Earn free books

The Barnes and Noble summer reading program is available to school-aged children in grades 1-6. Just download and print a reading journal, read 8 books, and take the completed and signed reading journal into your local Barnes and Noble book store between May 21, 2013 and September 3, 2013 and they will let your child choose a book from the free book list. 
you might be asking what kinds of books could we get? 
Well, there's a wide variety of free books available for kids from the Barnes and Noble summer reading program, here are some- 
  

Grades 1-2:

Calendar Mysteries Series #1: January Joker by Ron Roy 

DK Readers: Lego Legends of Chima: Tribes of Chima by DK Publishing 

Fancy Nancy: Nancy Clancy, Super Sleuth by Jane O' Connor 

Jorge el curioso: El baile by H.A. Rey 

My Little Pony: Meet the Ponies of Ponyville by Olivia London 

National Geographic Readers Series: Dolphins by Melissa Stewart 

Pete the Cat: Play Ball by James Dean

Grades 3-4: 

The Adventures of Captain Underpants by Dav Pikey

Ellray Jakes Walks the Plank by Sally Warner

How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell

Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary

Traitor in the Shipyard: A Caroline Mystery by Kathleen Ernst

Grades 5-6:

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko

Books of Beginning Series #1: The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens

Esperanza renace by Pam Munoz Ryan

Hoot by Carl Hiaasen

Remarkable by Elizabeth Foley

The Tail of Emily Windsnap by Liz Kessler

Tuesdays at the Castel by Jessica Day George

Wings of Fire Book One: The Dragonet Prophecy by Tui T. Sutherland

    

The Barnes and Noble summer reading program also has parent and educator activity kits. These kits include fun activities about reading that can be completed with a child.

unSchool the begaining

beginning
ok, I'm going to do it!
...I think, if I'm brave enough ;)
I've been feeling the tug for years, but recently the whisper has turned in to a shout. So, I have prayerfully made the decision to try unschooling my children, kind of...
I have been homeschooling (to many types to count) since I was in third grade, now my oldest is starting high school... I don't want anyone doing the math but that gives me 18+ years.
The way that worked the best for me, I mean that I learned the most and retained the best, was unschooling... only they didn't call it unschooling back then, if I remember right I think they called it neglect...
My oldest is a descent student, although he refuses to spell correctly and his handwriting truly is like chicken scratch, he is bored with school. He has no desire to learn about his school subjects. I would really like to find things that spark his interest.
My 7th grader is different though, she is like me ...it drives me CRAZY... she gets distracted after just a few minutes. She needs a full post (or lots more) to describe her... at this point I need a whole new way of thinking, not just *out of the box* never been in a box is more like it. I'm going to try to get her more opportunities to unschool. I think she will be my most successful unschooler. I am going to start with a math program called Life of Fred, it is a totally different approach to math.

for sample pages:
http://www.stanleyschmidt.com/FredGauss/31samplepages.html

I am also planning to do this course myself, I hope to be able to go through the whole series to the college level work :)

My second grader is my humbler, my challenger,... he'll need his own set of blogs ;) in a lot of ways he is still doing kindergarten work, but I see jumps and sparks in him and have faith that he will do wonderfully.

AND this year I'll have a new school student, my fresh kindergartener, he isn't interested in school at all. I wonder if the baby will learn to read before him. I'll have to be careful not to spoil any love of learning I can eek out of him.

so it begins... I'll keep you posted on my failures (and hopefully my successes)


Changing Education Paradigms
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U
This animate was adapted from a talk given at the RSA by Sir Ken Robinson, world-renowned education and creativity expert and recipient of the RSA's Benjamin Franklin award

Creamed Nettles {Gream Soup}

Every spring I like to try something new from the yard, this year I tried the stinging nettles, I've been wanting to for long while. Nettles are very high in minerals, especially, iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorous, manganese, silica, and iodine. They also provide chlorophyll and they're a good source of vitamin C, beta-carotene, and B complex vitamins. Nettles also have high levels of easily absorbable amino acids. They're ten percent protein, more than any other vegetable. It is also very easy to recognise, seeing as how it STINGS you.

 

Ingredients:

• 1/4+ cup butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1+ cup milk (as needed)
• soup pot full of nettle leaves
• onions, mushrooms, zucchini, can of corn, leaks, cooked potatoes (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste
• dash nutmeg, lemon pepper, cayenne (optional)

Preparation:

Nettles: pick lots of leaves, spring of fall is best. wear gloves, wash & chop. Fill the pot with leaves wet from washing, cover, low heat for 10-20 min 'till leaves are wilted. next I put them in the blender with more water (1 cup) if needed, if I have zucchini or mushrooms I steam them with the nettles and put them in the blender, too, but I put the onion into the blender raw.

while steaming the nettles I melt the butter over low heat. then blend in flour until smooth. Cook until mixture is smooth and bubbly. Gradually add milk and cook, stirring, until thickened. Add blended nettles and veggies. Corn can be added now. Cover and cook stirring occasionally, until hot. Season with salt, pepper, and others of choice. let cool, serve.

My husband said it was good but tasted/smelled like fish, not sure where that came from?

The kids helped me pick the nettles so there were stems and even some roots nothing I had read said to just use the leaves so I lest them in, BIG MISTAKE the stems didn't blend well so when I was eating I had to keep pulling out fibers and woody stems, and when carefully washing I must have missed a root or two because there was dirt in it... yum :/

But I thought the flavor was very good {I had 3 bowls} and would like to make it again.

Audio Books for Kids on YouTube

When the kids are doing their jobs they like to listen to books on tape (or cd) we have slowly acquired a few, but they are rather expensive. Some of our favorites are Harry Potter.
I have found that there are audiobooks on youtube.com
so far we have listen to:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (I love Jim Dale)
Percy Jackson and The Sea of Monsters
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Percy Jackson & The Titan's Curse
Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone (the reader on this one is Stephen Fry)




We plan to find more treasures :)

Audiobooks for kids

Audio book for kids grades K-3...
My sister was looking for some recomendation for her young daughter so these are the ones I thought would be best: Witch Wendy, James and the Giant Peach, Fox in Socks, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Mouse Tails, Junie B. Jones series, Little Bear, Paddington Bear, Frogs wore Red Suspenders poems,...

and it gives me a chance to use this new Amazon link thing :)