Super Cool Haul From This Week!

Some of my favorite thrift stores are getting ready for Halloween and are starting to put out some pretty amazing stuff!

We are HUGE Harry Potter fans in this house! Mr. B discovered Harry Potter last Christmas after finding my Hagrid Ornament. He has since seen four of the movies (1 though 4) about 100 times each and we have read the first book with him.

I have been wanting to get him the LED Harry Potter Wand and a cool pair of Harry Potter glasses so I was extremely excited to find both Harry's and Herminone's wands (Baby G will get Herminone's wand) for a dollar each, a pair of Harry's Glasses ($0.50) and Harry's tie ($1). I love re-living my childhood through my kids!!!

In addition, I also got Mr. B a train engineer's hat and a batman mask for dress up and a brand new Edu Science Know How? The Science of Magnetism kit (because he has been obsessed with magnets since reading Mickey's Magnet by Franklyn Branley). Finally, I scored a Civil War Coloring Book (new) in the Free bin (why is it free????). Such perfect finds! 

I also picked up Totally Irresponsible Science by Sean Connolly, A History of Space Exploration Coloring Book (YES!!!!!!), One Hundred One Questions About Desert Life by Alice Jablonsky and The Tooth Book: Guide to Healthy Teeth and Gums by Edward Miller (which is actually a very advanced guide to dental care. We will have to wait to read this one). 

Huge Haul From Last Week

I had a massive book and toy haul last week!

Notable mentions include:

• A new Pete the Cat book!!! We got introduced to Pete the Cat at the library last week so I was very excited to find Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes by James Dean. This is a very cute and fun book to read. 
• Two new Titanic readers!!!
• This Little Chick by John Lawrence is a great book about animal sounds for Baby G. She loves this one! 
• Two new math books by Greg Tang (Math-terpieces and The Best of Times). Five down three to go! 
• Rushmore by Lynn Curlee, the story about the carving of Mt. Rushmore. Mr. B loves learning about landmarks so I can't wait to read this one with him. 
• The Adventures of Penrose the Mathematical Cat by Theoni Pappas has been on my list for a long time. This book looks like an introduction to advanced mathematical concepts for very young children. 
• Where Does the Garbage Go? by Paul Showers was a very lucky find. I've have been wanting this one since I saw at another store in very bad condition. 
• Mythbusters Science Fair Book by Samantha Margles: We LOVE Mythbusters. This is going to be so much fun to use! 
• Barack Obama: An American Story: Finally an Obama book! He isn't mentioned in any of our (used) books about the presidents. 
• Lots of  new Magic Tree House books! I really hope the kids like these! 
• The Incredible Dash by RH Disney. This is becoming Mr. B's favorite. He loves the Incredibles and happens to look exactly like Dash. 

And now for the toys: 

Mr. B's birthday is coming up soon (Halloween!!!) so I got him some great presents. I might wait until Christmas to give him some of these. Most of these were used except for the Crystal Mining kit and the Solar System model (which I purchased at Michaels with a 40% off coupon). The rest were used but unopened (except for the pirate ship puzzle and the Ninja Lego Set). 

Baby G's Favorites: Penguins, Penguins, Everywhere!

One of Mr. B's favorite baby books was Penguins, Penguins, Everywhere! by Bob Barner so I wonder why it took me so long to read it to Baby G (probably because we have amassed an obscene amount of books since Mr. B was a baby). 

I started reading this book to Baby G in honor of our Antarctica Montessori Continent Box. She is very engaged and feels the pictures with her hands as I read. I remember reading this book almost every day with Mr. B and it's starting to become a similar tradition with his sister. 

This is a fun rhyming book about penguins which shows them having fun, cuddling with their parents and going to sleep. The pictures are super cute and the text is simple and fun to read! Good taste, kids! 

This Month We LOVE: Space Station Mars

Mr. B has been really excited about space recently so I added Space Station Mars by Daniel San Souci to our bedtime reading list. This book was an instant hit with Mr. B and he asks for it at every reading time!

The story (which is one in a series of TV Tie-In Books) is about a group of boys who find a meteor. They call on Neil the scientist (an older boy visiting his grandparents for the summer) to assist them in analyzing this meteor. 

Mr. B thought this book was hilarious. He also loved Neil's Jr. Chemistry Kit. Mr. B recently received his own non-working microscope (which he sleeps with) so he was extremely excited to see Neil using his microscope and other chemistry tools. 

The book is semi informative (in its explanation of meteors) but it's mostly silly fun. The pictures are very detailed so Mr. B enjoyed discussing them. 

Mr. Husband and I also enjoy this book and love reading it with Mr. B. 

The Oceanside Public Library and Preschool Storytime

I'm a little embarrassed to admit this but we rarely go to the library! We used to go all the time but recently it has been difficult to convince Mr. B to go. Also, the last few times I picked up books for him he didn't want to read them.

Our Oceanside Public Library has several locations. There is the gorgeous Civic Center located in downtown Oceanside and is a bit of a drive. There is the Mission Branch Library which is inland and very convenient for us. Finally there is the Bookmobile which drives all over Oceanside (there is also a fourth part, the READS Literacy Center but I have never been there). The library website allows me to order books and have them delivered to any of the locations for pick up.

The Mission Branch Library was recently remolded and now has an amazing play area (equipped with a play kitchen, puppet theater and grocery store). This is great since before there was just a tiny Duplo table and some dirty peg puzzles.



Well we visited the Mission Branch Library last Friday and LOVED IT!!! We went to the expertly organized Preschool Story Time. This story-time was very well done and I can't believe it was free and available every week (of course this event was packed).

The children's librarian put on a Pete the Cat themed story-time. She read several Pete the Cat books, sang many songs and organized an art-and-crafts activity so the kids could all make their own Pete the Cat hand-puppets. She then gave out Pete the Cat stickers and activity pages and helped us find Pete the Cat books to check out and take home.

Prior to this we never heard of Pete the Cat but Mr. B loved him. He had an amazing time and Baby G was very engaged as well. Afterwards, he spent an hour playing with the other kids in the library's play area and then chose a few books to check out.

I really hope that Mr. B will let me take him again this Friday! Library story-time definitely broke up the monotony of staying home all day and was so much fun for all three of us!

What is Part-Time Homeschooling?

I'm sure you have all heard of homeschooling. Some of you may have even heard of Unschooling. But what is Part-Time Homeschooling?

Part-Time or Partial Homeschooling is a very broad term for parents taking charge of their kids' education. It doesn't mean that the family has left the public or private education system. You can even call it supplementing or tutoring. 

For example, Mr. B goes to his Montessori Pre-School Prep Class three times per week and we home-school on Thursday and Friday. Another variation is when the child goes to school full time and the parent home-schools in the evening and/or on the weekend. 

All children and families are different and it's impossible for the school system to meet everyone's unique learning needs. Many parents already partially home-school their kids without even thinking about it or calling it homeschooling. 

Personally, we love Mr. B's school and feel that it's important for him to play with his friends, engage in arts and crafts and take a sports class on Monday. In addition, Mr. B has shown an eagerness to study some subjects on a deeper level than he would at school. So we would like to have our cake and eat it too. It's the best of both worlds. As long as Mr. B enjoys school he can go and have fun. We'll worry about meeting his personal learning needs at home by finding appropriate reading materials and activities to encourage his interests. 

Book Haul

Quick little haul this week. I picked up two perfect books for our Continent Boxes. I finished Antarctica last week and am currently working on Australia. Kippy Koala is cute pop-up book about Australian animals. The Boy and the Tigers by Helen Bannerman is a PC version of Little Back Sambo. We don't have any other books about India so it's perfect for our Asia box.

We checked out Owl Babies by Martin Waddell from the library when Mr. B was a baby. We loved this book and I've been wanting to add it to our collection ever since. It's a little young for Mr. B and a little advanced for Baby G but they both enjoyed it when I read it to them yesterday. I'm very happy to finally own this sweet little book.

I got The Extreme Team: Skateboard Moves by Matt Christopher for Mr. B because he has been begging for a skateboard. Mr. Husband has already read this book to Mr. B several times and he loved it. I'm looking forward to reading this story!

I found a nice hardcover copy of Alexander, Who's Not (Do You Hear Me? I Mean It!) Going to Move by Judith Viorst. We love the Alexander books (or "Mad Boy" books, as Mr. B calls them) and recently discovered LuLu and the Brontosaurus (which is also by Viorst).

Finally, Long Ago and Far Away looks like a nice introduction to ancient history and Ding-Dong is a fun book of sounds in French (for Baby G who likes French).