OCTOBER 2, 2012 -- MONTH #1 OF HOMESCHOOL

OCTOBER 2, 2012 -- MONTH #1 OF HOMESCHOOL

Rebecca and Rachel are my homeschool buddies this year!  We are having a great time -- at least I am!  I love learning and I love having a push to read!  We are finishing up our study of Native Americans and the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the Americas.  Next week we will be starting our study of the early settlers of the United States -- Pilgrims, 13 colonies, etc.

I thought I would share some of the books we have read that we have enjoyed!

1.  Om-kas-toe was great!  It is a story of a set of Blackfeet Indian Twins and is based on true stories.  Rebecca, Rachel and I loved it and now I am reading to Daniel and David at night time!  Each chapter is a neat story in itself as the young indian boy brings much good to his tribe!

2. The Hopeful Trout by John Ciardi:  We did a little unit on Limericks and this was a fun book to read lots of Limericks.

3.  The Corn Grows Ripe by  Dorothy Rhoads  is a fairly quick read and is a great story about a young Mayan boy who must be the "man" of the house when his father is hurt.  It is a great story of the boy taking responsibility and working hard to accomplish some great things.  

4.  Pocahontas and the Strangers by   Clyde Robert Bulla: This is a good read and is a good telling of the story of the Princess Pocahontas.  We have really enjoyed this one!

5.  Pedro's Journal by  Pam Conrad:  I read this book with Melissa and Hyrum about 14 years ago and don't remember much but this time through, I loved it!  It was really interesting and we really enjoyed talking about the change in Pedro's perception of Christopher Columbus.  It is a short book.


6.  The Witch of Blackbird Pond by  Elizabeth George Speare:  This is an older teenager read and I am reading it out loud to Rebecca and Rachel.  We are only on chapter 5 but they are liking it.  I really enjoyed it when I read it about 14 years ago with Melissa and Hyrum.  I am encouraging Bethany to read it.


7.  The Matchlock Gun by Walter D. Edmunds:  This was a great little book and was a very quick read!  It was a wonderful story of the bravery of a mother and of the young boy!  It also has great illustrations!



8.  Walk the World's Rim by Betty Baker:
This book is long and tedious, but has interesting information.  It was hard to get through 14 years ago when I homeschooled Melissa and Hyrum.  This year we started it and then I just summarized it so that the girls knew who Esteban was and knew a bit of the story.

9. Mayans, Incas and Aztecs by John Holzmann:  I read this book for my own study of information and found it very interesting!  It is written by a Christian author and it is very interesting to see how the authors thoughts line up so well with the knowledge we have from the Book of Mormon!

10.  Mayans, Aztecs, and Incas:  This is a thematic unit book that has some fun ideas in it that we have used along the way!  It was a good addition to our library.