Slices of Life

We are wrapping up our school year and my boys are all busy finishing up their reading.. though we'll read here and there on our summer vacation I don't require them to read everyday. 1.  Iceberg by Clive Cussler - My oldest is really enjoying this series of books.  In this book Dirk Pitt is pulled away from his vacation to go to the North Atlantic where a ship has been found floating inside a giant iceberg. 2.  Firstborn by Tor Seidler -- Blue Boy has a son named Lamar that he wants to see take over the pack someday but Lamar is not living up to his father's expectations... a great story that shows it takes bravery and courage to just be ourselves. 3.  Al Capone Does My Homework-- In this third book in the series Moose's apartment catches fire one night and many on the island think his sister Natalie started it.  Now Moose and his friends must try and determine who started the fire and why. 4.  Wings of Fire the Dark Secret by Tui Sutherland- - Both of...

I have always shied away from using textbooks to teach science, history, and geography in our homeschool.  I remember textbooks as being a bit dry, boring, and fairly shallow in their coverage of materials.  I wanted my boys to get excited about what we were learning about. I find that picture books are often a great jumping off point for any lesson and through the past year we have enjoyed reading so many wonderful books together. Here is a small sampling of some of the many wonderful picture books out there that would easily work at even a high school level to whet the appetite of any student. 1.  Redwoods by Jason Chin - - Learning about the redwood trees of northern California. 2. The Hawk of the Castle: A Story of Medieval Falconry -- We learned a lot about castle life and how falcons helped. 3. Falcons Nest on Skyscrapers -- Learning about how Falcons came back from the brink of extinction in the Eastern United States. 4. How to Be an ...