Literature Circle Club

Our Park Day kids happen to be fantastic thinkers. Over Christmas break I asked the families we meet with weekly if they would be interested in participating in a Literature Club Circle. The goal of the meetings would be to read through a Roald Dahl story together a few chapters at a time and discuss the story in a group to enjoy a more enriching reading experience. I couldn’t wait to discover what these younger thinkers would have to say.

Literary Circle Meetin pg1We decided to start off by reading James and the Giant Peach together. All of the kids are either reading the book to themselves, or having it read aloud to them 4 chapters at a time. I created a curriculum to use with the kids which asks them to think about a specific literary device in prep for each meeting. Our kids range from 3 years old to 6th grade, so I worried if we were asking too much of the kids, but I decided to default to my optimism and believe that the kids would be excited to learn from one another no matter what age.

I have been blown away.

Not only are the kids sitting down for 20 to 30 minutes to thoughtfully discuss literary devices at the park, with play equipment just a few steps away mind you, but they politely argue their points and ask amazing questions. I set up the expectation at the beginning of the meeting and make sure everyone has an opportunity to speak, but otherwise the whole event is kid led. Our most intriguing question yet has been from an 11 year old boy, “Is the Peach a character?” We’ve met three times now, and we keep coming back to it. The group is divided, but we have spent a good deal of time discussing the merit of each position. Our kids are going to be experts at reader response criticism by the time we finish this book.

Our next book to work through is going to be Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, complete with visit to the local jelly bean factory as a field trip.

Homeschooling is kind of the best, and I’m blessed to be able to use the skills I learned in college and my love of children’s literature to engage these students. If you are looking for a similar styled lesson for your group of homeschoolers or your classroom, feel free to visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store and download the curriculum for yourself. I’d be happy to answer any questions you have about the group in the comments or by email.

 

How to Decorate for Christmas

Last year we put up our tree in our new house for the first time and I felt a little bit like tossing the whole thing out the window and starting fresh. I didn’t feel very cheerful last year, so that was probably clouding my vision a bit. I wanted to get a set of matching bulbs and all white lights. I wanted a big bright glowing star instead of the cheap, unlit one we’ve had since our first Christmas tree as a family. But I kept our traditional tree anyways, and this year I’m so glad I did.

garland

This year I’ve decided that we have the absolute best Christmas decor on Earth. “Laziness” is my decorating style in general, as is “Using Stuff We Already Have.” The later is represented with the garland I have hanging in the window. The faux evergreen is the exact same one I have hung every year, always in a different place. At times I have twisted it up around itself and used it as a wreath. I have hung it from the fireplace mantle. I’ve strung it on nails from our front porch. I spent $1 on it at the Dollar Tree the year Rob and I got married. The bow is from a gift basket we received from Rob’s previous job. And the glass bulbs I’ve hung from every different place you can think of in years past. I bought them the second year of our marriage for $8 at World Market. Looking good, cheap stuff.

We have a fake tree because I’m allergic to pine. My husband has come to terms with it, though he was a real tree purist when we met. The tree decorating is great fun no matter how real it is when you’re a little girl, so I put it up the Saturday after Thanksgiving and let the kids go to town. There are many color coordinated trees which I covet in other families’ homes. But our tree is what I’d like to call “eclectic.” See below for an example:

ornaments1

Here we have a plastic bulb which came from the same Dollar Tree purchase as the aforementioned garland; an irreplaceable glass ornament passed down from Rob’s grandparents, which I believe came from Morocco; a pipe cleaner with Borax crystals on it in the shape of a star; a paper origami star gifted to us by a friend; and a piece of paper colored with marker and cut into a circle.

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And here we have a bulb I made out of apple packaging from Costco; a button covered bulb I made 7 years ago; three of the glass nativity themed ornaments Rob’s mom gave us a few years back; a cinnamon salt dough ornament; a glass bulb I bought at the thrift store; yarn I wound up and hung in the tree; and a cardboard horse cut out by one of the girls.

 

 

 

Basically, I let the kids hang whatever the heck they want to in the tree. If it gets hung in the tree, I put it lovingly into the decorations bin at the end of the season and the next year it becomes a treasured ornament lovingly placed with care on the tree for the rest of our lives. The result is a very full tree. It doesn’t even match itself, but I love it.

Nazca Lines

We’re using Story of the World for our family history lessons. Story of the World is a chronological history text, beginning with the Fertile Crescent. The girls enjoy using the Story of the World text, the activity book coloring pages, and then YouTube videos of documentaries and stories as supplementation. Obviously, the girls enjoyed the ancient Greeks, and reading the myths and stories of the gods. What I didn’t expect was how enthralled they’d be with the chapter on the Nazca Lines in Peru. I guess I didn’t expect it because I didn’t even know they existed.

This is my top favorite thing about homeschooling. As we go through these quality textbooks I am exposed to all sorts of information that I never knew before. And if it was something I knew about, I have a great excuse to learn even more about it for the sake of educating my girls. It’s a win/win.