Children's Books We Love, Pt 2

Another one I've shared on facebook and am just now getting around to blogging about...

city dog, country frog by Mo Willems and illustrated by Jon Muth is both a beautiful story and a beautifully illustrated book. Of course, right--how can you go wrong with both Mo Willems AND Jon Muth?



The story follows an energetic, playful city dog from the Spring he arrives in the country and makes a special friend, through the seasons of the year, and to the following Spring. Both of my boys loved this book, though my 6yo grasped the sadness in winter. He was quickly consoled by the second spring, but perhaps a bit wiser. We love nature and good nature books--and Muth's illustrations in this one belong in a gallery. Willems' sparse text is the perfect approach to this story, too (It would make a good early reader for beginners.) I am not exaggerating to say, "we laughed, we cried...we love this book!"

Children's Books We Love, Pt 1

Last month, I finally acted on my grand plan to start sharing some of our favorite books online. Only problem was it was only as facebook links, which are really hard to go back and find (especially considering how many links I share in a week!). I said I'd go back and blog about them so I'd have a more searchable record...and that's what I'm just now getting around to doing. So without further ado, one of my favorite books to discover with the kids is a slightly obscure title. Under the Sun and Over the Moon, by Kevin Crossley-Holland and Ian Penney, is probably the most intricately-illustrated counting book I've ever seen.

This picture is enlarged from a teeny thumbnail from librarything because Amazon doesn't have one.

Crossley-Holland's rhyming couplets are entrancing--though they most definitely require adult interpretation; the vocabulary and word choice make clear this is not for kids to read themselves. Each illustration is like an "I Spy" type puzzle: you know there are the specified number of each item in the picture of each garden, so finding how many various groups you can spot is fun, and there are hidden treasures along the way, as well. For someone like me, who enjoys discovery in numbers and counting is relaxing, this book is a dream. Incidentally, it has helped both of my boys to fall asleep at naptime on numbers of occasions! I really cannot say enough about how fun and beautiful this book is. Apparently I'm making it my personal mission to make it popular enough to get a flippin' picture of the cover on Amazon, too. 

School is not life.

On my local parenting forum, someone asked for top 5 reasons for public schooling or homeschooling our child(ren). Apparently, I saw insinuation in some of the reasons people stated for public school/not homeschool. It stuck in my craw, as it were. Rather than get all defensive and go off-topic there, I decided to muse here instead. It's mine, that's what it's for, damnit.
 ...

Homeschooling doesn't have to mean your kid is exposed only to one group/kind/ethnicity/etc. We've purposely sought out heterogeneity and found some--but school is not life. We do lots of activities outside of schooly things, and make damn sure we expose to multiple cultures, ethnicities, economics.

School is not life. I'm the poster child for outcomes-based education. I excelled like nobody's business. I wanted that golden ring. I was afraid to try new things despite having an interest in them because it might hold me back from that ring. When I grabbed it, I realized it wasn't really all that meaningful or sturdy, and it sure wasn't going to be something to hold onto. I see that sense of perfectionism, of adhering to outside standards because no one asked what one's own standards are, in my own kids. I truly think they would hold themselves back out of fear of trying something unknown--when that's where the fun is: doing something you've never tried before.  Especially Khalil, my second. I really did succumb to the "school is life" mentality and feel sad that no one recognized the need to point out to me that life is sooo much more.

My husband  and I had discussed loooong ago (as in, we were still engaged) that we would prefer to homeschool our kids because we felt so held back in our own educations, having to wait for others to catch up, that we missed out on discovering things we would have liked to learn about. I will say that he and I both come from small immediate familes, but large, close, extended families. So the issue of sustained social relationships was moot. We also both agreed that if public school ever looked like it was the better option, then we'd go for that.

Esoteric reasons aside, Khary is...hard to fence in. It's become glaringly obvious over these past couple months that he would immediately be labeled as bad/troublemaker/etc in a school setting. He's not--anyone among our homeschool friends will tell you that--but he just doesn't thrive inside a fence. Some horses do, just not mine, not right now.

For me, I get to discover things with them--and maybe it's because I come from a family of teachers, but I love showing my kids something, their wheels turning, and discovery and understanding beaming from them. It gives me joy.

But I'm also of the opinion that our society pushes academics far too early--little kids are supposed to play, and our brains are wired to learn social interaction years before academics. When we sacrifice the former for the latter and wonder why we have unhappy and undereducated people...I think there's something amiss.

Plus, I'm not morning people.