false 18 65 63 true 5722008 read 2 true 1503305 currently-reading 0 true 1503304 to-read 14 false 1826738 read-to-my-kids http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/55294155 to: Pieces of My Heart: A Life (Hardcover) by Robert J. Wagner
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/55292872 to: In Praise of Stay-at-Home Moms (Hardcover) by Laura C. Schlessinger
If you have listened to her show, this is nothing new. I skimmed through it and read the letters and stories of moms. Some were very eye-opening like the mother whose husband dropped the baby off and she picked the baby up from daycare. Because he dressed the baby in the morning, she didn't recognize her own baby when she went to pick it up. She quit her job! Another mom visited many daycare centers to find the perfect one and after hearing so many little kids say to her, "my mommy is coming to get me", she decided to stay home! I wouldn't miss my kids lives for anything! I would rather be poor! ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/51943470 to: The Phantom Tollbooth (Paperback) by Norton Juster
bookshelves: read-to-my-kids
This is a "love of learning" book! It's about a boy who is so bored with life and school and through the tollbooth he goes into another world and gets a new perspective on life. This book was so fun to read out loud to my kids because there were many opportunities to discuss all of the fun plays on words, especially in the land of Ignorance when they were being chased by all of the demons...the Overbearing Know-it-all, who talked continuously..."A dismal demon who was mostly mouth, he was ready at a moment's notice to offer misinformation on any subject." Other demons were the Gross Exaggeration and the Threadbare Excuse (a small pathetic figure who mumbled the same things again and again).

He is a great author and we will definitely read this again!
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/27427455 to: The Keeper of the Bees (Library of Indiana Classics) by Gene Stratton-Porter
I am half way through reading all the books written by my favorite author and I liked this book as well as all her others. Since I am currently reading a lot of books about bees in preparation to having a hive next spring, the detailed description of how to care for bees was very interesting. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/50120198 to: The Giver (The Giver, #1) by Lois Lowry
This book is very thought provoking and I am looking forward to the group discussion! Some people will hate it but I loved it because it inspired my passion against living in a controlled world of "sameness" without choices, pain, feelings, etc....and it seems that our world is going in that direction (not to the same degree in this book but in subtle ways). I hate political correctness even more after reading this book. Give me differences! Give me choices! Give me suffering and pain! I don't want to live any other way! This was also an assignment for my Georgics class. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/49767563 to: Conagher (Paperback) by Louis L'Amour
My favorite quote from the book (assigned for my Georgics Class):

He was not, he told himself, gifted with much imagination. He simply did what had to be done, and his code of ethics was the code of his father, his family, and his time. It would be easy...to throw everything overboard and disclaim any responsibility. All he had to do was saddle up and ride out of the country. It sounded easy, but it was not that easy, even if a man could leave behind his sense of guilt at having deserted a cause. To be a man was to be responsible. It was as simple as that. To be a man was to build something, to try to make the world about him a bit easier to live in for himself and those who followed.

You could sneer at that, you could scoff, you could refuse to acknowledge it, but when it came right down to it, Conn decided it was the man who planted a tree, dug a well, or graded a road who mattered. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/120136-7-8-year-old-boy Lucinda made a comment in the TJEd group:

Just do it really low key with 3 or 4 boys in your home. Let the boys run the program as much as possible by assigning boy-led activities and presentations and I ask one boy to come up with 5 or 10 questions about the book to lead the book discussions. All you have to do is have an activity at each meeting. Do it 2 times a month if you think you can! Actually, our club has one more semester but you could take a good amounto of time to plan what you can handle and start in September. good luck! ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/18094606 to: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (Hardcover) by Barbara Kingsolver
A very interesting book about one family's experience with food. In a world where no one knows where their food originated and what processes it went through or when it was picked or how far it traveled to their local store, this family decided to grow every bit of food they ate or buy from a local source that they had an intimate relationship with. In connection with their website it is a great resource for recipes, links to farmer's markets, info on genetically modified food, vegetarianism (they are recovering vegetarians just like me!) and endless info on types of plants for the garden to the table! Their trip to Italy was the highlight of the book! ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/48816776 to: The Harvester (Library of Indiana Classics) by Gene Stratton-Porter
This is currently my favorite book and may be my all-time favorite. Gene Stratton-Porter is my favorite author and there were so many reasons I loved every minute of this book. I usually like to list my favorite quotes but there were too many in the 600 pages! I will just have to read it over and over. It packed full of details in nature that are unknown to the modern world, old-fashioned values including love and romance at its purest, a perfectly self-sustaining and self-reliant lifestyle, family legacy, forgiveness, sacrifice, only taking from the land what you need, avoiding extravagant living, taking time to really see the beauty of a creation, etc...! ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/48816438 to: The Busy Person's Guide to Preserving Food: Easy Step-by-Step Instructions for Freezing, Drying, and Canning (Paperback) by Janet Chadwick
This is definitely a resource book that I will need to purchase when I am harvesting my garden and I begin canning pickles, tomato sauce, etc...! ]]>