love to paint

Last spring, a friend came over for lunch with her kids.  They were several years older than mine and had been watching the end of Ken Burn's series about the Westward Movement at home and needed to return it after their visit.  So, they watched the ending on our television.  The movie did bring the Westward Expansion of the west to life, but it was appropriate for upper elementary/middle/high schoolers.  My children are younger.  They do love history, though, so I am always looking for age appropriate resources. What supplemental resources are out there if you're a public schooling parent with a younger child who loves history and loves to read?  And what supplemental resources are out there for homeschooling parents who's child is interested in a topic you're not learning about that year?  And then... how do you find the time to enjoy and learn from those "resources"?   I know many parents might say, "just stop what you're doing, take a br...

The second cd my children have asked to listen to repeatedly the past few weeks is Famously Funny:  A collection of Beloved Stories and Poems , recorded by Jim Weiss.  This CD includes these stories: The Emperor's New Clothes, The Princess and the Pea, Jabberwocky, Father William, Anansi the Mighty, The Yak and more.  Just as with Weiss' tall tales recording, he introduces each story with interesting background interesting.  For example, I had no idea that Lewis Carroll was actually the pseudonym used by a pastor for his writing! One thing that particularly struck me about this cd is that the stories that were selected appeal to both boys and girls.  Yes, there is one princess story, but all of the stories generally appeal to both boys and girls.   Jim Weiss' recordings are entertaining for both adults and children.  They are not annoying for adults to listen to as some can be!   This collection is an all around enjoyable cd to listen to....

Last spring, I went to the library searching for some audiobooks to play for my children in the car while we're driving in the car.  I found a few recordings that we loved... The Railway Children , The Mercy Watson Series , and the early books of The Magic Treehouse Series .  But, as I continued to look, I struggled to find stories that were age appropriate, interesting, and entertaining for all three of my children.  I tried a few different series, but my children didn't enjoy them.  They were scared of Adventures in Odyssey (I have very sensitive children) and they weren't able to follow the recording we listened to of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang . When I was looking for something for us to listen to, a friend offered to lend me the Story of the World on CD, recorded by Jim Weiss.  I never got around to borrowing it, but the idea stuck in my head.  A month ago, I discovered that Jim Weiss has recorded so much more than the Story of the World series. ...