» Update and book post LaPaz Home Learning

Update and book post

Oct 7th, 2011 by lapazfarm

Here is just a little update to let folks know we are still alive and kicking.

Lets see. First thing is that the little boys have gone back again to live with their mommy, which is a very good thing, but which always leaves us here feeling a bit disjointed. I keep thinking there is something I am supposed to be doing… something I am forgetting…. But no. It’s just that life is so much more quiet now. We are still adjusting to the slower pace.

(our local wildlife)
Books.

We have time for those now!

Superboy and I are both reading Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and had a funny “What in the world???” moment when we were discussing chapter one and our stories did not match up at all. It was a puzzle until we realized that he and I were reading two different editions and that Shelley had made a significant change in the storyline between the two editions. For a while we each thought the other had gone a little mad!

JBug and I just finished Edith Nesbitt’s Book of Dragons (free on Kindle). What a great read-aloud! It is a collection of eight tales, all containing dragons but each very different and unusual. I read it to her one chapter per day and she couldn’t wait for the next story. To tell the truth, neither could I!

And now the time has come for JBug to experience Redwall, which all of my children have loved at one time or another. So far JBug is following suit. Only problem is reading that book always makes me hungry! Perhaps a Redwall feast is in order? We already have the perfect cookbook!

(JBug’s blobby-birds. directions here)
As for independent reading for JBug, she has plowed through a dozen or so Magic Tree house books, plus Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and now has discovered the library’s stash of Asterix and Tin Tin comics. She’s had her nose buried in one or the other all week. Can I just say how much I LOVE that she is finally actually reading for pleasure? So nice to see her pulling books off the shelf that I honestly wondered if she would ever read. But she is! I caught her browsing through our old copy of A Child’s History of the World just yesterday. Warms my heart remembering how our older daughter Emily would read that book over and over and over. Now Emily is in college and JBug is reading that same beloved book, 15 years later. *sigh*

(JBug working on her geography journal. More on that later)

As for me, I have been doing some light reading myself. I finished The Help (LOVED IT!) and now am on to Gunn’s Golden Rules by Tim Gunn. That plus re-reading Frankenstein and Darwin’s Voyage of the Beagle. Feels good to finally see my TBR pile shrinking a bit instead of ever growing. Plus I finally caved in to peer pressure and started watching Dr Who (beginning with season 5). So far I like it but don’t love it. Maybe the love will come, it certainly is quirky enough to suit me.

In addition to Frankenstein, Superboy is reading the new Brian Selznick novel Wonder Struck. Hope he finishes soon because I want to read that one myself.

Oh, and he got himself a pony. I think I know how project days will be spent from now on.

And that is it for now. Hope things are well for everyone else.

Posted in Random Ramblings | 15 Comments

15 Responses to “Update and book post”

on 08 Oct 2011 at 4:23 am1 Erin

Praying for your grandsons, and praying for you all as you adjust to them being gone again{}

Hooray, I know how exciting it is to have JBug reading, and at that level!!! A pony! where in Alaska do you keep him? well I suppose that is a dumb question but I pictured you by the Ocean, not really riding land.
on 08 Oct 2011 at 10:03 am2 Karen Edmisten

Yay! JBug is reading for fun! That’s so much fun.

Love the story about you and Superboy reading different editions of Frankenstein — I didn’t know the factoid about the two versions. Anne-with-an-e was just reading something to me recently about how Frankenstein (the book) was born out of a challenge among Shelley’s group of friends.

Superboy has a car! Eek! He cannot be that old.

Prayers and all good things for the little boys and their mommy!
on 08 Oct 2011 at 10:24 am3 Kelly

Ooo! Thinking I might have to pick up a copy of Frankenstein now. I’m quite in the mood for Gothic. It’s the time of year I suppose. But which edition do you suggest? I’m making a note of Nesbitt’s Book of Dragons now. My oldest son has enjoyed a few others by Nesbitt and has devoured, along with his sister who is closest to him in age, all of the How to Train Your Dragon books. So, dragons and Nesbitt sounds like a happy marriage. I had to laugh when you mentioned about Redwall making you hungry when you read it. My 13 yr. old boy has read all the books in the series and at night as he likes to stay up late reading in bed I will hear him sneak down into the kitchen to steal away some little snack like cheese and crackers. When I have asked him about it he tells me that he gets SO hungry while reading Mr. Jacques’ books!

Oh, and I know of the joy you speak of when your child finally begins reading for pleasure. It is a happy day, indeed! I’m glad to hear of JBug’s progress and now I wait for my own middle boy to do the same. Funny enough, when I asked him yesterday what he would like to read he said the Magic Tree House books. Keeping fingers crossed.
on 08 Oct 2011 at 1:29 pm4 lapazfarm

Kelly, as far as the editions of Frankenstein go, the main difference is in how Elizabeth Lavenza comes to be adopted by Victor’s parents: in the earlier edition Elizabeth is a cousin who’s mother has just died, and in the later edition she is an orphan found by his mother in an impoverished cottage. Take your pick!
on 08 Oct 2011 at 2:26 pm5 lapazfarm

LOL! Erin, it isn’t really a pony. That is a slang term for the kind of car he got, a classic Mustang. I forgot I have readers in other countries who may not be familiar with the term! Sorry! We do live by the ocean and there would be no place for a pony here. In fact there is only one pony on the entire island and it is kept in a little petting zoo along with the only goats and sheep.
on 09 Oct 2011 at 8:05 pm6 Kelly

Looks like impoverished orphan it is then! I just picked up the revised 1831 edition today. Thanks!
on 09 Oct 2011 at 9:59 pm7 Barb-Harmony Art Mom

We loved Frankenstein…It was fun to watch the boys think the book was about one thing and then see their reaction as we really got into the book. Another case where the book is so much better than the modern movie versions.

We are Redwall fans here too and I agree..makes me hungry every time. I think about oat cakes with honey or berry tarts with cream. Sigh, those were the days.

Enjoyed your update and love the “new” wheels.
on 10 Oct 2011 at 5:00 pm8 Meredith

A PONY!!! Way to go Sam My cousin had a pony just like that only hers was Turquoise blue and convertible What a blast for him.

So excited to hear about JBug’s reading too, woohoo!
on 11 Oct 2011 at 6:59 pm9 KackyK

Love those birds, so cute! Hey I nominated you for the Stylish Blogger Award, here is a link to my post http://assumption-academy.blogspot.com/2011/10/stylish-blogger-award-2011.html
on 11 Oct 2011 at 8:08 pm10 lapazfarm

Thanks, Kacky!
on 14 Oct 2011 at 11:27 am11 S/V Mari Hal-O-Jen

Love JBug’s Blobby Birds – too cute! Glad you’re all still alive and kickin’!
on 16 Oct 2011 at 8:31 pm12 Elizabeth

LOL! Somehow the pony my 13 yo has wanted for years seems much more benign…

My dd(17) drives a pick-up truck and my ds(19) has an old Cadillac waiting for him if he ever gets his license. Both were gifts from grandpa.
on 17 Oct 2011 at 1:25 pm13 Kim

Aidan just finished the Hillyer book. We love it too. And we are so going to make some ‘blobby birds’. : )

God bless your grandboys as well as you all transition. You surely have sent them off with many wonderful memories.
on 20 Oct 2011 at 8:57 am14 Sherri

Wow…look at your chldren!!! They are so big!! I haven’t been around the blogs lately and cannot believe how all of the children have grown!!! I have missed seeing what all you are up to!!!
on 08 Nov 2011 at 4:07 pm15 Maria P

Is he really old enough to drive? Ohmigosh….it goes way.too.fast.

LOVE Redwall!