Books

What We’re Reading–Christmas 2011–Christmas Throughout American History

“Christmas School” is always an important part of the school year around here. We spend two to three weeks annually, learning about Christmas customs and traditions, reading Christmas books, and making Christmas crafts. Our handwriting, copywork, dictation, and memory work assignments are also always Christmas related, usually in the form of Bible passages. We still do our regular math, as well as Latin review, but pretty much everything else is Christmas-themed.

This year, instead of the focus being on “Christmas Around the World” as it has been for the last three years, we’re looking at “Christmas Through American History,” (since we’re studying American history this year). It has been a little more challenging putting together a book list this time around, because it’s harder to pinpoint specific parts of American history through Christmas literature. I think it’s turned out OK, though, and we’re having a great time reading some fantastic books!

Read-Alouds–Organized by the year in which the story is set and/or the year in which it was written/published.

Nutcracker Read-Alouds

Biblical/Religious Storybooks

Book Basket Books–(These are any Christmas books we happened to have in the house, some from past “Christmas Around the World” units, and some from previous curriculum, or just for fun!)

*These books are more Santa-heavy than I would usually allow, but they are either culturally relevant to American history, (such as The Night Before Christmas and Yes, Virginia: There is a Santa Claus, which are poems/stories everyone should be familiar with), or good at telling part of American history, (like How Mrs. Claus Saved Christmas, which deals with Christmas in the New World).

What We’re Reading–Thanksgiving

I know I mentioned most of these books in my third grade reading list earlier this year, but there have been some additions, and I thought it would be helpful to have our Thanksgiving selections listed together in one place!

Book Review–“Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy”

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, by Eric Metaxas, is one of the best biographies I’ve had the opportunity to read. I’ve been wanting to learn more about this Lutheran hero, so I was very excited when Thomas Nelson sent me a copy to review. It’s a pretty long book, (over 600 pages), which may seem intimidating, but it’s so well written and fascinating that you can easily forget you’re reading a biography.

I’m familiar with the story of Bonhoeffer’s bravery and sacrifice in World War II, so while I enjoyed reading about that, what I was really interested in, and what this book provided amazingly well, was the story of Bonhoeffer’s early years. What shaped him into the man he would become, a pastor involved in an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Hitler?

I was surprised to find that when Bonhoeffer was growing up, he didn’t have the Christian upbringing I assumed he had. While his mother was a spiritual person, she didn’t think that attending corporate worship services was necessary, and his father wasn’t a believer at all. Bonhoeffer actually feared telling his family of his decision to go into the pastoral ministry, as it wasn’t an “approved” profession to them.

Of course, the more familiar part of Bonhoeffer’s story was also exciting, and went into more detail than I’d previously had the chance to read. It’s a tense, riveting tale, and really makes the reader think about what his or her own actions would be in the same situation.

This book made Bonhoeffer more real to me; helped me understand the decisions he made and the actions he took. I’d highly recommend it to anyone interested in history, whether the world, military, church, or Lutheran varieties!

What We’re Reading–Third Grade

Here’s a list of the books we’ll be reading this year in third grade, either as read-alouds, or readers for Turkey and Bunny to work on independently. Many of them are part of the Adventures in My Father’s World curriculum, or their book basket list, but a good deal of them are extra books I chose to complement our studies. Some of them have been read before, either in school, or for pleasure. This list doesn’t include any books I may add as we go along, or whatever books Turkey and Bunny will choose to read on their own–and I’m sure there will be many of those, as well, thanks to the library!

History/General Reading:

Thanksgiving:

Christmas/Nutcracker: (This year, we’ll be learning about Christmas throughout American history, using the American Girl books as a guide to different decades.)

Science:

Horses:

It’s interesting to note that the reading level of these books is all over the place. Some are early readers, which are obviously easy for Turkey and Bunny at this point, but are still useful for learning. Others are full-length novels, and will be challenging for them, both in reading level and content, but will also be good learning tools. One thing is for certain–our curriculum is definitely literature heavy!

What We’re Reading–Summer 2011

I thought I’d share some of the things our family has read so far this summer, or is currently reading, or will read soon, either on our own, or together.

Ryan and I have some books we’ve been working on, too:

As you can see, our interests are very diverse. In short, there’s just not much we don’t read!

Book Review–“Heart of Ice”

Thomas Nelson was kind enough to provide me with a copy of the newest installment in Lis Wiehl’s “Triple Threat” series, Heart of Ice, to read and review. I have been a big fan of this series since I read the first novel two years ago, and this book was the best one yet, the kind of book that you keep reading until the middle of the night, just to find out how it’s going to end!

As far as mystery novels go, this one was a little different, because the reader knows who the villain is right from the start. (She leaves a trail of death and destruction in her wake, leaving Portland wondering at what seem to be random and unrelated crimes.) The triple threat club, on the other hand, doesn’t have a clue, and they’ve unwittingly let the killer get close to them, and to their families.

Elizabeth Avery seems like someone you’d want to get to know–she has a glamorous, albeit mysterious, past, she’s beautiful, she’s fun, and she seems to be exactly what you want her to be. But she’s hiding the fact that she’s really Sissy Hewsom, a woman who won’t let anything get between her and what she wants. A cold-blooded killer at age 13, she’s managed to cover-up her past, but hasn’t changed a bit.

Identity theft and actual theft are just a game to her–and she’s so cold-hearted, she doesn’t even hesitate at the thought of killing an innocent child. She manages to trap unsuspecting people in her web, using them to commit crimes she doesn’t want to dirty her hands with, including arson, several murders, and even setting one man up to “commit suicide” to further hide evidence.

How will the triple threat club ever realize the truth about Elizabeth? Will Cassidy discover it trying to find out the motive behind the murder of her television station intern? Will Allison learn the truth when talking to her deadbeat sister who has come to live with her? Or will Nicole be able to step back from her personal problems long enough to put two and two together, before someone very close to her becomes Elizabeth’s next victim? Who will discover that the beautiful girl-next-door is really a vicious killer with a heart of ice?

Book Review–“Mine is the Night”

I have been anxiously awaiting the sequel to Liz Curtis Higgs’s Here Burns My Candle for the past year. I was fortunate enough to receive a review copy of Mine is the Night from WaterBrook Press, and I couldn’t wait to get started!

As always, Higgs does an excellent job of setting a well-known Bible story (Ruth and Naomi this time) in 18th century Scotland. Her attention to detail, from the dialogue, (written with Scottish inflection), to the clothing, to the setting, to actual Scottish history (the Jacobite uprising) is amazing. You really start to feel as though you are there when reading one of her novels.

Her attention to detail in remaining faithful to the Biblical account is also outstanding. While Biblical fiction is one of my favorite genres of novel, I’m always a little nervous that the author hasn’t done his or her research, or taken too many liberties with the story, or added details that may actually contradict with the Bible. I never have that problem with a Liz Curtis Higgs novel, however! I will say that she has me returning to my Bible over and over again, wondering if “that was really in the story”–even for stories I thought I knew really well. But the answer is always yes–that did happen! I’m not saying that the story of Ruth was actually set in 16th century Scotland, (this is classified as fiction, after all), but when it comes to the important details of the story and the characters, it remains faithful to Scripture, which is a must for me.

I thought this book was a bit stronger than the first of the two-part series. I was able to “get into” the sequel must faster–maybe because I was already familiar with the characters, or maybe because the sequel deals more directly with the Bible story, whereas the first book dealt more with back story that isn’t in the Bible. Overall, I will admit that I still like the “Lowlands of Scotland” series better–while I loved the characterizations of Ruth and Naomi, there was something about the story of Jacob and his family that was so beautiful and moving, I can’t imagine ever liking another book (or books) better.

Book Review–“The Organized Home Schooler”

I received a review copy of The Organized Home Schooler by Vicki Caruana from Crossway Books. I was pretty excited about reading this, as I’m always looking for new ways to organize, and because we’re in the midst of transitioning our school room to a new space. I have to say, though, I found the first 10 chapters to be pretty dry, and not particularly helpful. The “Heart Matters” at the end of those chapters (example–remembering that I’m a steward of the school supplies God has given me), seemed way too preachy and patronizing to me.

Six of those first chapters dealt with different things in our lives that need to be organized (thoughts, time, space, supplies and materials, paperwork, and family), and I didn’t take away much from them. There was an interesting section about public vs. private space in the home, complete with a list of ideals Frank Lloyd Wright had when designing spaces, (I really liked “the house shelters the family not only from nature, but from the world itself”) but I found that to be a more general home design issue than a home school one.

I did benefit from the last three chapters, however. These focused on the actual organizing of the school room (great suggestions!), a filing system, and a whole chapter of lists (I love lists!). This was all very useful information, and I definitely have some ideas to implement in our school–including a hard one to hear: “if you can’t keep it neat, you have too much stuff.”

I wish the whole book had been as useful to me as those last three chapters, but even so, the content of those three chapters was excellent and very helpful. I don’t know if I’ll actually become more organized, but at least I have some good ideas from another homeschooling mom who’s been there, and is succeeding!

www.crossway.org/blog

Book Review–Hand of Fate

I recently finished Hand of Fate, (provided to me by Thomas Nelson publishers) the second novel in the “Triple Threat” series by Lis Wiehl. I’ve had the book for almost a year, but I wanted to wait until closer to the third book’s (Heart of Ice) publication–waiting a year between books one and two was awful, and I didn’t want to make that mistake again!

I really like this series. The first book, Face of Betrayal, was very exciting and suspenseful. I enjoyed being introduced to and getting to know the main characters in that book, and I was really looking forward to learning more of their back stories in future books. Because I enjoyed the first book so much, I had high hopes for Hand of Fate. I wasn’t disappointed!

The second book in the series focuses on the murder of radio personality Jim Fate, who also appeared in Face of Betrayal. As the “triple threat club”–FBI agent Nic Hedges, federal prosecutor Allison Pierce, and TV reporter Cassidy Shaw–begins to investigate Fate’s untimely death, they come across many people who had motive and opportunity for murder. But who really did it?

The reason I like this series so much is because I don’t know “whodunit” by the third chapter. Actually, I had no idea who the murderer was until he (or she) was actually revealed. I don’t find these to be typical suspense novels, because most are so very predictable. Instead, these books feel more like reading an episode of 24.

My only complaint about this book is that, also like 24, a whole lot of bad stuff seems to happen to all of the main characters in a very short amount of time. You have to wonder if three friends can all really go through that much trouble together. That seemed a bit far-fetched to me, but those were really side stories; the main story I found to be excellently written, with just enough suspense to keep me reading all night.