Book Report for First Son in First Grade

I told myself I'd post First Son's list of books more often in first grade than in kindergarten, but I haven't. Keeping up with school, home, life and (mainly) Second Son took a lot more effort than I'd envisioned. Luckily, we read longer books but fewer of them, so hopefully this list won't be too overwhelming.

First Son reads very well and extensively on his own, so my main goals for our reading lessons, when I'd sit next to him, were to increase vocabulary and, most importantly, convince him to expand his reading horizons a little. I think it's reasonable for a seven year old boy to want to read all the books in a series. The characters become familiar and the vocabulary tends to be similar so he's not encountering too much of the unknown. I just like him to be aware there are a lot of other authors and characters out there.

When our reading lessons started to become a bit of a battle, I made a deal with First Son. Typically, we would alternate between a book I selected and one he selected (with approval from me). So far, he's chosen all Magic School  Bus chapter books.

• Song of St.Francis by Clyde Robert Bulla - I love Bulla's books! First Son and First Daughter both loved this book. It was a perfect way to start the school year. First Son did quite well reading the story.
• The Shoemaker's Boy by Joan Aiken
• The Sword in the Tree by Clyde Robert Bulla
• The Absent Author (A to Z Mysteries) by Ron Roy - This book was recommended by good friends with great taste. I needed something to replace First Son's taste for the Magic Tree House books (read what I thought of those here) because he'd read all of them. This was perfect. We read the first one together and he's making his way through all the others on his own.
• Space Explorers (The Magic School Bus Chapter Book, No. 4) by Eva Moore - Based on the recommendation of another great reading family, we started reading the Magic School Bus Chapter Books. They are nice little chapter books with lots of information. First Son adores them.
• The Magic School Bus Chapter Book #05: Twister Trouble by Ann Schreiber
• Pirate's Promise by Clyde Robert Bulla
• The Magic School Bus Chapter Book #06: The Giant Germ by Anne Capeci - You can probably tell which books First Son is picking to read.
• Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown - We read this book to death, literally. It fell apart. The kids all loved it, though. (It's always fun when First Daughter wants to be snuggled with us when First Son is reading.)
• Ribsy by Beverly Cleary - This was by far the most difficult book First Son read this year. It didn't have many chapters, but they were long with challenging vocabulary. We made it through but I think First Son tired of the challenge before we were done.
• The Great Shark Escape (The Magic School Bus Chapter Book, No. 7) by Joanna Cole
• A Lion to Guard Us by Clyde Robert Bulla - We're still reading this one. It took a while for First Son to find it interesting, but now he sometimes asks to read more. Most of Bulla's books are now below First Son's reading level, but the stories are exciting. I'm still hoping he'll decide to ask for more of his books to read on his own.
• Penguin Puzzle (Magic School Bus Chapter Books #8) by Judith Bauer Stamper
• The Boxcar Children (The Boxcar Children, No. 1) - This is our next book and will probably be our last official book of first grade.

I have not read a book by Clyde R. Bulla I didn't like. They're often exciting historical fiction novels appropriate for young readers. I would guess they're good for a first grade level. (First Son may be closer to third grade; I'm not sure how reliable these levels are.)

The Magic School Bus chapter books are quite good. They convey a large amount of information on their non-fiction topics with a familiar cast of characters and lots of silly puns. (First Son always says, "Ha ha." He likes them.)

Overall, I think I could have done better selecting his books. Don't get me wrong; these are great books. Most of them, though, were much too easy for him. Ribsy was almost too hard and took a long time to read through together. Next year I hope to do a better job challenging him in his reading without overwhelming him. (I'm not sure I would have selected Ribsy; First Son received it from St. Nicholas and wanted to read it together.)

What's the consensus among homeschooling moms? Should we continue "reading lessons" over the summer?

Query 34

Do you think a Level IV containment room for Legos would prevent lost pieces?

Cloth Diaper Review: Thirsties Duo Diaper

Oh, how I love this diaper! I will sing its praises! The Thirsties Duo Diaper is everything I loved about the Thirsties Duo wrap (see review here) in a pocket diaper. It's practically perfect!

Second Son thinks so, too.

I was lucky enough to win a $25 gift certificate to Ecological Babies thanks to the Knickernappies blog.

I used my certificate to buy a Thirsties Duo Wrap cover in size 2 for Second Son in the snazzy cool stripes. I had a little of the gift certificate left over, though, so splurged a few of my own dollars to try out the Duo Diaper.

Like the Duo Wrap, the Duo Diaper comes in two sizes to cover baby from newborn to potty training. Second Son was about 18 pounds when we started using it on him.

I'm not sure what he weighs now, but you can see we're using it snapped down on the top snaps. There's still room to unsnap it all the way. Since he's already wearing our biggest fitted diapers, I think this should fit him for quite a while. (You wouldn't use a fitted diaper with the Duo Diaper. I'm just making a comparison for size purposes.)

The diaper has a sleeve -- it's like a pocket open at both ends. The inner liner is microfleece so it's nice and soft against Second Son's skin. The cute colored outer layer is waterproof (of course). After washing, just tuck the inserts into the sleeve. Then it's ready to put onto the baby, as easy as a disposable (and so much cuter!).

Two inserts are included with the diaper. I have been using them together successfully. If Second Son were smaller, I'd be tempted to try it with just one of them for a trimmer diaper, but in my experience the extra absorbancy is a good thing for him.

Like the Duo Wrap, this wonderful diaper has those lovely gussets around the legs to keep inside everything that should be inside while keeping baby's legs nice and comfy.

Check out those chubby thighs!

This diaper has never leaked. I like to use it first thing in the morning when Second Son often makes a messy diaper.

I always remove the inserts before putting the diaper in the pail. My low water washing machine probably wouldn't agitate it out. Since it's a sleeve instead of a complete pocket, I can pull on the end that's least messy.

This review is my objective opinion. I did not receive anything in exchange for the review. I did receive a $25 gift certificate thanks to Knickernappies and Ecological Babies but selected my own products and decided on my own to review the diaper for the blog.

Because I received this Thirsties Duo Diaper from Ecological Babies, the links above are all to that store. If you prefer, you can find them at Cloth Diaper Outlet as well with my associate link. If you are in need of any cloth diapers, I highly recommend these. In fact, I'd be tempted to buy a whole stash of them myself, if I didn't already have a whole stash of diapers.

Homeschool Review: Saxon Math 1

For our math in first grade, we used Saxon Math 1. In many ways, it is similar to Saxon Math K, which we used last year. (You can read what we thought of Saxon Math K for kindergarten here.)

Overall, we've been pleased. First Son has made obvious progress in his math skills. Nearing the end of the book, he's tackled nearly all the addition and subtraction facts, has learned some tricks (like adding ten and subtracting one to add nine), congruent shapes, measuring inches and feet, identifying, counting and using coins (pennies, nickels, and dimes), fractions (half, quarter, fourth, third, sixth), graphing and more. I love a spiral math program in the lower grades and I think First Son does, too. (We cover different topics every day, so we're not doing ten days of counting money in a row. Instead, we come back to counting money once or twice every few weeks.)

I think the lessons are planned for four days a week. (We do math three to four times a week.) The scripted lessons are only slightly modified from a classroom teacher's manual, so there's still some remnants of the classroom environment. Each day, there are activities for the Meeting (completing a calendar, number line, shape patter, number pattern, counting together and more). Then, the student is supposed to practice writing a number (the number for lesson 112 is 101) followed by a brief lesson. The student workbook contains fact sheets (one-sided) to be completed nearly every day in addition to a double-sided worksheet. The first half of the worksheet is to be completed with the parent after the lesson. The second side is to be completed later in the day. Each tenth lesson day is set aside for a written assessment and an oral assessment. A written assessment is also included on the lessons ending in 5 (25, 35, 45, etc.).

I talked with a teacher who used Saxon in the classroom. They were told to devote at least an hour to math every day and it could easily be that long at home, even with only one student. We quickly started skipping large portions of the Meeting as the repetition was frustrating. As new skills are introduced in the lessons, they are added to the Meeting for daily practice, so it quickly becomes an outrageously long endeavor -- before math had even begun! I do think it's helpful to have the reminders to review skills during the Meeting, but I think it's more beneficial to just review a few things each day instead of everything. So that's what we did.

We typically do the calendar portion every day. We skip the shape pattern entirely but usually do the meeting strip (writing out the date and the number pattern). I try to practice counting something every day (usually counting odd numbers backwards by twos or counting by tens starting with different numbers). First Son counts coins for the coin cup about once a week. We always complete the weather graph. That's the only part of the Meeting First Son likes. I'd be tempted to skip more of it, but he's getting really good at writing the date and working with the calendar. (In case anyone is wondering, the Meeting Book survives being doused with water surprisingly well. Special thanks to First Daughter for discovering this very useful characteristic.)

We always skip writing the number. We have a separate handwriting program and First Son does just fine writing the numbers on his worksheets.

First Son grumbles about the Meeting, but he usually enjoys the lesson itself.  Starting the year was a little rough until I skipped the first twenty lessons or so. He was frustrated by the repetition of last year's lessons. (I'm going to prepare for that next year -- it only takes two years for me to catch on.) We're still using the Manipulative Kit for Saxon Math K-3. First Son and First Daughter are always excited when I pull something out of that math box (especially now that those linking cubes are loosening up a bit). They especially love the geoboards (like these).

At first, I wasn't sure I'd use the worksheets at all. I found them and the fact sheets to be a reasonable amount of reinforcement for the lessons, though. Very early on, we were using them daily just as recommended. First Son complained a lot and it really seemed like we could get by with less practice. So now I ask First Son to complete the first side of the worksheet alone. If he finishes it well, we skip the second side. He has to do the fact sheet. I know he understands the concepts of addition and subtraction. Now we're working on speeding up his work, which will only come with memorization. The best way for him to memorize them is to practice. I think he'd like the worksheets and fact sheets better if they were in color and illustrated, but I'm sure that would have increased the cost substantially. (Recently, he told me he'd like his math worksheets better if they had monkeys on them.)

Because the lessons build on each other and the fact sheets and worksheets review material from multiple recent lessons, it's much more difficult to skip lessons. In fact, after skipping the first twenty, we have followed the lesson plans. If it's something First Son already knows, we spend a few minutes talking about it and then go straight to the worksheet. (Easy day for Mama!)

I also found the assessments much more useful than I anticipated. Besides the fact that First Son loves the days we only do assessments (No worksheet! No fact sheet!), I was gratified to see him thinking through problems and completing them successfully. (Remember, I wasn't helping with the daily work after the first few weeks though we do check them over.) I think the combination of written and oral assessments is excellent. They are just brief little sheets and present material that was covered at least five lessons previously and practiced daily on the worksheets.

I was confused that some of the masters are in the student workbooks and some are in with the fact sheets. There's nothing in the text of the manual to tell where it is. You just have to check the fact cards if it wasn't in the workbook.

You could rather easily complete the math lessons without the Meeting Book, either making your own version of a calendar and weather graph or skipping the Meeting altogether (though I think that would take away from much of the program). You need the Student Workbook (parts one and two) and the Fact Cards (sold as a set). These are intended to be consumable. Nearly the entire course is contained in the teacher's manual so it is required. It's pricey, but non-consumable. I've bought all of my manuals used on CathSwap.

I do wish the manual was more explicit about what sheets or materials should be saved for a future lesson. Sometimes the book will say to save something for an upcoming lesson, but not always. In particular, we set up a "classroom store" which the kids loved for a few weeks. I finally broke all the boxes down because I was tired of having a store in my living room. About a week later, we needed it again. Arg! (I know, I should have read ahead more thoroughly, but when I quickly checked I didn't see it.) So I had to make a second store.

Though Saxon Math 1 does not require a lot of preparation before the lesson (often little more than jotting down the number pattern or preparing a coin cup), it does require me to be with First Son during the lesson. Counting our Meeting and the Lesson, we spend between twenty and thirty minutes on math each day, longer if I let the kids play with the manipulatives or repeat some of the lesson so First Daughter feels like she has a turn (just for fun). The worksheets and fact sheet usually take First Son 45 minutes to complete (while I'm making lunch or cleaning up lunch). He spends most of that time daydreaming and can finish much more quickly if I help him focus.

Over the summer, I intend to use some of the Kumon books I purchased last year (which we barely touched) to keep up with counting coins, measurement and telling time. We'll also review some fact cards (but not all of them) on the days we have "summer lessons."

As I said, we're pleased with Saxon Math and intend to continue with it in second grade.

I have received nothing in exchange for this review. If you follow a link to Amazon and make a purchase, even if it's something else, I receive a small commission. I don't receive anything if you follow a link to Saxon and make a purchase.

Book Review: Warnings

Warnings: The True Story of How Science Tamed the Weather

by Mike Smith

My name is Kansas Mom and I'm terrified of tornadoes.

There, I admitted it!

I knew I had to read this book as soon as I saw it. Besides helping to develop my Kansan knowledge, I was hoping it would help allay my fears about tornadoes. I'm not really worried about the house or all our stuff -- that's why we have insurance. I'm worried about getting myself and all the kids into the storm shelter out back in time. (No basement here, so we installed a storm shelter. If we make it there, it's even safer than a basement.)

This book is not an objective history of meteorology. Mr. Smith is one of the pioneers of the field of warning the public of storms. He writes candidly of his own struggles, experiences and feelings. The other meteorologists are his heroes, mentors, colleagues and friends. His goal, of course, is to sing the praises of those who have sought to predict dangerous storms and develop a system for warning people so they can prepare and survive. He also writes often of his own work in the field, systems he invented, and his company (WeatherData, now part of AccuWeather).

Writing from personal experience, though, is no reason to discount this book. Mr. Smith makes the history of weather forecasting fascinating reading, without the antics of movies like Twister. He traces the development of meteorological knowledge and technology to create warnings that save people and property.

In the 1920s, the annual death rate from tornadoes in the U.S. was approximately three per million people. In the early 1950s, with the beginning of a tornado warning system, the rate was still 1.5 deaths per million people. In the last three years, 2006 through 2009, the death rate was down to .068 deaths per million, a decrease of more than 95%!

Thank you! I'm tremendously glad to live in the time of warnings. I'm also glad we live close enough to a big city to warrant lots of storm chasers so the chance of a surprise tornado is extremely remote. (You'd never catch me chasing a storm!)

Mr. White spends quite a bit of time discussing some recent weather tragedies that made national news: Hurricane Andrew, Katrina and Greensburg.(Do you remember Greensburg? I do, but I live in Kansas. See the devastation of the 2007 tornado in Greensburg here. Then check out the city's site on their reinvention as a "green" community here.) In his view, meteorologists successfully and wonderfully saved lives but the storms were followed by governmental disasters (Andrew and Katrina, not Greensburg). He seemed to make sense to me, but I don't follow stories like that too often.

The question you're all asking yourselves is, "Does Kansas Mom feel safer after reading this book?" The answer is complicated. The first part of the book, where he recounts tragedies of tornadoes before the warning system, was distressing. It's hard for me to forget stories like that. Also, despite all the progress made in forecasting and tracking dangerous storms, even Mr. Smith admits some are missed. I have a feeling these are typically the first tornado in a series and often where there are very low population rates so therefore no one out watching a storm, but he doesn't really elaborate on the point. He also admits there are still too many false alarms -- tornado watches when no tornadoes appear. I suppose it's better to be under a watch so we can be prepared, but it's stressful to hear the alarm go off and then think about dangerous storms all night long.

Objectively, I should feel better. I know I should. I'm just not sure I do. I think we need a few more tornado drills. I think the next time the weather alarm goes off, we'll make a run for it and I'll try to time us to see how long it takes. (Last time it took us three and a half minutes, but I was kind of ready for it myself.) We have our alarm set to go off whenever there is a tornado watch (meaning conditions are right), so it doesn't mean there's a tornado. A warning is issued when they believe there is an actual tornado. We have one a little like this one which allows us to avoid the loud warnings for thunderstorm watches and warnings but keep them for the tornado watches and warnings.

I did not receive anything in return for this objective review. I read a library copy of the book.

Homeschool Reviews Coming Soon

I'm sure you're all as excited about planning for next year's homeschooling as I am. I'll admit it; I enjoy planning our homeschool at least as much as I enjoy teaching it...maybe more.

Anyway, as I'm thinking about this year and next year, I plan to post reviews of much of the resources we used this year for first grade. Hopefully they'll start to show up on the blog in the next few days. If there's something in particular that interests you, let me know and I'll try to review it sooner rather than later.

You can see what we planned to use in 2010-2011 here. (I just read that over and laughed at all the stuff we didn't end up doing! I'll have to revise it as well.)

CD Reviews: Cat.Chat Productions

Before Christmas, I purchased the complete set of Cat.Chat CDs. Now that we've had them for a few months, I feel like I can give some short reviews of them.

Cat.Chat Volume 1: Mary Leads Me Closer to Jesus  - We join Papa, Josh and Hannah on the Nativity of the Blessed Version Mary. Talking about the sacrifices and sorrows of Mary helps Josh and Hannah understand more about how much they should love Jesus. Josh and Hannah's mother died years earlier of an illness. Though I was at first disturbed at the death of an important family member, they do incorporate it into this volume (and others) to remind us of the glories of Heaven and how our earthly sorrows can benefit our relationship with God.

Cat.Chat Volume 2: Jesus in My Heart (the cover shown in the link is incorrect) - In this volume, Papa, Josh, Hannah and their cousins are on a camping trip. Papa uses the opportunity (of course, being the good Catholic school teacher he is) to share how the love of Jesus changed his life. The writers are not afraid to bring big ideas to the table. The cousins' family is suffering the effects of a divorce. Though I think the point could have been made with a smaller problem, the writers are not afraid to show how Jesus can heal our hearts even from the deepest hurts.

Cat.Chat Volume 3: Amazing Angels and Super Saints - This was one of the first Cat.Chat CDs we heard and I have to admit, it's still my personal favorite. Josh and Hannah are hosting an All Saint's Day party. Friends have arrived in costume and everyone shares the stories of their saint or angel. It includes First Son's first favorite saint, St. Francis, and the ever-popular St. Michael the Archangel.

Cat.Chat Volume 4: The Mass Comes Alive - Papa is one of the leaders at a Catholic conference on the Mass. The songs are much too upbeat for Mass, but luckily they're only singing about Mass.  Though the children sometimes are silly on the CD, the writers seem to do a good job emphasizing the importance of the Mass and the glory of the Eucharist.

Cat.Chat Vol. 5: A Christmas to Remember (Amazon link) - Josh and Hannah visit their grandparents during Advent for a family gathering. Everyone shares a Christmas memory. Grandpa's memory is particularly touching - how an anonymous gift touched his life one Christmas during the Great Depression. I think this one is First Son and First Daughter's favorite Cat Chat CD, not least because they like the interaction between Moses and a "sneaky little mouse."

Cat.Chat Volume 6: An Extra Special Easter Vacation - Papa, Josh, Hannah and other family members travel to Israel for Easter. It's a powerful CD for my children as they really think about Jesus walking the Via Dolorosa. It's very weird that they would take Moses with them to the Holy Land, but I suppose it wouldn't really be Cat Chat without him. (Warning: This CD has sounds of traffic that always make me think someone is honking at me if we're listening to it in the car.)

In all the episodes, Moses the Talking Cat opens the CD and wraps things up at the end. He usually includes a few cheesy (pun intended) jokes, which my children adore and repeat, even though they're often not as humorous out of context. The songs are catchy and definitely for children but they are not unbearable for adults. Some of them are even quite good. (I personally like the one on St. Francis the best.) Each CD includes the episode, all of the songs with vocals, then all of the songs without vocals (including the theme song). The kids often ask for a different CD as soon as the episode ends, but I usually don't mind listening to the vocals again myself.

Overall, I recommend the CDs. They are entertaining, solidly Catholic with sound teaching, and the children adore them. Even Second Daughter will ask for Moses and Cat.Chat.

I received nothing in exchange for these objective reviews. I purchased the CDs myself (directly from the Cat.Chat website, where you can also listen to samples of all the CDs). You can also find them on Facebook.

You can find many of these CDs at your local Catholic bookstore or online at St. George Catholic Books and Gifts. If you decide to order from St. George, please consider putting my name in the comments box for a referral (first time customers only). You can read more about their referral program here. (If you don't know my real name, please feel free to email me. If I'm convinced you're not a stalker, I'd be happy to share it with you.)

Though Amazon does not carry all of the CDs, you should be able to find all of them as mp3 downloads. I do receive a small commission if you follow the link to Amazon and make a purchase, even if it's something else.

My Watch

Three or four years ago, I was rushing out the door as Kansas Dad and I were hauling First Son and First Daughter and a ton of baby-gear to my parent's house for a vacation. I grabbed my watch on my way out the door and hopped in the van. When I went to put it on, I couldn't find it. I really thought I'd tucked it into the bag, but I looked through it and couldn't find it.

When we arrived at my parent's house, I searched through every bag. No luck. I guess I meant to grab it, but didn't. It's probably still on the hutch at home.

But it wasn't. I couldn't find it anywhere it should have been. I searched in the house, in the van, under and behind the hutch, and even in the yard, retracing my steps from the door to the van.


I was distraught. This watch, you see, was the first gift Kansas Dad ever gave me. It was a birthday gift. We had been dating for about four months and had spent three of those months apart as I was living in Mexico. I had thought it was the perfect birthday gift - nothing like jewelry, which would have been too much, but something I could wear every day and think of him. I still remember the evening I opened it. We were sitting on the porch swing of my house at sunset. He'd come for a visit before moving to Boston for the summer, enduring extra flights and meeting my extended family, with crutches and a cast on his leg. The breeze was light; the sky was beautiful, and I was sitting with the man I would marry. He wouldn't propose for a few months, but we knew.

Oh, where could it be? I was especially frustrated because knowing where things are is my super-power. I just do. I know where everything is. Well, not everything; I couldn't find my watch. I searched and prayed, prayed and searched, to no avail. I finally gave up looking, deciding I must have thrown it away or it got raked up with leaves in the yard.

Sometimes, though, things have a way of being exactly where you put them.

Just after Second Son turned six months old, as I was still recovering from my extended illness and he was not helping with restless nights, Kansas Dad and I rushed madly about the house trying to get myself and the kids out the door for Second Son's six month well-child visit. We had overslept. I dread being late to the doctor's and I'd be driving to a new office building. I knew the way but I hadn't actually made the drive by myself before. I was a bit frantic, to say the least.

I dumped the entire contents of the diaper bag on our bed. I thought starting fresh would be faster than digging through it to see what needed to be restocked. Almost immediately, I wished I had dumped it somewhere else, as crumbs and Cheerios from the depths of the bag tumbled onto my clean sheets.

Then, out onto the top of the pile of diapers, wipes and extra clothes landed my watch. Oh look, it's my watch.

My watch! I paused, shocked to behold my watch, the first birthday gift from my future husband, the one I thought I had lost years ago, right where I'd put it -- in the blue duffel bag.

I have no idea where that watch was lodged in that bag. We have used it when traveling, as our "tornado overnight bag" (when we used to stay at my in-law's house if we anticipated bad weather) and, for six months, as our everyday diaper bag. I have emptied that bag at least fifty times in the years since I misplaced the watch and never have I seen a glimpse of it.

Silly as it seems, I have to wonder, was that watch really in the bag all along? It's just so hard to imagine I missed seeing it all those times and it was such a wonderful surprise during a time when I felt like I had been struggling.

I once again have my old watch, the dear-beautiful-scratched-lost-and-found watch, a gift from my loving future husband and the answer to a prayer I'd long forgotten.

Cloth Diaper Outlet Updates

Cloth diapering families, be sure to check out Cloth Diaper Outlet's new programs! They have a Discount Menu of codes to use when making a purchase. Just pick the one that best fits your needs. (How cool is that?)

They have also started a trade-in program for gently used diapers. Send in diapers you aren't using anymore and receive a store credit you can use on something you need now. I'm not sure I have anything fit to sell (most of my diapers are not-so-gently used), but I'm pretty sure I'll be in the market for a few pocket diapers for Second Son so he doesn't have to wear the lavender ones and wouldn't mind buying some gently used ones.

While I'm at it, check out Cloth Diaper Outlet's new blog, I Love Cloth Diapers. The blog is also on Facebook. When they reach 1000 fans, they're giving away ten cloth diapers. Check them out and become a fan. I'm not sharing my diaper with you if I win, though.

I am an affiliate of Cloth Diaper Outlet and receive a small commission if you follow my link and make a purchase.

Query 33

Which is worse: winter laundry with all those long pants, sweaters, and extra layers...or summer laundry with lots of shorts and t-shirts but also lots of sand from the sand and water table?