Family Read-Alouds

    One of the great pleasures of life with children is reading books aloud. Over the years there are certain books that we read again and again. If we could only have 150 books on our shelves these are the books we would choose:

• Aiken, Joan: The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Blackhearts in Battersea, Nightbirds on Nantucket, The Whispering Mountain, The Cuckoo Tree, Midnight is a Place
• Alexander, Lloyd: The Prydain Chronicles, Gypsy Rizka
• Barrie, James: Peter Pan
• Beatty, Patricia: The Nickel Plated Beauty, Something to Shout About, O the Red Rose Tree, By Crumbs, It’s Mine, Bonanza Girl, Hail Columbia, Eight Mules from Monterey, A Long Way to Whisky Creek, How Many Miles to Sundown, Master Rosalind
• Burnett, Frances Hodgeson: A Little Princess, The Secret Garden, The Lost Prince
• Carlson, Natlie Savage: The Happy Orphelines series
• Colum, Padraic: The Children’s Homer
• Cooper, Susan: Over Sea, Under Stone and rest of the Dark is Rising series
• Dahl, Roald: James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, The Fantastic Mr. Fox
• De Angeli, Marguerite: The Door in the Wall
• Dickens, Charles: Tale of Two Cities, A Christmas Carol
• Doyle, Arthur Conan: The Complete Sherlock Holmes
• Eager, Edward: Half Magic, Knight’s Castle, Time Garden, Seven Day Magic, Magic by the Lake, Magic or Not, The Well Wishers
• Eliot, T.S.: Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats
• Estes, Eleanor: The One Hundred Dresses
• Fleishman, Sid: By the Great Horn Spoon, The Whipping Boy
• Foster, Genevieve: George Washington’s World, Abraham Lincoln’s World, The World of Christopher Columbus and Sons, Augustus Caesar’s World
• French, Allen: The Lost Baron
• Gilbreth, Frank B. and Carey, Ernestine Gilbreth :Cheaper by the Dozen, Belles on their Toes
• Henry, Marguerite: The White Stallion of Lipizza
• Jaques, Brian: Redwall series
• Kendall, Carol: The Gammage Cup, The Whisper of Glocken
• Konigsburg, E.L.: From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
• Lawson, Robert: Ben and Me
• Lenski, Lois: Strawberry Girl
• Lewis, C.S.: The Narnia Chronicles
• MacDonald, Betty: Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books
• MacDonald, George: The Princess and the Goblin, The Princess and Curdie
• Marshall, H.E.: Our Island Story
• McSwigan, Marie: Snow Treasure
• Milne, A.A.: Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner, Once Upon a Time
• Montgomery, L.M.: Anne of Green Gables
• Moody, D.L: Little Britches series
•  Mowat, Farley: Owls in the Family, The Dog who Wouldn’t Be
• Nesbit, E.: The Five Children and It, The Phoenix and the Carpet, The Story of the Amulet, The Magic City, The Enchanted Castle
• Norton, Mary: The Borrowers books
• Parish, Peggy: Pirate Island Adventure
• Robinson, Barbara: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, The Best School Year Ever
• Rodgers, Mary: Freaky Friday
• Sharp, Margary: Miss Bianca series
• Snedeker, Caroline Dale: Theras and His Town
• Speare, Elizabeth George: The Bronze Bow
• Stevenson, Robert Louis: Treasure Island
• Streatfeild, Noel: Theater Shoes, Dancing Shoes, Ballet Shoes, Traveling Shoes, Tennis Shoes, Skating Shoes, Thursday’s Child, Gemma series
• Tolkein, J.R.R.:The Hobbit and the Lord of the Ring Trilogy
• Travers, P.L.: Mary Poppins and sequels
• Twain, Mark: The Prince and the Pauper, Tom Sawyer, Tom Sawyer Abroad, Tom Sawyer, Detective, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
• Washington, Booker T.: Up from Slavery
• White, E.B.: Stuart Little, Charlotte’s Web
• White, T.H.: Mistress Masham’s Repose
• Wilder, Laura Ingalls: Little House series
• Williams, Ursula Moray: The Three Toymakers
• Winterfeld, Henry: Detectives in Togas and Mystery of the Roman Ransom

Our Family's History Poem

At our house we have a history poem that all our children have learned during elementary school. Some of them have fond memories of this experience. Others like to commiserate with each other on the crazy things their mother made them do. All of them agree, however, that it gave them pegs to hang history facts on as they went on to further studies in history and literature. So, here in all its glory is our family's history poem:

History Poem

About 3000 BC the Egyptians did

slave away on pyramids.

Two thousand years before Christ's birth,

Abraham walked the earth.

In 1400 BC,

Moses led God's people across the Red Sea.

In 1000 BC or thereabout,

David drove the Philistines out.

But in 586 BC,

the Israelites went into Babylonian captivity.

In BC 334 (three hundred and thirty four)

Alexander the Great fought a Greek war.

Though some dates remain a mystery,

at Jesus' birth we divide history.

In AD 476 (four hundred and seventy six)

old Rome fell and could not be fixed.

In AD 622 in the Arabic region,

Mohammed began the Islamic religion.

AD 800, on Christmas day

Charlemagne was crowned emperor they say.

In 1066 with lots of boats,

William the Conqueror invaded the English coast.

In 1215 (twelve hundred and fifteen),

the Magna Carta gave rights to men.

In 1492 (fourteen hundred and ninety-two),

Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

In 1517 (fifteen hundred and seventeen),

Martin Luther said, "Grace is the means."

In 1535 (fifteen hundred and thirty-five),

John Calvin brought the Bible alive.

In 1620 (sixteen hundred and twenty),

the pilgrims landed in a land that was wintry.

On July fourth, 1776,

Americans declared their independence.

In 1861,

the Civil War was begun.

William Tyndale's story is coming soon!

“There are certain facts in history which the world tried hard to forget and ignore. These facts get in the way of some of the world’s favorite theories, and are highly inconvenient.... It is fashionable in some quarters to deny that there is any such thing as certainty about religious truth, or any opinions for which it is worth while to be burned. Yet, 300 years ago, there were men who were certain they had found out truth, and were content to die for their opinions.” ~ J.C. Ryle, 1890

Another Experiment from Archimedes

"Archimedes Principle" explains buoyancy, which is the subject of this second experiment. The student will find that different liquids have different buoyancy. See the last post for an experiment that lays the ground work for this one.

Name of the Experiment: The Buoyancy Experiment

Performed by:________________________________________

Date:_________________________________________

The Problem: Objects seem lighter in liquids. Some objects even float. This apparent loss of weight is called buoyancy. How does the buoyancy of different liquids compare?

The Hypothesis:

The Experiment: You will need: two large bowls, a glass custard cup or small bowl, pennies, salt, and 1 gallon of water. Fill one large bowl with about 2 quarts of water. Float the glass custard cup in the large bowl and add pennies until the cup sinks. The pennies must be added one at a time in such a way that the cup does not tilt to one side. Record the number of pennies on the chart below. Next, remove the cup and dry the cup and pennies. In the second large bowl, add 1 cup of salt to about 2 quarts of water. Stir until dissolved. Float the cup and add pennies until the cup sinks. Record the number of pennies for the salt water. Repeat the experiment two more times to check your results.

Observations:

--------------------------------------------Trial A------Trial B-----Trial C

Number of Pennies to Sink in the Water: ________ ________ ________

Number of Pennies to Sink in Salt Water: ________ ________ ________

Interpretation:

Conclusion: