Read-Aloud Thursday: Two New Discoveries

The animals that were...
the animals that are...
and the animals that will be...
bring joy, laughter and life to the lives of the people
who live in a house that needs painting,
at the end of a road full of holes...
MAPLE HILL FARM.

Joining Read-Aloud Thursday @ Hope is the Word.   The first book I'm sharing today is one of those books you will cherish for generations.    I'm so glad I found this (via Ginny @ Small Things).     Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm is a clever, endearing book about all the animals you will find on a farm.  It is written for ages 3-7, but I contend all ages will love this one!  (And, if you click on the link, you will see it is only $7.99 on Amazon, which is a very good price for such a lovely book.)

I've included shots of a few of the pages so you can see how beautiful they are.   The names of all of the farm animals make them come alive, and each has their own distinct personality.   It also (quite accurately) teaches the physical characteristics of the animals, right down to the weights of certain dogs, habits of cows, pigs, chickens, etc...   

I've had the book for some time, and last weekend just pulled it out... we read the whole thing in one sitting and my son was enthralled.   You'll love this book - I promise!

The second book is one that I picked up at our homeschool group's used book sale for $.50.  My little guy threw it in the bag and I'm so glad he did.   We have read one other Childhood of Famous Americans book - they are wonderful.    The one we are reading is Babe Ruth: One of Baseball's Greatest.    We are pretty much obsessed with baseball in this house, and even my nine year old daughter loves learning about the game and the greats.

There is just something so appealing about this book - I think it's because Babe and my son are the same age and Babe's thoughts are probably some of the same ones my little guy has.

We also have the Thomas Edison book from this same Childhood of Famous Americans series to use with Beyond Five in a Row (which I have scheduled for next week!).   

What are you reading out loud this week?  I'm always looking for suggestions, and be sure to visit Hope Is The Word to see what others are reading, too.   

Read Aloud Thursday - Archimedes & Charlie

We are officially on our end of year break right now, but we continue to read-aloud.  The library basket is FULL, and it seems like there are a dozen books we haven't gotten to in our study of Ancient Greece.  One of those book is Archimedes Takes a Bath.    This little gem is a piece of historical fiction about how Archimedes discovered the water in the bath buoyancy principle (or Archimedes' Principle).   This book was recommended in The Story of The World Activity Guide.   We get A LOT of our book selections through The Story of The World!

Both of my children thoroughly enjoyed this book, and my husband and I learned about Archimedes, too.   We don't often read aloud about mathematicians, so this was a nice change of pace.   I reserved this from our public library ~ I gather it's hard to find.

The second book we are reading this week is Charlie and The Great Glass Elevator by Road Dahl.   This book is every bit as crazy as the first and the children are getting a good laugh from it each time we read.   We listened to Charlie and The Chocolate Factory several weeks ago on Audio CD (I blogged about the CD - it was great!) and just had to buy the sequel.

Looks like we are reading about two eccentric guys this week!   What are you reading aloud this week?  Leave me a comment and let me know!   Also, visit Hope is the Word for Read Aloud Thursday, and then visit the blog again on Friday for the compilation of all the Read Aloud Thursday posts.   It has gotten to be a great source of book recommendations for our homeschool!  

Read-Aloud Thursday: de Paola and Homer

I'm joining in Read-Aloud Thursday at Hope Is the Word.    We finished three read-alouds this week; two of them I got from reading previous Read-Aloud Thursday recaps!   

The first two books (from a previous RAT post!) were intended to be for the benefit of my six year old, but they were favorites of my nine year old as well.  The 26 Fairmount Avenue series, by Tomie dePaola is so funny, smart, and engaging.   We laughed all the way through them and learned so much. They give you a true picture of what life was like growing up in the 1930s in middle class America.   We have the next in the series ready to start tomorrow! 

 

The other big accomplishment this week was finishing Black Ships Before Troy : The Story of the Iliad, by  Rosemary Sutcliff.   This coincides with our study of Ancient Greece in The Story of The World.    Obviously it would be difficult for my children to make it through the Iliad by Homer, but this retelling came highly recommended by Susan Wise Bauer, of The Well Trained Mind, so it gets my vote!

I honestly thought the book would be hard for my youngest to sit through, but with the help of some character cards I laminated and put in a Zip-loc for him, he was so interested in the story.   I have a tip, too:

 *I had a small paperback version of the book and found a larger version of the book (with illustrations) at the library.  My youngest followed along in that copy and whenever I stopped during reading, he had to tell me where we were.  It worked GREAT!  Making our reading into a bit of a game kept him engaged and interested.  

I learned quite a lot from this book, as well.   We have The Wanderings of Odysseus: The Story of the Odyssey to begin next week, which is the next book in the adventure. 

 

If you read aloud in your homeschool you might want to consider joining Read Aloud Thursday.  It isn't a traditional link-up.  Rather, all of the comments (submissions) received on Thursday are compiled into a post for the following day ~ giving all sorts of suggestions for books to read aloud to your children.    I know you'll find some great ideas!  

I try to keep an updated reading list on the blog - have you seen it?    

What is your current read aloud?   Leave me a comment and I'll add it to my list of books to read! 

*All images courtesy of Goodreads.com