New Reading Challenge

OK, having just shared my loathing for goals (because I so seldom seem to achieve them), I will say I rather enjoyed the reading challenge this year. Maybe because I thought of it as a challenge instead of a goal, or maybe because I liked crossing things off my list and seeing progress, even if I didn't read them all. So I'm forging ahead with the 999 Reading Challenge as I proposed it earlier: 9 fiction and 9 non-fiction in '09. I also liked that I could change my list (which I did frequently as new books caught my fancy!).

So for right now, here are the books I want to read (it's not complete yet, so I'll be adding to it later!):

Fiction:
Fahrenheit 451
House by Frank Peretti


Non-Fiction:
The Ministry of Motherhood
The Mission of Motherhood
Age of Opportunity

888 Challenge Progress Report

I tend to put so much pressure on myself that any time I don't make the mark dead in the center of the target, I feel like a failure. One of my dear friends and mentors taught me a saying: "Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly." Think about it a minute. Now while I do believe that we should try our best to do things worth doing well, does it stand to reason that if we are unsure if we can do it well we shouldn't even attempt it? Well, I did attempt this reading challenge this year, and I didn't read all the books on my list. So what? I still read. I even kept plodding along through some of the books knowing I had set the goal.

On the flip side, I hate that I often set goals and fail to hit them. Obviously it's a little late in the year for me to try to read a couple dozen books. So instead I'm rethinking my challenge for next year. I'm thinking 9 and 9 in '09. Nine non-fiction and nine fiction books. I would LOVE to say I'm going to read 70 or more books for a 999 challenge, but I don't think I will. But 18? I think maybe I could do that. I don't know. Any suggestions?

I just love the idea of challenging myself to read for me!

Review-Piecing Together the High School Puzzle

Homeschooling into high school is remnant to me of anticipating teaching my first son to read. I knew I knew how to read, I just didn't know where to begin in passing along that knowledge. High school is worse. I remember what things were like when I went to high school . . . but everything seems different now. One of my goals for the next year has been to begin training myself for the record-keeping required for high school. So I bought Piecing Together the High School Puzzle by my friend Joanne Mastrioncola to get an idea of what is going to be required.

This book is intended to be specific to Florida high school students, which is OK with me. It walks you through the different high school plans, how to keep records, where to find more information, and even what fun things are available for high school seniors (Didn't know that homeschool seniors could go to grad night!). It explains grade point averages, different kinds of tests, and how to apply for college and scholarships. The book also includes reproducible worksheets and samples for record keeping. It even has checklists of what needs to be done during the students junior and senior years!

This book was straight to the point, yet well-communicated. It comes in a binder, which is great for making copies of the reproducibles. Of course, I was pre-disposed to liking this book because I know that Joanne has a heart for helping others along in their homeschool journey.

After reading this book, I don't feel so intimidated now about homeschooling through high school, if that is what the Lord has planned for us. Now if I could just find a cheap way to keep all those records without putting much time into it . . . .

Homeschooling the Challenging Child

Hooray!!! I've finished another book on my list. (Still have a lot of reading to do this summer.)

Homeschooling the Challenging Child, by Christine Field is an extremely helpful book for anyone who wonders if their homeschooled child might be facing some kind of behavioral or learning disabilities. Although the struggles my youngest two children face are mild, it was helpful to read this book, and the book itself gave me lots of ideas to try with him. It is a book full of encouragement when you begin to wonder if homeschooling a "special needs" child is worth it--when you wonder if they would be better off in school with a "professional." It is also full of helpful resource links, a walk-through on the process of having a special needs child evaluated, as well as many other thoughts and advice that Ms. Field learned through experience.

Although this book covers technical material, it is very readable.

My 888 Challenge

OK. I added Shelfari to my blog tonight, and in doing so reviewed my reading list for this year. Not doing so well. Sooo . . .

• Less TV. I gotta turn that thing off.
• Keep my list in front of me. Concentrate my reading on the books I've listed, even if it means changing the list a little as I go.
• Carry it with me. Remember I have it.

Today is Monday. By the end of the week I want to have made progress on one I want to read aloud, and I want to have finished ONE of my books. (I'm close to finishing a couple of them.)

Next year I'm doing my 9-9-9 Diet List.

One More Book Down

I'd better get to work or plan on reading like crazy this summer!

I did finish one more of the books on my list with AJ. We read The Velveteen Rabbit. I knew he'd really like this story. He has a stuffed rabbit that his grandad gave him. It has seen a lot of action over the years, and I occasionally have referenced it "becoming real." After we finished the book, which AJ really loved, he immediately found his rabbit and carried it around for days.

Anyway, I can knock another one off my list. Now to get to work on some of the longer books!

Book Review-The Tiger Rising

The Tiger Rising has much of the same flavor as Bridge Over Terebithia. Both focus on children wrestling in contrasting ways with the limitations of their power over their circumstances, and with the decisions of the adults in their lives. Both are stories of redemption. And both stories are expertly crafted to keep the reader's interest, and to explore deeper concepts without compromising a good story.

Ever since the death of his mother, loner Rob Horton is a boy with a lot bottled up inside him. The concurrent discovery of a caged tiger and the aquisition of a new friend begin his journey into the pain of loss and bittersweet memories. His new friend, Sistine Bailey also carries a lot of emotional weight after the divorce of her parents, resulting in separation from her dad. Instead of bottling it up, Sistine is angry at everything, fighting the world. As the two wrestle with the choice of freeing the tiger, they also wrestle with the decisions of freeing their emotions so they can reconcile them. Both of these decisions will lead either to healing or to sealing their emotions inside forever.

I love books with great symbolism--I love to peel back the layers and look for more than the obvious story--and although The Tiger Rising is a quick read, it is rich in depth. True to her other novels, Kate DiCamillo writes vividly, a real treat for me since I live in the region she describes so well. The only objections some might have is the occurence of two uses of the Lord's name in vain. Other than that, there is no mention of faith in this book positively or negatively. I have an idea of writing a literature study to go with this book for children. This novel is appropriate for older elementary students through junior high. It is a great book to use to teach kids about the appropriate dealing with emotions.

One Down, Fifty-nine to Go!

Today I finished The Tiger Rising, by Kate DiCamillo. I'll post a review on it later and link it to my 888 list. It was a great book, and an easy read--a great starting place for my challenge. I'm also planning on reading one to AJ today, so by the end of the day, hopefully I'll be down two!!!

I'll probably do great until I start hitting books I haven't started yet. Therein the challenge really lies!

My 888 List

OK. I've stayed up way too late to do this, but I have my list. Note that it is subject to change on a whim, as I find NEW books to add to it.

8 Books I’d Like to Finish

1. A Chance to Die (Elliot)
2. Smart Organizing DONE!
3. A House for My Name
4. Peacemaking for Families
5. Homeschooling the Challenging Child DONE!
6. Age of Opportunity
7. Women in the Material World
8. The Tiger Rising (DiCamillo) DONE!
   

8 Books by Some of My Favorite Authors

1. Number the Stars (Lowry)
2. The Silent Boy (Lowry)
3. Redeeming Love (Rivers)
4. The Shofar Blew (Rivers)
5. Disciplines of the Beautiful Woman (Ortland)
6. Surprised by Joy (Lewis)
7. Calico Captive (Speare)
8. The Tiger Rising (DiCamillo) DONE!

8 Christian Classics (or Destined to Be Classics)

1. Christian’s Secret to a Happy Life (Whitall Smith)
2. The Practice of Godliness (Bridges)
3. The Everlasting (Chesterton)
4. Orthodoxy (Chesterton)
5. Let the Nations Be Glad (Piper)
6. Till We Have Faces (Lewis)
7. Experiencing God (Blackaby)
8. Absolute Surrender (Murray)

8 Fiction Books

1. The Shofar Blew
2. Fahrenheit 451
   
3. Island of the Blue Dolphin
4. Calico Captive
5. Across Five Aprils
6. The Hedge of Thorns
7. Carry On, Captain Bowditch! DONE!
8. Sarah, Plain and Tall
   

8 Books to Make Me a Better Teacher

1. I Wanna Take Me a Picture
2. Future Men (Wilson)
3. Teach Them Dilligently: How to Use Scriptures in Child Training
4. Minds of Boys
5. Piecing Together the Highschool Puzzle (Mastrioncola) DONE!
6. Shaping the Man Inside Teenage Boys (Beausay)
7. You Can Teach Your Child Successfully (Beechick)
8. When the Brain Can’t Hear DONE!

8 Books to Read with My Boys

1. Duncan’s War (Bond)
2. Tuck Everlasting DONE!
3. Boy (Dahl) DONE!
4. The Three Musketeers
5. The Giant Killer
6. Who Put the Skunk in the Trunk?: Learning to Laugh When Life Stinks
7. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever DONE!
8. Boyhood and Beyond

8 Books I Loved That I Want to Read to My Youngest Son

1. How Fletcher Was Hatched DONE!
2. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
3. Prince Caspian
4. Voyage of the Dawn Treader
5. Blueberries for Sal DONE!
6. Little House in the Big Woods
7. The Velveteen Rabbit DONE!
8. Amelia Bedelia DONE!

8 Working on Me (a little)

1. The Heart of Anger
2. The Universe Next Door
3. The Power of Words
4. Desperate Households
5. How to Win Over Depression
6. Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate
7. Idols of the Heart, Learning to Long for God Alone
8. Smart Organizing DONE!

Taking the 888 Challenge

OK, I feel totally overwhelmed in accepting this challenge . . . sort of like I'm dooming myself to failure already . . . .

. . . but I already know I need to read more and watch movies/play computer less . . .

. . . and I would really feel a sense of accomplishing something if I did this . . .

. . . and so I'm just going to do it.

To see what I'm getting myslef into, go to the challenge.

I am going to probably overlap some, and I am going to restrict myself to books I check out or pull off my shelves, instead of rushing to Amazon to buy more books! I haven't got my catagories or lists yet, so check back on this post and I'll add it later.

Now I'm off to scour my shelves for books I want to read!