The Magic Treehouse

I love The Magic Treehouse books! When my daughter was in Kindergarten, we started reading some of these books aloud. As she got older she read a lot of them by herself as well. They were our first chapter books. The books are not too long - ten short chapters in each adventure. The books always follow the same format - Jack and Annie go to the treehouse in the Frog Creek Woods which then spins away into another time period. There are so many things to be gained from these books - geography, history, science, music, art - I could go on and on. Check out the Wikipedia article on the books, too.

During my organization of books I realized that we have ten of these books in our library. This summer I've also discovered that my son loves the books now, too - and for my daughter it is like seeing an old friend again. As I read a book out loud she listens intently, even though she has heard it before. I love that my almost nine year old and five year old like the same books!

At the library yesterday I stumbled upon The Magic Treehouse books on CD, so I checked out the first set (which is the first 4 books). In the car today we listened to the entire first book, Dinosaurs Before Dark. Each time we had to make a stop today and stop listening the kids groaned - but how I loved those groans! It meant they were hating to stop the story. We learned about several different dinosaurs, what time period they lived in, and lots of other neat facts.

We came home and I hopped on the computer to show my children the website for The Magic Treehouse books. You can print out your own passport and after reading a book (there are more than 40) you can take a short quiz and print out a "stamp" for that area of your passport. You can also print out a picture of Jack and Annie and take your picture with them to upload to the photo gallery.

We printed our passports and took a quiz. It was fun to paste on stamp #1 in our passport. A goal was set to read (or listen to) as many Magic Treehouse books as we can during this first semester. While this isn't a part of my daughter's "curriculum", it does enrich her studies so much, and the same goes for my son. I think the audio books will be really helpful in keeping him busy when I'm doing some heavier read-alouds with my daughter. He has a CD player in his room and loves to lay on his bed and listen to books. (and as I type this, my husband has also chimed in that they are available on Amazon in e-book format - I wonder about .mp3?)

Another great feature on the site (which is also linked into the passports) are the Neighborhood Adventure Activities. These are printables with questions about places you might visit like the library, bookstore, museum, etc... You have to answer questions as you visit these places. What fun! I feel a field trip coming on.... I'm pretty sure (although I haven't checked) that there are a plethora of lesson ideas out there on the web as well.

Oh, and there is also a Reader's and Writer's Club section of the website with tips from Jack and Annie about writing, with some activities to go along with select books. You can even enter an essay contest to win your own tree house! Even if you don't choose to print the passport and set a goal of reading a certain number of books, I do think the books are just great read-alouds or as some of the first chapter books your child will read.

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We Love Curious George!

I love this picture of my son in his robe, Batman gloves, and Curious George!

Tonight, after the kids had gone to bed, I was cleaning in the kitchen and saw three very ripe bananas. I made a quick loaf of our favorite banana bread, which is called Curious George Banana Bread. I found the recipe a while back when my son was in his CG obsession. It is very easy and the first time I made it, both of my children helped me. Here it is:

Curious George Banana Bread

3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 3/4 cup flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon (optional)

Mix ingredients well, so there are no lumps.
Put in greased loaf pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for one hour.

Over the past few years, we have read MANY Curious George books. Our collection of these books is in my son's bookshelf, and they are so easy to spot because those bright yellow covers really stick out! If I had to narrow it down to one favorite, it would probably be Curious George Goes to a Chocolate Factory. Something about the way the different chocolates are labeled and how George eats too many is just appealing to my kids.

Another Curious George thing we have is this alphabet puzzle, which I just picked up one time when I was at Office Depot. It just looked like something my son would enjoy, and he does this puzzle at least 2-3 times each week. I love it, because he sets the puzzle out in the middle of his room and works it, then just shifts over to his bookshelf and reads his CG books. What a lucky little guy!

If you haven't checked out the PBS Kids Curious George website, you should. The games are fun and educational, and the printables are cute, too. I learned when I went to the site tonight that the Curious George show on PBS has won an Emmy for Outstanding Children's Animated Program.

We can love Curious George on so many levels - which is why I think these books have endured for so long. I know my children love the silliness of Curious George, and I love the patience the Man in the Yellow Hat has for him (patience I wish I had with my own silly monkeys!). It is also so special to me to remember times when my own parents read me these same stories. What a gift!

The authors, Hans and Margaret Rey, fled Paris shortly before it fell to the Nazis. Eventually they wound up in Brazil, and then settled in New York. By 1941 they had published their first book, and then wrote seven stories together. Although Hans died in 1977, Margaret wrote over 2 dozen more books. The information I just shared with you came from a site called My Favorite Monkey. How cute is that?

I can't tell you exactly how Curious George will "fit" into our official Kindergarten curriculum, but I do know that reading the books over and over has enriched both of my children. I find that most times, the things that stick with my kids weren't in a curriculum and were never planned. As a homeschooler, I am free to respond to my children's interests and go off on tangents like this, to more often than not have the most meaningful learning take place.

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Getting Ready for Book Club

This Monday, we are going to a book club hosted at a local church. We participated in the book club last year and had a great time. My friend and her sixth grade daughter are hosting the club this time, and the theme is circus books. Our local library is so helpful to homeschoolers, and we have gotten to know the librarians quite well, so we went and asked them to pull everything they had about the circus.

My eight year old is reading a Nancy Drew mystery, "The Ring Master's Secret".

She has just started the book today, and I will have her make a blog entry about it when she finishes. It seems that a Nancy Drew obsession may be on the horizon, because Anna just finished another Nancy Drew mystery last week.

The other books that we decided to focus on are "Cam Jansen: The Mystery of the Circus Clown" (a book which we just finished and both my five and eight year old enjoyed)

and "Circus Caps for Sale" (geared more toward my five year old).

As I was reading this last book a lot of ideas starting popping into my head for math extensions and all kinds of fun things. I did a little research on the book and what a great resource at the Slobodkina foundation. Here there are printable worksheets for counting, matching, doing mazes, and lots of other fun things! This kind of find really excites me. For instance, did you know that Esphyr Slobodkina, the author of "Circus Caps for Sale" pioneered the technique of collage illustration in American storybooks?

Perhaps Monday I will print some of the math sheets for my son and let him paint one of the printables, and my daughter can paint as well as discuss collage illustration with me. I love the new things I can learn through homeschooling. I am getting an education at the same time I am education my children. This is such a gift!

There is also a site for Cam Jansen lovers that I may choose to investigate at a later date. I get a lot of good ideas swirling in my head, but know myself well enough to just choose one idea at a time to pursue. If I choose them all I get confused and NOTHING gets done!

I'll let you know how book club goes!

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