Laura has been working for a long time on two books that I've scheduled her to finish. My Secret War and Mother West Wind's Children are two books that we have had checked out from the library for weeks. It's time to finish them and get them back. I like going through books slowly, but I think we took too long with these two. Part of that is because I simply piled too many books into our reading schedule. However, we finished with North to Amaroqvik on Friday, and with two more finished this week we will almost have a fresh slate.
For History, we are still in the middle of Ben and Me. Missionary Stories with the Millers, our read aloud, is only about half finished. Laura is making her way through James Herriot's Treasury for Children as a nature reader. Laura is nearly done with Finding the Constellations, but we aren't even going to do much for science this week. I'm seeing that our progress is slow going with some of Charlotte Mason's principles. I don't believe that taking things slow is a bad thing if it is effective for Laura. I just don't always like to keep library books out for six weeks or more at a time. It's different with books that I purchase, however.
One of the next novels I'm going to have Laura begin is Heidi. It is one of ACE's selections. We probably won't use the workbooks since we will be starting a different program for Language Arts. I still would like Laura to read the books... especially since I like the stories from ACE. Heidi is a classic that I think will touch Laura's heart.
Other books planned for this year include Trumpet of the Swan, Meet Addy, A Dog of Flanders, and Caddie Woodlawn. I have some others I may throw in, but it just depends on our course load and how Laura is doing. I don't want her too bogged down.
I have some other books planned for science too, such as a books about Leonardo DaVinci and Louis Pasteur. I have a Nature Study through Living Books guide for My Side of the Mountain planned for after Christmas... when getting outside to study nature will be difficult. I also have planned for Laura and I to learn about Coral Reefs from a One Small Square book.
Our study of U.S. History is full of literature. There are at least two more books from the Sower Series that we are going to cover. I also have a couple Sonlight selections ready. However, the focus of our history studies seem to have taken a turn. While we are still using and reading out spine, A Child's Story of America, we are totally enjoying the Learning History Through Living Books study guide from Queen Homeschool Supplies. Ben and Me has been quite interesting. I'm looking forward to Mr. Revere and I. Depending on how these go, we may change our focus a bit.
There is plenty of reading planned for the rest of this year. I am excited about the quality of literature that Laura is reading. She seems to slowly be developing a taste for it. I've caught her re-reading books that we've already finished. She is starting to like diary or journal based historical stories too. Compared to last year when she didn't want to read anything historical, this is a big improvement.
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