Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Unit Study

Can you believe it is almost the end of the year! I cannot! I cannot believe we are well int our 2nd full year of homeschooling. As is typical in the homeschool world, I find myself changing things up a bit here or there. I have lost sight a little bit of what we are doing this for and school got to be a matter of checking off things of a list to say we are "done with school". So I decided I needed to get back to my unit studies based on literature! That's how we had fun and learned just last year, how did we get away from that?

So we wrapped up our study on Shiloh and we are spending December and January reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl.




Here are some activities we will do during our unit study:

•  We will ask our friends on Faceboook to choose their favorite types of candy and graph the answers.
•  This is a great time of year to snag those boxes of chocolate candy. We will of course take this chance to grab some, then have a Chocolate/Candy Tasting Event and decide on our favorites!
• I will print this great set of notebooking pages and activities from Chaos and Clutter http://thechaosandtheclutter.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Charlie-the-Chocolate-Factory-Notebooking-Pages.pdf
• There are some really cute Willy Wonka party decorations over on Pinterest, so I'll do a few of those maybe for when we watch the movies. Of course we will watch the original with Gene Wilder first!

We are barreling through this book by listening to it on CD and they are enjoying it, and we haven't even gotten into the factory yet!

~~Amy

Pinterest Inspiration: Rain Gutter Shelves

I had seen the awesome rain gutter shelves on Pinterest for awhile now. There are several great tutorials including this fun one:
http://www.fairlyfabulousblog.com/2012/01/rain-gutter-book-shelf-tutorial.html

The only thing I did different was I had Home Depot cut the gutters for me. At first they were hesitant until they realized I meant the vinyl gutters, not the metal ones. The gutters come in ten foot sections, so I had them cut them in half since I was using a fairly large wall space (where a bookshelf had formerly stood).

I had to run BACK to home depot to get the brackets because I didn't remember to get them the first time, I am the most un-handy person ever, despite my crafty skills, so I wasn't thinking of how to actually get the gutters ON the wall. Hey, I can only be so many shades of perfect at once...

This is also a two person job because one person needs to find level and hold the gutters while another screws the brackets in. Maybe you can do it alone...I'm not that awesome.

Anyhoo, we got it going, and thankfully the gutters slide while the brackets are up because I didn't factor in our hall door when I put them up, so we slid the gutters down a tad so the door would open fully. Again..not a handy lady...

But it's DONE! It frees up floor space, and is very visually open. The books are facing out so children can see choices, and it's much easier to change up the book selection for seasons, themes, etc. My kids still don't read as much as I'd like them to, but this encourages them to just grab a book whenever. I'd like to make a cozy spot on the floor that folds up so they can just grab a book and settle down.

I have one more gutter and I'd like to put it in the boys room to hold books for nighttime reading, but haven't decided if that's what I want to do. I think they'd also be great cut into smaller pieces for bathroom storage, craft room storage, garage storage and more!

I still have to say, Pinterest makes my life so much easier!!
~~amy

2011-2012 Reading List

I've decided that while my children are in school, it's a great time to get more reading in! So I am making my 2011-2012 Reading List. On it will be books I can choose from to read, at least one per month. If I go through them faster, awesome, but at least one per month for the school year (9 months.)
So here we go!

In no particular order:

Tomatoland: How modern industrial agriculture destroyed our most alluring fruit.

Better Off.

The World According to Monsanto

The 4 Hour Workweek

I am Number Six

Possible Side Effects

Sophie's Choice

In Defense of Food

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

The Backyard Homestead

 Eat, Pray, Love

The Hangman's Daughter

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter

The Happiness Project

NurtureShock

The Handmade Marketplace

Room

Born on a Blue Day

Sarah's Key

As you can see, most my choices are non-fiction, but that's just the place I am right now. And it's obviously more than 9, because I want to follow my mood, not a list! :)

What's on your reading list??