Summer reading list & summer reading programs

My boys will be participating in several summer reading programs, just like last summer. We've already signed up for the King County Library one, next week we'll sign up at Sno-Isle Library (which offers free tickets to an Aquasox baseball game) and I think we'll also do the one at Barnes and Noble. All of them offer various prizes. Half Price Books has a program but it only offers a $3 dollar coupon and required the child to read every day. Borders has a program as well. I think 3 will be enough for us!

Since we are homeschooling, I developed my own book list to keep him motivated and challenged. Some of these books may be better suited to his little brother who also reads but at a level 1.

1. Snipp Snapp Snurr and the Yellow Sled
2. Snipp Snapp Snurr and the Big Farm
3. Snipp Snapp Snurr and the Gingerbread
4. Snipp Snapp Snurr and the Buttered Bread
5. Caves (non-fiction)
6. Franklin Rides a Bike
7. Astronauts are Sleeping
8. The Chicken Sisters
9. James and Giant Peach
10. The Lighthouse Family, The Octopus by Cynthia Rylant
11. The Lighthouse Family, The Eagle by Cynthia Rylant
12. The Lighthouse Family, The Whale by C. Rylant
13. The Lighthouse Family, The Storm (1st in the series)
14. Is A Blue Whale the Biggest Thing There is? by Robert E. Wells
15. A Collection for Kate
16. Quack and Count
17. The Man Who Walked Between the Towers
18. The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant
19. Eating Fractions
20. The Best Vacation Ever (math)
21. Toby Counts His Marbles
22. Nine O'Clock Lullaby (time zones)
23. The Phantom Tollbooth (not sure if he's ready for this one)
24. Diary of a Spider
25. Corduroy's Hike
26. Why? The Best Ever Question and Answer Book about Nature, Science and the World Around You
27. Flick a Switch: How Electricity Gets to Your Home
28. Owls in the Family
29. Oliver Pig and the best fort ever
30. Maybelle the Cable Car
31. Lost by David McPhail
32. Mole Music by David McPhail
33. The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge

I found this great list of fiction books that teach math.

These are a mixture of books at his reading level and books below his level. Please add your suggestions, if you have them. My oldest son reads at a Grade 3 or 4 level but he is 5 1/2. My youngest just turned four and reads at a K to Grade 1 level.Pin It

Planning our Seattle summer fun

Summer is here, at least unofficially. The last week or so, we've had exceptionally warm weather for this part of the world.

I thought it would be fun to brainstorm about all the fun things going on around Puget Sound. Some we'll participate in, some I'm just listing to help you plan your days.

1. Free movies. Regal theatres has free kids movies on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings starting on June 23rd. Mr. Bean's Holiday and Space Chimps are ones that my boys would probably enjoy. More info here. My link is for Washington state but this is going on around the US.

2. Festivals. There is a festival going on every single weekend! Here is a good list of those in the Seattle area. The Milk Carton derby at Green Lake is fun to watch. We love to hear the roar of the Blue Angels in August.

3. Target's Wonderstage in Lynnwood. We have gone to this several times in previous years. Free entertainment at noon followed by free popsicles. Our favourite was Brothers From Different Mothers - a juggling act. You do need to get there early to get a good seat.

4. Petting farm at Forest Park in Everett. My kids are getting a bit old for this (sniff, sniff) but I recommend it. It used to be free but I notice they are now asking for donations to help with the costs of upkeep. $1 per child is pretty reasonable! This is open weekends starting June 6th until the end of June and then weekdays until August 16th.

5. Spray parks. I just heard that the water has been turned on so that is great news. Willis Tucker Park in suburban Snohomish is a great place to get wet (with guaranteed clean water) and has a fun playground, too.

6. Picking berries. We are a crazy fruit pickin' family. :) First come the strawberries which we used to pick from Beringer Farms in Marysville. They've now moved to Arlington so we're not sure if we'll drive that far this year. Second is raspberries which we like to pick in Monroe, followed by blueberries. A good resource for finding U-Pick farms is Puget Fresh's website. Blackberries complete our summer and we like to find those in the wild, for free. :)

7. The fountain at the Seattle Center. I want to do this some day!

8. An oldie but a goodie - the Woodland Park Zoo. We were there last week and enjoyed seeing the new penguin exhibit.

9. Jetty Island - Everett. There is a free ferry ride to this 2 mile long island with shallow water surrounding. We haven't been yet but hope to go this summer.

10. Farmers markets - our favourite is the Edmonds one. My boys love the kettle corn and I love the jewelry and art, if they'll let me look at it! :)

11. Paddle boats on Green Lake - I don't want to forget to do this!

12. Vacation Bible School - we're going to 2 this year - our own church's and an "all the bells and whistles" one at a big church. :) I'll be teaching at our church's VBS. We still need teachers so I'm putting in a plug here for those of you who need to sign up. :) Daniel Henry is the director this year.

13. Summer reading programs. Last year both of my boys (then 3 and 4 1/2) participated in programs at 2 libraries - Sno-Isle and King County. They both completed the programs (with either me reading to them or reading independently) and received some cool prizes - a book, binoculars and tickets to see a minor league baseball game. I know that Barnes and Noble has a program but last year my son wasn't old enough.

14. Train rides. In the past, we've gone to Snoqualmie and ridden the Snoqualmie Valley Railroad. This year we would like to go to the Kitsap Steamers in Port Orchard. Another one I just heard of is the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad which looks fantastic but a wee bit too far of a drive. :)

Whew! That was a long list. We're getting a new blow up pool since a nasty raccoon destroyed our beautiful pool which we enjoyed last year. Hopefully it will come soon - the weather forecast is for 84, two days this week!Pin It

San Diego Vacation

Last week, our family went on a 5 day vacation to San Diego to beat the crowds and take advantage of the flexibility of homeschooling. I have uploaded a whole bunch of our photos to Shutterfly which lets you make a blog page. http://sandiegovacationmay2009.shutterfly.com/

Please leave some comments either here or there, OK?

I'll get around to some commentary one of these days! :)Pin It

Need ideas for the weekends?

I subscribe a few email newsletters that list events going on around Puget Sound for parents and kids.

Parent Map

GoCityKids Seattle

Red Tricycle - note: they will also send you e mails about children's stores and products (usually very high priced ones) but I delete those ones.

Last weekend we attended a Punch and Judy puppet show in West Seattle. I heard about it from one of these newsletters. My boys loved it!Pin It

Mazes

Do your kids like mazes? Mine do. When my oldest was about 3 1/2 he went through book after book of mazes. After a long time away from mazes, today he asked for some challenging mazes to do and little brother got into it as well.

Here are some sources for free printable mazes (great handwriting practice for preschoolers):

Papa Jan - lots of easier mazes here.

Krazy Dad - Challenging mazes and animal mazes

Christian themed mazes

Print Activities

KaboosePin It

Wow, has it been over a month???

I've really been a bad blogger lately. Sorry about that. I've probably lost all my readers by now! :)

Here's me at the Seattle Tea Party rally on April 15th.
I'm not actually holding 2 signs at once. :) My photo (well, one of my homemade sign) ended up on the blog of a local conservative talk show host. The link isn't working but its David Boze of KTTH for anyone local.

My father in law was visiting us for a week. Here is us on Easter Sunday.
We enjoyed GrandDad being here. We went to the Arboretum, the Aquarium and did a boat tour of the Seattle waterfront.

Yesterday I took the boys up to the Tulip Festival - an hour's drive away. By myself! I'm so proud. I don't usually do road trips without Hubby. I think it is getting easier now that C is potty trained (did you catch that good news?) and I don't need to use the stroller much. It was a gorgeous day - it got up to 70 degrees! Its about time. Our "spring" has been pretty pathetic so far.

Well, that's all for now.Pin It

Belated St. Patrick's Day fun

Pin It

Book meme

Hello, poor neglected blog. I've been cheating on you with Twitter and Facebook, it's true.

How about a meme, to get re-aquainted.

So apparently, the BBC believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up?

Instructions:
1) Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read.
2) Add a '+' to the ones you LOVE.
3) Star (*) those you plan on reading.


1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen X +
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte X +
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee *
6 The Bible - parts
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte - I'm not sure
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell X
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott X
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy - I'm not sure, maybe as a teenager?
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien (Though I've read the trilogy in whole)
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger X
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot - started but didn't finish
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell X
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens *
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh - currently reading
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia X
34 Emma - Jane Austen X
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen X
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis (Isn't this sort of a repeat of 33?)
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden X
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne X
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell X
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins *
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery - X +
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan X
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen X
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding X
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson *
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath X
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray X
80 Possession - AS Byatt X
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery *
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare X
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo *

I've read 19 give or take a couple - not too bad. This list was kinda dry, imho.Pin It

Homeschooling helps, beginner Spanish and healthy food

I found a cute idea for encouraging kids to try different, healthy foods. The Tasty Tasty Club (via Flip Flops and Applesauce with the original idea from Through a Mother's Eye). I'm happy that tonight my boys ate a plate full of mango and also had quinoa chili for supper.

I love book lists. Here are 100 books every child should read (hear?) before kindergarten. I would add that these are just one person's opinion and many on this list are better suited to 5 or 6 year olds than under 5s.

One website that I would like to recommend for homeschoolers is Apples 4 the Teacher. I especially appreciate the book lists for the various holidays.

My friend Colette told me about about this website - Sheppard Software. Lots of free educational games.

I'm loving these books for teaching my boys about the many winter holidays. Rookie Read About Books. They also have a huge list of science picture books. Our library has many titles. Note: I have linked to a Canadian site but these books are available in the US, as well.

While reading the many blogs I follow, I saw this game recommended.
I bought it for our family and it is a big hit. Very fast and fun. My 5 year old can play it without any problem. My 3 1/2 year old can play it with help. Reading is not required.

I've started incorporating Spanish into our homeschooling. Just beginner for now. We are borrowing this book and CD

from the library and my son has really taken to it. I found a couple good websites for beginner stuff.
- Learn for Good
- 123 Teach Me
If you know of any resources for teaching Spanish at home, I would love to hear about them. I know absolutely no Spanish since I grew up in Canada in a very white city. :)

Would you like to make your own flash cards? Memory cards? This is a really cool site that helps you do that.Pin It

Oops, he did it again!

Yes, C cut his own hair again. I thought he learned his lesson
last time (in October), but apparently not.

Sigh. This time, he cut all the way to the scalp. He may have to have a buzz cut. Stay tuned.Pin It

Valentine's Day crafts, books and printables

Valentine's Day is one of my favourite holidays. I think because pink is my favourite colour. :)

First, books. I prefer non-fiction holiday books for my boys. I like them to know the history and meaning of the holidays. Rookie Read About Holiday books are great. Lots of pictures and good content. I also like The Story of ..... books.



There are so many fantastic Valentine's Day craft ideas out in the blogosphere that is hard to pick just a few.

* Stained Glass valentines from Smart-Bottom Enterprises (what a funny name for a blog!)

* I get a fantastic newletter by e mail - Kid Craft Weekly. It is full of great ideas for kids under 6. My boys loved the sponge heart idea.

* A simple and easy garland from Delightful Home.

* Salt dough conversation hearts from Kiddio.

* Make animals from heart shapes. Ordinary Life Magic.

* A simple heart bookmark using a popsicle stick, from Free Preschool Crafts.

* A beautiful and cute conversation heart garland from Skip to My Lou.

I found a great craft book at the library - 175 Easy to do Valentine crafts.

Finally, a whole bunch of printable valetines of various styles - which can really save money if you have a lot to send.Pin It

Quick update on my mom

She is home from the hospital and feeling fine. Thank you to all who prayed. It was pretty scary for a while and hard to be away from her. I'm very thankful for the excellent medical care she received and how helpful the staff was to me (over the phone, noless).Pin It

Please pray for my mom

My mom caught a bad virus that lead to severe dehydration then infection and kidney malfunction. She's currently in the hospital and will be there for a few days (in Victoria, BC). Please pray that she will recover completely. She is 81. It is hard to be away from her during this. I spoke to one of the doctors this morning and she advised no visitors right now since the virus (Norwalk) is so contagious.Pin It

Our family's first pet!

Say hello to the new member of the family! He doesn't have a name yet. We're working on it and we are open to suggestions. He is a baby guinea pig and (on advice from the pet store) is still in his bonding/adjusting time so we don't take him out of his cage much. I think he is still afraid of the boys and their noise. :)
Here is A reading him a book that features mice. I've put a bunch of books featuring guinea pigs on hold at the library.

I haven't had a pet since I was 10 so this is quite momentous for me, too!Pin It

I'm sure many of my American friends haven't seen these classic videos

Thinking about Canadians and Americans this week.

This is classic Canadian comedy at the expense of Americans. Circa the year 2000, Comic Rick Mercer went south and was able to get Americans both "man on the street" and Harvard professors, etc. to say the most outrageous things. The smartest person was a little boy who realized his mom was being hoodwinked. More info here.





Part 3 of 4, Part 4 of 4.

(I'm dodging the flying tomatoes today!)Pin It

Links time - a bit of a winter theme, homeschooling

Lazy blogger? Yes. :)

Fantastic healthy banana muffins. You could even replace a bit of the whole wheat flour for regular, if you like. I ground up the pecans myself (well, hubby did).

Some fun winter lesson plans (for kindergarten). Scroll down to find the snowman name graph that we did. I think it works better with children who have shorter names. ;)

Snowflake patterns - super easy. Just play with the size when you do print preview, if you want to make it bigger and not waste half a sheet of paper.
#1, #2, #3, #4, #5

More paper snowflake patterns - a bit tricky.

20 Ways to entertain your kids in the winter. I don't believe in "entertaining" my children but this was a good list.

Feeling burned out from homeschooling? I admit that I'm feeling a bit that way, but I just started! :) I enjoyed this encouraging article.Pin It

This got my kids up and dancing

Recommended CD.
We found it at our library.



It was fun to teach them how to do "The Twist" and it was good exercise, too.Pin It

Mosaic Meme

I found this fun idea for a meme on Carrie's blog.

Here's how it works.
1. Type your answers to each of the questions below into the Flickr search engine (www.flickr.com)
2. Pick an image from the first page only.
3. Copy and Paste the URLs for each image into Mosaic Maker (http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php)
4. Save your mosaic to your computer and upload it into your own post.
5. Don’t forget to credit the photographers!

QUESTIONS:
1. What is your first name? (Sheila)
2. What is your favorite food? (BBQ Salmon)
3. What high school did you go to? (Sir Winston Churchill)
4. What is your favorite color? (pink)
5. Who is your celebrity crush? (James McAvoy but I also like George Clooney and Hugh Grant!)
6. What is your favorite drink? (cinnamon dolce latte)
7. What is your dream vacation? (Santorini, Greece)
8. What is your favorite dessert? (pumpkin cheesecake, so hard to choose)
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? (nature or travel photographer)
10. What do you love most in life? (my family)
11. What is one word to describe you? (thinker)
12. What is your flickr name? I had to fudge this a bit. My flickr name didn't come up with anything so I put in the name of my blog.
Photo Credits:
1. blossom heart... (for my friend Sheila), 2. Salmon on the Barbie!, 3. Success is never final. Failure is never fatal., 4. vintage tea set with cupcake, 5. OUT965669, 6. Cinnamon Dolce Creme Latte - 3, 7. Santorini - Σαντορίνη, 8. Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingersnap Crust, 9. photog in the flowers, 10. bless from above, 11. thinking up a storm, 12. Rainy Arbor Path

I wish I could get the photos bigger but that's probably a Blogger issue. (rolling eyes)Pin It

Christmas photos and a bit of a recap

A about to decorate the tree.Our higgledy piggledy tree.
We made a gingerbread house this year for the first time. I found a kit at Target.

The icing tasted terrible and so did the gingerbread. Maybe next year I'll make it from scratch, that is, if we want to actually eat it! :)
My oldest was misbehaving so he isn't in this "family photo."
(Christmas Morning) Oh that they would always get along this well.C and his new mailbox. It says on it "OPEN QUIETLY! Please don't wake the mail." He likes that.

Warning, scary no-makeup photos of me coming.
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Christmas dinner - notice the mismatched placemats. The Martha in me cringes.We try to do Christmas crackers every year. It is an English tradition that I learned from my husband's family. Each cracker contains a paper crown.

My parents were able to visit us for a few days. Travel in the winter is difficult since they live on Vancouver Island plus my parents are both over 70. They came in the middle of Seattle's "Snopocalypse." We were very thankful to have them with us for Christmas. Last year they weren't able to come.

Well, the photos aren't fantastic but I guess that doesn't matter too much.
I read so many blogs that have gorgeous photos that it is hard not to be jealous and feel inadequate when I look at my own attempts.Pin It

Happy 2009!

Pessimistic

OptimisticPin It