I'm not really sure why I always present their books in age order starting with the oldest, but alas, so it is again this year. Our oldest, now in 10th grade (sigh audibly with me as I know too well how fast they grow!) is reading Buried Alive, by Jack Cuozzo for Biblical archaeology. For his literature class, he is tackling Don Quixote. {Want a fabulous picture book version for your younger student? Look here. We loved that version.}
For history studies, he just read the biography of Martin Luther called Here I Stand, by Roland Bainton. Aside from these required titles, he also is perusing The Shaping of Middle-Earth. Though he has a keen interest in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, I can't help wondering if he is brushing up on his trivia for his sister's soon to happen Lord of the Rings/Hobbit themed birthday party. That's right. The gal who had me tracking down Shakespeare two years ago, decided to go Tolkien this year. I'm currently trying to figure out how to make our living room a Hobbit home and our dining room a pub.
My Shakespeare/Tolkien lovin' 8th grade daughter is currently turning the pages of Beorn the Proud, by Madeleine Polland for history. For Biblical studies, she read The Jesus I Never Knew, by Philip Yancey and for literature, she will immerse herself in a little Chaucer with The Canterbury Tales.
In some spare time, she wanted to read the Percy Jackson and The Olympians series because her cousin recommended it. I've already read them (so has our oldest). It was fun to discuss the books all three of us.
Our youngest daughter, who is in 6th grade, is currently reading Catherine Called Birdy for a supplement to her history lessons. For literature, she'll start the new year with Around the World in Eighty Days, by Jules Verne.
For fun, she has started reading Nancy Drew books. She's been reading them in order. This one is her current read. It is no. 10.
Our youngest son is reading aloud to me regularly from McGuffey readers. He is in the Eclectic Second Reader. For variety, he will begin reading from The Beginner's Bible.
Leisure reading has become a new past time for our youngest as he has grown quite proficient at reading. His latest library finds are Star Wars: Complete Vehicles and DK Eyewitness: Sharks. Both of these titles are from DK. Each one is filled with wonderful pictures and lots of text about two subjects he loves. Both books have captured his attention. He will sit for a long portion of time perusing one or both books.
As I am almost always reading aloud at least one book to our children, I thought I would include our current read alouds as well. The Magna Charta has been surprisingly clever and fun to read. I thought it would be drudgery, but am grateful to be proven wrong. I typically read two to three sections per day to our children. Castle Diary: The Journal of Tobias Burgess is just as much fun the second time through as it was the first. This title I am reading to our youngest, who is in second grade, as part of his history lessons. We cover about a month's worth of time in Tobias' journal each day.
Such excellent books! We've read a few of these ourselves, such as The Magna Charta. Here I Stand and Don Quixote are my favorites, and my son enjoyed Around the World in Eighty Days. We've also owned that Beginner's Bible, too. We also have the Castle Diary, which we used for our medieval year, and my girls love the Percy Jackson series. They have read the covers right off of them. (We had to buy a new set.) And finally, I had no idea about The Shaping of Middle Earth. I saved in on Amazon.com for a possible future gift for my Hobbit-crazy kids.
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