Read Aloud Challenge

Once again not a great reading week, but I find that knowing I am doing this post each week motivates me to at least do some. We've had a lot going on and I've been sick on top of that so not a lot got done.  Right now I can't stop coughing long enough to read.  UGH  So here it is:

We read more of  Dear America: Survival in the Storm The Dust Bowl Diary of Grace Edwards (last week we couldn't find it, but it reappeared....I read some then Emma went off with it and finished it on her own....I love that!)

We read a little more of  Little Pilgrim's Progress by Helen L. Taylor which is an adaptation of the John Bunyan Classic.

Want some reading inspiration? Visit Footprints in the Butter for this week's challenge (I don't think there is going to be one with week...will update if there is) to see what others are reading. 

Read Aloud Challenge

I can't say this has been a great reading week, but it was better than last week.  We read more of  Dear America: Survival in the Storm The Dust Bowl Diary of Grace Edwards but it has been misplaced so I haven't been able to continue with it.

Yesterday, I started reading Little Pilgrim's Progress by Helen L. Taylor which is an adaptation of the John Bunyan Classic.

I also read a small stack of picture books to the younger kids:

Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey

Ask Mr. Bear by Marjorie Flack

Prayer for a Child by Rachel Field

The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss

Angus Lost by Marjorie Flack

Play with Me by Marie Hall Ets

and my 3 year old's favorite right now:  Froggy Learns to Swim by Jonathan London

The rest of this week is extremely busy, but I'm hoping to fit some reading in to share next time!  Oh! and I want to highly recommend listening to Andrew Pudewa's Nurturing Competent Communicators for great motivation for reading aloud to your children.

Want some reading inspiration? Visit Footprints in the Butter for this week's challenge (not yet posted...will update when it is) to see what others are reading. 

Read Aloud Challenge

This has not been a great week for reading aloud.  I started reading  Dear America: Survival in the Storm The Dust Bowl Diary of Grace Edwards and that is IT!

Hopefully, I will have more next week.  

Want some reading inspiration? Visit Footprints in the Butter for this week's challenge to see what others are reading. 

Read Aloud Challenge

Since I posted my Read Aloud Challenge post late last week, it really hasn't been very long, so we haven't accomplished too much.

I read this book during school time yesterday.  Young Teddy Roosevelt by Cheryl Harness is an excellent book about the life of Teddy Roosevelt from birth until he became president.  We really enjoyed it.

We finally finished reading the The Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum. I can say that I really enjoyed the book.  I didn't know if I would because the movie always terrified me.

We are almost finished reading 65 MORE Short Mysteries You Solve with Science.  This is a great book.  I'll be posting a review of it very soon.

That's all so far this week but I am planning to start reading Dear America: Survival in the Storm The Dust Bowl Diary of Grace Edwards and finish reading America's First World War: General Pershing and the Yanks by Henry Castor that I started a few weeks ago but dropped for other things.

Want some reading inspiration? Visit Footprints in the Butter for this week's challenge to see what others are reading. (will update this week's when it goes up)

Read Aloud Challenge

I usually post this on Tuesday or Wednesday.  I am not sure where this week went! I have such a hard time getting into the swing of things after a week of vacation. This week we did some reading but not what as much as I would have liked.



This past week we continued on with our study of 20th Century America reading the The Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum.

Today, I started reading The Story of George Washington Carver by Eva Moore.  I don't think I'll finish it as a read aloud though.  I am planning to move on to something else and Emma will read the rest of it on her own.

We are also reading 65 MORE Short Mysteries You Solve with Science for a review.  Emma absolutely LOVES this book.  (Review will be coming soon.)

Want some reading inspiration? Visit Footprints in the Butter for this week's challenge to see what others are reading.

Read Aloud Challenge

This past week we continued on with our study of 20th Century America.  We read The Story of Admiral Peary at the North Pole by Zachary Kent and The Titanic by Deborah Kent.

We are also reading 65 MORE Short Mysteries You Solve with Science for a review.  We are loving this as well.

We have also been reading the The Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum this week.  Even though I do not like the movie of this so far the book is pretty good.  The kids are enjoying it too.

This is a vacation week for us but we are still managing to get some reading in.  Yay!

Want some reading inspiration? Visit Footprints in the Butter for this week's challenge to see what others are reading.

Read Aloud Challenge

Last week I mentioned that we started a study of the 20th century in America.  I've really been enjoying it and we've been doing lots of reading.  Since we are studying the early 1900s right now I thought it would be fun to do a Five in a Row story set in the same time frame.

So we are reading The Glorious Flight for Five in a Row.

Tonight I finished reading Wilbur and Orville Wright: Young Fliers from the Childhood of Famous Americans series.  (very enjoyable book)

We also read  Earthquake! (X-Treme Disasters That Changed America) by Lynn Brunelle  and  San Francisco earthquake : April 18, 1906  by Sue Hamilton

I started reading the The Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum this week as well.

We also continue to read Grammarland. I was originally reading a free version on my laptop but we were enjoying it and it was only $1.99 for my Kindle and a lot more convenient so I purchased it.

Lots more reading planned for this coming week!  Loving it!


Want some reading inspiration? Visit Footprints in the Butter for this week's challenge to see what others are reading.

Read Aloud Challenge

I am so excited that I have actually been reading and have something to share.  We started a unit study of The 20th Century for an upcoming review and we've been reading all kinds of things.  I really enjoy learning/teaching this way.

Since we are studying the 20th Century I decided to take a chronological approach.  So right now we are reading books from subjects pertaining to the early 1900s.

The first book we read was Remember the Lusitania! by Diana Preston.  Though it is a mostly sad story, I have always enjoyed taken an interest in reading books about ships that were sunk and what happened.  Morbid?  Maybe.

I also read part of The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, 1906  by Eric Saul and Don Denevi. This is not a children's book but I read some of the text and we looked at lots of pictures.

I am currently reading a book from the Dear America series, Voyage on the Great Titanic: The Diary of Margaret Ann Brady R.M.S. Titanic, 1912.

We've also read parts of a Kids Discover magazine on World War I.

I have more books out of the library right now than we can possibly get to, but am really enjoying the books we are reading so much.

And on a side note, every time I get on a roll with reading aloud I get sick.  EVERY TIME.  Yes, I have a cold and I am so stuffed up it is nearly impossible to read.  I hate that!


Want some reading inspiration?  Visit Footprints in the Butter for this week's challenge to see what others are reading.

Read Aloud Challenge

Well, I haven't posted one of these in a while....because there really was nothing to say.  For the past couple of weeks we started up with Five in a Row again and doing unit studies....so I am reading to the younger kids.


This week we are doing Rechenka's Eggs by Patricia Polacco with a unit study guide from Homeschool Share.  I love Homeschool Share.  If you are looking for something fun to do with your elementary kids check them out.  Everything is FREE!

Besides Rechenka's Eggs we've read, Count Your Way Through Russia, Chicken Sunday (another Patricia Polacco book and a book about Russia.  I have some other books out of the library about chickens and eggs that we will be reading this week too. (I just picked them up at the library tonight.)

Tonight I started reading Grammar Land by M. L. Nesbitt.  This is free on Google and so far I like it.  (Also using these free worksheets to go along)

I also read some picture books to my youngest children this morning, Goodnight Gorilla, Hippos Go Berserk, and Goodnight Moon.

I wish I had more hours in my day to read to the kids.  I am happy that we are at least reading something though.  Sorry there are no pictures....too tired to take any pictures or clip any from the internet!


Want some reading inspiration?  Visit Footprints in the Butter for this week's challenge to see what others are reading.

Read Aloud Challenge

Well thanks to Blizzard Nemo this week was not a total loss like the last one was.  This week, I not only read some great picture books to the younger children we also read parts of several other books.

In the late fall, I started reading At the Back of the North Wind.  We are about 80% of the way through this book.  I don’t love it but I am determined to finish it. We read some of this even before the storm and we’ve continued a little at a time.

On the day the storm started, my daughter Emma received a belated birthday present from her oldest sister Rebecca.  She sent her the entire set of Little House books.  So I started reading the first book as well. (Becca took all of the ones we had (they were hers) when she moved to NY so it’s great to have a new set for the younger kids to enjoy.)

We also started reading The Princess Bride but since I hadn’t read it before I wasn’t really comfortable with where the storyline was going so I stopped reading it out loud.  I am going to try to read it myself though to see what I think.

We also read a bunch of picture books...mainly snowy ones. :)

Want some reading inspiration?  Visit Footprints in the Butter for this week's challenge to see what others are reading.

Read Aloud Challenge

In the fall, I linked up a few times with Debra at Footprints in the Butter for a weekly Read Aloud Challenge.  On the first of December I came down with a cough (viral) that turned into pneumonia and spent weeks coughing.  Needless to say I couldn't read anything to the kids.  I am better now so I am going to try to read aloud again and post what we are reading each week.

I need to choose a nice chapter book read aloud.  In the meantime, I've been reading picture books to my little ones when I can. One of their favorites is The Three Billy Goats Gruff.  A favorite version is by Paul Galdone.  The kids just love this story.  A couple of other favorites are Sheep in a Jeep and The Pig in the Pond.

What are you reading to your kids?  Link up @ Footprints in the Butter

Read Aloud Challenge

I think this is week 4 of the Read Aloud Challenge, but I haven't posted since week one.  As I've mentioned in some recent posts we didn't have power after Hurricane Sandy and then I just didn't feel much like being online.  However, I really want to read to the kids...and this helps to keep my accountable! :)

Sadly, we are still working on reading At the Back of the North Wind.  I can't say that I "love" this book but I do intend to finish it.  I think it is kind of slow moving.  I am hoping that it is going to have some fantastic ending or something. :)

I also started reading Stories of the Pilgrims and hope to read some other Thanksgiving stories this week too.

Some of the kids have been listening to Your Story Hour CDs at bedtime too.

This is really all I've been reading right now. I need to make a point of reading more picture books to the younger kids!

Join Debra at Footprints in the Butter with your own Read Aloud post (or be inspired by what others are reading.)

Read Aloud Challenge

Debra at Footprints in the Butter is issuing a Read Aloud Challenge blog link up.  I'm hoping to link up each week. Maybe we'll get more reading done that way.

In her post she said,

"I think reading aloud is critically important. Andrew Pudewa, of Institute for Excellence in Writing, does a talk called Nurturing Competent Communicators that I think every adult who loves a child ought to hear at least once. He makes a strong case for reading aloud being the most effective way to get 'reliably correct and sophisticated language patterns' into our kids' brains."

I have also recently listened to that same talk (well worth it!) and want to make it a regular practice to read aloud.  Sometimes I do better than at other times.  Last year, we used Illuminations curriculum and always had a read aloud going on with it.  This year we don't have that scheduled into our day so I have just been picking books to read.  The younger children are using Beautiful Feet's Early American History which is literature based, but we took a break from that recently for Emma to do Pilgrim Story for a review.  

Right now we are reading:

Hero Tales by Dave & Neta Jackson (We read one chapter each morning during our morning devotions.)

At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald (I do have this on my Kindle but I also took it out of the library and I'm reading from the library copy.)

I am using a wonderful book, Read for the Heart by Sarah Clarkson to help choose read alouds.  I highly recommend it.

Our history read aloud this week was:

Jamestown, New World Adventure by James Knight

I also read some favorite picture books to the younger kids:

The Pig in the Pond

To Market To Market

Froggy Plays in the Band

Sheep in a Jeep

We're Going on a Bear Hunt

Danny and the Dinosaur

At night the kids have been listening to Sugar Creek Gang stories on CD (review coming this week) as well as Your Story Hour CDs.


Link up with what you are currently reading aloud at Footprints in the Butter.  What are you reading aloud right now?