We LOVE to READ!!

I'm kind of a nut, and I love to "teach" my kids and learn with them!  We've done lots of crazy things
together- I'm always looking for an adventure or new experience.:)  

I've found in the past few years that the best way for a kid to learn is when they don't know they are learning!  We go through books around here like crazy!  My kids have learned so much from just being read to-  it's so easy and I LIKE IT TOO!!!   I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I haven't read a book from the "adult" section for a long time- but I get as excited as they do about NEW LIBRARY BOOKS!!
One of our newest learning adventures has been with Five In A Row-   we are on our 6th book.    FIAR is a  unit study curriculum that we basically just use for fun!  Actually, since Grace goes half-day to school and Eli learns at home it does fill a purpose!

There are several volumes to the Five in a Row series. We have Vol. 1 (bought used from Ebay) and there are 19 units which take one week each to complete.  Each unit is centered around a good children's book.
I think I should be able to find most of the books at our library or through interlibrary loan.  If I can't, I'll just skip that book. 

The premise of the book is super easy! You and your children sit down and read the same book five days in a row (We LOVE to read!).  After  reading the book,  there are activities that correspond with history, vocabulary, geography, science, math, writing, and really whatever you want to add!!  I make up half of it.:)

Also, with each new unit/book/week we stick a new "story disk" to our world map that shows where the story took place.  The ones that are make-believe go to the "land of make-believe" around the outside  border of the map.

Here are examples from two books:

The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack and Kurt Wiese- Located China on world map, found Yangtze river and read about it on Internet(it's huge), checked out books on ducks and China from library, read about Cormorant fishing birds,  ate Chinese food, fed the ducks at the park, learned how oil on the ducks feathers helps them float,  experimented with mixing oil and water, learned about different art mediums, practiced drawing water and reflections with colored pencils, learned what a "classic" story is, made a timeline,  found "repetition" in the story, counted the ducks in the book, added up all of Ping's family members, reenacted the story with props, drew a Chinese flag, tried to learn the Chinese word for "duck" using ehow, "wrote" a Chinese word

Lentil by Robert McCloskey- practiced drawing with charcoal pencils, found and colored Ohio on a USA map, colored a USA flag, played harmonicas, checked out books about different musical instruments from library, played a real trombone, tasted lemons, made real lemonade, discussed how everyone has different God-given talents, looked at and drew music notes, learned about taste buds, intro to fractions-half/whole 

Our map with story disks from Lentil, Madeline, and Ping

                                  

Reenacting Ping with the Wise-eyed boat and the master of the boat

                   Learning about the digestive system (and appendix) with Madeline

If we have a busy week or it just doesn't work out- we don't do a FIAR book that week.  In 9wks we have read 6 FIAR units.   We do read every day- after lunch and before bed.  Reading together has become a regular and precious part of our daily routine. 

I know that years from now when I reminisce over how quickly the kids grew up, I won't regret for a minute the time I spent with them and the time I spent reading to them!!