Reading List – October 2014

Inspired by The Unlikely Homeschool, I’ve decided to do a post each month of what’s on our reading list. It’s a little late in the month to be doing October’s, but that’s okay; we’re still reading these books, and likely will be throughout the rest of the month.

Read-aloud – Everyone

We have two. First, we’re reading Sideways Stories from Wayside School. This is a classic from my childhood; it was my brother’s favorite book as an elementary school student. My kids haven’t had the pleasure of hearing or reading it, so I thought it would be a fun one. Plus, it’s a quick read which makes everyone feel like we’ve accomplished something in very short order.

We started earlier this week, and are already about 10 chapters in. The kids love it! And honestly, what’s not to love? Louis the yard teacher . . . Mrs. Gorf, the teacher who turns her students into apples . . . Mrs. Jewls, the teacher who thinks her students are monkeys . . . Maurecia, the girl who keeps ice cream in her desk. Good times.

When we finish it we’ll be reading The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. Our library produced a list of “The 100 Best Children’s Novels (in our opinion).” Several of the books on this list are some the boys have already read, and several more are on their assignment lists for this school year. The Egypt Game is neither, so we’re going to read it together. I’ve never read this book, so I can’t really say anything about it. When we finish it, I’ll let you know what I think. And what the boys think.

Me

After having finished Gone Girl last week, I bought another Gillian Flynn novel on Kindle – Dark Places. So that’s what I’m reading outside of news and blogs.

 

Seahawk – 5th Grade

He’s reading The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo. Munchkin read this for his September book club and loved it so much that we bought him a copy of his very own for his birthday. He was able to talk his brother into reading it, so I gave Seahawk a pass on the book I’d chosen for him this month to read Edward Tulane instead.

Next month, he’ll be starting in on the schedule I wrote for him of books to read. In case you’re wondering, I just did a Google search of “5th grade books” and chose some from one of the lists I found that I thought he would like. Seahawk is tough because he likes stories, but he doesn’t like to read. When I can get him to read, he really likes the books I assign (usually). So I’m hopeful that having clear expectations – a book to read each month with a report to write at the end – will help him to find some books and authors that he really loves.

Munchkin – 3rd Grade

Because of his love for book club at the library, I use those as his primary assigned books. For November’s meeting, the book is The Giraffe, the Pelly, and Me by Roald Dahl. This is another book that I’m not familiar with, but I know and love several other Roald Dahl books, so I have no qualms about having Munchkin read this. I’ve never come across a Roald Dahl children’s book that wasn’t great.

(October’s meeting was earlier this week, and the book was Sasquatch by Roland Smith. We read it aloud because it was a bit difficult for him. Both boys ended up loving it.)

In addition to the book club book, Munchkin is reading The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks. Because he loves to read, unlike his brother, I know he’ll easily be able to make it through two books a month. The trick is pushing him to read books that are just a little bit hard for him so that he will continue to get better at reading rather than just reading the “same old, same old” and stagnating; that’s the last thing I want to happen.

 

 

What are you reading?

Blessings,

Wendy

No affiliate links here. I provided links to each of these books on Amazon for your convenience, but whether you purchase or not has no effect on me or my blog.