We are finished with what I had planned for summer and school doesn't officially start until September 3 (with our after-schooling schedule beginning the week after that).  Still, learning takes place anywhere anytime. 

Hubby was "on vacation" this week so there is a lot more TV going on in the house.  But also bedtime read-aloud time is longer.  He is working his way through the Ready Freddy series of books by Abby Klein.  They are twaddle, but it is good bonding time for them that doesn't include TV.

I read "A Pocketful of Cricket" by Rebecca Caudill, which S5 and I both liked.  It is a sweet little story of a boy who makes friends with a cricket and takes him in his pocket to his first day of school.  There is a great narrative in the beginning of his journey to the cow pasture to drive the cows back home and all he encounters on the trip.  Also, in reading about the author, we discovered that she was born in KY, which is where we live.

Another good story was "Uncle Jed's Barbershop" by Margaree King Mitchell about a man who never gave up his dream even though he faced obstacles along the way.  Part of the story took place in the Great Depression, but mainly we just talked about it being a story from a time before they had many cars.

We also read the first "Boxcar Children" from Gertrude Chandler Warner.  This came off our school read-aloud list for fall, but it's sometimes hard to time things right when you are using the library.  We both like this too and may read some others in the series.

One of the readers from the Rainbow Resouce catalog I requested from the library came in - "The Best Fall of All" by Laura Godwin.  It is a "Ready-To-Read" Level 1 book.  S read this twice.  This was very easy for him, but I am sticking with Level 1 for now to give him some more practice reading aloud and more confidence in his ability.  A bunch more readers came in so we'll be trying them out.

So the next two weeks will be more of the same.  And of course, if an educational oppotunity pops up, we will take advantage.  I will blog about any special things or any books we just really love.