Summer Reading Challenge 2010

Okay, the Spring Reading Thing 2010 officially has come to a close with the beginning of summer.  You can read my wrap up post here or here.  As I was reading wrap up posts I came across a comment mentioning a new challenge, which seems to be similar to the Spring Reading Thing.  It is the Summer Reading Challenge 2010 hosted by Julie at My Book Retreat.

Here is my list:
Thriller/Suspense Challenge: Seaport Suspense Series by Kathy Herman: 1. A Shred of Evidence 2. Eye of the Beholder 3. All Things Hidden 4. Not By Chance
5. Beguiled by Deeanne Gist and J. Mark Bertrand 6. The Last Christian by David Gregory
The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod by Heather Brewer 7. Eighth Grade Bites 8. Ninth Grade Slays 9. Tenth Grade Bleeds 10. Eleventh Grade Burns
Nancy Drew:
11. The Mystery at Lilac Inn 12. The Secret of Shadow Ranch 13. The Secret of Red Gate Farm 14. Clue in the Diary 15. Nancy's Mysterious Letter 16. The Sign of the Twisted Candles 17. Password to Larkspur Lane 18. Clue of the Broken Locket 19. The Message in the Hollow Oak 20. Mystery of the Ivory Charm 21. The Whispering Statue 22. Haunted Bridge 23. Clue of the Tapping Heels 24. Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk 25. Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion 26. Quest of the Missing Map 27. Clue in the Jewel Box 28. The Secret in the Old Attic 29. Clue in the Crumbling Wall 30. Mystery of the Tolling Bell
31. Teenage Vampire by Florence Wilson
Non-fiction (Didn't get these read for the Spring Reading Thing, hoping to get them read with in the next few months.
32. Einstein Never Used Flash Cards by Kathy Kirsh-Pasek and Roberta Michnick Golinkoff 33. Better Late Than Early: A New Approach to Your Child's Education by Raymond S. Moore 34. School Can Wait by Raymond S. Moore 35. The Power of Play by David Elkind 36. Storm Warning by Billy Graham 37. The Baby Signing Book by Sara Bingham 
Here's how you can participate in this Summer Reading Challenge, which will take place from June 21 - September 21.

1. Create a list of the books you’d like to read or finish during this summer season. There's no minimum and no requirements as to the type of books you put on your list ~ it's all up to you how many you include, and whether they're beach reads or classics or something in between.
2. Write a blog post with the list of books you want to read ~ and any other summer reading goals ~ and post it on your blog.
3. Go to My Book Retreat to sign up. She'll have a Linky set up , so you can link up to your own Summer Reading Challenge post.
4. Read! Work through your list of books throughout the summer. Write reviews if you'd like. Have fun!
5. Write a wrap-up post at the end of summer to report on your results.
6. Go back to My Book Retreat on September 21st to link your wrap-up post to the Linky she'll post that day.

Spring Reading Thing 2010 Wrap Up

It's time to wrap up the Spring Reading Thing 2010.  

Summer just crept right up on me.  In fact, looking at Hannah, and realizing she is 2 months old, is so shocking, I have no idea where these last two months have gone.  Furthermore, I can't believe we are almost halfway through this year already. Time really does fly.  Why is it that time really does seem to go faster as you get older?  

I realize I started this challenge late, but I set my goals and it seems I set them a tad too high.  In other words, to answer Katrina's first question posted over at Callapidder Days, "NO" I didn't finish the books on my list and I am a bit upset with myself.  I started out strong, I thought.  I had changed my list a few weeks into when I started the challenge because I had discovered some different books I wanted to read.  I posted about that here.  From my updated list, here are the books I did finish.

From the Christian Suspense:

Deadline by Randy Alcorn (which I have yet to review, but I loved it)

Tested by Fire by Kathy Herman

Day of Reckoning by Kathy Herman

Vital Signs by Kathy Herman

High Stakes by Kathy Herman

A Fine Line by Kathy Herman

(the last two books in the Baxter series by Kathy Herman above were not on my list but I couldn't put the series down once I got started.  Which is one reason why I didn't finish all the books I planned to read.  You can read reviews for all the books in the Baxter series at my book blog, Me, Myself, I Read.  

As stated in the update post, I did put Dominion by Randy Alcorn on hold for now as it was just so long and bulky so it was difficult to hold while nursing, which is when I do the majority of my reading.  

I did not finish any of the books in my Non Fiction category.  I am trying to read Better Late Than Early: A New Approach to Your Child's Education by Raymond S. Moore.  It is hard for me to get into this book for some reason.  I am reading Einstein Never Used Flash Cards by Kathy Kirsh-Pasek and Roberta Michnick Golinkoff , but the second half of the book is not as easy for me to focus on.  And I started reading Storm Warning by Billy Graham but then I misplaced it.  

I have definitely been addicted to my fiction books.  In fact, I started reading Twilight by Stephenie Meyer again in anticipation of the Eclipse movie coming out next week.  I have also started reading The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod, another vampire series my daughter's friends are reading and she decided she would read after finishing Breaking Dawn.  Seeing as she is at her dad's this week, mommy helped herself to the books when they became available through the library.  

From the Nancy Drew challenge:

The Secret of the Old Clock

The Hidden Staircase

The Bungalow Mystery (I technically finished this one morning of the 21st, so I probably shouldn't count it, but I wanted to mention I had finished it, though I haven't written my review yet)  

You can also find reviews for these books over at Me, Myself, I Read.

I realize I had better pick up the pace if I am going to reach my goal for my other reading challenges I am participating in.  To see all the challenges I am participating in go here.

I would like to answer some more of Katrina's questions in the remainder of this post.

• What was your favorite book that you read this spring? Least favorite? Why?

           It is a toss up for me when it comes to picking a favorite book.  I enjoyed both Day of Reckoning and A Fine Line by Kathy Herman.  I feel, out of the series, these two held the most suspense and kept me glued to the book.    Better Late than Early by Raymond S. Moore would have to be my least favorite because of my difficulty in being able to get into it.

• Did you discover a new author or genre this spring? Did you love them? Notlove them?

I am so glad I started participating in these reading challenges.  I am now addicted to Christian Suspense!  I found a great site called The Suspense Zone that lists Christian Suspense authors and the suspense books they wrote.  i am looking forward to reading more by Kathy Herman, for starters.

• Did you learn something new because of Spring Reading Thing 2010 — something about reading, or yourself, or a topic you read about?

I didn't really learn anything new about myself.  Just the same old, same old... Give me a fiction book and I will bury myself in it.

• What was your favorite thing about the challenge?

I enjoyed the fact that there was no pressure in this challenge.

Head on over to Callapidder Days' Wrap Up Post to see the list of links to all the other wrap up posts to see how everyone else has done.

Mamarazzi Monday: Random special pics and Amelia's 2nd Birthday!!

Are you part of the Mamarazzi?

The female version of Papparazzi.  (noun)
"Look at that Mamarazzi!"

The one who instead of cleaning up, says
"Wait right here... Let Mommy get her camera...."

I found the Mamarazzi Monday by, what else, linking to links and once again not knowing exactly how I got there.  But when I read the full description, which you can find on Ann Marie's blog here, I felt like I was reading a description of myself and decided I would have to link up.  I had to wait until this week as I found the blog in the middle of the week.  And with problems with my memory card (some of my pictures deleted because of a memory card error, but no worries my loving hubby found a program to restore them to the computer) I am still a little late this week as it is now really Tuesday.  

To start with, here are some random pictures of my precious ones:

Trying to put pajamas on in the middle of the day:

#1 Bills fan

Learning to stand:

I thought she looked so cute with the basket

(A tisket, a tasket...)

Sleeping on brother Steven:

Loving looking at the baby in the mirror:

Tummy Time:

Sitting on mommy's lap:

Looking cute with brother:

She kept "talking" on sissy's cell phone, 

but every time I tried to take her picture 

she turned away...

or decided the phone needed to swing:

Sitting in sissy's rocking chair

So strong.  Lifting her head for the 

first time that I know of:

Happy Birthday to Amelia 

2 years old:

Grandma and Grandpa

Couldn't wait for the ice cream:

Krystal baked the cake and 

Steven decorated it:

For a special treat, I present

Close-up and The Whole Picture

Close up:

Whole Picture:

Close up:

Whole picture:

Hope you enjoyed a little look into our life this week beyond the normal pictures of school/lesson time.

My Emerging Reader

Every time I have tried to sit down and teach Tabitha to read from books others have used or I have bought or I have borrowed from the library we have gotten frustrated and I have backed off.  I have looked into "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons," Progressive Phonics, and McGuffey Readers to show some of the different things we have tried.  What seems to really work for us is letting it come on the spur of the moment, naturally, playfully.  She knows her letters and their sounds.  We have been doing "letter of the week" for a year and a half now.  Though, if you have read my blog for some time, you will realize we usually take 2 weeks and sometimes a month to do one letter/sound.  Whether it is extra projects I want to complete or not enough time to do anything at all one week, we usually take more than one week.  Which at times bothers me, other times I just go with the flow.  Looking at the way our weeks go I can definitely say we will continue to be relaxed when it comes to our homeschool style. But I can't see fully unschooling because I need to have a plan/goals or I will flounder around.  I thought for sure reading would have to be a subject I need to have a curriculum for, but seeing how well Tabitha has been progressing when we just do spur of the moment learning, I can see how unschooling works.  Of course I have taken some ideas from what I have learned at the Montessori and plan to keep doing so.

On my last post I mentioned how Tabitha was reading simple phonetic words I typed out and was spelling words on her own and writing them.  I thought I would share the two videos I took of her doing just those two things this week. (As I have recently learned how to upload videos to You Tube and embed them in a post).  Unfortunately, I started recording after she was almost done.

To see what others are doing with their toddlers and preschoolers head on over to 1+1+1=1 and Homeschool Creations

Also linked to

W lessons with Winnie the Pooh and Watermelons

Well we may or may not be finished with the letter W.  I have a few more ideas, one of which ties into a book we are reading.  It would be a shock to have only spent one week on a letter, so most probably we will continue it for another week.  Here is what we have done so far.
Our words for our word card pictures on the poster this week are: web, wagon, wolf, walrus, watermelon and wombat.
The girls got to use their watercolors from their new art tote for the first time.  They watercolored a picture of Winnie the Pooh that I printed out.

Then they traced a letter W and colored the paper.

Later that day I allowed them to watch Winnie the Pooh (the original movie).

Seeing the movie on the shelf was what made me think of having them color a picture of Winnie the Pooh.  As usual Tabitha was the one glued to the TV, Amelia isn't usually stuck in front of the TV, she will wander around mostly.

For their W letter/sound books they each made a watermelon slice.  I cut out white paper in a wedge shape and red paper in a slightly smaller wedge shape (using the first as a pattern).  The girls glued the white paper onto the book page and then glued the pink to the white.  They glued seeds on

and then traced the dots I had made at the bottom in green.

Then we played a file folder game I designed and created.  Here is the storyline of the game:
Rabbit (from Winnie the Pooh) went to the market to buy watermelon seeds to plant in his garden.  On the way home the seeds were falling out of a hole in the sack without Rabbit noticing.  Winnie the Pooh is following the path (by walking of course) to pick up as many seeds as he can to return them to Rabbit.  We were supposed to use a die, but I couldn't find one.  So I grabbed the spinner out of our Chutes and Ladders game. On each player's turn the spinner is spun and the player moves the designated number of spaces.  The player then either takes the seeds from the pile if landing on a number space, loses a certain amount of seeds if landing on a minus space, loses all seeds if landing on the "Oh Bother" space, or loses a turn if landing on the "Hunny" pot space (because we all know Winnie the Pooh will not pass up an opportunity to help himself to a smackarel of honey).

The game set up

Everyone but Amelia ended up on the -2 space

Steven helped me by coloring the pictures I printed out.

Unrelated to the letter W:
Amelia is having lots of fun lately by cutting fringes in paper with my rippled scissors.

Tabitha is on a roll when it comes to sounding out 3 letter, and some longer, phonetic words.  I knew she learned about vowels being "sticky" letters that hold the words together from the Talking Words Factory DVD.  So the other day I typed out one word at a time and had her tell me which letter was the sticky letter.  It took a bit, but she seems to be getting it.  One of the words I tried was stuck.  After she told me the vowel and sounded out the word, I typed stick and she shocked me by sounding it out.

Then I wrote sentences one word at a time.  She had trouble with that and Piglet, but everything else she sounded out.  I explained what the period was and told her she had read a sentence!

Then I typed out a whole list of words and we took turns pointing to them and sounding them out.  Once again, one of those spur of the moment activities that has gone over better than anything I planned.

She loved pointing at the words!

I made quite the find at the thrift shop today:

Seemed perfect seeing what she has been accomplishing.

The other day I heard her singing a song from the Talking Words Factory DVD.  She was spelling cat and hat:

She wrote cat first (the one on the right), then hat (over to the left), then later added the other letters.  All with no prompting whatsoever on my part.

And I am so thrilled to realize that Amelia knows more colors than I thought.  We have some of those baby keys on a ring, each one is a different color.  I held them up one at a time and she was able to name: blue, green, red and purple.

I am linking this post up with the Schoolhouse Review Crew's Toys and Games For Homeschool Round Up.



To see what others are doing with their toddlers and preschoolers head on over to 1+1+1=1 and Homeschool Creations.