For the same reason I didn’t blog a whole lot for the last few weeks, I also didn’t finish too many books. I was too consumed by homeschooling! I read a lot though- blogs, parts of books about homeschooling, parts of books about education, I just didn’t finish very many cover-cover. I read one book and listened to two audio books.

The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease

I’ve had this book on my list for a while, and I’m so glad I finally read it. The first half is all about the benefits and importance of reading aloud to children- with chapters on the stages of reading aloud, the do’s and don’ts, sustained silent reading, digital learning and TV; and the last half is full of read aloud recommendations, broken down into categories like predictable books, picture books, short and full length chapter books, poetry, and fairy and folk tales. I found this book to be both compelling and fascinating, and am so glad I bought a copy to have on hand as a reference for years to come.

“The more you read, the more you know; and the more you know, the smarter you grow.”

“What we teach children to love and desire will always outweigh what we make them learn.”

Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye (audio)

This is basically a re-imagining of Jane Eyre where the main character is a murderess. I didn’t like it. The beginnings was strong- the first third of the book I loved, up until our Jane character leaves the boarding school and arrives at Thornfield. Then it just sort of fell flat for me, I forced myself to finish it and I wish I hadn’t

The Sound of Gravel by Ruth Wariner (audio)

You guys. This book is FANTASTIC. Its about a girl who grew up in and later escapes from a fundamentalist Mormon polygamist colony. This was my second attempt at this book- the first time I had to put it down because the religious references are eerily similar to my own Mormon experience, but with a nightmare quality to them- lots of reference to Jo Smith as well as other women bearing testimony in church of the practice of polygamy! But once I got past that I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN. I listened to one of the last scenes one evening while John was home and I was trying to pack for a camping trip. It was so intense and visceral that I actually had to stop what I was doing and just sit down to get through it. John came into the room and found me crying (like full on tears streaming down, shaking from my shoulders crying) and probably thought I was a little crazy. I can’t remember the last time I had such an emotional reaction to a book. I definitely wouldn’t recommend this book to everyone, but I really enjoyed it.

I’d also like to note that I’ve read about 1/3 of Susan Wise Bauer’s The Well Trained Mind, a book about the classical approach to home education. I learned A LOT from this book, however don’t feel that I can include it because I mostly just skipped around and read the chapters that were applicable.

Hopefully July is a better reading month for me!