Back to School!

August is a horrid month.  It is hot (unless you live in New Zealand, then it’d be winter), there are no holidays and it ushers in the dreaded “Back to School” season.  Which for us, as homeschoolers who do year-round school, isn’t as big of a deal.  Still, when driving to work that first morning of school, the traffic is a stark reminder of how happy I am to never have to sit in a car line again.  Ever.  Even we need some back to school items and this year I found I couldn’t live, or school, without this…..
It is, in a word, Awesome.

Each page is loaded with facts, pictures and drawings……

…..teaching about everything you would expect to find in a dictionary.

I wish I had this in 1988.

Lord, that makes me feel old.
Anyway, it is a great starter for learning about everything from Aardvark to Zucchini and no, I can’t spell either of those words and had to look them up in the dictionary.

Another thing I love is the introduction to speech and the English language located in the front of the book and in the back there is a list of countries and nationalities.  So I now know that people from Madagascar are called Malagsy.  Just don’t ask me to pronounce it, okay?

Thanks!

Underpants

“Hooked on Phonics Really Worked for Me!” Recall that slogan?  Well, phonics are still working apparently and this darling book makes them more fun than ever!

“Underpants for Ants” tell the story of some really cold ants….

And a mouse who has a shop “But customers just stay away.  And so she sits and knits all day.”  By the way, aren’t those ants hysterical?  I want one.

Which is lucky for the ants……”Handmade underpants!  How grand”

Not only are the ants bottoms nice and toasty, Nan the mouse finds a new calling AND a new business.

Way to go Nan!

This book is part of an entire series of readers, next time we will look at “Snail Brings the Mail”  It’s my favorite!

🙂

The ‘Whatif Monster’

I was so glad to aquire this book and know I am not the only human, large or small, affected by this dreadful creature!  “Jonathan James and the Whatif Monster” reminds us all that the ‘what if’ syndrome not only depresses our mind but truly cripples our attempts at greatness.  “They are sneaky and quiet and quick as a blink, the words that they whisper can change how we think.”

What if nobody picks me to be on their team?  What if my mom gets mad because I got dirty?  What if I can’t draw as good as other kids?

What if I ask for a raise and my boss laughs at me?  What if I get fired?  What if I go back to school and can’t make the grade?  What if I ask that woman out and she rejects me?  What if I cook him dinner and he hates it?  What if I’m not good enough to be a parent?

You see, the Whatif Monster doesn’t care if we are young or old, rich or poor, healthy or sick.  He creeps, unbidden, into the minds of us all.

But.  We have the power to stand up.  We have the power to overcome.  We have the power to turn the what if its bad into what if its good!

What if I get a raise?  What if I get promoted?  What if I’m at the top of my class?  What if that girl marries me?  What if I happen to bake his favorite dish?  What if my kids think I’m the greatest parent EVER?

What if we knew we would not fail?

Take that Whatif monster and beat him at his own game I say!

And if you need a reminder, order the book.  I read it today.  Twice.

First Words

When your children finally begin talking you are so excited!  As you know this excitement quickly can turn to “please be quiet!”  However, first words are very important words and this sturdy, colorful book introduces over 270 commonly used words along with a delightful pictures and fun figures.

Not only does it cover family, friends, food, drink and items about the house….

It covers my favorite subject, farm animals!

Also colors and counting. Both very important.

All the way around a great introduction to the English language we all use with varying degrees of success.

I see this as a baby shower gift in the near future.  Because we could all use a little help in the English department….

PLANE!

When I was little it was a huge deal if anything flew over the house.  Airplane, emergency helicopter, geese.  Whatever, we all had to run outside and see it, whatever ‘it’ was.  I have also always loved paper airplanes.  However I’ve never been really good at making them.  Until now!

Check this out.

How cool is this thing?

Seriously.

  How did I achieve such greatness you ask?  I’ll show you.

Not only does this book come with 200 awesome sheets of tear-out paper with which to craft your plane. No indeed. It also comes with detailed instructions allowing you to make not one, not two, not three but SEVEN models, each with their own crazy cool flying pattern.

On each sheet of paper there is a tiny plane, each plane is a separate color which coordinates with the directions.  Like this,

Red Plane = Dart Pattern.  And each sheet of paper has lines to guide you so each fold is straight.  No ‘eye-balling’ here!  Browse and choose a sheet of paper…..

And get folding!

Before you know it you will be a bone fide plane expert.
You may even let the kids have a go. Maybe.

Let’s Experiment!

This book should come with a warning “If you are not prepared to do at least 3 science projects with your child daily do not order!”.  Which makes it a GREAT book to give as a gift, for example from a grandmother who lives out of state to her darling grandchild around 6 years of age!  Torture the parents kind of thing…..This being said I ordered this book to supplement our first grade science program.

And so far we have made wind pipes, a guitar, sugar crystals, salt crystals, birdie-in-a-cage and something else….they are starting to run together! I have to admit the guitar was my favorite so far.

It really worked!
Then we did the crystals…

And one of the best things about this book, most of the supplies needed are common household items. Paper clips, twine, glass bottles and food coloring are some must have items. Lots of food coloring.  We should maybe purchase stock.

The directions are easy to read, simple to follow and so far we haven’t spent more than about 10 minutes on each experiment.  I like this, no time for the child to get bored and lose interest.

The surface tension was another one I really liked.  Water, a bowl, black pepper and some dish soap is all you need to be amazed!

My budding scientist!

So, if you are looking for a TON of easy, fun and educational science project ideas look no further than this book!  It also has internet links for more fun ideas, I haven’t been there yet but I’m sure it is awesome.

Happy Experimenting!

Cherry the Pig

As soon as I saw the cover of Cherry the Pig I knew I had to have it!  Written and illustrated by Utako Yamada from Japan who has also owned a tea house there since 1987, Cherry’s story is one to inspire those who dare, to do what they love, even when the outcome looks dim.

When Cherry mistakenly thinks a group of mice have declared her cake ‘incredible’ she becomes so excited she enters a local bake-off.  However, half-way thru the contest she is dismayed to find they actually thought her cake was incredibly awful!  Will Cherry sink into depression?  Or will she overcome the odds and continue to do what she loves, bake?

You will have to read for yourself and find out!

Addie and I give Cherry 5 stars!

(By the way, I really want that yellow bowl with the bees on it.  Really, really bad.)

Hi there!

Greetings fellow book lovers!  Welcome to Book Worm Books!  I decided to begin this blog for several reasons.  Here is reason number one.

This is my daughter, Addie.  She is a lover of books as well.

Reason number two.

The books I’ll be blogging about come exclusively from Usborne Books and More.  They are awesome.  Here is an example.

Seriously, why didn’t they have ‘Shine a Light’ books when I was little?

And reason number three.  I have another blog, The Wicked Chicken, and enjoyed it so much I thought it would be fun to have another one yet with an entirely separate purpose.

My final reason is I recently became an independent consultant for these books and thought there would be no better way to share them than thru the eyes of my daughter and me.  So join us as we review, read thru and explore the world together.

One book at a time.

🙂