Read Aloud Thursday

I haven’t been reading as much lately but I have read a couple of great books. Read Aloud Thursday over at Hope is the Word is a great place to see what everyone is reading and learn about some really neat books that otherwise you would have never heard of.

We have started using Charlotte Mason style homeschooling lately and the kids are thriving. They love the short lessons and all of the outdoor time we are getting. We are doing nature walks and sketching what we see outside. My favorite Charlotte Mason book is A Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Androela.

This is a great place to start if you are interested in learning about the Charlotte Mason style of education. This shows you where to start and how to implement short lessons into your school day. We have started learning more subjects each day and adding things that I never dreamed we would learn. The kids have just started learning French and poetry and love it. We do a lot copy work which Charlotte says is very important. We also have started narration instead of tests. This lets me know what the kids know instead of what they don’t know. I highly suggest this book if you are looking for a way to get your children to love learning again.

Bella is reading the new Fancy Nancy book called Poet Extraordinaire! She fell in love with Fancy Nancy books last year when our local library had a Fancy Nancy Party. She got to dress up in a dress that I made and we had a lot of fun dancing, playing games and having fancy snacks. This book is a great one to talk about this month because April is National Poetry Month. This book explains different kinds of poems like limericks, nursery rhymes, and even song lyrics. This is a fun book that girls will devour and learn about poetry in the process.

Since this is national Poetry Month, Griffin is reading Shel Silverstein.

“If you are a dreamer, come in.
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,
A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer . . .
If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire,
For we have some flax golden tales to spin.
Come in!
Come in!”

He says his favorite is Where the Sidewalk ends. He likes the one where the boy turns into a TV set. You can also read poems about a girl who eats a whale and one who wouldn’t take the garbage out. All of these poems in this first book by Shel Silverstein are funny and I think will give any child joy while reading poetry.

My favorite thing about reading is that I can go places in books that I will never be able to go in real life. So, keep reading and come back here often to see what our family is reading!.