Mom Is Teaching

You know, my handwriting is horrible.  I don’t really know when it went so terribly wrong but it was never really pretty.  I remember looking at my peers handwriting and wondering why I didn’t have that style, the neatness, those curly letters.  The only answer I ever got was “I just didn’t”.

Then, there’s the idea of reading the written word and getting something out of it which is technically more important than the actual manner in which the letters are drawn, right?  I mean, thus far, my son’s handwriting in kindergarten is not a very pleasant sight to see.  But in my opinion, no handwriting coming from the male gender is very pretty.

Yet, I digress.  Again.  As usual. 

My husband doesn’t understand this love of “writing” that I have.  Not the actual act of putting letters on paper or letters on a screen, but the out-pouring of my soul to you, the world.  Even the nice lady who let me room with her at Mom 2.0 Summit said the idea of putting out 8 or 10 posts a day made her feel sick.

So, why do I love it so?  I don’t know really, but I know it’s important to me.  And, I know it’s important as a lifetime achievement to be able to put words on paper (or a computer screen).  More and more often employers are asking their prospective employee’s  to give a writing sample.  And, again, they are referring to the ability to communicate, not necessarily the ability to draw letters or peck on keys.

Here’s another article expressing much of my sentiment..and I’ll just say, it’s a lot better written…as in communicated.

You know, my mom told me a few months ago that I needed to put my computer away and spend more time with my kids.  To her, it seems, I’m too busy for the boys.  Possibly the boys feel the same way.  I hope not.  But, I have made a more concerted effort as of late to put it away and spend some time with them before bed. 

I’m no stranger to the idea that reading to your child can and will foster a love of learning.  I’ve never been much of a book reader and still not terribly fond of fiction, I prefer my television to be reality and I like memoirs much more than I like fiction.

But, the important part is for kids to see the adults in their life reading.  For the most part, my 4 year old knows that I am on the computer “so we can go on vacation” but when he sits down beside me, he almost always insist that I find him some photos of babies to look at.  And, I do.  But, it is odd to me that he really thinks that’s all that goes on, baby-watching.

My six year old knows about the “so we can go on vacation” but he also understands that there’s a ton of words on the screen. He is reading now and has been for some time and so at night as we sit down together for him to do his “homework”, it is painful to watch him as he tries to put words out.  But, he does it, and he does it quite well.

I don’t really think it was anything we’ve done because I know we haven’t been diligent enough in our efforts to read to our children and I’m going to do more of it.  And I mean it!

I know that most of you homeschool but at some point I’m sure you have had to leave your children in the care of someone else while they wrangled and groped at your leg with wails and tears.  As a daycare owner, I think I’ve seen kids pull out all the stunts. 

The blogosphere as been very good to me by the way of introducing me to great people.  One of those people is Megan Calhoun.  Megan is a very successful woman, she is the brains behind TwitterMoms and if you aren’t a member there yet, you should definitely go check out all the women (and men) who are enjoying the site. 

Now, Megan can add author of Oscar the Pig to her repertoire.  Oscar the Pig can be found on Amazon or at OscarthePig.com  Her book was produced by Silly String Media and as the name implies, they do work for the silly at heart.

Oscar the Pig has to have a sitter because his mommy has to go to work and he is not very happy about it at first.  His sitter, as sit turns out has an awesome imagination and teaches Oscar the fun in meeting new people and learning new things. 

If you get a chance and need to help a child through that all important stage of separation anxiety, by all means, get this book.  Megan really does a a great job.  And, look at this cover, how can you resist this?

I’ve been trying to basically respond to comments via email.  However, I decided that this comment deserved its very own posts…for several reasons.  One of those reasons is just what I’ve been discussing here which is, it isn’t good enough to say “Homework should be banned” or “Homework is Necessary”.  You must be able to back up what you are saying. 

And, thus far, I’ve been won by Sara Bennett and Nancy Kalish’s The Case Against Homework.  I’ve given you plenty of examples and for those of you who remember, this entire conversation about homework started when I blurted out about how much I hate homework.  I was expecting teachers everywhere to slam me for it and instead I received multiple comments of support. 

However, the time has come, the following comment was issued,

Dr. Sanford Aranoff Says:
September 17th, 2008 at 7:45 PM e

Homework is necessary, as it gives students the opportunity to think about the work and to use examples. See “Teaching and Helping Students Think and Do Better” on amazon.

Before I say anything about this, I’m not sure how the title of this book relays any information about homework, but stick with me, ok?

So, upon finding the book on Amazon, I read the description.  It reads like this:

These are things I said teaching high school to help clarify the ideas to the students. This will help students to think better and clearer, to enjoy school and to be happy, to do better on tests and to get better grades, and to be more successful in life. Teachers can read this to get ideas how to better teach and to relate to the students. There is nothing as exciting as working with young minds! It is organized like a Help file, with table of contents, topics and subtopics, and index. One can jump to any topic and read it. It is not like a heavy book that one must read everything.

I can see no where in the description that the book has anything to do with homework.  Instructional time?  Yes, but that’s not homework.  I think we all agree here that instructional time is optimized and the manner in which instructional time is used, then of course the product of education is greater.  But, thus far I can see no way that this book has anything to do with homework which is the claim made in the comment.  I will not be buying this book.  If Dr. Aranoff feels strongly enough that the book will change my mind, I will willingly read it, but he will have to send it to me.  The description just doesn’t equal his comment thus I’m not buying it.

So, stay tuned and let’s see how it plays out….

Finally, I’m getting to the real basis behind Sara Bennett and Nancy Kalish’s book; homework.  If you haven’t gone out and got your copy of their book, The Case Against Homework, you should do that now.  I’m on a roll as I’ve read the first half of the book and want to discuss some of it before I move to the second half.  So, with that, I give you homework:  go get the book and get the first half of it read by weeks end.  How does that feel?  Daunting?  I’m sure it does because first of all, you don’t know how many pages that is, you don’t know how easy it will be to read and understand (it’s easy) and you basically are being ordered to do something you may or may not be interested in doing. 

With that in mind, how much vigor will you have in completing this assignment?  Unless you fall into the category of parent, teacher or researcher, you probably aren’t terribly interested.  But, do it anyway, ok?

I’m going to start with an example.  If you happen to read my personal blog, Mom~E~Centric, you know that prior to the start of school, I posted a copy of my son’s supply list.  I figure most of you are already familiar with the items that you can be asked to provide.  When I wrote about my son’s list and questioned some of the purchases, an old friend who is a parent and a teacher replied to me. 

She taught second grade for many years and is now a reading coach.  Her reply to me about the list went something like this, “All those years I made out those supply lists without giving them a second thought.  It wasn’t until I had my own children with their own lists that I realized how ridiculous some of it was.”

Now, take that and apply it to homework.  Because that’s just what happens.  Teachers give so much homework that a child’s free time is totally non-existent.  Then, when those teachers become parents, they realize what it is like to walk in the door each afternoon and start doing homework.  Not only that, they realize what it is like to still be doing that homework at bedtime.  And, sometimes, that is enough for the teachers to back off the homework assignments in their classes..at least a little bit.

Bennett and Kalish address in the book with much research to back it up.  But, the fact of the matter is this, teachers aren’t trained in the area of “giving homework”.  The book gives example after example of teachers who say that they took many classes on instruction but never once did anyone explain to them what a good homework assignment or project was.  Not one. 

How would you feel if you went to the doctor for brain surgery and doc had been educated about the brain, educated about how it works, the anatomy, the physiology and such but not once were they ever taught how to cut open the head?  Or maybe it is a ob/gyn and he learns all about how to take care of pregnant women, but they never learn how to do a c-section or how to help a woman birth a child that’s held up in the birth canal.

Neither of those examples sound very appealing do they?  So, why would we put our educators through some vigorous (and trust me, I have a degree in education, some of the stuff is not easy) training while explaining to them that homework is necessary but we never teach/train/instruct them as to what a good homework assignment looks like or what project best teaches what unit of instruction?  It is completely nutso.

I do want to add as a physical education teacher, I took a class called Test and Administration.  That class was strictly about how to construct a student’s grade in physical education.  But, apparently, our regular educators aren’t given the same instruction.  They aren’t taught how to recognize a good assignment and/or how to weight assignments so that learning is maximized.

How can that be?

Discuss.

At age three, my very own flesh and blood was out of control.  Part of it was because his parents *ducking my head in shame* didn’t know how to deal with him, part of it because he really has attention issues.  My children have never been TV watchers and I am a firm believer that TV fosters some forms of ADD.  Is there research to back that up?  I don’t know, but my thoughts go like this.

If you watch regular television, you get 3 minutes of a show, 20 second commercial, 30 second commercial, 5 minutes of a show, 30 second commercial, 20 second commercial, 30 second commercial and now another 3 minutes of the show.  Does anyone see where I’m going with this? 

Television fosters ADD in my opinion because there is no consistency and definitely no chance for concentrating on one thing for any length of time.  I was fortunate that my child (and now both of my children) aren’t very fond of the ol’ tube. 

However, I had him tested when he was 3 regarding his speech issues (which weren’t issues at all, he just didn’t talk as soon as I thought he should have) and he tested out at that time at the second grade, seventh month.  That’s fairly high for a 3 almost 4 year old.  The problem was, even when the doctor was trying to test him, he couldn’t keep Walker still long enough to ask him more than one question.  He didn’t ask Walker to sit down and be still.  He allowed him to roam the room at his own will, but when he got an opportunity, he would leer him in with various questions, pictures of drawings, crayons and the like. 

Let me tell you that I really like this doctor and from the word go he has proven to me that he has the best interest of children in his heart.  To me, that’s terribly evident by the fact that he didn’t take my child into a room and expect him at 3 almost 4 to sit down and “take a test.”  He approached it with the developmental age of my son in mind.

At that time we were given some exercises to try to help him learn to concentrate.  His speech turned out to be fine and we were on our way.  At that time the doctor asked me what my view on medicating ADD children was. 

And, so here you get my opinion, regardless of whether you agree with me, it’s mine and I own it and I’m going to share it.  I will not medicate my child until it is obvious that he is not learning at the rate he should be because of his lack of concentration.  If that means I have to deal with an extremely active, education seeking kid who is constantly asking questions and spitting out information that he has soaked up somewhere else, then that’s what I will do.  If he never sits still to watch a TV show and I have to stay on my toes to keep him challenged, then that is what I will do.  I will not medicate my child strictly to benefit myself.  Period.

At the same time, if his behavior at school becomes disruptive to the point that the teacher can’t keep him challenged and motivated and he is interfering with the learning process of the rest of the class, I will at that time consider homeschooling him or medicating him.  I REFUSE to make that decision before hand because as it stands right now, he is not doing any of the above and I’m not making a decision now regarding an issue that may or may not come up in the future. 

Right now my son basically talks too much.  He received P’s (progressing well) on his first report and an S (satisfactory) in “recites his name”.  The P’s were for “learning to stay in his seat”, “learning to talk less”, “learning to get along with others”, etc.  I talk to his teacher regularly (almost daily) and other than the fact that he wants to talk, she says he is fine.  He isn’t mean, he doesn’t hit and punch or try to get other kids in trouble, he merely talks and talks and talks. 

I’m sure none of you have a clue where he got that gene, eh?

While we were traveling last week, I managed to read a couple of books and post about them in great detail.  I’m not finished, just adding some other things to the mix as the day by day activities arrive. 

On Saturday or Sunday, I received an email from Tom Hanson who is an editor of Open Education.  He had read some posts from this site and read many of the posts and comments regarding homeschooling.  He sent me a link to the site where the discussion seems to be regarding Sugata Mitra and Minimally Invasive Education - Confirmation for Homeschool and UnSchooling Proponents. 

I took a few minutes to read the information at the above link.  And, I have to tell you, if you have a minute, it is definitely a good read.  I love research but normally I find that the manner of the writing afterwards is so technical and difficult to read that I abandon it. 

But, this article is written in very easy jargon and I could easily see the point of Professor Sugata Mitra’s research with the hole in the wall project.

“According to Mitra, without any instruction, these underprivileged children were able to achieve a fundamental level of computer literacy. In his follow up work, Mitra determined that the children, ages 5-16, had little if any prior formal schooling and could not speak English.

Mitra’s “Hole in the Wall” experiment revealed that even without the direct input of a teacher, if there is an environment that stimulates curiosity, then it is possible for children to self-instruct and share pertinent knowledge. Because of its fundamental structure, Mitra dubbed the entire process “minimally invasive education.”

I think this is the premises behind what the homeschooling parents have been trying to make me understand since I took over this blog.  It is amazing, I see it happening with my own eyes.  I just know that unless something radical happens (and my next post about public schools not homework is one step toward radical), I don’t feel I am cut-out for homeschooling.  And, as I’ve said many times, I will do what is best for my child and if it were to come down to me needing to homeschool in order for him to succeed, then I would definitely try it.  But, for the most part, I’ll stick with the public schools for now.

But, this article, this article is extremely thought provoking and every parent, teacher, administrator, etc needs to see just how important their role is in teaching our children.

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I read the entire first half of The Case Against Homework by Sara Bennett and Nancy Kalish in one beach setting practically.  And, I marked stuff through-out the book as I went.  I had planned on giving  my copy away in a contest here on the blog but after I started reading and making notes, I simply can’t let it go, I must keep it for myself.  Sorry.  The book is readily available at most book stores in paperback and is really cheap by book standards.  So, go get you one, loan one from the library, but definitely get it, make some notes and just try to keep up with me as I throw my two cents in the bucket.  I dare you to try to keep up because honestly, I am on a roll here.

I’m going to start with the idea of medicating children.  As a teacher, I witnessed the drug Ritalin turn a little boys life from a living hell to one conducive to learning.  This child in particular was definitely seeing the right doctor.  Basically, here’s how it happened.

I was teaching 7th and 8th grade science and a friend was teaching kindergarten.  This little boy, Johnny (of course this is not his real name), was to take a certain dosage prior to leaving home and then the school was to administer another dose after he ate lunch.  But, if the directions were followed in that manner, the medication would wear off about the time the child got off the school bus and he and mother arrived home together.  Mom absolutely couldn’t deal with him so she would purposefully forget to medicate him before he left home.  This would mean that the school would have to give him his medication after 8:00 AM.  Consequently, his second dose wouldn’t be due until closer to 1:30 or 2:00 PM.  And, if he were medicated in that manner, mom would would have a nice calm child at home and would not be forced to deal with the super-hyper one.

Now, there were many other issues with this child including what I believed to be abuse, physical abuse.  He had too many authority figures but not one that was consistent.  I know that grandma was in and out of the school with him, I know his mother was the one he looked to for his medication (when the school wasn’t responsible for it) and I know he had some older siblings that were left in control part of the time.

Anyway, back to the original point I was trying to make.  My point was about medication and medicating those who actually need it versus those who get it simply because no one wants to cope with them.  I became involved like this.

On the days that his mother would miss his dosage in the morning, he would be completely unbearable in the kindergarten classroom.  So, as his teacher would return from the office where she had the medication stored, she would leave the child, a coloring sheet and some crayons with me. 

I watched this child sit in a chair with his worksheet and crayons on the table.  Initially he would be under the table, under the chair, he would take out a crayon, scribble a big scribble on his paper and toss the crayon across the table.  The crayon would roll to the floor and boom, he was under the table on his hands and knee’s, under the chair, doing anything but coloring his worksheet.

Within 20 to 30 minutes the kid would transform from that child above to one who was sitting quietly in his seat, coloring and putting the crayons back in the box one at a time.  Now, that’s when my revelation came that sometimes medication is necessary and some children simply can’t cope without it.

My husband as ADD.  He was lucky that he went to a public school that could handle is intelligence and ADD.  Basically, as I’ve mentioned many times before, Boy Genius is indeed a genius.  But, his teachers had resources for him so that when he finished his work way ahead of the others, he would find something to do, read a book, play chess, work on the computer, etc, so that he didn’t cause trouble.  He wasn’t medicated as a child and apparently it wasn’t necessary.

However, as an adult, he takes medication for the ADD because his ability to work on one project, finish it and then move on is non-existent.  Not long ago when I went to his job to pick up his paycheck, his boss and I were discussing Boy Genius’s need to invent things.  Let me note that Boy Genius has saved his boss a substantial amount of money because of his inventions, but sometimes, it is simply more than anyone wants to deal with.  Finally, his boss added, “I just want him to finish SOMETHING, it doesn’t matter to me which project he works on, just finish it before moving on.”

I couldn’t help but laugh because I’ve told Boy Genius that very same thing many times in reference to projects at home.  Just please finish SOMETHING. 

Now that this has become extremely long, I’m going to move on to why I refuse to medicate my 5-year-old in a later post.  But, at least you do have some ideas of where my knowledge has been gathered.  I have first hand experience as well as all of the data and research in the book by Bennett and Kalish.

As I’ve mentioned I’ve been reading The Case Against Homework by Sara Bennett and Nancy Kalish.  I made notes through-out the book as I read it and some of them seem pointless now as I go back and look, but others are definitely issues that I can add too.  I want to get this written before I start reading the second part of the book, so unfortunately, you get bullets.  And if I know me, some of the bullets will have its own bullets and it may even take me a few days.  But, I just think it is important.

Remember, most of this applies to public schools, public school teachers and public school students.  However, you can learn so much, it is worth it to read it just for the research.

And, not only that, I grew up in a different generation and I never had the amount of homework that children today lug home day after day.  So, excuse me if I approach some of this with snark.  And, if you are a public school teacher that has or will have one of my children in your room, bare in mind that I am the person writing this, not one of my little cherubs. 

• The purpose of homework in the first place.  In the book you will read example after example of children who bring unbelievable amounts of work home with them each night.  Here’s some of my main thoughts on this matter, some I’ve already mentioned in a previous post, others are brand new:
  • The homework is for the child not the parent.
  • Yes, parents need to be teachers so that their children are able to learn by mimmicking many of their behaviors.
  • The parent who sends her child to public school  however, should not be responsible for all of the child’s learning.  Basically, parents shouldn’t be forced to homeschool their children at night. 
  • In most cases, the parent has worked an 8 hour job, and the kid has done just the same.  A child’s work is to learn and most of them have been in school all day doing just that, learning.  The parent nor the child wants to take on a second job at night.  Both parties need to be allowed to rest and relax after a hard days work.
• Have you ever watched kids as they come out of school buildings around you?  Most of them have a backpack on their back that weighs substantially more than what is healthy for them to carry.  I have a cousin in the eighth grade and up until she was in the sixth grade, her mother would carry her backpack inside and then go inside in the afternoons and carry it out.  This sixth grader was small for her age, but if her backpack was too heavy for her to carry, chances are she had too much homework in the first place.
• I wrote just last week about children who are suffering from sleep deprivation.  It is extremely common in our schools right now for kids to act out simply because they aren’t getting enough rest.  And, they aren’t getting enough exercise.  The two go hand in hand.  The child comes straight home from school and starts homework.  That sometimes takes all evening and the child eventually goes to be too late.  Now the kid had no time to burn off energy needed to be tired, they are mentally exhausted but have you ever had one of those nights when your brain was tired but your body didn’t really feel tired.  Well that’s exactly what happens to our kids, then the next day, they take any opportunity they can find to be active and then….then they end up in trouble.
• How many hours a week do you work at your regular job?  For most folks it is 40.  Your child basically spends 40 hours a week doing school work to besides homework.  Now add an extra 2 hours of work to their work day because of homework.  Now your child has worked a 48 hour work week.  How well do you function when you are forced to work 48 hours in five days and maintain a level of expertise that is almost impossible.  Heck, you do it so well, you could probably stand to work a few  hours over the weekend, maybe during your vacation you could paint the house or something.  Come on, give me a break. 
• The j-o-b of a child has 2 components.  One of those components is to learn.  Children are natural sponges.  They are going to learn from their surroundings.  If they have adequate rest, they are going to continue to take in pretty much everything that is put in front of them.  Their other j-o-b is to play.  Yea, you read it right.  A child’s job is to play.  Playing, pretending, even organized sports to some degree allow a child to perform his duties as a child.  So, why, as adults are we not simply letting those children take responsibility for their j-o-b’s?  I have not the answer for you here, I just know that somewhere down the line, someone became misguided and our children are missing out.
• And, that brings me to this statement by the authors of The Case Against Homework, “Learning is maximized and made most efficient and effective when you allow a period for consolidation.”  People, that is not brain surgery.  How well do you perform your job on Monday if you spend the entire weekend doing laundry, cleaning bathrooms, cleaning floors, painting the house, mowing the lawn?  Don’t even answer that because you and I both know that we have a saying called TGIF and for most of us, we mean that weekends are meant for vegging not working.  Well, guess what, children need that same opportunity. 

I’m going to close this here because the next part I have on my mind requires a little bit more of my own thoughts.  So, until next time……….

In one of my earlier posts, the one where I tell you how ridiculous I think homework is, someone commented by referring me to the book The Case Against Homework by Sara Bennett and Nancy Kalish.  Since that time, Sara herself has commented on my the blog and I’ve been in touch with her through email as well.

While we were on vacation at the beach, the weather folks were calling for a day of complete rain (all the result of Gustav), so being the smart woman that I am, I rushed out and bought the book (which I couldn’t find in the book store before I left home). 

I want to make sure that everyone understands what I’m saying here is in no way bashing people who don’t agree with me.  If you home school and this is not an issue, you might want to read just so you can see how public school children live.  If you are a teacher and you are a “homework giver”, you should definitely read and check the research before you continue on the beaten path.  If you are a parent and you’ve about had all the home work you can tolerate and it’s only the third week of school, you need to make sure you read the book and get heavily involved in the second part.

I haven’t even read Part Two - Ending Homework Hell yet because I wanted to write about some notes I made on the first half of the book first.  I think if you get lost, you can probably go back and read my post on Homework that was posted about 2 weeks ago. 

In the coming days, I’ll be referencing many items in Bennett and Kalish’s book, so watch ahead and keep your feelings off of your elbows because I might not be too nice.

We are in Panama City  Beach, and Guido Gustav has been fairly friendly thus far…we just got here last night.  Today was great.  Gustav did make a turn back toward the East it seems and we will probably be cooped up inside all day tomorrow with a 3 and 5 year old as it appears the wave surge may make it into the pools even. 

But, no fear, because I found a Borders tonight that had The Case Against Homework by Sara Bennet and Nancy Kalish.  I’ve also been busy reading Stop the Homework.  Sara Bennet commented on this post of mine on Friday of last week, be sure to check it out as well.  I was so excited I almost pee’d my pants.  I’ve been reading The White Trash Mom  by Michelle Lamar and Molly Wendland and noticed today on the beach that I only have 50 pages or so to go….and I was like, oh no, find a bookstore…today!  And, I did, and I bought it and I’m so excited.

Please excuse me for cross-posting this all over the place.  It is that good!!!

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Around here summer time means fair season. There is a small traveling carnival that visits several towns in the areas. hitting ours in later summer/early fall. Between the over priced rides, tons of junk food, and pens of animals stinking in the heat it’s part magic and part nightmare. Sure the fair is a far cry from the amazing attractions county fairs used to be, but in a kid’s eyes this place is spectacular.

It never fails that every year the adults complain that it’s even worse than last year, and every year the kids mange to sweet talk far too much money out of us on rides and games.

Over the weekend I was digging around a history teaching site that a friend mentioned I should check out. There are a bunch of great little lessons on various parts of US history. One lesson that really struck out is this one of the book Charlotte’s Web and the traditional county fair. The original lesson plan is only for download so I saved it to my Good Docs section to share with anyone who can’t download it. The link should be open to anyone without needing to login, but if you get an error let me know.

Charlotte’s Web was one of my favorite stories as kid. How could you not love a book with talking animals and an amazing spider? Today I love how un-sugar coated the story is. Death is a part of the storyline, not in an explosive dramatic way, but in a normal sense. Yes, Charlotte kills the bugs, but she has to to live. yes she dies, but her children live and move on. Sure Wilber is trying to avoid death, but that in itself share a little piece of farm life (where does your bacon come from?).

I think I’m going to see about adding Charlotte’s Web to our summer reading list, hopefully just in time for the county fair to come here. Anyone else?

Charlotte’s Web, county fair, lesson plans

I love Barefoot Books! I would love to spend a few hundred dollars there on all the books they have. There are just so many cute ones! So when I got an email letting me know that they are having a special sale right now I got excited. OK, I squealed and did a little dance. I’m a dork and I can admit it.

Anyway, I wanted to pass on the savings to everyone else. Head over to my favorite Barefoot Books stall and look at what they have marked down. My three favorites right now are A Calendar Of Festivals: Celebrations from around the World, which is marked down from $12.99 to $9.99, The Faerie’s Gift, which is marked down from $16.99 to $9.99, and Gingerbread Man, which is marked down from $14.99 to $12.99. There are a lot more books marked down right now for the holidays. You can also chck out the gift area where everythign is catergorized to make it easier for you to find what kind of book you are looking for. Books for boys, girls, the whole family, and more.

And while you’re there sign up for the mailing list to get emails of new specials and products when they have them. It’s how I know when everything is going on sale right away.

By the way, they are still holding a book drive to donate books for Page Ahead. It is a great way to provide books for at-risk children. If you are interested you should check it out.

books, children’s books, Barefoot Books, sales, specials

I hope everyone enjoyed children’s book week! It was tons of fun writing about my favorite books and finding out what books others love. To me reading is so important, espcially in children. I could get lost in a book for hours, something I’ve done since I was a child. If you haven’t yet go back and read my book suggestions and what books people shared in the comments.

• Wild Child by Lynn Plourde
• The Children of Noisy Village by Astrid Lindgren
• Rikki Tikki Tavi by Rudyard Kipling
• The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
• Mercer Mayer’s Critter
• Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barret
• The Neverending Story

And now for what I know you’r really here for… the winner. One comment was choosen at random to earn a free book from PaperBackSwap. And remember, even if you don’t win it’s still free to join and receive used books delivered straight to your doorstep. I really think every homeschooler should join.

OK, the winner is… Activities Coordinator

books, children’s books week, contest, paperbackswap

Today is the last day to get your coments in! Tomorrow a winner will be announced!

Today I wanted to share my favorite book that was turned into a movie. Many great children’s stories become Hollywood inspiration sooner or later. This is one that, while the movie was not completely true to the book, still has my heart. So much so, in fact, that my youngst son’s name is Atreyu Sabastion. The book is The Neverending Story

As a book worm myself I loved the idea of being truly sucked into the story. Becoming so connected with a story that you are a part of it, that you can guide and control how the story will unfold. And that somewhere the characters you are reading about are really racing along through the plains. and the characters, they were amazing to me. A dog like dragon, a child like empress, a rock eater. They were all so amazing and fantastic that I felt connected to each of them. I remember laying in bed and crying when Atreyu’s horse Artax gives in to the Swamp of Sadness. As a child The Neverending Story carried me away and really helped open my imagination.

What books carried you away as a kid? Was there a story that you became emotionally wrapped up in? To the point of naming your children after characters? How about favorite books that later became movies? We all know that the movies are never as good as the books, but some are still amazing film adaptations worth watching.

The Neverending Story, books, movies