Weekly Wrap-up: pondering books

Monday: We had a pretty good day, even though Dragon and Tigress were sick. The Daddy had his appointment cancel, so he ended up telecommuting, rather than going to a site, which was really nice, I had to take the two little ones to the doctor's office. Turns out that they have bronchiolitis, which is no fun at all. So they get "breathing medicine" for the rest of the week. And we'll be keeping a close eye on them. We've had a couple family members get really sick with this over the years.

But it was a good day anyway. I got lots of phone calls from my family, and my friend love me, and I'm happy.

Tuesday: Two of the three kids are sick. But the work the Daddy had scheduled falls through, and I'm grateful he's home. We still manage to get a good amount of school done. And, because I'm crazy like that, I do a "Day in the Life" post. I've always done them on typical days before, and this is anything but.

Whoa. It's Saturday now. We had a great rest of the week, but I didn't do a daily thing. We did (finally!!) finish off volume two of Story of the World. The Middle Ages are just too stinking interesting. We followed soooo many rabbit trails! Spent a month on the Vikings, and the revisited favorite aspects, particularly Padric Culum's Children of Odin, over and over again. But this week we finally finished the book, and did the first section of the first chapter in volume 3. I'm liking the change, but I also feel like I need to figure how much narration we're doing. Volume 3 is definitely an increase in the level of difficulty it's asking from the student. There is more information in each section, the map work seemed like it was more involved, and according to the introduction, the extra reading selections recommended are also done with an older student in mind. This is cool. Hero is ready for more. But I also feel like there is going to be a period of adjustment while we both catch our balance and figure out how to go forward with this new level of instruction.

The other exciting thing is that he finished his first chapter book. I am definitely more excited about this than he is. I required that he choose one and read it. He says that he enjoyed it, but he also only read as much as was required. Which is ok. He wanted to know why reading chapter books is so important to me. I'm willing to go to a fair amount of effort to find books that he wants to read, but I do expect that he'll be reading, and (gradually) increasing the difficulty and length of at least some of the books he reads. When he asked me why, we had a chance to talk about how, as much as I love reading to him, I won't always be around to do it. He needs to be continuing to develop his reading skills so that when he wants to know something, he doesn't have to wait for me to read it. He wasn't very enthusiastic about that answer, but seemed to see the sense in it. Meanwhile, I continue my search for material that will be sufficiently interesting to make him want to read more. There was a thread on Facebook this morning about enjoyable books for kids his age or slightly older, and I'm thinking of heading the library and grab a bunch of the books they suggest. The list includes:
Eragon
Secrets of Droon by Tony Abbot
Chronicles of Narnia
Jack Stalwart
Warrior Cats by Erin Hunter
Dragon Slayer series
Magic Treehouse
Peter and the Starcatchers by David Barry
Nancy Drew
Redwall series by Brian Jacques
The Strictest School in the World: Being the Tale of a Clever Girl, a Rubber Boy, and a Collection of Flying Machines, Mostly Broken
Spiderwick Chronicles
Levin Thumps
Fabelhaven
Indian in the Cupboard
Ralph S. Mouse series by Beverly Cleary
Harry Potter
Trumpet of the Swan
A Series of Unfortunate Events
Charlotte's Web
Little House books
Frannie K. Stein series
Hatchet
Shark Wars
Ranger's Apprentice
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Bunnicula series
Origami Yoda series
Teddy's Button
Because of Winn-Dixie
Percy Jackson series
Man in the Iron Mask
Magic School Bus series
Hank the Cow Dog
Puppy Place
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Wonder
A Long Walk to Water
The Beyonders series by Brandon Mull
Little Britches by Ralph Moody
Michael Vey series
My Dog Skip
Shiloh series
Black Beauty
Sign of the Beaver
The Extraordinary Adventures Of Ordinary Boy-The Hero Reveled by William Boniface
Charlie Bone series
Time Warp Trio series by John Scieszka
The Kingdom Keepers by Ridley Pearson
Mysterious Benedict Society series
Dragon Hatcher
Hardy Boys
Nate the Great
Artemis Fowl
Knights of Artenthrae
Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke
Dragon Slippers
Dragon in the Sock Drawer


What I'd really like to find is chapter books starring Marvel or DC characters. Batman, Superman, et al. Not graphic novels, chapter books. You know any?

If you want to see what other folks are doing, check out the rest of the Wrap-ups at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.