Sep. 5, 2006 - Let's start at the very beginning....
Wow- it's the first day of school again.
It's our thirteenth first day of school.
This is our ninth first day of homeschooling.
It's my eldest son's third first day of public high school.
It's my second oldest son's last first day of homeschool, since he's in grade 8.
It's my fourth son's first first day of school (just a little gentle kindergarden for him; he's only just turned five).
Endings and beginnings....sweet and bittersweet.
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Aug. 31, 2006 - These are a few of my favourite things....
My top ten favourite books to read aloud to my boys. 
#10- Little House on the Prairie picture books
- these are not on the list for the actual stories, but rather the beautiful illustrations. I'd much rather read aloud the novels to an older child, but these are a nice introduction to Laura and her family.
#9- Caps for Sale
- an oldie but goodie! What fun it is to imitate the peddler and the monkeys too as I read this one.
#8- Dr. Seuss's ABC
- I enjoy this not only for the rhyme, but also because I have a young David, whom we call, "David Donald Doo". It's so cute seeing the grin on his face when we get to that part of the book. My only complaint about this one is that Canadians pronounce "z" as "zed", so the book ends without proper rhyme. Someday I'll put on my thinking cap and change the last page to get that rhyme correct.
- this is an Usborne book. Ds22 months loves to chime in when I read this one.
#6- How Many Trucks Can a Tow Truck Tow?
- Fun story and great rhymes.
#5- Go, Dog, Go!
- another classic from Dr. Seuss. The best part of this one is imitating the voices of the dogs who say, "Do you like my hat?" "No, I don't like that hat." "Good-bye." "Good-bye!". 
You have to hear me read that to really appreciate it.
#4- Franklin series
- Gorgeous illustrations and nice stories too. I like these because they seem to be a cut above the average series books for children of this age. For example, in Franklin and the Big Kid, rather than have the Big Kid mock Franklin for being younger, we have him teaching Franklin about responsibility and hard work. Refreshing!
- oh, look, it's Dr. Seuss again! We had this book when I was young. The rhyme is fun to read out loud.
- it was a happy day for me when I realized that the Frances books that I had loved as a child were back in print. Ds4 likes this one too. Often he will ask me for bread and jam for breakfast, to which I reply, "Okay, Frances" and he cheerfully replies, "I'm NOT Frances!" LOL
#1- Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb
- what's not to love about this one? There's monkeys, funny rhyme and hand motions. This was my sister's favourite when she was little and every one of my boys has loved it too.
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Apr. 7, 2006 - I'm not sure what happened...
my account disappeared. Let's see if I can set it up again....
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