroom based or for library groups).
You can have a lot of fun with this book trilogy!

my pinterest board - just starting!

Lots of Dr Seuss Goodness!

We have been having so much fun reading a lot of Dr. Seuss books this week!

Celebrate Dr. Seuss

March 2nd is Dr. Seuss' birthday. We will be celebrating this author by doing several fun activities and an author study. I started collecting ideas with links on a Pinterest board: Celebrate Dr. Seuss!

If you are not on Pinterest and would like an invitation, leave me a comment and I can send you one. I have found this site very useful for organizing all my bookmarks.

Will you be celebrating Dr. Seuss? What activities do you have planned?

We love library book sales!

Before grocery shopping Saturday morning, Adrienne and I stopped at the library book sale. It was really busy, but we managed to find some nice books!

Prices were 10 cents for soft cover and 25 cents for hard cover.

I especially like the DK travel guides we bought for 10 cents a piece. We'll be using these this year as we study our world geography. I thought we could read them and then use some of the beautiful photos for our notebook pages.

Not in the photo is one of Shane Peacock's Boy Sherlock Holmes books that Adrienne was so pleased to find.

We ran into a few other local homeschoolers at the book sale. Homeschoolers love books and great prices!



Book Review : Charles Darwin :: Giants of Science Series

Charles Darwin by Kathleen Krull is part of her series called "Giants of Science". I have mentioned this books before here (bottom of the post) and here. My kids love them, especially my son (he's 12).

Today, I finished reading aloud Charles Darwin to Andre and we both really enjoyed this one, even though we have read quite a few books on Darwin already. Kathleen Krull writes in a way that entertains us but at the same time we still learn a lot. Her scientist biographies include many of the details we usually encounter in other books, but they also include interesting and "quirky" facts. In this one about Darwin for example, she mentons often his health issues. I am sharing with a short paragraph to give you a taste. My son loved this particular one:

"Darwin claimed he lost two of his barnacle years to illness - boils, insomonia, a "swimming head", what we today might call panic attacks. Stomach problems were common, even fashionable, among Victorian intellectuals. But Darwin's stomach took the prize - throbbing worse than ever, with spells of vomiting and extreme flatulence that lasted for weeks."

Here is another one that, as homeschoolers, we really appreciated. This quote was found closer to the beginning of the book, where the author writes about Darwin's childhood:

"Charles was not a good student. Once the headmaster even yelled at him and humilated him in front of the whole school for wasting his time. But for almost seven years, he was stuck at Shrewsbury School. "Nothing could have been worse for the development of my mind"."

The book often includes quotes from Darwin and other scientists or family members. It also refers to many of the books he wrote. We also found a list of sources at the back of the book with other book titles (some for young readers) and web sites.

The books in the Giants of Science are not long and would be great for ages 10 and up. I read these aloud because I enjoy them. I think they would be a great addition to a homeschool science curriculum.

Kathleen Krull has also written many other biographies and other books for children. You can see a list of her books here.

Hugo Cabret Movie!!

Thanks to my good friend Carol, I found out that a movie has been made based on the Invention of Hugo Cabret. Andre and I read that story in 2008 and loved it. I even wrote a post about it, you can read it here: The Invention of Hugo Cabret. It was a very interesting historical fiction novel which had set us off on a few different bunny trails, movie making, automatons. We had also both enjoyed the mix of black and white illustrations and text. The illustrations told part of the story just as much as the text. I would recommend the story for ages eight and up. The movie comes out in November this year, we are looking forward to it, I think we will check out the book again from the library before going to see the movie!

The Kindness of Homeschoolers

I attended a small curriculum sale at a local homeschool group last night. I was trying to sell a few things, I didn't succeed much...but I came home with these books. The amazing part was that this particular homeschooler was giving them away! I have been checking out of "The Well Trained Mind" from our local library countless times, so I am very happy to finally have my own copy!

Weekly Wrap-Up ~ March Break!

This week was March Break for the local school boards. I wasn't planning on taking the week off, but between the beautiful spring-like weather, the free ice skating, the library programs and all the neighbour kids coming over to play with my kids, I decided to just take the week off and enjoy it! We all took advantage of the fresh air, even our pets!

We all enjoyed this break from our regular routine.

We went ice skating.

We took advantage of $2 movies at our local theatre and saw The Voyage of the Dawn Trader (Narnia). All five of us! The treats we bought at the Bulk Barn cost more than the movie!!

We played board games together, Uno, Mouse Trap, and a new-to-us Artifact. I have found many great board games at the thrift store, this Artifact one was my latest find and my two oldest and I had a great time playing it.

We continued to follow and chart the progress of our selected mushers in the Iditarod Sled Dog Race. We also continued our literature study with Black Star, Bright Dawn.

We also read a lot! Below you can our current books. Andre finished Darkwing by Kenneth Oppel today, Adrienne is reading The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate (which I read a little while ago, can't wait to hear what she thinks about it!), I am reading Jane Eyre, and Celeste is reading with me Mia the Bridesmaid Fairy. I also have been reading aloud Peter and the Sword of Mercy from the Peter and the Starcatchers series.

A great and relaxing week! If you would like to read other homeschoolers wrap-up posts, you can visit the Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers blog.

Book Sharing Monday :: The Story of Valentine's Day

The Story of Valentine's Day by Clyde Robert Bulla explains the story behind Valentine's Day with many historical facts and customs. There are different legends around this holiday, even different stores of the Roman priest Valentine. Valentine's Day spread to other countries and the other explains how the holiday changed over time.

In the last few pages, there are a few ideas for valentines and a recipe for cookies.

"It was also during the Middle Ages that Valentine's Day became a children's holiday. English children went from door to door in groups singing songs. The mistress of the house would often throw flowers or pennies to the children or give them sweet buns made with plum filling. "

Join in and include your Book Sharing post below! Happy Reading!

Book Sharing Monday :: They Saw the Future

They Saw the Future: Oracles, Psychics, Scientists, Great Thinkers, and Pretty Good Guessers is written by Kathleen Krull. I picked up this book at our library because my son is always fascinated by the "unknown" and thought it would be interesting to him to read about the Oracles, Jules Verne and Leonardo da Vinci for example. He asked me to read it aloud and only then I realized that it was written by Kathleen Krull, same author that wrote the Giants of Science that I shared here.

In this book, twelve personalities are introduced who "saw the future", visionary people that were from all different walks of life. From the Oracle at Delphi, the Maya, to Marshall McLuhan and many more, the book has very interesting biographies. Similar to the Giants of Science series, I would recommend this one for ages 10 and up. My son is loving this one so far, and wants to learn more about Nostradamus!

Here is a short part from the Maya chapter, in particular about their amazing calendar:

"Invented by priests approximately 2,600 years ago, the Mayan calendar is considered by some scholars to be the most accurate ever devised. According to the Maya's highly sophisticated calculations, the world had a definite beginning: a date known as 4 Ahau 8 Cumku, or August 13, 3114 BC. The calendar was made up of at least two complex, interlocking cycles running at the same time. The first was a 365-day cyle, known as Tun, divided into eighteen months of twenty days each. The five days left over were considered extremely unlucky, requiring many sacrificial rituals. The second cycle, known as Tzolkin, was made up of thirteen months of twenty days apiece. Every single day had its own omens, prophecies, and associations - good, bad, and neutral. Exactly how the Maya determined these details is not known."

Please add your link below to your own Book Sharing Monday post! Thank you and Happy Reading!

Book Sharing Monday :: e.encyclopedia

Happy New Year!!

For the first Book Sharing Monday of 2011, I want to share with you a book that I gave as a Christmas gift to my children.

The e.encyclopedia by DK  has 600 subject areas and 1000 links through google. The subjects are divided in 9 categories: space, earth, nature, human body, science & technology, people & places, society & beliefs, arts & entertainment, and finally history. 

E.encyclopedia combines the best of a traditional encyclopedia with an extra digital dimension. The book's dedicated website guides the reader to the most helpful, appropriate and amazing sites the web has to offer (from dk). On most of the pages, you will find a keyword in a little grey bubble, you can use that word at this website and the link will bring you to more information, sometimes photos, videos, or other pre-selected sites by google and dk.

If you would like to participate in Book Sharing Monday, please share your link to your post below. Happy Reading!

Book Sharing Monday :: Holiday Books :: I Spy and 1001 Things to Spot

After writing a few days ago about our little collection of holiday books, I am starting this series of Book Sharing Monday Holiday Books with two activity books that are favourites at our house. These books are used by everyone in our house, young and old. They are a great activity to do with visiting relatives too, when waiting for dinner to be ready. 

Can You See What I See? The Night Before Christmas is a book filled with picture puzzles to search and solve by Walter Wick. You can play some online I spy games here. There is a written list of items to find on one side of the page along with each photo.

Usborne's 1001 Things to Spot at Christmas could be enjoyed by younger readers on their own because each double page has the list of things to spot with a picture of the item and an actual number, as opposed to the list in the I spy book. At our house, we still prefer to use these puzzle books with others, taking turns finding each set of items.

Regardless of how you use these activity books, they are a lot of fun! Both are part of a large series of books as well, for fun all year long.

If you would like to participate in Book Sharing Monday, please enter your link to your sharing post below. You can choose to share holiday themed books or winter ones, or whatever you like!

Happy Reading!

First the books..

Before any of the holiday decorations come out, I always pull out the books!

I have been collecting holiday books for several years now,

finding them in thrift shops for the most part. 

Putting these holiday books away during the rest of the year

reminds me of when I used to rotate toys when my kids were smaller.

They all are so happy to see these favourites come out again!

I would like to share with you our little collection and

would love to hear about your favourites.

You can leave a comment on this post, or

participate in Book Sharing Monday over the next

few weeks in November and December.

 

Here is a group shot!

If you are wondering what is behind the books,

they are my work-in-progress quilted reversible placemat (look here!).

We have mostly picture story books.

The Wee Sing book at the top is missing the tape,

but we keep it anyway, it gives us the lyrics.

We love the "classics":

Frosty the Snowman,

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,

Nutcracker,

and

The Night Before Christmas.

The copy of that last one is quite small, but it is beautifully illustrated,

and it is the original text.

Here are a couple of novels we have enjoyed over

the last couple of years.

"When Santa Fell to Earth" by Cornelia Funke

and Kringle by Tony Abbott.

My kids love to cook, especially my oldest daughter.

We found these two cookbooks last year and

tried several recipes from each.

Cute and yummy!

Let me know what your favourite holiday books are! I am looking for suggestions for winter solstice books as well (we've enjoyed this one), or winter-themed stories related to nature.

Thank you!

Book Sharing Monday :: Tracks in the Snow and Who Likes Rain?

Celeste loved these two little books by Wong Herbert Yee.

They are both rhyming picture books with lovely illustrations. 

The first one I am sharing is "Tracks in the Snow". 

The litle girl finds some tracks in the snow and is determined to find out who made them.  

The second picture book is "Who Likes Rain?".

The same little girl is here again, this time it's Spring time.

She discovers who likes rain, and who doesn't!



This author has many more wonderful picture books, you can find out more on his website here.
If you are participating in Book Sharing Monday, please include your link below! Thank you and happy reading!

Book Sharing Monday :: The ABC Book of American Homes

The ABC Book of American Homes is written by Michael Shoulders and illustrated by Sarah S. Brannen. We love alphabet books and this one is another wonderful one. As the title suggests, this is an ABC of all different types of homes that can be found in the USA, and for most in Canada as well. This book was labelled for preschool 3-5 years old at the city library, but I think it would be good for much older kids as well. You could use it as an introduction to house architecture and certain pages really open up to more reading, for example the straw house page got us talking about the type of materials that could be used to make a more "green" house. We also were interested in the "junk" house, which uses materials that were thrown out by other people. Here is a short quote from that page:

"J is for Junk House. This type of house is made of materials that most people send to the dump. The shingles on the roof might be recycled rubber. The family may walk on carpet made from discarded soda bottles."

Book Sharing Monday :: The Elson Readers

This week I am sharing a series of books that is partly curriculum. 

Celeste uses them to practice reading aloud every school day . Adrienne and Andre also do, but not as regularly. We haven't enjoyed readers in the past. We didn't like that a story was cut up or too short to be enjoyed, but my children really like these! I think it's because of the content of each short story or passage and the quality of literature.  

The Elson Readers were written by William H. Elson, who also wrote the Dick and Jane series, in the early 1900s. As the back cover explains " The real beauty of The Elson Readers series is the kind of literature within its covers--wholesome literature that views the world of nature with awe, upholds the ideals of service to others and our country, and encourages sound moral development in the reader". As the levels go up, the reading selections increase in difficulty. For example, the Elson Readers book five concentrates more on understanding the meaning of the story or poem. There are discussion questions. There are also teacher's guides available.

All the readers are seperated in sections, in themes. The primer that Celeste is reading now is divided into Animals and Birds, Nature, Festivals and finally Slumberland. As the levels increase, the themes stay similar, Nature, Adventure, Home and Country, and more. As the levels increase, the stories change from being re-written at the lower levels to being actual excerpts.  

You can read more about the Elson Readers at the Lost Classics Books Company. You can also read The Elson Readers, Book Five at Project Gutenberg.

The book you see open in the photo is the Elson Readers Primer, the one Celeste is using right now. She loves it!

Book Sharing Monday :: Over in the Jungle :: Over in the Ocean

Today I am sharing two books, both from the same author and illustrator. Over in the Ocean and Over in the Jungle are written by Marianne Berkes and beautifully illustrated by Jeanette Canyon. The art in both books was made completely with polymer clay. I am always amazed by the details!
Celeste still loves to check out baby board books from the library, so these two are in that format. Both are counting books and include many animals from each habitat. The story also rhymes, they are both a lot of fun to read aloud. At the back of each there is an activity suggestion to go along with reading the story. The Over in the Ocean includes a fingerplay activity, while the Over in the Jungle has some body movements suggestion to go along the story. You could also sing the story.

"Over in the ocean

Far away from the sun

Lived a mother octopus

And her octopus one."

"Over in the jungle

Where she knew how to wait

Lived a mother ocelot

And her ocelots eight."