Need a Break From Family Movie Night? Give Audiobooks a Try! Here's One to Start With...

The entire family just finished listening to Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein which we downloaded using our Audible account, and I couldn't resist posting my review because we absolutely loved it. I figured, why reinvent the wheel when I (think I) already said nearly everything I had to say in the review I left on their website?

If you don't have an Audible account already and have any sort of device you can download audio books to, I highly recommend it as a valuable resource for home educating (and any) families. Audio books can be entertaining, educational, and excellent for keeping the kids (and parents) happy on road trips or during prolonged errand days.

Also, lately, Audible has been adding some awesome new content, such as many of courses from The Great Courses company...and they are all one credit each. Now that's an amazing deal for homeschoolers, especially high schoolers, and for the many dads (and/or moms) who have to commute to work each day, too.

They also have shorter books (as well as longer ones) which are on many of the commonly referenced homeschooling book lists, such as Paddle to the Sea, Tales from Shakespeare, and Parables from Nature.

If you are interested in giving Audible a try, why not try a fun and motivating book like Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein first? You can read on for my recent review of this enjoyable adventure...and please don't forget to check your favorite deal sites or do a Google search for free book or reduced cost promotions before signing up. It never hurts to save a bit of money. You can always turn around and invest it in buying more audio books!

*FYI: I am not trying to promote Audible for any personal gain. It simply happens to be the service we use. If you  know of any others that are good, please feel free to share in the comments below. Thank you!

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Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library

UNABRIDGED

• by Chris Grabenstein
• Narrated by Jesse Bernstein
Reviewed: 8/5/14

"The Most Fun We've Had Listening to an Audiobook in Ages"

Overall

Performance

Story

What did you love best about Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library?

The story line was riveting from the very beginning. The characters were varied and interesting. The plot was rollicking fun in the form of a mystery/game/scavenger hunt held in the most amazing library ever. It was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory meets The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankwieler wrapped up in a scavenger hunt and a game of Clue. Lots of fun all around. Most of my family, the children ages 3,5,8,10, and 16, plus my husband and I, all thoroughly enjoyed the story. In fact, the kids didn't want to get out of the car as we were running errands until we finished each chapter, and then we had to take the Kindle inside to finish off the story before bedtime.

What did you like best about this story?

I absolutely loved all of the literary and cultural references. The overriding message of the value and appeal of books and learning in general was well-integrated throughout the story in a way that drew my kids into wanting to read many of the titles that were mentioned. As a parent, I loved how it emphasized families and friends playing board games together, the pleasure derived from reading good books, the benefits of being friends with all types of different people, fair play, and teamwork. As a teacher, I can't wait to get a print copy for my older home educated kids to go through so they can highlight some of the books referenced that they have not already read and put them on their reading lists. I really hope that a few of the games mentioned in this book will actually be marketed. They sounded like a lot of fun!

Have you listened to any of Jesse Bernstein’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, I haven't listened to his other performances, but after hearing this one, I'd be glad to listen to another. The only performance I've heard that was better was Brendan Fraser's reading of Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke. That's our family's other favorite audio book (because his voices are hilarious). I don't know. This one might top it because the story is so much fun and a bit faster paced.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Twelve children. Twenty-four hours. One huge, state-of-the-art library. Who will solve the mystery and win the amazing prize?

Any additional comments?

Don't miss this book. I am not sure why some folks called this formulaic or accused it of copying other works...sure, it references many works of literature and uses traditional literary devices, but it is it's own excellent work of children's fiction (yes, as an adult, I figured out some of the clues ahead of my kids, but they sure had a blast and it didn't bother me one bit to have caught on more quickly). Teachers would do well to incorporate this one into their curriculum, or at least, their recommended reading list. It is excellent as a read aloud/audio book, and would be perfect to pass time on a road trip. Enjoy!

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On an additional note, other audio books we have greatly enjoyed together include: 

• Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke read by Brendan Fraser (also InkHeart, but it is darker and I only listened to it with my oldest two years ago)
• Urchin of the Riding Stars: Book One of the Mistmantle Chronicles (it is the only one available on audio, but it will get your kids jazzed to read the rest on their own) by Margaret McAllister. Great story.
• Ella Enchanted, The Fairy's Mistake, The Princess Test, Two Princesses of Baumarre, and any other books by Gail Carson Levine. Most of them are VERY amusing. A few have serious lessons they teach with the same engaging storylines.
• Eight Cousins by Lousia May Alcott...good classic with wonderful vocabulary. Even my boys liked it.
• The Boxcar Children books (1-3 are available as a set on Audible)
• The Magic Treehouse Books
• The Henry Huggins Collection by Beverly Cleary
• The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• And, of course, any of the Adventures in Odyssey stories, the entire Jonathan Park series, My Own Stories (most of them), and the Uncle Rick stories from the Boyers (not technically all audio stories...some are retellings of scripture, and wonderful for nighttime listening)...check CBD or Library and Educational Services for the best prices, though the My Own Stories collections are now available on Audible. Adventures in Odyssey and MOS can also be found online for free in limited quantities if you want to try them first.

**Please let me know of any of your favorites in the comments below...especially ones you have found for free download or on Audible or another downloadable audio book service. 

And, of course, if your budget is limited, please don't forget one of my favorite sites, My Audio School (MAS), which for a VERY minimal yearly subscription rate provides links to quality stories and audio productions that are available online for free (and many lovely pictures to complement each selection). 

Quite a few of the selections MAS suggests are difficult to find on your own, plus they categorize them for you, which saves tons of time. Most of them are on homeschool (and some other schools') recommended reading lists. This excellent method of "reading" quality books works very well for children with special needs (such as reading delays or autism), as well as expanding the options for early readers to books which are good for them, but beyond their ability to read independently.

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Lately I've noticed lately that Amazon is providing low cost narrations for many of the books you may choose to download to your Kindle (including free ones, which are numerous). This gives you a much nicer option to listen to than the text-to-speech voices. This feature has really been great for my one struggling reader who loves to read harder books, but benefits from following along as someone pronounces the more difficult words for her. The text-to-speech voice often mispronounces the same words she would (such as reading the word read the incorrect way), so having the option to purchase the narrated audio copy for a few dollars if I already own the book is something I find especially advantageous (and Audible keeps track of what you own on your Kindle and will make you offers based on your purchases). 

You are also able to sync your devices, so you can start listening on one device in the car (such as the cell phone), then pick up with reading and listening on the Kindle or computer later on at the same place. That's awesome. It's especially good when we've run out the battery on the phone listening to the book in the car, and the kids are insisting that we MUST finish the book before bedtime, so we pull up our Audible account on my computer, snuggle on the bed and chairs in my room, and have a bedtime story all together. 

I love family time. 

I love good books. 

Family time + good books = priceless.

Well, that's much more than I planned to say, but I am excited about all these new options for appreciating literature using technology (it can do so much more than be a tool for playing video games). 

I am not saying I will ever give up my many beloved REAL books (no way, not ever!), but I think I am finally ready to embrace the various new ways to get the content of those books into the hearts and minds of myself and my family (and it's not bad to be able to give your own voice a rest once in a while and just sit back and enjoy the experience of listening to a good book, either, is it?).

Have fun exploring the options!

Many blessings to you,

Heather

Samson's Classroom: Time for Reading Fun

Samson's Classroom is a useful online tool for home educators and parents of students who are enrolled in school, but need some extra practice when they get home. Intended for grades K-5, Samson's Classroom is designed to build up proficiency in three core areas: sight words, spelling, and reading comprehension, all with the goal of helping your student become a better reader. 

Two of my students, Ladybug and Cowboy, are already reading, but benefited from the spelling portion of the program, as well as reviewing the lists of 244 commonly used sight words already programmed into the system. My third student, Firefly, is just learning to read, and really enjoyed the Sight Words with Sampson portion of the program. She spent a lot of time doing the same lists, but I feel she was gaining confidence (and having a good time "doing school" like a "big kid.")

As a parent and a teacher, I liked the fact that there was flexibility in this program. I could choose to either have my child work on pre-programmed lists of sight and vocabulary words, or I could take the time and enter my own lists based on either our current studies or needs I identified in my students. It was very simple to create my own lists (I figured it out without reading any directions, which is my usual way of doing things), but since I liked the lists that already existed, we only did this once, to practice some of the "th" words that were tripping the kids up.

I also liked how the study portion of the program clearly read the words aloud, spelled them, then said them into a sentence. The reader's voice was soothing and easy to understand (it was a male voice). I thought it was great that Firefly could turn on the sight word practice portion and listen to the same word being spelled as many times as she wanted to. She is fairly auditory in her learning and she got a lot from the repetition. Of course, the repetition could be annoying to the other kids, so we got some headphones so that she could listen to her heart's content. All of the kids liked how you can print certificates for your folder once you have completed a level. They liked the tangible reward (along with some stickers, of course).

Here's an example of the reading practice.

The only thing I saw as a negative was that the reading practice seems to start at a fairly high level, and once you start reading a passage, you must finish it and answer all of the questions or else the unanswered ones will be marked wrong. This stressed out my readers, and it took practice and lots of support from me to keep them from getting to uptight to complete the lesson. I would add passages on lower levels (much shorter and simpler ones...I can't imagine a kindergarten student completing even the level one of the first passage unless he'd been reading since age four), and perhaps allow the parent the option of letting passages be marked as incomplete (which can be finished later) if the student stops. The passages are fairly lengthy for beginning readers and might need to be broken down into shorter bits for some students (of course, this becomes less of a problem if they were to add simpler, more basic passages and let the kids work their way up to the tougher ones).

My kids all liked Samson's Classroom and we plan to continue using it throughout the rest of the school year. It gives me something worthwhile to let one student work on while I work personally with another student. Cowboy saw working in Sampson's Classroom as a reward rather than work, so it was motivating for him when it came to getting his book work done. 

Here's what the kids had to say about Samson's Classroom:

Cowboy says: It's great! Samson Classroom's games are really fun. The best ones are "Crunch Time" and "Spelling Scramble." "Crunch Time" is so funny because you have to spell the words and the walrus crunches pieces of your iceberg until it's all gone (if you don't spell fast enough, that is). "Spelling Scramble" is crazy because the spiders try to catch you while you are collecting the right letters. Once it is easy for you, you can go up to a harder level, so it's always a challenge. It's awesome.

Crunch Time...oops, somebody spelled a word wrong!

Ladybug says: I liked how they spelled the words out loud for you when you are learning them. That helped me a lot. Then they let you spell it yourself and I liked doing that the best. By the time I finished studying the whole list, I really felt like I knew all the words. I use the words more when I write. I love to write stories. My favorite game was "Spelling Scramble" because you have to run away from a spider and spell the words as you go.

Spelling Scramble

Firefly says: I liked the sight word practice part (Sight Words with Samson). It would say and spell the word over and over again, as many times as I wanted it to. It read the word in a sentence, too. I had lots of time to write and learn the words. Some of the games were hard for me, but Ladybug and Cowboy helped me. I liked the "Missing Letters" Karate Chop game the best. It was fun!

Sight Word Practice and Games

If you think you might be interested, you can watch an introductory video that will explain the program to you. It is only three minutes long and it's very helpful in understanding how things work. Then you can give their demo a try (no registration required!) for free.

If Samson's Classroom looks like something that would benefit your family, the price is very reasonable. The cost for one student for a year is $30, and to make the subscription a family subscription (up to four students) costs only $50. You don't find many deals like that out there these days!

To read more reviews by other members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew, check out the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog.

Blessings,

Disclaimer: I received a yearly family subscription for the purposes of writing this review. This review contains the honest opinions of myself and my family members, and reflects our own personal experiences with this product. No other compensation was received.

Help Your Young Readers Excel With This Simple Tool...

Recently, we were asked to try out Crossbow Education's Eye Level Reading Rulers as part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew and I was very excited because this is the sort of product that you see and want to try, but just aren't sure if the investment will be worth it, so you often skip it. I wanted to be the first to tell you that if you have a struggling or early reader, these bookmarks are top notch and worth every penny.

At $16.95 for a pack of ten rulers (you can purchase one of each color, two each of the five most popular colors, or ten of your favorite color), their quality and usefulness makes them worth the price.  What you receive in the mail (if you purchase one of each color, which is what we got) are ten very sturdy plastic and opaque overlay page-width sized ruler bookmarks of varying colors. The overlay is narrower on one side to allow for tracking of one line of text at a time and wider on the other side to allow your reader to view more of the complete reading field at once.

By ordering the variety pack initially, you will be able to choose which color works best for your child. Every person is different. Once you have chosen your child's most helpful color you can order more of just that color.

Ladybug, age 8, felt that the yellow was her best color, while Cowboy preferred the blue. The Reading Ruler's overlay is intended to reduce glare, "dancing" of letters and characters, blurring of text, and other potential reading difficulties for anyone, not just early readers and readers with identified learning disabilities. Neither Ladybug nor Cowboy has been identified as having a learning disability, though my mother, a certified Reading Specialist for over thirty years, has noted that Ladybug seems to struggle a bit with focus and seems to suffer from some visual stress which hinders her reading progress (Ladybug has the skills she needs, she just moves slowly). 

My mom worked with the kids during the review period to determine whether the bookmarks we were given might help either Cowboy or Ladybug and discovered that while Cowboy zooms ahead just fine without the bookmark (he reads quickly, but stops at words he doesn't know for sure and asks, or just skips them altogether...this isn't a problem the bookmarks address), Ladybug's reading stress was visibly reduced and her accomplishments (reading speed and ability to use her word attack skills) were improved greatly.

My mom noted that Ladybug preferred to use the side of the bookmark with the wider overlay window that allows the reader to see beyond one line of text at a time. By highlighting the area of text she was to read, the bookmark helped her focus her attention on those words, yet also see ahead to where the end punctuation for a particular line was, which helped with her reading comprehension and reading expression.

Ladybug said that the yellow color of the bookmark made the words "jump off the page" for her, and she felt they were more in focus. We have had her eyes examined and she does not have any notable visual issues, but even so, altering the color of the page and highlighting the text seemed to work very well for her. She went from struggling to finish one chapter book a week (in spite of good decoding skills) to reading one (eagerly and confidently) in a day AND writing about it in her Reading Response Journal. Now that is a result worth $16.95!

Having been a Reading Specialist for so long, my mom has used several similar products that cover this issue of text color, from full page overlays to a different sort of bookmark. She says that the bookmarks by Crossbow Education are by far the finest she has seen, and if she was still teaching in the classroom, she'd order enough for every child. She felt that the text highlighting alone, and being given the option to highlight one line or several, was enough to sell her on the product, but the durability and obvious quality of the bookmarks is a real plus, too. They are very sturdy and will function as not only a bookmark, but as a valued learning tool for years (and children) to come.

If you'd like to learn more about these bookmarks, check out Crossbow's website. You can also see what others on the Schoolhouse Review Crew had to say about this product by checking out the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog.

Blessings,

Disclaimer: I received a package of Crossbow Education's Reading Ruler Bookmarks for the purposes of reviewing this product. All opinions are my own (and my family's, as expressed to me). No other compensation was received.

Reading is Fun With the Reading Kingdom

At our house, computer learning programs are always a big hit. Reading Kingdom was no exception. I will be honest and tell you that a few years ago we tried a free trial of the program and it was too difficult to get past the typing learning portion of the program, so Ladybug and Cowboy weren't keen about it. Well, either Firefly is much more advanced at the same age, or perhaps she is more patient, but Firefly LOVED the program so much that any time I asked her to work on the computer (doing Reading Kingdom and IXL), she'd stick with doing Reading Kingdom for an hour or more, just to make the next level, then the next, and so on. She never felt like it was too difficult or boring...she just plain loved it.

I know this is not very specific, but there was a lot to like about Reading Kingdom. I liked how there was an introductory evaluation to see where your child needed to be placed within the program. It seemed right on for Firefly's abilities. The work was never too difficult nor was it so simple that she got bored or wanted to quit before completing a section. Her older siblings (Cowboy and Ladybug) helped her through the first few lessons, but after that, she worked quite well on her own. As the teacher, I also liked how the program covers all six skills needed for reading and writing success (see the chart above). 



Reading Kingdom is not intended to take over as it's own reading program. Instead, it works well with ANY program you may already have. You can use it with something that is very specific in its scope and sequence, or you can use it with something as free flowing as simply reading lots of interesting living books with your children each day. Whatever way you choose to teach reading to your children, Reading Kingdom is sure to add something to you children's education, and will support your teaching efforts. You might like to read about how The Reading Kingdom is different from other reading programs.

Firefly just loved the program, even though I (and Ladybug and Cowboy) thought it was a bit repetitive. I loved how she'd crack up at the funny animations, and every time she achieved a new certificate/award for her progress, she was so proud. 

The portion of the program that Firefly had access to was trying to teach her that she needs to read from left to right, and to recognize letters. I felt that she progressed in these areas since I saw her looking at actual books after using the program and using her finger to scan the words on the pages from left to right, and she also recognized more letters the she did before using the program. She was seeing how words are made from letters put together using certain rules, and she was prepared to start writing words on the pictures she loves to draw and send to people.

You can sign up for the Reading Kingdom with a free 30 day trial  to see if your kids like the program like Firefly did. After that, subscriptions to Reading Kingdom are $19.99/month (with no monthly minimum), or $199.99 per year (20% off). Additional children in your account get 50% off ($9.99/month or $99.99/year). You can cancel your subscriptions at any time. If you have more than one child you would like to use Reading Kingdom with, you can contact the company about volume pricing discounts. There are many other products available on their site, including reading books for each level. You can see them at the Reading Kingdom store.

If you try Reading Kingdom for thirty days and like it, but find out that you cannot afford the program's monthly fee, you may apply for a scholarship. Isn't that amazing? However, to qualify for the scholarship, you must use the program faithfully four days a week and be able to tell them about your child's positive progress using the program. If you apply during the trial period, you will be notified before it is up if you receive a scholarship, so don't let money (or lack of it) prevent you from trying out this excellent program.

If you'd like to read more reviews on this product before trying it out, check out the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog for more excellent reviews from our team.

Blessings,

Disclaimer: I received a free subscripion to The Reading Kingdom for the purposes of writing this review. All opinions are are based on our own experiences. No other compensation was received.

Changing the World, One Book at a Time

Me with Emily (on the left) and Liz (on the right)

I was blessed to have the opportunity to attend the Homeschool Librarians Conference at the home of Liz and Emily last weekend, and have been on fire, ready to set up our library ever since.

If you don't know these ladies, I'd like to introduce them to you. Liz is a lovely lady with a passion for great books. She is mother to Emily, another lovely lady, equally enamored with the written word. Most of all, though, these ladies have a heart for sharing the special books they collect with others, so that others may benefit from the wisdom of bygone eras. These brilliant and enterprising ladies collect not just any books; they collect Living Books.

If you are a long-time homeschooler, or a curriculum junkie, educational blog prowler, or book hoarder like me, you will no doubt know that Charlotte Mason used the term "living books" to describe books written by someone who was both knowledgeable and passionate about their topic. This term does not apply to most textbook type books (though I have found a few older texts that seem to fit this definition), and it does not really apply to many of today's flashy and colorful books with lots of pictures (mostly photos or computer generated pix), headings, and info bytes, but little to no personality or "heart." (Check out the book comparison pictures on Michelle Miller's site).

While I personally find that having SOME texts and reference materials might be good for researching a topic very specifically (and sometimes those pictures help certain learners relate to the ideas presented by good text), having nothing BUT those kind of books can turn a kid (and an adult) off of reading and learning...it can also make them lazy learners instead of lifelong learners...and regurgitators instead of relational and reactive readers.

This is the group of ladies who attended the First Homeschool Librarians Conference.

What an inspiring, intelligent group of women...

I was blessed to have the opportunity to meet them all.

I had a lot of time to think on the six hour drive to their quaint family farm in the hills of Appalachia, and I remembered something I hadn't thought of in a long time. The bare bones truth is that I will be one of the first folks to raise her hand in a group when asked, "Who doesn't really like history?" This is a fact I have known about myself for a long time. I mean, dates of battles, births and deaths, and terms of office (or reigns) don't really interest me. And I for sure do not connect people and their ideas with relevant or related events in any way. My teachers never required anything but memorizing the facts, so memorize the facts I did. Then I forgot them.

I also forgot that once upon a time (it was sixth grade, I think) I spent an entire year checking out biographies from the school library. Back then school libraries had really good books in them. Biographies of noble heroes and brave women were my favorites. I think I liked Dolly Madison, John and Abigail Adams, and Clara Barton the best. For a whole year I pretty much checked out nothing else but those biographies, and an occasional autobiography and I loved every book I read (pretty much). How could I go from loving history (biographies) to being bored with it? 

Well, I am not knocking my 7th grade history teacher...not really anyway. I know he meant well. He did thoroughly teach me how to outline, and I've used that skill enough to make the lesson a useful one, though I doubt it has been as useful as he thought it would be. Every DAY we walked into his American History class and we had an outline of the day's lecture to copy into our notebooks. Our copied outlines were a large part of our grade. He'd give us fifteen minutes or so to copy, then he'd go over more specific points so we could practice notetaking by filling in some of the letters and numbers he'd intentionally left blank. 

Sure, he introduced us to some silly history songs on an old LP he had. That was great. He told some funny stories, too, and we played a game like RISK, or something, as I recall, but overall, I was completely over history by the end of that year. Actually, before the end of the year, if I am being honest.

 I went from excited to bored in just one year. Sad, but true...and all because the STORY got taken out of the hiSTORY. And so did the people...and everything else that might have interested a student who wanted to truly understand what was going on, but after that one blissful year of reading biographies, never really did ever again.

Show me some book love...stacks of browsed books left behind means that

book hunters have been by to borrow more books...Bravo!

Now I've seen the books I read back then in living color once again. They are all residing in Liz and Emily's Living Books Library! Well, maybe not the exact books, but books just like the ones I used to read... Books such as The Childhood of Famous Americans series, the Landmarks and the Signature books, the Garrard histories and the Messner biographies. There are loads of interesting, intriguing, inspiring, not boring books out there...somewhere...but they are not easily found these days.

A cozy nook in which to find a book...or read a book...

or buy a book. Check out Liz and Emily's book sale page

for loads of lovely books you can buy to stock your library shelves.

As I walked up and down the rows of books Liz and Emily have painstakingly collected, most published between 1930 and 1970, or during the "Golden Age of Children's Literature," I was reminded of the precious books I checked out from my school libraries as a child, or from the public library. One summer I decided that I was going to read every horse book in the public library. I read all of the Black Stallion books first (easy choice), then I started in on every book that had a horse sticker on its label. After that I headed to the card catalog and figured out other books with horses in them, but no stickers on their spines. I managed to read them all, and then I proceeded to hound the librarian to order more horse books.

Another year, I decided to read all mysteries. Those books had cool stickers on the spines, too (Sherlock Holmes' head), and were easy to spot. The Nancy Drews were an obvious first choice, then some more obscure titles that I liked, and several I did not like at all. I quit my quest to read all the mysteries once I realized that there were those that were a good story and those that were just quite simply creepy.

Row upon row of beautiful books...something for you, if you will but look.

The sad thing is that if you go into your average library today, the only place you might find many of those good books is at the Friends of the Library sale. They are being discarded for more "modern" and "appealing" books like Captain Underpants and a myriad of books about vampires and  zombies. Sigh. How sad.

Last year I reviewed Before Five in a Row by Clare Lambert, the author of the Five in a Row series. The premise of FIAR is that you read the same book daily for five days, doing different activities to broaden the book's scope and appeal. BFIAR leaves out the necessity of reading the book that many times (there's a younger target crowd), but still has gentle suggestions of supplemental activities to go with its list of lovely books. Unfortunately, I was only able to find three of the twenty four books listed available in our town's library. We may be a fairly small town, but we are not THAT small. 

Earlier this summer I came across one of the books I had been unable to preview due to its being unavailable everywhere I checked. God was good and I found Prayer for a Child by Rachel Field on the FREE table at our state convention. Hooray! What is even funnier (odder) is that it came from our very own town's library and was marked "DISCARD." 

I think that proved to me right then and there that these special living books, the ones that will excite our children, teach our children, and incite our children to love learning are a true endangered species. 

Libraries are ridding themselves of these older, well-read and much-loved books to make room for more Manga titles and books about why farts smell (seriously, it is what is on the shelves of our library under the heading "Books Boys Will Love"...I ask you, is this what you want your boys to love to read? Seriously??)

Lovely books on shelves in tidy lines...check out the way

the stickers match on all the spines. ;-)

Some people will insist that as long as their son is reading ANYTHING they are happy. Really? Do you really want your son reading things that convince him a short attention span is a good thing and that understanding bodily functions is appropriate intellectual stimulation for the day? Do you want your child to think that reading is something done only for the purposes of passing a test, understanding a brief article, or for senseless, pointless entertainment? 

Have you ever heard the sayings, "Garbage in, garbage out" or "You are what you eat?" Those both apply perfectly to what you read, hear, and see every day. Think about it.

Have you ever read the books Think Big or Gifted Hands by Ben Carson? If you have not, you should. They're good ones. In them you hear about the tough life Ben has. His mom is a single mother, and unbeknownst to him, she can't even read. She works hard all day to bring home enough money to take care of him and his brother, but her long work hours leave the two of them alone for hours after school, which is plenty of time to get into trouble by hanging out with the wrong crowd. She realizes what is going on and that something must be done, so she decides to start taking her boys to the library every week. Yes, I said the library. She tells them they must check out certain kinds of books: a biography, a non-fiction book, a historical fiction title. I forget exactly what her parameters were, but you get the idea.

Then she tells the boys to write book reports on each one in their time after school, once they finish reading their books. Oh yeah, and no TV, except for a favorite show every week (I think...it's been a while since I read it). Then, she pretends to read the reports herself and asks the boys to tell her about what they learned (that folks, is called "narration" by Charlotte Mason) and she praises them appropriately. Over the course of time, the boys develop more diverse interests, Ben starts to feel smarter and less disadvantaged, and his whole world changes...one book at a time.

Today Ben Carson is the Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Medical Center, and has published four books telling about his life story and personal philosophy. There is a very good movie about his life, Gifted Hands, you can check out, but of course, the books are better. If you'd like a modern-day uplifting story about overcoming tough odds, especially overcoming tough odds because of the power of literacy, this one is one you should read. (That movie and one called The Reading Room are two very excellent movies that teach about the influence of books on lives).

Mrs. W., my friend from two towns over who just happens to have

a 12,000 title living book lending library...lucky me!!

She told me about the library conference and we drove over together.

What a marvelous way to spend a weekend...books, books, and more books!

So my point with all of this is that books are powerful. They are remarkable tools in the right hands. The can influence individuals and nations. They can bless us. They can curse us. It all depends on what goes in, and what you do with what you have. 

I don't claim to know exactly the right books for any one person to read. I am absolutely certain that my bookshelves look very different from yours. We might have some similar titles, but where I think a little light magic (think Narnia and Lord of the Rings) is not a problem, you might either think even Raggedy Ann books (talking dolls) are bad, or you might go the other extreme and love Harry Potter (which I think are remarkably well-written, but we choose not to read) or Twilight (not a chance).

Only you (and your spouse) can decide what is BEST for your family, and for each of your individual children...BUT if you are starting from a place where the only books you read come from the public library (unless your library is very special and unusual) you may find yourselves straying off the path you wanted to be on more frequently than you'd like. Some of the best of children's literature just isn't out there any more. Libraries of today are feeding kids on the Mr. Popper's Penguins movie rewrite instead of the original book (and they are sooooo different...read the original, please!). 

The Living Books Library offers totes for all the 

Before Five in a Row and Five in a Row books. 

These totes contain the noted books as well as related titles

that make the studies multi-disciplinary and multi-aged.

One thing FIAR suggests is to have a map and mark where each book "takes" you. 

In this way, you will keep track of your reading journeys and your kids will start to 

really make connections and get excited.

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Why am I telling you all of this and what are you supposed to do about it?

Well, I am glad you asked! 

First of all, you MUST start your own home library. Scour online sources and book sales for your favorite good books as a child. If you are closer to my age than your kids' ages, it is likely that you probably read a few good ones in your time, even if you weren't a bookworm like me. Think about not only your kids, but think about what you will have to read to your kids' kids once all of the good, quality books are gone from the public and public school libraries. You need to build a legacy of books for the children. If you don't, who will?

Then, see if you can suggest better titles to your public librarians. Book budgets are tighter than they have been in a while, but if you can get a few good friends to get together and all request the same titles, maybe they will listen and it will benefit not only your kids, but other people's kids, too. You can use catalogs from companies that use literature-based studies as a good start for in-print (reprints) of quality titles. 

If the public library is a bust, check out your church library. Perhaps a group of like-minded individuals will help you build up the supply in there for the common good. If there isn't a library, you might consider starting one, with help, of course. You can start with reprints and see where the Lord takes you from there.

You can also try checking out a history/literature-based curriculum such as TruthQuest (my favorite...written by the one who started the original Children's Preservation Library, Michelle Miller), Biblioplan (looks good, but I have not tried it myself), or Ambleside Online (online and FREE!) for excellent listings of older books that go with a historical era of study (these lists will often include some newer reprints..."out of print" books are usually marked as being OOP and will be more difficult to find) . 

You should also try the books by Jan Bloom of Books Bloom titled What Then Should We Read? (volumes 1 and 2). Jan is another lovely lady who adores books and wants to share them with people (she and her husband, Gary, travel all over searching for special lost books that need good homes). Her books are an excellent and entertaining source of information about living books and their authors. Her insights are honest and revealing, and quite often funny (even funnier once you've met her, I must say). You will greatly enjoy perusing these books if you like children's books even a little bit.

 You can also check out Living Book's Library's post on Books About Books for more great ideas of places to find good book suggestions.

You might also consider giving good book lists to grandparents and others who buy your kids gifts and ask them to help you build up your library of good books at birthdays and holidays...it will make their gift giving a legacy instead of clutter. Oh yeah.

Next, try adding more enjoyable reading of living books to your daily schedule. Even if you follow a "boxed" curriculum, you can still have read-aloud time with your kids, old and young...and you can do this more than once a day, if you like! You simply choose a book, either a chapter book OR a related picture book, and read it to the kids, and sit back and watch them enjoy it. Later, you can get them to tell you about it. That's narrating. It's as easy as that. Soon you will find your kids will want to spend more time reading, or at least have you spend more time reading to them, and that is all right. You may have to invest in some soothing herbal tea, however. 

You will discover that you will all learn the most interesting things from old children's books, and I guarantee that you will wind up wanting to learn more, if you are picking the right books. Over time, you and your kids will tie the characters in the books to the events that are happening in their studies and things will seem more real to them...you will all finally get the education I wish I had had...all from reading good, quality books. *grin*

If you have a "hard sell" child, you can always start your reading aloud journey by listening to a good book on tape during a long road trip. A captive audience, so to speak. My crew liked Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott. Sure, the main character is a girl. But all of the cousins are boys. Little Women and Jo's Boys (same author) are interesting and full of old-fashioned morals and excellent vocabulary, too. My personal favorite as a child was E. Nesbit. Her stories, like The Enchanted Castle and Five Children and It, are fantasies, and I sure did love them. If you object to fantasy, her book, The Railway Children is a good one, too. We listened to it on tape during one trip. You can listen to good audio books at sites like Books Should Be Free, My Audio School, and others, if you don't have access to a reliable library.

Reward your kids (if necessary, or just for fun) for reading extra books above and beyond what is in your regular curriculum. Mine get excited over inexpensive toys and "new" (used) clothes I get off of the local kids' consignment store's $.50 rack...seriously. I buy the unwanted craft projects and long skirts the other parents aren't buying (they buy the electronic toys and the midriff-showing tops I don't), and turn them into rewards for every fifteen books (or chapters) read. We keep track using free reading charts we print up off of the internet. Yes, they'd read anyway, but this is more fun for me (I love to see them all happy over such simple things), and it does keep them hopping from book to book, loving every minute of each rabbit trail they follow.

Tonight Cowboy got to choose TWO things from the box and he picked a hardcover copy of a How to Draw Creepy Crawlies book we've checked out from the bookmobile about five times (it was only ten cents!) and three wooden insect models to assemble. They have one model put together so far and plan to complete the other two tomorrow, AND go on a bug hunt to replace the cricket I made them turn lose at dinner time.

Getting advice from a well-read friend is an invaluable tool 

when choosing good books to share with your family.

Lastly, if you are blessed to live near one of the sweet and dedicated ladies who already owns and runs a homeschool heritage literature library, then praise God, thank Him for the blessing, and go and join up this year!! You will likely pay a fee to defray the costs of keeping the older books in good condition and making the circulatable (maybe not a real word??) by adding bar codes and such (it's not cheap, for sure), but every penny spent will be worth it, especially if your child winds up loving to read and to learn. Most of the ladies who run these libraries are ardent students of books and will be happy to help you and your students find choices that suit your tastes and curricula. They may even be willing to purchase a few of the titles you need, if they seem to be popular ones. 

If there is nobody like that near you and you already have a fairly large collection, consider starting a library of your own. Contact the very helpful ladies at the Living Books Library and I am certain they will be thrilled to help you explore the possibilities. They have an excellent audio on how to teach without textbooks, and may be adding information on how to develop a "living books library" in the future.

If you are on a strict budget, but would like to get a taste of what quality literature is really like, I can suggest that you try the Heritage History website. I reviewed one of their cds earlier this year, and they offer many titles you would find in Liz and Emily's library as e-books for your Kindle, Nook, or as pdf files. You can actually read the books online for free, so you can try books for various curricula before deciding to go out and hunt for the ones you particularly enjoy (all of them!).

You can also find other living books and quality literature (usually longer ones, not necessarily the ones for children...you can find some links to books online at my other site) online SOMETIMES, but it takes work to find them and it is just NOT the same as cradling a treasured old friend in your hands...but it will do in a pinch if you just can't find that certain book, no doubt (our local library did not have The Hobbit and our personal copy was missing...it took Tex ten minutes to locate an online version). You can get a start by checking out my post on Character-Building Christian Literature.

Thank you Liz and Emily for such a marvelous weekend. 

You taught us all so much. 

What a blessing you both are to so many...

and what a wonderful family you have, for they are an 

incredible blessing to you and to others, too.

(PS. Please send more ice cream and Key Lime Pie soon...they were delicious!)

Now all of you, go and find a GOOD book and READ...and change your world (and maybe someone else's), one book at a time.

Blessings,