May & June Happenings

 May and June have been full of fun activities.

We celebrated some birthdays and now have 3 teenagers in the family!  

We wrapped up the bulk of our school work.  During the summer, we are keeping up with math, playing games to review history, grammar, and math, and continuing with reading and spelling for the younger ones so we don't lose any of the progress we worked so hard to make this year.

That has left the kids with time to work on their experiments and projects.  Such as the homemade wooden bowling pin and bowling ball that my oldest made...

And a helium trash bag balloon with a camera attached...lost the balloon (but not the camera) and ran out of helium before they got all the bugs worked out.

My oldest daughter got a drawing published in Young Rider magazine (the one in the green frame on the left side of the 2 page spread).

Several of the kids are learning to make bread and pizza.  The loaves below were made by my 11 year old son -- completely independently.

We went out to the beach at the Texas City Dike, where the kids played in the water and the sand...

Public service announcement: Make sure you put sunscreen on your feet too!  I didn't even think about it.  And paid for it dearly!

And we took a trip out to Conroe to pick blueberries.  We've gone a number of times since the kids were little.  I have NEVER seen so many blueberries before.  They were coming off in handfuls!  Big, juicy, sweet!  We collected 58 pounds (~11 gallons) in just 2 hours.

I used some of my birthday money to revamp my flowerbeds, putting in some zinnias to give us color during the summer and fall, but make room for the bluebonnets in winter and spring.

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June 2021 Books

Biography

 None this month.

Classics

Persuasion

by Jane Austen

Anne Elliot is the middle of three daughters of a vain baronet in financial distress.  Her older sister is just as vain, and her younger sister is also selfish and silly.  Seven years before the story begins, Anne broke her engagement to Captain Wentworth because a respected family friend persuaded her that he wasn't suitable because of his low position and lack of wealth.  He has come back now, rich from his years as an English navy captain.  Their paths cross and they eventually discover that they still love each other and will not be persuaded by others to the contrary this time.  I read it in about a week, which is a record for me with a Jane Austen book.  So, that tells you I liked it. :-)

Newberry

Caddie Woodlawn

by Carol Ryrie Brink

A year in the life of 10 year old Caddie (based on the author's grandmother) growing up in 1864 Wisconsin.  Her father has tried an experiment with her -- letting her "run wild" with her brothers instead of confining her inside to be "a lady."  She and her brothers have all sorts of adventures, and she ends up learning what it really means to be a lady -- and it's not just being prim and proper and putting on airs.  A delightful story, well deserving of its Newberry Medal.  Very clean.  No profanity, gory violence, or sexual content.

Nonfiction

The Way of the Master

by Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron

Ray Comfort explains how necessary it is to use the Law (the Ten Commandments) and the coming judgment day when telling people about Christ -- it opens their eyes to see their guilt, brings true repentance, and gives them reason to seek a savior.  Very challenging and convicting and encouraging. Kirk Cameron lends his name as a way of increasing the book's appeal to those who know his from his TV show fame. There is quite a bit of graphic description of violent crimes, both real and hypothetical, that prevents me from heartily recommending it for my teens.

Just For Fun

From Castles in the Clouds

by V. Gilbert Beers

One of a series of books featuring Bible stories retold, followed by a Maxi and Mini Muffin story illustrating a lesson from the Bible story.  I've bee reading this to my little boys at bedtime.

Read-aloud

Paddington Take the Air

by Michael Bond

The ninth book in the series.  I never did figure out what the title means.  There is some taking of the Lord's name in vain, more than I didn't remember in the other books.  Also, there is a brief appearance of fortune-teller.  I was able to easily skip those parts while reading it out loud to my two little boys.

History

The Edge on the Sword

by Rebecca Tingle

Fifteen-year old Aethelflaed (daughter of King Alfred the Great of England) is betrothed to her father's friend and ally, King Ethelred of Mercia.  She has a fiercely independent spirit and is not sure she's quite ready to submit to her role and duty.  She is also a target for her father's enemies.  After an attempted kidnapping, her guardian trains her in self defense.  At the end of the summer, as she and a small company are on their way to meet King Ethelred, they are ambushed by a much larger force of her father's enemies.  Aethelflaed ends up leading the fight and getting her group safely to their destination and exposing the plots of the enemies to attack her father's kingdom.  Though the events are fictionalized, the main characters were real. It gave me some insight into a not so well-known time period.  I don't remember any profanity. There was some descriptive violence -- necessary for the story and showing the girl's abhorrence of it, but not for the sensitive reader.  There are some allusions to what will be expected after the betrothal becomes a marriage, but not inappropriate.  For older teens.

The King's Shadow

by Elizabeth Alder

Evyn is a poor Welsh serf who dreams of becoming a travelling storyteller.  Then, because of his uncle's rash behavior, his father is murdered and Evyn's tongue is cut out, leaving him mute.  His uncle then sells him as a slave to repay his debts.  But the mistress of the estate to whom he is sold takes pity on him and sends him to be trained by a monk to read and write.  Evyn then ends up becoming the squire of the man who became King Harold of England -- the one who was defeated by William the Conqueror in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings.  It was an interesting follow-up to The Edge on the Sword, since it takes place in a similar location a couple hundred years later.  And like that book, this one also gives a glimpse into a little-known time period of history.  There was a fair amount of gory descriptions of the battles.  And the lady who bought Evyn is the common-law wife of King Harold, and remains so even after Harold betroths himself to someone else for political purposes.  Not for sensitive readers.  For older teens with an interest in battles and this time period.

The Samurai's Tale

by Erik Christian Haugaard

It may be a good story, but I couldn't get past the first 2 or 3 chapters, with several descriptions of people in pools of blood.  Sorry, but I'm just so done with battle violence and gore right now.

Previewing for next year's read-alouds

Extra Credit

by Andrew Clements

A girl in Illinois is in serious danger of failing 6th grade. One of her teachers lets her pick an extra credit project to help her bring up her grades to passing.  She must write to a pen pal in Afghanistan.  Sahdeed is the boy who is chosen from his school to write back to the American girl.  Only, he has to write in the name of his little sister because the elders of his village do not think it is appropriate for a boy to be writing to a girl.  They each learn more than they expected about each other and themselves.  An excellent and powerful story!  I plan to read this out loud next school year while we are studying world geography.

Magazines

World Magazine (2)

UPDATE on The War That Saved My Life  and The War I Finally Won  by Kim Brubaker Bradley reviewed in February 2021: I was puzzled recently by hearing concerns about the "sexual content" of these books. I did not observe anything sexual in it at all.  It turns out that the lady who becomes Ada's guardian is supposed to be homosexual, and the friend she lived with and still mourns was her "lover."  There is nothing in the book that requires this interpretation.  At first I thought this was just people with their antennae up looking for anything remotely promoting this agenda.  Unfortunately, upon doing further research, I found on the author's blog that she most definitely intended this interpretation and scorns those who object to it.  It's too bad.  It was a great story.  But I rescind my recommendation.