The Literature Fair - Part 1 (I created a Squidoo Lens!)

The 2012 Homeschool Literature Fair was a great success! 

I promised I would write about each of the children's projects.  I hope you can gain some ideas for your own homeschool and get inspired to dive even DEEPER into quality living books.    

Miss B's book this year was The Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong.  I have created my very first Squidoo Lens (this has been a goal of mine for several months now!) about the book which you can see by clicking here. 

I'm so proud of my daughter - she won 2nd place in her age group this year!   What makes me even more proud is that she completed this project independent of me... from the writing and typing of her book and research report, to painting the "school" and putting together her own display board.   

One of Miss B's closest friends won first place in their age group.   It did my heart good to see my daughter being more happy for her friend than she was for herself.  Her friend (pictured below) dressed up as Effie (from The Hunger Games) and did a fabulous project.  (Now, I fall into the category of moms who won't let their children read The Hunger Games, but that is neither here nor there... this child did a great job and deserved first place!)

The requirements for the literature fair included a log book, research report, book report, bibliography, tri fold display board, and a "hands-on" project.  My daughter chose to construct and paint a model of the school from her book.  She also made all of the characters and a nice little display of tulips (since the book takes place in Holland).

As we walked the fair we took pictures of some of our favorites --- as you can see, some of the upper grades projects were AMAZING!  With OVER 70 STUDENT PARTICIPATING, there wasn't time to snap shots of all of them, but these stood out to my children:  

Stay tuned later this week for GMan's project - inspired by The Chocolate Touch!  

Have You Read The Book of Beasts?

The Read-Aloud Thursday book is taken directly from Amy, at Hope is The Word.  (Read her post about it here.)  I am starting to rely on Amy for her book suggestions, and when she blogged about The Book of Beasts a while back, I ordered it immediately! (only $5.99!) 


The copy we received appears to have one of the less common covers, and I love it!  It also has a different illustrator than more common versions (Annabel Spenceley drew the pictures in this version.).  The story, written in 1900, has a charm and appeal that I can't quite describe.  



This is the story of Lionel, a small boy who, to his great surprise, is made king. He's delighted to discover the palace library - and one book in particular, "The Book of Beasts", but when he opens its pages, he is not prepared for the magic that is unleashed!
(Synopsis taken from Goodreads.com)

 It is one of those books that will be read again and again in our home... they just can't enough of the Manticora and the Hippogriff!  

We thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I'm thankful to Amy for bringing it to my attention.  What is your favorite read-aloud?  Each Thursday Amy hosts Read-Aloud Thursday, where you can see what lots of people are reading to their children.  It's my favorite blogging day of the week!    

Read-Aloud Thursday: Wisconsin and The Whipping Boy!

It's read-aloud Thursday...probably my favorite blogging day of the week!   I received a beautiful book last weekend at a luncheon with the ladies from Apologia.   Sarah Clarkson's book, Read for the Heart, is a must have for your library - it will help you choose Christian read-alouds for your family.  I have just spent a few minutes going through the book, but I've already reserved several books from the library I found out about through Sarah!  The Homeschool Village did a wonderful interview with Sarah on their blog earlier this week.  You'll want to read it - such a lovely example of what a homeschool graduate is accomplishing!  

I'm finding more and more that I need guidance choosing the books we read.  There are so many good books out there, but I just want to read the BEST.   When you think about it, we have our children for such a short time.  I want to make their education COUNT by providing them with the most beautiful, thought-provoking literature possible!  

This week's installment of Read Aloud Thursday features our favorite picture and chapter book of the week.  Enjoy!

Earlier this week I posted about the beginning of our 50 State Study.   I looked for books about the state of Wisconsin (our state this week) and we found this excellent book, which we fortunately could get on reserve at our local library.  The Legend of Wisconsin is a legend about the Giant Hare, Nanabush, and how Wisconsin got many of its natural features. We found ourselves going to the map to see the Great Lakes that surround Wisconsin and also looking up pictures natural Wisconsin.    We thoroughly enjoyed this book; it was a good supplement to our state study.   

We also listened to a book on CD over the past week - The Whipping Boy.  If you've never listened to/read this short Newberry Award book by Sid Fleischman, you really should. Prince Horace is spoiled rotten and there is a rule in the kingdom that it is unlawful to spank the prince.  So, instead of spanking him, they bring in a "Whipping Boy" to receive the spankings!  From the get-go this outraged my children, and the rest of the book keeps their attention just as well!     The bratty prince and his whipping boy change places after getting mixed up with some shady characters, and the story continues! 

  

As always, I enjoying linking to Amy at Hope is The Word for Read-Aloud Thursday!