No, not more pictures!

IMG_2443, originally uploaded by WeeBeaks.

No, she isn't hiding from the camera yet. She was just napping. Isn't she just adorable! I couldn't resist posting another picture. She is keeping us all busy, but it is well worth it.

Zach's catalog poem

Zach had an assignment in his language arts this week of writing a catalog poem. I thought what he wrote was really sweet so am sharing it:

My Sister, Lily

Who cries a lot
Who can't think of a better thing than a lap
Who explores mom's phone
Who naps a little
Who throws food
Who loves everybody

Announcement ....

We have been keeping fairly silent on it, but decided to finally share that we are pregnant again. We found out last week it will be another GIRL! Yeah for sisters, huh? I always wanted a close sibling in childhood, so am thrilled that L will have a sister close in age. We are due near the end of July. It has been so far a relatively easily pregnancy with one blip two weeks ago that landed me in the hospital for a week on IV fluids. I pray that everything will go well through the remainder. Now we just have to come up with a name. Any suggestions? ;)

Book: Pompeii: Lost and Found by Mary Pope Osborne

Zach and I just finished up reading Pompeii: Lost and Found by Mary Pope Osborne. I found it just browsing the history section in the library for him. What a treasure this little book turned out to be. We are finishing up Rome in our Sonlight core 1 and I wanted to cover Pompeii a little more. He had read in his readers a children's paperback about Pompeii, but that was months back. I needed to refresh his memory a bit. This Osborne book is a nonfiction storybook, large size, with nicely done illustrations on each page, and not an overwhelming amount of text, making it perfect as a quick review or adjunct to another more meaty history book covering the topic. The illustrations are "fresco style," meaning they appear in the style of what fresco paintings would look like at the time, on the walls of the villas. I thought that was a particularly nice touch. The book opens and closes with the archeological find, thus framing the story for the kids into the past, and reiterating it as a true historical account rather than just a story. It also goes beyond the bare basics of the destruction of Pompeii, discussing also the culture and times of Rome briefly, one topic per two-page spread in the book. It does not gloss over the fact that the entire town died, but it did it in a considerate way, I think. That can be a rough topic for some particularly sensitive kids that age. This is a great book on Pompeii, appropriate for lower elementary students. It went very nicely with our last weeks of Sonlight core 1.

Reviewing: Guiding Your Catholic Preschooler

I'm a little behind on my reviews, as I finished this selection last month. The holidays do that to me! :) I did want to say a brief bit though. This book had been recommended to me in several groups and lists as really a 5-star book for helping share the Catholic faith with a preschooler. I honestly just didn't agree truthfully. There were some creative ideas, but all and all I wouldn't say this book was what it was hyped to be for me personally. Pray for your child, take them to mass, etc., are basically common sense if you want to share your faith. Other suggestions were a bit too much for us, or at least for our children, such as taking them to solemn long masses. My kids are good kids, but none have tolerated that so far. My oldest at 7 is doing well now. I think it is just developmental and temperment related. This book also tries to briefly summarize what holy days of obligation are, lists common prayers and so forth. I'm thinking perhaps this book was intended for Catholic parents who do not practice their faith regularly? But on the other hand it also discusses having holy water and an alter in your home, which are typically seen in more conservative Catholic homes where the faith is strong. So perhaps to me this book had a bit of a trying to cater to each group, and it didn't come off that well. I will say, the author obviously is passationate about her topic, and this is a well researched book. If you are coming from absolutely zero ideas, this is the book for you to get you started.

Legend of the Candy Cane unit study and lapbook

The kids and I are continuing on with Sonlight core 1 and P3/4 but we wanted something a little bit festive to add on for the holidays. I saw the Legend of the Candy Cane free unit study and lapbook recommended on the Sonlight forums, and it seemed just the thing. I printed out a lot of the materials there, and we started on it yesterday. What fun! Zach especially is loving it and doing the entire thing pretty much. I scaled it down with some extra cut/paste and coloring for Lily and Noah to do their own versions at their own level but still have something that looks like Zach's "big guy" lapbook. We aren't done quite yet, but we are having a great time. I also didn't know where candy canes originated, so it's fun for me too. If we get the time (and mom has the energy), we will be making our own candy canes too later on. The recipe is on the linked site.

Book Review: If you Find a Rock

Yes, indeed, I'm catching up on reviewing some of the books we have read lately. I love finding blog opinions on books, so we're sharing ours of some of our books we read lately.



I picked this book up as it appeared on our recommendations from Amazon. I admit I probably wouldn't have chosen it for my son myself. I was wrong though as he loved it. He read it four times in a row, slowly looking at each picture and reading the text a couple times. He is 7, a very fluent reader, and honestly drawn to mystery/adventure books, but this really appealed to him. The pictures are read photographs with real kids and real rocks, in nature. The text is in poetry format, lyrical and well written but simple enough for a child to enjoy, hear the rhythm and understand. What was his favorite part? All the types of rocks shown and discussed and the uses. It elevates a simple smooth rock to something to be savored and explored, excellent book to excite the child's imagination.