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.

Book Review: Follow My Leader by James Garfield

Zach and I read this booktogether, my reading it aloud to him and then he chose to read it again himself. As I was reading, this was one of those where he always asked for another chapter, more. The book features, Jimmy, a typical preteen boy, who is blinded by an accident involving a peer. The rest of the book describes his journey through approximately the next year, as he struggles to deal with both the realities of being blind and the emotions surrounding it. So many children's books do not do adequate character development, and even kids can pick up on that. This character is very real, with realistic emotions, weaknesses, strengths and fears. The other characters, particularly his peers, are also fairly developed. Jimmy in the story receives a guide dog, which I understand would not actually occur in someone his age (that young is not allowed a trained guide dog). However, the story makes the event seem plausible and realistic. Topics explored included blindness, Braille language, guide dogs, how peers may treat a blind student and, a very big one, forgiveness and hatred, and what those feelings can do to a person if not adequately dealt with. These are big topics for little readers, but the book does an admirable job with them. The book is also a great discussion starter for going further in depth with any of those topics and more. We highly recommend it.

Happy Halloween and Happy Birthday

IMG_5215, originally uploaded by WeeBeaks.

My fairy baby girl, and the whole family, wish everyone a Happy Halloween (she is showing off her costume here). And we wish her a happy 2nd birthday. I can't believe it has gone so fast.

The Year of Miss Agnes - Review

Zach and I read the Year of Miss Agnes by Kirkpatrick Hill as part of his core 1 Sonlight curriculum. Yet again Sonlight came through for us and picked a winner. Zach loved it, and I enjoyed reading it with him.

In the novel, our main character is a little girl growing up in a remote Alaskan Indian village. In the first pages, we see yet another teacher in their one-room schoolhouse has quit, but not before insulting the children and expressing her disgust at their culture and customs (such as eating lots of fish). There is apprehension as they wait to see who will be next to teach them. Fortunately, that "who" is Miss Agnes. She brings with her fresh ideas, shelves the old books and opens up a whole new world of thoughts and ideas to the children, inspiring not only the children but the parents to shift some of their ideas. A strong theme in the book is who needs school and how much, including teaching of the deaf, schooling beyond the basic (college) and attitudes towards schooling in a native culture. I won't spoil the ending for you, but suffice to say it leaves open a nice discussion and some thought. My son still likes to come up to me (weeks later) and discuss this novel.