- The Amber Spyglass – Philip Pullman

- Dark Matter – Tony Watkins

- The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle – Avi

- Detectives in Togas - Henry Winterfeld

- Ginger Pye - Eleanor Estes

- Roller Skates – Ruth Sawyer – reread

- The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger (adult fiction)

- The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde

March 2007

- Follow My Leader - James B. Garfield

- Little Pear - Eleanor Frances Lattimore

- Ella Enchanted - Gail Carson Levine

- Dark Angels - Karleen Koen

- Keturah and Lord Death - Martine Leavitt

- Up a Road Slowly - Irene Hunt

- Jacob Have I Loved - Katherine Paterson

- A Year Down Yonder - Richard Peck

April 2007

- A Single Shard - Linda Sue Park

- The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: The Pox Party - M.T. Anderson (mature readers)

- Princess On the Brink - Meg Cabot :(

- Tomorrow, The River - Dianne Gray

- Mr. Chickee’s Funny Money - Christopher Paul Curtis

- Charlotte’s Web - E. B. White

Phonics

We used Abeka for phonics this year and for consistency sake, I plan on continuing with them for another year. I give them credit for a thorough program. There are a few things I take issue with, such as Manuscript only being a handwriting option (i.e. some of the visuals in kindergarten are in Script) and huge variations between workloads on various days (i.e. some days have way too many workbook pages while others have barely any). I do feel like Eva is well grounded in phonics, though, so I’d give the program about 4 out of 5 stars.

Grammar & Composition

I wish I had known about Shurley English when I was teaching in a classroom. What a great program! Shurley English fits well into a classical model, making just of jingles, chants, and question/answer sessions. Students learn the parts of a sentence by asking and answering questions. This curriculum is great for an auditory learner, but would probably need to be supplemented with more visuals for other types of learners. I like the flow of the teacher’s manual, but I feel like the student workbooks could have been better laid out. Students constantly have to flip back and forth all over the book for different activities. I think it would be better if the student workbook was designed around each lesson, giving all the activities on the same page. Overall, though, I’m impressed.

** after typing this, I went and looked at Shurley’s website, and it looks like a new edition is due this fall, with some of the workbook issues solved. I’m not sure, however, if this is only for the school version of Shurley or also for the homeschool version. Hopefully both.

Mathematics

We’re switching next year from Abeka math to Horizons math. Pretty much all the reviews I have read indicate that Horizons is similar to Abeka math, but better. Both use a spiral method to teach arithmetic, but Horizons apparently does a better job of not overdoing repetition. I’ve heard that for those students that have lost the joy of math through the Abeka program, Horizons is a good fit. Hopefully that will be the case for us too. Again, like in their phonics program, Abeka is thorough, and students coming out of their math program will know their stuff, but in the process I think many stop enjoying math. Horizons is also colorful, something that appeals to my children.

History

We’re voyaging into Core 1 with Sonlight this year, exploring a first year course of World History. I love that Sonlight teaches without textbooks, using “real” books to interest students in history. I’m impressed by some of the books I’ve collected so far. Looks like an excellent program. We’re also doing the read-aloud part of Sonlight, sharing many good books with our children.

Penmanship

I’m going to try out A Reason for Handwriting, Manuscript A next year. I haven’t received a copy in the mail yet, so I don’t have much to go on, but the idea of making presentation pieces based around Bible verses and decorating the borders sounds like something that will appeal to Eva.

Science

We’re going to try Sonlight’s science program for Core 1. I’ve heard that Sonlight jumps around a bit when it comes to science, but we’re going to give it a try and see if it works for our kids. At the very least, they’ll be exposed to a lot of different scientific topics, and we’ll see what piques their interest.

Music

I like the looks of Praising God on the Piano, and I’ve heard good things about it on various message boards. Thankfully, it’s not too expensive, so looks like we’ll give this program a try this year. We’ll probably do a lesson once a week, so I’m still looking for something else to do once a week – preferably centered around classical music.

Art

We’ll be using the Come Look with Me books to talk about various art pieces, and will be producing our own masterpieces with our art supplies.

Preschool

I’m working on putting together Seamus’ preschool curriculum from various books I’m collecting. Our local library has a book cellar with .25 books, so I try to pick up a couple every time I go. Hopefully I’ll have enough soon to organize them into unit studies, and we’ll work from there. I’d like to get some of the Developing the Early Learner books as well as Critical Thinking Press’ Visual Perceptual Skill Builder.

When I was in sixth grade, my class performed book reports in front of the class, pretending to be a character in the book. I chose one of my all-time favorite books (The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin). A fellow classmate chose to be Charlotte from The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. After hearing her review, I quickly found the book in the library, and have loved it ever since.

I love adventure books set at sea. Give me Horatio Hornblower, Long John Silver, or Harvey Cheyne any day. I don’t think I’d ever like to go to sea myself, but I thoroughly enjoy the reading about storms at sea, ship hierarchy, and sailor lingo.

True Confessions (now you know where my blog title came from) is unusual in that it follows the story of a girl. And not just any girl, but a thirteen-year-old demure child who blossoms throughout the course of the story into a freethinking, capable young woman. Charlotte Doyle finds herself on a ship full of sailors seeking revenge on a nasty captain. Her fellow passengers are delayed, and she must make the journey alone to America to join her family. Before the voyage really even begins, Charlotte finds herself “courted’ by both Captain Jaggerty and the sailors (particularly the old, black cook Zachariah), each trying to win her over to their side. In her naivety, Charlotte initially trusts the captain, believing him to be much like her father. She becomes his eyes and ears on the ship, dutifully reporting to him all the crew’s grumbling.

Things come to a head when Charlotte stumbles upon the crew writing a round robin – a sign of mutiny. Feeling torn by duty to the captain, and not wanting to cause trouble, Charlotte finally tells Captain Jaggerty what she saw. The captain shuts down the uprising, but not before killing a stowaway in cold blood. Charlotte is shocked by the brutality, and stunned at the reality of dictatorship that the captain holds over the ship. Captain Jaggerty then proceeds to whip Zachariah, using him as an example to the others. Charlotte looses her temper and strikes the captain, trying to stop the whipping. Later on that day, Charlotte stumbles upon the sailors performing a brief ceremony before committing Zachariah’s body to the sea – yet another victim of the captain’s rage.

Horrified at the consequences her actions brought about, Charlotte presents herself to the crew, willing and able to do her best to fill in the place of a sailor. The crew agrees hestitantly, but only after making her climb the rigging to the top of the ship. Captain Jaggerty allows her to sign articles (as Mr. Doyle), and fully expects her to hold her own. Charlotte learns quickly from the others, and does her best to cause no trouble with the captain. Captain Jaggerty had not forgotten the way Charlotte attacked him, however, and constantly kept a watch on her waiting for a mistake to be made.

Without going into too much detail (I don’t want to ruin the ending!), after weathering a brutal hurricane that Captain Jaggerty makes the crew steer into, an officer is found dead by a knife in the back. Charlotte is accused of murder, and stands trial in front of her peers.

Themes of loyalty, trust, duty, and conscience are riddled throughout the book. If you like adventure stories, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle is worth reading, especially with its unlikely heroine.

The Bowditchers (written by Margaret Giordano) follows the Graham family through a year in their life as the five children commit to work hard and improve at something, inspired by the real-life Nathaniel Bowditch.

What I especially enjoyed about the updated version was the realness I felt for the characters, particularly the boys. I wrestled with Ted as he wrestled through his teenage moodiness. And I cried when he gave his grandmother a Christmas corsage – carrying on the tradition his grandfather had started. Out of all five siblings, Ted was the most complex, showing the struggles many boys go through as they fight their way into manhood.

I did miss a few things from the first version, but that makes me all the happier to have both books to be able to share with my children! I think all of the cuts were wise, though, and the book flowed well. I felt like many of the changes modernized the book a bit while retaining its charm, thus hopefully making it more appealing to today’s children. I highly recommend this book and think that both genders would enjoy it. A great family read-aloud.

The story follows an Athabascan village in Alaska in the mid 1900s, where the narrator “Fred” attends school with her friends. After a procession of teachers who don’t last long in the wilderness, Miss Agnes shows up and turns the school upside-down with her teaching style. She encourages the kids in their own interests, loves them for who they are (fish smell and all), and manages to teach in the midst of children coming and going as their families needed them.

While the book could have been filled with the sentimentality of an inspiring teacher story, instead it comes off raw and real, as you see the children blossom under her care, and Miss Agnes wrestle with her love for the village, and the emotional need she has to return to her native England. Miss Agnes faced her challenges head on, and in true woman-of-the-wilderness spirit, overcomes her troubles.

Taylor’s books were my introduction to Jewish culture from a very young age, and I always enjoyed the chapters focused on the different feasts, eager to learn more about the traditions.

In All-of-A-Kind Family Uptown we find Ella’s steady boyfriend taking part in World War I and Henny “borrowing” Ella’s party dress and staining it with tea. While Uptown lacks the laugh-out-loud moments of some of the previous books, it delves deeper into the richness life has to offer, both joys and sorrows. Ella and her friend Grace mature as their boyfriends are at war. We share in their joy - especially Grace’s as Bill, who was missing in action, returns after the war is over. Ella takes over the house, and all the younger girls contribute as their Mother becomes sick and spends weeks in the hospital. The family pulls through, strong in their bond together.

These books made me long for a large family – and the special relationship that all the sisters shared. Even though they had their differences, the girls stuck together and loved each other (and their little brother, Charlie) fiercely. An excellent series for all young and young-at-heart girls.

Small Steps follows “Armpit” after his discharge from Camp Green Lake. Armpit (or Theodore, his true name) is trying to reenter society and fighting against prejudice and peer pressure. In many ways, Small Steps was the book I expected to read when I first picked up Holes. I expected Holes to be full of bad boy turns good imagery, but was pleasantly surprised by the elements of mystery and magic. Small Steps, on the other hand, felt like just another misunderstood teen book. There was no magic to it (and I don’t mean fantasy, I mean that special spark that pulls you into the story) and the writing seemed course at times.

Theodore falls in love with a famous singer (Kaira DeLeon), who is trapped in her career by her over-bearing step-father. The clichés don’t end there. X-ray (back from Camp Green Lake as well) convinces Theodore to contribute his earnings from his steady landscape job toward tickets for Kaira’s concert, which X-ray intends to sell for quite a steep price. Unsurprisingly, the police get involved, Theodore gets caught up in the midst of the scalping and convinces himself that lying is the only way out, and X-ray gets away scott-clean.

Sachar tries to make the reader feel sympathy for both Theodore and Kaira, trapped in their different paths, but instead, I found myself uninterested in their plights. Sachar’s attempt to make Theodore appear three-dimensional through his relationship with his next door neighbor, Ginny, with cerebral palsy seems forced at best. I kept sensing that I was supposed to feel bad for Theodore because of all the look-he’s-really-a-great-kid-at-heart moments, but instead I found myself bored. The book lacked imagination.

I won’t ruin the ending, but it’s a bit far-fetched in my mind – especially for a book that throws aside all evidence of the mythical/tall-tale aspects of it’s predecessor.

I wouldn’t recommend this book, but still have a fond place in my heart for Holes. Guess I’ll just have to keep hoping that Sachar can pull off another winner sometime in the future, but I’m not holding my breath.