Summer Days

It's been happening for a few years now.  We have the Last Day of School and I breath a sigh of relief.  I think about all the "free time" I'm going to have, all of the projects I'm going to get done.  Then, a few days later, I think, "How do we ever have time for school?!"



There haven't been any exciting projects done, just slow and steady work on the bathroom walls here and there, a little bit of gardening here and there, ballet camp and a visit from my Mother, a yard sale at my sisters with lots of cousin time and visits with friends.  There is more ballet camp to come and swimming lessons and hopefully more visits with friends and sprinkler parks.

Our first apple!

One thing there has been a lot of and that is reading.

Here is the stack.  It doesn't include two fiction books that I sped through to see if they would be okay for Callie.

Kate was helping me hold down the cover

My favorite has been  The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert.  This book is so, so good.  I highly recommend it--for adults or older teens too.  I plan to read some of it with Callie.  This one I will be buying.

The Read-Aloud Handbook has been good.  I have skimmed some parts because I don't need to be convinced that reading aloud to children of all ages is so important.  If you need to be convinced of how reading to your older and younger children is beneficial or evidence that having a TV in your child's bedroom  lowers their attention span and grades, you need this book!  If you want a resource list for books to read aloud from and general encouragement to do so, you need this book too.

Tending the Heart of Virtue was very good too.  The author details several children's classics and fairy tales and talks about why they are so good for children to hear and/or read.

The PCOS Diet Plan is just a bit of necessary reading.  Not fun, but hopefully helpful.  If I could just put down the more interesting books I'm sure it would be! (PCOS stands for Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome which I have and have apparently had for many years, just didn't realize it.)  I'm not far enough into it yet to give it a thumbs up or down.

I have just started Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child.  When Callie saw it lying on the table she said something like, "Oh great, just more ammunition against TV and computers!"  I laughed!!  If the introduction is any indication, this is going to be really good!  Although maybe a bit confusing since he is often speaking "tongue in cheek" and I have to reread a passage to make sure exactly what he is saying.

Once I finish this book, I may move on to some fiction.  I bought The Great Gatsby at an antique mall for $1.00.  Then maybe we'll see the movie.  Although I hear there is one with Robert Redford that is better.  Hmmm.