Anyhoo, the game goes something like this--another blogger tags you with a number of questions to answer. You write up a post answering them and tag another set of bloggers to answer a new set of questions you've made up. Both Alex and Barb (Harmony Art Mom) used five questions, so I'm going to go ahead and see if I can come up with that number, as well.
Here are Alex's questions (centered around the theme of "favorites"), and my answers--
1. I have been looking for some simple but interesting halloween crafts/decorations, what is your favourite one to do with your children? please include a link if you have one.
It's a good thing I didn't wait too much longer to answer! Hmm. I'm not the most crafty of people and have been wanting to try the shrunken apple heads my friend Lynne did a year or so ago, but if we're talking Halloween crafts the kids and I have actually done together, I'd guess I'd say salt dough ghosts like these.
2. What is your favourite way to spend a rainy day with your children?
Cozying up on the sofa, reading (aloud or separately) and watching movies. If I can tie in an enjoyable movie to something we're studying, that's nearing perfection for me.
3. What is your favourite fall food?
Apples, apples, and apples. Apple pie, apple crisp, apple-carrot-ginger juice, mulled cider, or just plain, raw, in-their-own-skin apples. Though that pumpkin spice latte at the corner coffee shop is awfully tasty, too. I'm working on creating my own non-dairy version at home, but without success as of yet.
4. What is your current favourite read aloud book?
That's a tough one. We did just finish up The Phantom Tollbooth
, narrated by David Hyde Pierce, and it was excellent. If I had to pick one that *I* enjoyed reading aloud the most, I think it would be Charlotte's Web
. Our current read-aloud is The Master Puppeteer
by Katherine Paterson, but we're not far into it enough to know whether or not it will be a favorite.5. Last one just for Mom..what is your favourite novel?
That's an easy one. Pride and Prejudice
wins, every time. And it was even my favorite before Colin Firth was Mr. Darcy
.
Now on to the most difficult part of the
1. What book from your childhood do you remember the most, and why?
2. What type of music do you enjoy the most? Please include examples!
3. What subject do you find most challenging (to teach or to learn)?
4. What is your favorite hot drink? Bonus points for including the recipe!
5. About what new book, movie, or tv series do you want to let others know?
And now for the tagees, in reverse alphabetical order, as that is how my brain is working these days:
Suji at Funschooling
Sheila at Greenridge Chronicles
Renee at Days with My Daughter
Lynne at 3-Ring-Binder
Cori at Wonder in the Woods
Have fun!
, by Colin Thiele. Becky over at 
, which we'd already read.
, by James Vance Marshall and Francis Firebrace. Interesting artwork and a paragraph of corresponding information accompanies ten Aboriginal plant and animal tales.
, retold by Margaret Mayo and illustrated by Jane Ray. Other countries represented in this title include China, Russia, India, Peru, France, the Caribbean, Scotland, South Africa, Japan, and more.
, by Alison Lester. A picture book my younger two are enjoying, with a look at many different places around the smallest continent.
, by Witi Ihimaera. Jazz is having a bit of trouble "getting into" this book (its lyrical style is not his cup of tea), but I know we'll watch the movie (again) this week, anyway. He's also reading 
, by Clay Morgan, which he seems to be enjoying.
, retold and illustrated by Joanna Troughton. An amusing story about a bunch of animals that want to get to a land across the sea.
, retold by Neil Philip and illustrated by Nilesh Mistry. A DK book with tales from many of the countries we'll be studying this year.
, retold by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and illustrated by Michael Foreman.
, by Belinda Hollyer. JaneG. is following up Sonlight's reader, 
, with this story of a girl who lives with her Nana in a Maori village until her mother convinces her to move to the city for a time.
. I loved the story as a kid, and valiantly tried it as a read aloud last spring, but it proved beyond me and we gave up about a third of the way in. Pierce is amazing in his ability to give voice to the motley assortment of characters we meet on Milo's journey--if I didn't know better I would never have believed that only one person was narrating. All three children (the almost teenager, the nine-year-old, and the oh-so-picky almost-six-year-old) are loving listening to it and will be sad when it's finished. Suggestions for what to put in the car next are welcome!
, a 
of the same title, and possibly 
, as well. It was informative and thought-provoking, and we'll be watching the other episodes soon.
:
retold by Cherry Gilchirst and illustrated by Helen Cann shares stories of Purim (Jewish), Holi (Hindu), Vesak (Buddhist), Tanabata (Japanese), Halloween (Celtic), Christmas (Christian), Kwanzaa (Caribbean), and New Year (Russian).
retold by Cherry Gilchrist and illustrated by Nilesh Mistry is just plain gorgeous. I can't get over the artwork chosen for the vast majority of 
and 
biographies of Marco Polo, 
by Janis Herbert, and two 
headed by Yo-Yo Ma to enjoy.
by Judith St. George; illustrated by David Small. Small's goofy illustrations are a big part of the appeal here, I think. Jazz grabbed this one and enjoyed reading it from cover to cover before we started back with organized homeschooling. St. George's tone is conversational and appealing to younger kids, and, while she runs the gamut from Alexander the Great and the Greek trader Pytheas all the way through to Buzz Aldrin and cohorts, and even further into the world of 21st century genetic scientists, the succinct text is mainly a roll call to familiarize readers with famous names in exploration. Fun for ages five and up, if my kids are anything to go by.
by Philip Wilkinson. This OOP Kingfisher title isn't that difficult to find used, and its division by geographic region is especially helpful, as that is how we are pursuing our study of exploration. Like most of the thinner Kingfisher books, this one has, for each geographic region, a two-page spread with a just-right amount of text for my nine-year-old, and contains both photos and drawings as illustrations.
by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel divides the text up by region, and provides information about an even longer list of explorers. Each name is allotted about three pages of text interspersed with maps and black-and-white illustrations. I think this book is most appropriate for middle school-level students.
by Marc Aronson and John W. Glenn. This beautiful National Geographic title would be a great addition to a year spent studying the exploration of the Americas, but unfortunately doesn't meet our needs for our pursuit of knowledge of the Eastern Hemisphere. I'll definitely keep it in mind when we hit American history again.
by Justine Ciovacco. My feminist little heart goes thumpity-thump with the inclusion of more than two dozen women in this 127-page book, from familiar names such as Sacagawea and Amelia Earhart to not-so-familiar ones like Naomi Uemura and Annie Smith Peck. While not terribly relevant to the region we're studying this year, this is still a great book to have on hand to find out information about adventurous people of the past.
by Jean Fritz; illustrated by Anthony Bacon Venti. Any narrative by Jean Fritz is going to make a wonderful read-aloud. This book is exactly what it claims to be--a look at one hundred years of exploration. While it's not all about the Eastern Hemisphere, and we can't jump around by region as it is a continuous story much like 
(with chapters even more connected, I dare say), I'm planning to make time for this book as soon as we finish Holling's 