Something To Look Forward To- July 2014

Tomorrow it will be July and I, for one, am looking forward to some new releases!

California by Eden Lepucki

Release date July 8th

Here's what I know: 

It's a dystopian novel about a couple that leaves L.A. to live in the wilderness, then find out they have a baby on the way. Worried about their ability to provide on their own they seek out the nearest community, but soon discover that it's not as great as it seems... Yada yada yada... something about danger and trust. Sounds interesting if, like me, you enjoy dystopian works.

Four: A Divergent Collection by Veronica Roth

Release date July 8th

Here's what I know:

This is NOT A NEW STORY. This is all four of Tobias's back-stories in one neat package. The Transfer, The Initiate, The Son and The Traitor are included plus three other scenes that may be new, or may just be a ploy to sell this book as new material. I'm not sure, but I am looking forward to finding out!

Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands by Chris Bohjalian

Release date July 8th 

Here is what I know:

This is the tale of a recently orphaned and homeless teen girl who is driven by the guilt (of what her father MIGHT have done) to run away, hide and recreate herself. The best part? She is greatly inspired by her favorite poet who also happens to be a poet I love, Emily Dickinson. I know you are going to roll your eyes at me, but I am a sucker for a literary character who is into literature! Tessa in the Infernal Devices series and Rosemary from The Secret of Lost Things to name a couple. I am excited about this book!

The Mockingbird Next Door by Marja Mills

Release Date July 15th

Here is what I know:

One book. This chick wrote one book. Total. In her life. She wrote one book that has sold more than 30 million copies and been translated into more than 40 languages. She wrote one book that is read by 9th-12th graders all over the country. She wrote one book that the American Library Association claims "ranks at number 21 of the 100 most frequently challenged books of 2000–2009". This is a book about what it is like to live next door to a vibrant old southern lady that has slammed the door on interviewers for decades. This will be a good book.

Hopefully I will be able to get my hands on one or two of these in the near future and tell you what I think. I'd be interested to hear what you think as well!

It Must Be Free!

I have lately been browsing through pins and blogs of cheap summer fun for school age children and have noticed something distressing.

No matter how cheap the activity is, when you are accumulating supplies for an entire summer worth of games it gets expensive. I have spent roughly $60 on 2-3 weeks’ worth of activities. They were all very reasonably priced at $2-$4 per child, but depending on how many children will be participating even that can be a lot.

So I am on the hunt for FREE, completely $0.00 games. We have had 2 successes so far.

1. Sponge toss- 

You will need:

- any kind of household sponges

-a bucket or dishpan of water

- sidewalk chalk.

Draw a target on the driveway or sidewalk and throw the wet sponges at it. Add up you points… or don’t! Winner gets to pick the next activity out of a hat.

I couldn't get a good picture of ours so here is one from a BuzzFeed article

2. Musical exercise-

You will NEED:

- paper

- cones, chalk or rope

- music

Optional are:

 - ball

- jump rope

- skip it

- hula hoop

- any other kind of activity equipment

Use the cones, chalk or rope to make a large circle and place any equipment inside. Write various exercises on pieces of paper (ex: jumping jacks, sit ups, bunny hop, jump rope etc...) and place them around the circle. 

Tell the children to go around the outside of the circle as the music plays at a walk, run, skip, crawl, crab walk or whatever you can think of. When it stops they should pick up the nearest paper and do what is on the card while you count 30 seconds then the music starts and they start walking around again. For little kids you could put pictures of what they should do on the paper. 

My kids lasted for 10 repeats of this with 6 activities in the circle, but needed several drink breaks!

Past and Present

As Gwen and the kids I watch in the summer get older (happens every year, believe it or not!) I have had to go more and more out of my ‘little kid’ comfort zone for activity ideas.

Two years ago the summer Olympics was taking place in London, so we did an Olympics theme. We had an opening ceremony where we ran the torch around the yard. There was swimming, track, gymnastics, hula hooping, and jump roping competitions, along with many more. We each picked a country to represent and researched those countries and their competitors.

Last summer we did art and artists. We explored Van Gogh, Monet, Da Vinci and more. They made their own versions of famous paintings and tried different styles and mediums. I could only find a few pictures of them.

This summer I thought we would try building and architecture. It’s not really something I am good at(not that I am great at sports or art!), but as there are so many ways to build and things to build with we are going to run with it!

Our first building experiment was a success! I gave each child 40 foam cups, 25 band aids and a whole book of stickers.  

Cost was $3 per child.

Activity lasted 45 minutes.

Prep time was 1 minute and cleanup was about 5 minutes.

Just a dream

Summer around here has a slightly different flavor then any of the other seasons. Many of our 'regulars' (Kids that come 10 months out of the year) are missing and our 'occasionals' are frequent and sometimes there are kids here for only a few weeks out of the whole year or one day a week for a couple of months. Really, it's just a little dizzying to tell you the truth. So, of course, our schedule suffers a bit. It gets tweaked and adjusted until it barely resembles our normal routine. 

It all turns out alright. I plan a loose theme that is very shallow but entertaining and flexible. I'll tell you what I would love, though. I would love to take a classic book like Tom Sawyer, Treasure Island or The Secret Garden and base our whole summer program around it. 

I would read them a few chapters a week. Plan appropriate games, crafts and field trips. Really delve into the time period and the culture and have fun with it. 

Weird, I know. It's just a dream. It's just the crazy homeschooler that I have become, mixing with the nerd I have always been and creating wackiness. 

It is also impossible. There is no way with kids here random days and hours to really get into any kind of thematic unit with any depth, but it's fun to think about. 

Maybe some day I will run a literary summer camp!! 

Oldies but Goodies

There are days when I look around and realize that I am not in the mood for ANY of the books in my TBR (To Be Read) pile

Or the TBR 'bookshelf' on my kindle...

Or the one on my NOOK...

Or the one... Well, you get it. None of them look right.

Sometimes, like last week, the book I want to read is one I haven't bought yet. I am anxious to get City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Claire, but I am trying to have a little self control since it just came out and is still in hardcover. In cases like this I often have to fall back on an oldie, but goodie. This months comfort read is the Narnia series. 

People often ask me how I can read books over and over. I respond with a question,

How can you watch movies or shows over and over?

How can you hang out with the same friends over and over?

How can you go on the same amusement park rides over and over?

If you do any of these things then you really could understand me if you wanted to.

Ironically C.S. Lewis agrees with me!

In Summer!

"Bees that buzz. Kids that blow dandelion fuzz, and I'll be doing whatever snow does in summer!" (Frozen music is permanently ingrained in my head! Help!)

Ah, Summer! 
Pools
Beaches
Zoos
Flowers
Sleeping in
and summer reading


In the past we have been members of a large, heavily funded library in the county next to ours which has a phenomenal summer reading program with bags, stickers, bookmarks and tons of coupons for free food at local stores as the prizes. Since we did not pay what I consider to be an overly large amount of money for that membership this year and since our small, privately funded library cannot afford anything so extreme, I have decided to come up with my own program. 

Gwen has a LARGE summer long goal of 4,000 pages and will receive a $25 Barnes and Noble gift card for reaching that goal. 

She also gets smaller prizes every 400 pages (Maximum of one per week!) which include things like a free water ice at the local ice cream place, a new game on our tablet, and a trip to YoGo.

What do your kids do for summer reading?