More Books

But first a shot of my birthday present, a fancy Ninja blender.

Purple cabbage in a smoothie is actually really good. If there are enough berries, you can't taste the cabbage. And finally I found something to do with the cranberries I somehow over-purchased at Thanksgiving. Costco sells giant bags of frozen spinach and kale, so I tossed some of it in on top of the bottom layer of frozen raspberries, blueberries and blackberries. Someday maybe a Vitamix, but for now we're having fun coming up with combinations. So much better than making smoothies in the food processor. Knocking down those suggested daily servings of fruits and vegetables while hardly even trying. Until R gets tired of smoothies, which I'm sure will happen soon.

I wanted to keep a record of some of R's favorite books right now. This one was from Santa this year. It's one of the most entertaining books I've ever read.

"The antidote to fuzzy thinking!"

It's such a funny, imaginative treatment of a dry subject. My favorite part of studying logic was always the examples of bad arguments.

These are far and away her favorite books right now.

Beautifully drawn cartoon of the Japanese folk tale, "The Boy Who Drew Cats." We are big fans of the animated version narrated by William Hurt. We checked out several versions of the tale from the library, to compare illustration styles.

Three books that happened to be on the dining room table. A friend gave me Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain in high school, and we're starting lessons from it. I wish I knew what happened to my original copy. I found this one at the thrift store.

This is a fantastic book to teach shape, color and composition. How powerful lines are, the emotions they evoke.

And finally, another book to immerse yourself in, by the author of The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Brian Selznick. Wonderstruck.

From the website: "A boy named Ben longs for the father he has never known. A girl named Rose dreams of a mysterious actress whose life she chronicles in a scrapbook. When Ben discovers a puzzling clue in his mother's room, and Rose reads an enticing headline in the newspaper, both children set out alone on desperate quests to find what they are missing.

Ben's story, set in 1977, is told entirely with words, while Rose's story, set fifty years earlier, is told entirely with pictures. The two stories weave back and forth before ultimately coming together. Rich, complex, affecting, and beautiful–with over 460 pages of original artwork–Wonderstruck is a stunning achievement from a uniquely gifted artist and visionary."

The Power of Free Voluntary Reading

Bedhead, pj's, a comfortable couch and a good book.

Homeschooling frees up more time for reading. Hours spent immersed in a book that you chose yourself, that you're reading purely for pleasure. No book report or quiz at the end. Reading, and enjoying reading, is the end in itself. A reader picks up grammar and vocabulary without knowing it. A child who reads a lot learns to structure sentences, and take pleasure in the rhythm of language.

Recently I started reading Stephen Krashen and watching his presentations. This site links to great resources about the benefits of free voluntary reading, from Dr. Krashen and others. There are studies that prove that reading for pleasure physically changes your brain, and makes it grow (increased cortical thickness). Common sense observation shows that free reading improves general knowledge, vocabulary, independence, language competence, writing, and motivation to learn. The research backs up and confirms common sense conclusions.

We have books stashed everywhere, and cozy corners that are good for reading. 

A whole row of Great Illustrated Classics. R got involved in the process of collecting them, hunting at thrift stores and looking online for used ones. This September she finished reading all of the 50+ ones we own. 

At age 11, she can read lots of classics in their unabridged versions. But the feeling of accomplishment, of collecting these books, setting a goal to read all of them and then reaching that goal, was a great motivator. I hope our house has a culture of books, an environment where they are valued and appreciated, and always available. We try to protect free time, so R has the time to choose books and to read as much as she wants.

We like to make a special event of listening to audio books together. Dickens is the best, especially with a good, expressive reader.

We're starting a collection of the lives of the saints. She has several saints' anthologies too. 

A treasured Christmas gift from my Dad this year. The Access to Shakespeare editions with facing-page translations in contemporary English. 

"A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end.You live several lives while reading." --William Styron.

This is a great shelf. Narnia, Lemony Snickett, Harry Potter, and Tolkien's books. My old copy of my favorite book as a kid, Harriet the Spy. 

I love this quote from Paul Auster: "Reading was my escape and my comfort, my consolation, my stimulant of choice: reading for the pure pleasure of it, for the beautiful stillness that surrounds you when you hear an author's words reverberating in your head." I think it's a mistake for schools to fill students' days with "reading skills" instruction, vocabulary quizzes, and assigned books with a dreaded report as the reward for finishing. The free time so necessary for voluntary reading is eaten up by schools assigning hours of homework a night, and by parents overscheduling extracurriculars and lessons. The books we pick up for "pure pleasure," with the anticipation of escaping and going somewhere else for awhile, are where we learn to be literate. "To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life."  --- W. Somerset Maugham.

Bookworm

The first cold Saturday of fall, a book sale at the library, some interesting fashion choices, and a happy reader with her arms full of books.