In keeping with the theme of Monday Meanderings…I’ve decided to keep a list of the books that we read.

Here is what we read last week:

1.  An Amish Year – Richard Ammon

2.  Raising Yoder’s Barn – Jane Yolen

3.  Down Buttermilk Lane – John Sandford

4.  What the Moon Saw –Brian Wildsmith

5.  Hot and Bright A Book About the Sun – Dana Meachen Rau

These were all wonderful and they all relate to what we’ve been studying.

On the Shelf This Week:

1.  Molly Bannaky- Alice McGill

2.  John and Tom – William Lange

3.  Homespun Sarah – Verla Kay

4.  Chocolate by Hershey A Story about Milton S. Hersey – Betty Burford

5.  The Canada Geese Quilt – Natalie Kinsey-Warnock

6.  The Mystery at Snowflake Inn – Gertrude Chandler Warner

7.  Caps For Sale – Esphyr Slobodkina

8.  Dinosaur Days – Liza Baker

9.  A Picture Book of Davy Crockett – David A. Adler

10. Saving the Liberty Bell – Megan McDonald

11. Bear Shadow – Frank Asch

12. The Moon Book – Gail Gibbons

13. Magic School Bus Takes a Moonwalk – Joanna Cole

14. About Space – Jana Carson

15. My Spring Robin – Anne Rockwell

I could separate these books by child, but the truth is they all listen to all of them so why separate them? Some of these books I have read before - like Caps For Sale…but as children grow there is a need to re-read what has been read before, and for Caleb this will be a new book, for the others a good book re-visited and read again by themselves during their own reading time, and for me- a joy as we do not own this book and it is worthy…

I have a secret I will share…I can hardly read one of these books without tears forming…for example, we have been reading The Canada Geese Quilt this week…it is a beautiful story about a little girl who loves to draw and her relationship with her grandmother…it isn’t a sad story…and yet, for some reason the beauty of the story and the gentle weaving of words well written tug at my heart – and I can hardly make it to the end of the chapter. Tears form and push at the edge of my eye lids and I have to pause, take a breath, and then push on… this is especially true when I’m pregnant.

I have no idea what my children think when they see this, but they are used to it…it happens to me all the time…I think they think it is just part of the story. They just wait patiently until I catch my breath and push the tears aside…

I have an even harder time when we are reading of the birth of Christ, His death, or the Resurrection. My heart nearly breaks…

You might be wondering about a “girl” book being read to a boy, (and a girl too – as I choose The Canada Geese Quilt for Bethany) I wondered too…but Aaron hasn’t complained and at the end of each chapter I’ve heard those precious words...from him - my boy… “Read another one Mom! Another one! Another chapter. Please!” And I usually do.

As Charlotte Mason says…learning is about forming relationships with things.

Note: The above are all library books. We are also reading Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Book basket books will be books we have checked out of the library - supplemental /additional reading.  

blessings,

dani

God will fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy. (Job 8:21)