Reading her columns again has been a walk down memory lane as I have checked to see if the books I’ve listed are still in print. I’ve listed some of them below along with links to her original column and some occasional snippets from her reviews. I hope your family enjoys each of her recommended books as much as we did!

I distinctly recall borrowing and reading Steven Kellog’s I Was Born About 10,000 Years Ago after reading Joan’s review in her July-August 1997 column. She wrote:

No one retells a tall tale with more panache than Steven Kellogg. In this one, which was adapted from a nineteenth-century American folk song, multiple narrators boldly take credit for some of the most outrageous claims in history. One by one, they brag about having seen King Pharoah’s daughter fish Moses out of the water, of seeing Adam and Eve being banished from the Garden of Eden, of showing Columbus the way to the New World, of secretly marrying Queen Elizabeth in Milwaukee, even of playing hopscotch with spacemen on the moon (with plans to visit Saturn). All of these outlandish boasts are embellished with Kellogg’s own verse and typically exuberant illustrations.

In that same column she reviewed A Journey to the New World: The Diary of Remember Patience Whipplle, the first book in the Dear America Series, A Drop of Water: A Book of Science and Wonder, by Walter Wick and Lives of the Athletes: Thrills, Spills (and What the Neighbors Thought.)

In her January-February 1998 So Many Books column, Joan Torkildson reviewed:

• Cracked Corn and Snow Ice Cream A Family Almanac, by Nancy Willard
  Joan writes this about the book: Perfect for browsing during long, wintery afternoons (even if you don’t happen to live in the Midwest), the almanac is both an engrossing read and a poignant reminder of a quieter, less complicated time not so very long ago.
  
• I Wonder Why Trees Have Leaves and Other Questions About Plants (Kingfisher books by various authors)
  The books are an eclectic mix of bold, easy-to-read type, beautifully realistic illustrations, and humorous cartoon-like drawings. Questions range from the sensible (“Why do leaves change color in the fall?”) to the quirky (“Which bird sniffs all night?”).
  
• The Kingfisher Young People’s Atlas of the World
  Extensively indexed, the book also includes detailed charts of facts and figures for each continent.
  
• I Saw a Purple Cow by Ann Cole, Carolyn Haas, Faith Bushnell, and Betty Weinberger
  The emphasis here is on the simple and homemade, a feature that will no doubt be appreciated by budget-minded homeschooling families. Most of the activities in the book use recycled or common household items, such as cardboard boxes and tubes, egg cartons, newspapers and magazines, cans and jar lids, old clothes and jewelry, crayons, and watercolors. Have plenty of white glue and tape on hand.
  
• The Best of Shakespeare: Retellings of 10 Classic Plays E. Nesbit

In the So Many Books March-April 1997 Column, Joan wrote this about

• With Needle and Thread: A Book About Quilts , by Raymond Bial, With Needle and Thread would make a nice addition to a unit study on quiltmaking, or could simply add depth and background to a family quiltmaking project. Ambitious types might try researching a few of the hundreds of colorful names (Broken Dishes, Chinese Coins, Drunkard’s Path, Trip Around the World) to uncover more of the history of this gentle “art within.

In this column she also reviewed

• The Shelter of Each Other: Rebuilding Our Families
• Mapping a Changing World
• My Brother Sam Is Dead

Here is a list of other books that she recommended via her column:

• Pass the Peas Please
• Crinkleroot’s Nature Almanac
• Grandfather’s Christmas Tree
• Amelia Erhart, Young Air Pioneer

I’ve linked many of the books to sites where you can purchase them, whether brand-new or well-used, but don’t forget to see if you can borrow them from your local public library first!

I read many books as a child, but I think I have enjoyed many of them twice as much when I read them with my children. Homeschooling gave us ample time to read countless books, taking our time to explore the contents, moving along slowly as we digested it, or rushing to find out how the story would unfold in the next chapter.

We also enjoyed hours of fun listening to books on tape in the car or as we worked on crafts and other projects.

Whatever type of materials you enjoy reading, Home Education Magazine offers the following articles and resources on reading.

Articles

Revelations of a Homeschooling Mom – Carol Wanagel

Once I realized how bad the textbooks were, we started going to book stores and libraries more often. The kids bought or checked out whatever they wanted. Suddenly, with all their reading and discovery, THEY were the ones giving ME information. Josh asked, “You know about klipspringers, European mountain goats that can land with all four hooves on a ledge the size of a quarter?” No, I never knew that. Joanna, experimenting with the piano, asked, “You ever notice that a melody sounds better if you use notes right next to each other or at least two apart?” No, I’d never noticed. Jon J explained to me, “For SOME people (meaning himself) it’s just as easy to add large numbers by calculating all the columns at once.” Gee, I wouldn’t have suggested that method.

Homeschooling Fathers - Gary Wyatt

Second, read good books with your children each day, possibly in the evening. Reading provides families with the opportunity to master new words, visit faraway places, and learn important lessons of life. I have come to value reading time with my children more than any other time that I spend with them. Currently, my 14-year-old son Christopher and I are reading Robert Cormier’s The Chocolate War, The most poignant fictional accounts of what happens to a teenage boy who defies his peers. Invaluable discussions about the power of peer groups have followed each reading episode. Cory, my 11-year-old, and I are finishing Paul Creswick’s Robin Hood. Lessons about morality, loyalty, friendship, power, and corruption, as well as information about medieval England have been learned. Aaron, my 5-year-old, is just learning to read. We read Dr. Seuss books and other early readers. We look at picture books and talk about the pictures we see. Reading is the perfect way to end the day, and with children of different ages who go to bed at different times, it provides valuable moments of one-on-one time with them.

Playtime A Time for Children and Parents to Share and to Grow - Amber P. Keefer

Storytime is an important way for parents to share time with young children and help them learn and develop new skills. Long before my own daughter could read, she looked forward to the times when she would snuggle up between her father and I and point to the pictures as we read her a story. Eventually, she could recite her favorite stories word by word just by looking at the pictures. She chattered away at an early age, proving that the time we spent together helped her develop language and communication skills even before she was reading. By the time she did begin reading on her own, we reversed roles and allowed her to read to us. This role reversal not only helped to improve her reading skills, but it helped improve her vocabulary and language skills, as well. For years to come, this child who loved to hear the sound of her own voice (and still does), continued to look forward to our shared reading time together.

H is for Homeschooling - Scott Stevens

R is for Reading, reading, reading! How can children be successful in life? By reading, reading, reading! How do children learn to read? They have parents that read, read, read to them. They read books, newspapers, magazines, comic strips, dictionaries, encyclopedias, children’s books and more. There is no magic formula to learn how to read, but children who are read to daily for as little as fifteen minutes from the time that they are born will develop reading skills quite naturally.

Reading Resources

Today in Literature

Jim Weiss
Greathall Productions Inc. – Wonderful books on tape

Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg is the first producer of free electronic books (ebooks).

Closer Look: Reading

A Collection of Biographical Sketches

Carol Hurst’s Literature Site

FUNBrain Reading

Reading is potentially one of life’s most underrated accomplishments. Consider for a moment how much reading you do in a single day – beginning with what you’re reading right now. From reading boxes and packages to determine what’s for breakfast to reading the television guide to find a late movie, reading seamlessly becomes a part of every day. It’s one of the three basic skills, along with ‘ritin’ and ‘rithmetic.’

We’ve published a tremendous number of articles on reading over the years, covering everything from late readers to reading difficulties to joining a book club with your kids! Whether your children are accomplished readers or just starting down the road to reading, you’ll find lots of great articles here on the subject of Reading!

Articles on Reading

One Mother’s Search for the Meaning of Literacy, by Sherry Kinser – As an avid reader and an English major in college, I have collected many books. I was thankful to have a ready-made library when I started home educating my ten-year-old son, Alex, four years ago.

Learning to Read, by Sue Smith Heavenrich – I am sure my children learned to read by osmosis. I certainly didn’t teach them. It wasn’t for lack of materials, understand.

Reading Lessons, by Valerie Bonham Moon – It was late at night, the lights were out, and my book lay on the stack next to my bed where I’d dropped it. I was falling in and out of sleep when the stillness was torn by the crash of…. of falling books?

From Tapes to Reading, by Janet Keip – We gave book tapes at Christmas, birthdays, Easter and to celebrate the cat having kittens. Fortunately Jaime enjoyed the tenth listening of a book tape as much as she did first.

Encouraging Reading, by Cafi Cohen – Over the years – by talking to other parents, by observing hundreds of homeschooling families, and by trial and error – we discovered a number of techniques that encourage reading (for non-readers and reluctant readers) and that stimulate kids to try more diverse and challenging materials, including some of the classics.

Passport to the World, by Sue Smith Heavenrich – My son is off exploring the world this year. Last month it was Asia; this month it’s Africa. He’s got his passport and a backpack loaded with books and a map…

For Reading Out Loud, by Marty Layne – Reading seasonal stories year after year can be one way to give shape and meaning to your family’s holiday rituals. Let me tell you some of the criteria I use to choose books to read out loud and share some of my favorite Christmas stories with you based on those criteria.

By Jove, I Think He’s Got It!, by Robin Ohlgren-Evans – Taylor turns twelve this year and I can finally say without any reservations, without a moment’s hesitation, without any words of explanation he is reading. He is reading!

The Love of Reading, by Cay Gibson – Society has entrusted us with a sense of guilt that if you sit down to read, you are not doing what is expected of you as a stay-at-home mother. You are being lazy, non-productive.

Will They Ever Read?, by Carol Narigon – The first thing you need to do is decide what is your goal for your daughter. Do you want her to learn to read at a certain age so she’ll be on grade level comparable with your local public schools? Or do you want her to love reading for the rest of her life?

Reading and Perpetual Motion, byKris Bordessa – Story time for Evan has always been full of fidgets and wiggles. Now at the age of seven, Evan has mellowed in some aspects, yet he is still unable to enjoy stories like I do. Quietly. Calmly.

Kids Classic Book Club, by Kathy Ceceri – But the best part of belonging to a homeschoolers’ book club may be knowing that, in amongst all the Star Wars novelizations and Garfield comic books my kids strew around the house, they’re going to read at least one good, meaty, thought-provoking book every month–all without any nagging by me!

Book Clubs and Other Reading Resources, by Becky Rupp – Book clubs all of a sudden have become hot stuff – which makes perfect sense, since The joys of reading a great (or even not-so-great) book is the opportunity to hash it over with interested friends afterwards.

Read All About It and More!, by Doris Schuchard – Think newspapers and magazines are only good for reading? Then you need to try Puzzle Pictures, Newspaper Mad Libs(R), or Comic Capers. Here are some fun ways for your kids to play with words and learn a little something, too!

Loving the Library, by Becky Rupp – Of all possible homeschooling resources – after, of course, such pipe-dream unobtainables as unlimited time and money – next-best is a library card.

The Ongoing Debate in Reading Instruction, by Mark B. Thogmartin – Theorists and reading educators in the public school arena have been debating the issues surrounding the role of phonics instruction for decades. The debate continues to this day, with no signs of letting up.

Learning to Read, by Christine Lozano – Learning to read may be the biggest educational challenge we attempt as human beings. Learning to walk, learning to talk, seem to come effortlessly, as part of our genetic coding. Learning to read, on the other hand, seems calculated, full of effort, labored. And yet, does it have to be?

Reading Resources

Best Homeschooling Many inspiring, informative, and encouraging articles on reading can be found at Lillian Jones’ excellent Best Homeschooling site.

Best Homeschooling: Reading The Written Word, Reading and Language: Links to learning language arts, children’s literature, reading, grammar, writing, word games & puzzles, vocabulary, poetry, spelling, dictionaries, languages, and more.

StarFall “Where children have fun learning to read!” Offered as a free public service.

FUN Books “We want to support homeschoolers, not just sell to them.”

Reading Rockets A national multimedia project offering information and resources on how young kids learn to read – and how parents can help.

Book Adventure A FREE reading motivation program for children in grades K-8. Children create their own book lists from over 7,000 recommended titles, take multiple choice quizzes on the books they’ve read, and earn points and prizes for their literary successes.

Read Across America NEA’s Read Across America is an annual reading motivation and awareness program that calls for every child in every community to celebrate reading on or around Dr. Seuss’s birthday.

HEM Back Issues Package: Reading & Writing This package includes an approximately equal number of articles on reading and writing subjects, including special topics such as late readers, spelling and unspelling, free writing, discovering your writer’s voice, reading aloud, writing groups, book clubs, making your own book, and reading Shakespeare.

HEM Back Issue Package: Winter Reading HEM’s Winter Reading Back Issue Package combines issues with articles on book clubs, using the library, reading activities for reluctant readers, and writing clubs to include the whole family in a book-rich winter experience. Top it off with hot chocolate or soup – recipe included!