That is awesome! My daughter used to get terrible nose bleeds on a regular basis, but they have stopped in the last year too. I never thought about it being connected to being home more. I attributed it to her growing up. If the nosebleeds ever return, having the child blow their nose while it is bleeding is very helpful. It is a tip my daughter’s pediatrician shared with us. Also, an ice pack on the back of the neck helps. If you can remove the clot, the bleeding usually stops. It got to the point where we had codes for the clot size (sister, mama, big daddy, grandpa 🤣) just to take her mind off it.

Sounds like the perfect plan to inspire a deep love of literature! I would second the suggestion of taking a few books and diving deeper into the worlds, or stringing together several books with similar themes. About seven years ago I started a “Family Dinner Bookclub” in our home. We all read a single book per month and then discuss it over a fancy (usually at home) dinner. I have slowly collected themed table cloths, dishes and serving platters for our dinners. We always use the wine glasses and have a fancy, kid friendly drink. I try to tie the menu to the book when possible, but if that is not an option I find a new recipe. I created a card deck of literary analysis questions from the Teaching the Classics teacher’s manual to facilitate our discussions. We each draw a random card or two and discuss. It helps to save us from the “Did you enjoy the book?” question. Although, ever since we read Swallows and Amazons my husband always leads with, “Who was your favorite character and why was it Titty?” Sometimes we also take a field trip, or watch a movie adaption of the book together and discuss. My husband and I take turns with our daughters choosing books so everyone has a voice. This is in addition to our normal school work. My husband and I always have a read aloud going. We still spend an hour reading aloud to our teens at bedtime. I also read aloud to them during the day and occasionally we will substitute an audiobook, especially for British literature. Our read alouds cover science, history and literature. They are both voracious independent readers. If I can graduate my girls with one thing I hope it is a deep love and appreciation for literature.

I will add one more “must watch†to any study of Dickens. The movie The Man Who Invented Christmas did a wonderful job of bringing Dickens to life for my girls. We all thoroughly enjoyed the movie.

We made our own didgeridoos from pvc pipe, a pvc pipe fitting and colored duct tape from Home Depot. My girls still play with them 3 years later. We also read (and loved!) How to Scratch a Wombat by Jackie French.

I think this is what you are looking for. http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Rings-J-R-R-Tolkien/dp/B000EU1JL0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1412194165&sr=8-2&keywords=tolkien+ensemble My oldest daughter fell in love with the Lord of the Rings after my husband read it aloud to her. I bought this cd set to feed her interest, and she has listened selections every day for the last year and a half. Some of the poems are spoken/chanted, but most are sung. The music is beautiful too.

Magformers are great for hands on geometry. We used them along with Beast 3a with great success. I do not have it, but this cd looks llike it would stretch the educational potential of the product as well. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Magformers-CD-/321149895208?pt=Educational_Toys_US&hash=item4ac6068228

Thank you everyone! We made a viking ship from a washing machine box, but using a refrigerator box for a wardrobe never occurred to me, brilliant! They would love it. The unit study and Key To book looks great too. We always celebrate the end of a book series with a theme dinner and the cookbook will save me a lot of work!

A year ago my husband read the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy to my daughters. My oldest daughter fell head over heels in love with them. I have added numerous supplements to help bring the stories alive. Extra books, a copy of "the ring", maps, music from the Tolkien ensemble, literary analysis (at her insistence), all the LEGO sets and costumes have helped fuel her interest. I even converted a walk in closet in their playroom into Bag End complete with a decorative round door. My husband is reading Narnia to them and I see the same passions emerging. This time my youngest is also very into the stories. She was only 4/5 when we were reading LOTR so she was not as interested as my 7 year old. If your kids love Narnia, have you found any fun extras to add to their studies? They both want a wardrobe, but that isn't possible right now.

My oldest is a perfectionist and most things come easily to her. She has progressed through Singapore without any struggles. Even the IP and CWP did not really challenge her, but Beast knocked the wind out of her sails. There were tears of frustration at first, but we continued slowly and now she loves it! I learned not to push it and let her determine when she is done working for the day. Also using Magformers for the geometry, perimeter and area chapters in 3A really helped her.

It is great as a read aloud. My husband read it to my girls a few months ago and they loved it! Tolkien ensemble to the rescue! All of the poems and songs from the trilogy set to beautiful music. My oldest daughter has listened to selections from it every single day since last summer and memorized a lot of the songs as a result. We bought the cds midway through the second book and my husband would stop and play the corresponding track when he was reading the books. http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Rings-J-R-R-Tolkien/dp/B000EU1JL0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1402443820&sr=8-3&keywords=Tolkien+ensemble

I would not call them great literature, but Rick Riordan's books really sparked my girl's interest in Egyptian and Greek mythology. We spread SOTW vol 1 over 2 years (K and 1st). I read the Kane Chronicles aloud in K and the Percy Jackson in 1st. We followed them up with the D'Aulaires, Mary Pope Osborne and some Rosemary Sutcliff.

I have so many favorites. I started reading chapter books aloud when my oldest was 3 and we haven't stopped since. I can only think of a small handful that I haven't enjoyed, but here are some of our favorites: The Oz series (started our read aloud journey 5 years ago) The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings Trilogy (read by my husband) Charlotte's Web, Trumpet of the Swan, Stuart Little Where the Mountain Meets the Moon The Secret Garden Little Women Miss Happiness and Miss Flower, Little Plum and other "doll books" by Rumer Godden TumTum and Nutmeg series (hilarious and fun) Alice in Wonderland Tale of Despereaux The One and Only Ivan Letters From Father Christmas Wesley the Owl was one of our all time favorites and it spurred a lasting interest in owls. It is a memoir written by a scientist who adopted a barn owl. It has some mature content some I am not sure what the reading level would be. I edited a few things on fly.

I love pretty books! I have spent years building up a huge library for my girls and the heart of it are hardcover, illustrated editions of the classics. Books of Wonder has lovely editions of many of them. The illustrations are fewer, but those that are included are pretty and they bindings are well done. We have the entire Oz series from them and they have their own special shelf in our family room. I have two editions of Peter Pan and both are beautiful: http://www.amazon.com/Peter-Pan-100th-Anniversary-Edition/dp/0805072454/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399938589&sr=8-1-fkmr1&keywords=Pete+pan+hague http://www.amazon.com/Peter-Pan-Wendy-Centenary-Illustrated/dp/1402728689/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399938666&sr=8-1&keywords=peter+pan+and+wendy+illustrated I have such fond memories of Oz. I started reading the Oz series to my oldest daughter when she gave up her afternoon nap at age 3. I still remember that first afternoon cuddled on the couch with her. She loved it so much we read all the Baum books, plus half of the Ruth Plumly Thompson books. We read Baum's Life And Adventures of Santa Clause every December. Enjoy your Oz journey! I think we might travel down the yellow brick road again this summer now that my girls are older.

My girls are 6 and 7. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon was one of our favorite read alouds this year. Grace Lin's second book, Starry River of the Sky did not win the Newbery, but it was also very good. I read The One and Only Ivan to my girls last year and we all loved it. I did edit out a few parts about animal cruelty while I was reading it, but other then that it was a wonderful, sweet story and one that I plan to read to them again. We have also enjoyed The Tale of Despereaux and Ella Enchanted. I have Flora and Ulysses in my summer read aloud stack and I think it will be another favorite. We have enjoyed everything we have read by Kate DiCamillo.

Thank you! I found our new Christmas read aloud for this year. I try to add one new chapter book to our Christmas book rotation every year and I have never heard of the Birds' Christmas Carol. It sounds like a wonderful book! April isn't too early to plan for our December read alouds, right? Personally I would not buy their packages because I prefer to buy beautifully illustrated hardcover versions of the classics, but I love finding new reading lists.

My oldest daughter eats, sleeps and breathes LOTR. I am regularly accompanied by Frodo to the grocery store (as long as her costume is clean). Here is a link to a similar thread from last year. There were some great suggestions it it and we have enjoyed many of the recommendations. http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/482570-tolkien-fans/?do=findComment&comment=5111698 The Tolkien Ensemble is still a huge hit here. We have listened to it almost every day since it arrived last summer and she has memorized many of the poems from the three books from listening to the cds. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EU1JL0/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 My oldest is receiving this for her 8th birthday in a few weeks. It is a beautiful book. http://www.amazon.com/Tolkiens-World-Paintings-Middle-Earth-Tolkien/dp/1567312489/ref=pd_sim_b_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=15N84JBYFB1VP1N4F8H2 I read Letters From Father Christmas to my girls at Christmas time and we all enjoyed it. I just finished reading The Sea of Trolls trilogy aloud to my girls and we saw many similarities to LOTR in the stories. There is some throat slashing and other violent bits in the books which I easily edited as a read aloud, but it might be too much for a younger child reading it on their own. I have The Dark Is Rising series by Susan Cooper on my shelves to start after we finish the The Secret Garden. It is supposed to be similar to LOTR too. They have also enjoyed the Redwall series. My girls have both developed very deep connections with the books through their play. LOTR LEGOs, costumes, pretend swords and furry slipper boots (aka Hobbit feet) are a daily fixture here and have really helped them to connect with the books. My oldest loved the books so much we allowed her to watch edited versions of the Peter Jackson films. The Lord of the Rings versions are very well done, but the Hobbit left a lot to be desired in my opinion. We skipped the battle scenes and violent bits of the movie until she is much older.

I am looking for some Christmas read aloud suggestions. We read The Witch Family, The Witches and Here Be Monsters trilogy in October and loved the seasonal theme. Last December we read A Christmas Carol, Big Susan and The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus and enjoyed all of them. So far for this year I have The Christmas Reindeer by Burgess and Letters From Father Christmas by Tolkien (my oldest lives, eats and breathes LOTR) but I need 1-2 more suggestions. My girls do not mind longer books. Thank you in advance for your help!

We live an hour from the Atlantic Ocean so we went frequently this summer. One thing that kept my girls busy for hours was creating their own tide pool. We collected hermit crabs, common shore crabs, seastars, periwinkles, Asian shore crabs and other critters. Then they dug a pool in the part of the sand that is covered at high tide, then added the critters and observed them. We tried to coax the hermit crabs to move to a bigger shell. Be sure to catch some seaweed and put it in the pool. We were amazed at how many little creatures make their home in the seaweed. We returned the animals to their homes after observing them for a little while. Enjoy your visit!

Our best additions to the Burgess Bird book were the bird song bible linked about and bird feeders. A bear helped himself to our feeders so they are down until winter, but my girls loved watching and identifying the birds using a field guide.

Thank you Lori for the links and suggestions! I can't wait to sit down this weekend and dig into them. We only read the stories aloud and did not do any analysis aside from basic discussions. The love of the stories has grown on its own and now I am just trying to nurture it. My daughter is only 7 so I am trying to keep it light and fun. Thankfully she loves LEGOs so the Christmas list is easy this year with the new LOTR sets. I bought her a copy of the ring on ebay for a few dollars and she keeps it in her pocket. We ordered her Frodo costume for Halloween early so she can play dress up and she has adopted an odd British accent to compliment her character. She is Korean (adopted) so it is really quite a cute combination. Aside from playing LOTR with her little sister (who will only be Lady Galadriel) she has been working on her own character encycolpedia, comic book and related art projects in her free time. I also found a literature study on Currclick that I thought would be way over her head, but she insisted so we tried it. It has been a great project to work on together and she loves pulling the books back out to look up the answers. She has formed deep connections with books since she was very young. We read her the Wonderful Wizard of Oz when she was 3 and she fell in love. We spent the next year reading all the Oz books aloud to her and for awhile her play centered around the characters. Certain books just seem to capture her imagination. Enjoy your trip!

My oldest daughter is deeply in love with LOTR and the Hobbit. My husband has been reading the books aloud to her over the last few months and she eats, breaths and lives the stories. She has started wearing her furry boot slippers (hobbit feet) and hooded bathrobe in the middle of summer so she can be more like a Hobbit. I bought her this set of CDs to feed her obsession and she has been listening to it non-stop for weeks now. It is very well done and it has added an extra dimension to the story. As a nice bonus, she has now memorized quite a few of the poems from the book by listening to it. Highly recommended for any Tolkien fan young or old. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EU1JL0/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I agree with the pp about using math names. We count one ten one, one ten two, etc... while building the numbers with crods. Once they have mastered that then I introduce eleven, twelve etc...

It looks like Zulily is running a back to school special this week. There are tons if science kits, hands on learning supplements and books available. My girls have enjoyed the Magic Schoolbus kits as a supplement to BFSU and the Learning Resources human anatomy model. The link below should give you a $5 credit if you have not shopped there before. http://www.zulily.com/invite/lcalkins552

My girls love the greek myths. We really enjoyed the Percy Jackson books as a read aloud. They helped solidify the gods and goddesses in their minds. The D'Aulaire book was great and my girls both read the Goddess Girl and Zeus series by Joan Holub. The latter are rather twaddlish, but they enjoyed them for their free reading. We also enjoyed Mary Pope Osborne's Oddessy series and the Barefoot book retellings. I am putting together a greek history camp for my girls and their cousins this summer. I am using this book from scholastic as our spine: http://teacherexpress.scholastic.com/subject/social-studies/world-history/greek-mythology-activities-mkt9813 It was included in the last sale and it is well worth the $5 I paid. The download includes a minibook with the main Gods and Goddess. I made a passport from the mini book and they kids will get a "stamp" for each god and goddess we study. We are also making Apollo's chariot out of empty oatmeal canisters and ribbon spools for wheels, making togas, putting on a play, eating ambrosia and a few other hands on activities to go along with the stories. Zeus on the Loose and the Lego Minotaurus were fun additions to our game closet. We also watched the Clash of the Titans (1980s version) and Clash of the Gods History Channel documentary. You may want to preview them because both have some things that may not be right for your family.

TumTum and Nutmeg - sweet, gentle and hilarious stories about mice Miss Happiness and Miss Flower, Little Plum, Candy Floss, impunity Jane, Fairy Doll, Story of Holly and Ivy all by Rumer Godden Twig and Big Susan by Susan Orten Jones Nurse Matlida Wizard of Oz and sequels I do not care for rude language either and I censor the words when reading aloud. I honestly can't remember if any of the books above have rude words, but my girls enjoyed all the stories. Your boys may not care for the Rummer Godden books, but tuck them away for when your daughters are a little older. They are wonderful!