Books & Reading

Roadschooling: Should we bring all the books?

March 23, 2011

What should I do about Scout’s books? I just found out that shipping them to Amsterdam will cost much more than I was expecting. MUCH more. $150 more. That’s more than I was expecting. I had been planning on mailing an extra box of them, craftily saving on airline baggage fees, but after getting off [...]

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NaNoWriMo: Day 3

November 3, 2010

8:54 am 1,650/50,000 I haven’t slept well in days. Between 3 and 4 am most nights this week, Archie has rung his “I’ve-got-to-go-pee-or-chase-a-raccoon-right-this minute!” bells. I’m a ruminator/worrier/fretter, so once I’ve gone to let him out, it takes me hours to fall back asleep. Last night the dog finally slept soundly. But my husband accidentally [...]

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NaNoWriMo: Days 1 & 2

November 2, 2010

Short and sweet. That’s how I’m blogging during National Novel Writing Month. (Earlier I wrote about NoNoWriMo here.) I need to focus on my novel and will blog as I go. No editing (in either case). First, a little about me. I have never written any fiction, except for required and uninspired school assignments back [...]

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Amazing Journeys: Five Visionary Classics by Jules Verne

September 25, 2010

Scout and I are currently reading an absolutely wonderful book, Amazing Voyages: Five Visionary Classics by Jules Verne. It contains Verne’s most famous adventures, including Journey to the Center of the Earth, From the Earth to the Moon, Circling the Moon, 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas, and Around the World in 80 Days. I can’t [...]

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Choosing Classics for Kids: 5 Tips

September 20, 2010

Do you struggle to find good editions of classic books for your children? Not titles, mind you, but editions? I certainly do. It’s not always easy, and the stakes are high, especially if you have a discerning and talented reader on your hands. If I give Scout a watered-down or inelegantly translated version, she loses [...]

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Bibliomystery

July 26, 2010

An interesting thing recently happened to me at the library. One day, several weeks ago, a book showed up for me on the “hold” shelf. But I had no idea where it came from. Had I requested it myself, with absolutely no recollection of doing so? Or was the universe trying to give me a [...]

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Emily Dickinson

July 21, 2010

Scout loves Emily Dickinson and takes pride in memorizing and reciting her poems. She’s blessed with a phenomenal memory so after reading a poem once or twice, its burned in her brain forever. Then, without warning, she will break out in verse whenever the mood strikes her….in the bath, during dinner, while I’m navigating heavy [...]

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