Weekly book shelf, 5/23/14

In history this week we are mainly reviewing—stuck getting familiar with medieval China. Lon Po Po a book that we've had on our shelf and enjoyed for many years. It is a retelling of the Red Riding Hood tale in which three young girls (rather brutally) do away with the wolf. Stunning visuals add to the richness of the story in this book.

In science, after a few weeks hiatus already, we are still off script, only now we are more thoroughly exploring the human body. Calvin is preparing a project to enter at the 4H Youth Show that will demonstrate his knowledge of the body systems, something he learned quite a bit about over the year. Jakab's Our Body series (about the Circulatory, Nervous, Respiratory, Muscular, and Skeletal systems) has been immensely helpful on this study.

Lastly, and long awaited, Calvin has finally discovered the Harry Potter books. It happened when he put on a pair of toy glasses and my mother commented that he looked like Harry Potter. The books have been on his shelf awaiting his interest for years, but all of a sudden he decided there was no time to waste in plowing through them. And I really do mean no time to waste—he read the first four books in the series (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) this week and is already starting on book 5.

And we started a new read aloud this week. The His Dark Materials series is a long time favorite of mine and I've been looking forward to the time when Calvin wanted to read it with me (I'm not willing to let him read it alone—I want to discover it again with him). So we started it this week, and I was right—he's entirely in love with the idea of daemons.

Weekly book shelf, 5/16/14

We went completely off script in History this week. Jon had jury duty at the federal court in Detroit. He got up at 5am every morning this week and drove into the city, missing some rather important things at his regular job, to hear a case that, as he summed it up, came down to a dead beat looking to get money from the government. He found it rather disheartening, but we used the situation to take a closer look at the judicial system in our country. I can't necessarily recommend this book (it was the best option our little library had on the shelf and our study decision came too late to order title from other libraries), but it certainly did the trick.

Also off script this week in science. Calvin kept coming up with all these great ideas for mixing and combining, so I got the Mixtures and Compounds book off our shelves. He gave me a list of materials he wanted and I set him loose on the driveway. When he was done it looked like a rainbow had exploded (thanks to the food coloring) and I was completely out of a number of kitchen staples, but Calvin was one happy boy.

Calvin did a literature study of The Magician's Elephant this week. Although I am not a fan of all of DiCamillo's work, this and Edward Tulane struck my fancy. In this story a young orphan boy refuses to give up the belief that his sister is still alive somwhere, and a fortune teller predicts that an elephant will bring them together. Add magic and adventure and you have a heartwarming story.

And in free time this week, Calvin devoured Eyes of the Killer Robot. Jon was a fan of Bellairs's books when he was younger and had encouraged Calvin to give them a try, but until now he'd been a little nervous of them—concerned that they would be scary. I can't imagine why, when the story involves a young boy who must put a stop to the robot his professor has assembled, an evil killing machine that wants his eyes. I think he did find it scary, but he read it all the same. Not stellar writing, but still a step above junk food. Maybe trail mix with chocolate.

Weekly book shelf, 5/9/14

In history this week we reviewed our study of the rise of Islam (SOTW2 ch.6-7). With all the activities we've had in the past few weeks we haven't had enough time to keep up our chapter-a-week pace, and it was time to make sure we at least remembered what we had already read. Aside from rereading the chapter in the SOTW2, we also revisited some favorite picture books from that study, including this marvel by Demi. Beautiful illustrations accompany smoothly written text in this story of Muhammad's life.

We also spent our evening read aloud time rediscovering the Arabian Nights classic. Since it can trace its roots back to the middle east, I count this as the epic ethnic work from that location.

In science again this week we are focusing on identifying birds. This is a great time in Michigan to get out and do some bird watching. It's migration time, and this is a major stop for warblers, and other birds, on their way to their northern breading grounds. Since the trees are fairly sparse at this time, and both visiting and returning birds are so busy looking for next materials and prospective mates, this is an excellent time to see bird activity. We've spent many days out with our favorite field guide identifying our brief visitors.

And along the same track, we fished out our picture book biography of Roger Peterson. It is a well written book, intended to capture the fancy of young naturalists. The illustrations are a real selling point, too. It's a favorite in our house.

For literature study this week, Calvin read The Twenty-one Balloons. This is a mid century French children's novel that really takes irony and absurdism to the extreme. I found it tiresome, Calvin found it hilarious, but I think for both of us it is going to turn out to be rather forgettable.

Weekly book shelf, 4/25/14

In history this week we explored ancient Japan (SOTW2, ch. 9). There weren't a lot of good non-fiction book recommendations for this chapter, so we did some research in our encyclopedia and online, and read these two picture books to add some color to our study. The Crane Wife is a retelling of a traditional Japanese folk tale. A man saves a crane's life and is surprised by the way this kindness changes his life. Beautiful story, beautiful artwork.

In the Moonlight Mist is a traditional Korean folk tale. When a man saves the life of a deer, he is granted a wife. They are happy and have a daughter, but what will happen when he doesn't follow the rules of the enchantment? This beautiful and delicate story is coupled with stunning illustrations.

For fun, we also added some origami into our weekly history study. Because...origami. This was a good kit from Dover—three books with patterns of easy to increasing difficulty, and plenty of papers to work with in varying sizes.

In science we are still reviewing BFSU Volume 1.

Calvin's literature study this week was The Borrowers, by Mary Norton. This is the story of a tiny (really tiny) family living in someone's kitchen. They live rather happily, but when one of them is spotted by the full size humans in the house their life as they know it is suddenly threatened. The charm (and for me the greatest annoyance) of this story is the dialectic language of the tiny family. Calvin enjoyed it, because he seems to enjoy everything, but it certainly won't be a long time favorite.

Weekly book shelf, 4/18/14

In history this week, Ancient China and the Grand Canal (SOTW2 ch. 8). Harrington's book about the history of the Grand Canal is a fantastic non-fiction resource for kids, but it's out of print and hard to come by. We got ours by luck at a used book store.

Another great resource for us was the Engineering an Empire episode on China's engineering the Grand Canal. We love this set. We originally bought it for easy access to the episodes about Egypt and Carthage, but having it on our shelf for all these other topics has been great.

In science this week we are still, still reviewing BFSU Volume 1. But we also started our bird watching practice for the local Science Olympiad that is coming up in about a month. Plus it's migration season, so there are a lot of birds to see. We mainly use the Audubon bird guide or our local Michigan bird guide, but lately we've been using the Peterson youth guide so Calvin could read up on some species identification in the field.

Calvin's literary study this week was Time Cat, by Lloyd Alexander. A boy meets a talking, magical cat that takes them on adventures through time where the pair meet famous historical figures and undergo a variety of adventures good and bad.

And for some extra reading time he read Berkeley Breathed's youth fiction Flawed Dogs. We have his picture book Pete and Pickles and love it, but it's definitely dark and not for everyone. So I read this one first, and it follows the same pattern—dark and not for everyone, but with a sweet message in the backfield. A dog in a loving home is framed for a crime he did not commit and slated for euthanasia. He escapes, and from there withstands terrible abuse and hardship in different situations before finally finding his way back to the girl who loved him first, and redeeming his good name. My only problem with this book is the appearance of an angel at the end who is instrumental in setting everything right. It seems too easy and too out of place.