Books...

 I was wondering how many of these Mikro had read:  NEA - Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children.
The ones in red he's finished.  Orange means he's still in the middle of reading it...  There seem to be a lot of littler kid books on this list.    I'm not 100 percent in agreement with the selections, but anyway, he's read quite a few of them.  Wonder if there's a best books for tweens list  out there...

1. Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
2. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
3. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
4. Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
5. Good Night Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
6. I Love You Forever by Robert N. Munsch
7. Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
8. Oh! The Places You Will Go by Dr. Seuss
9. The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton
10. The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
11. Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schachner
12. Thank You Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco
13. The Cat In The Hat by Dr. Seuss
14. The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
15. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo
16. The Mitten by Jan Brett
17. Crunching Carrots, Not Candy by Judy Slack
18. Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willlems
19. Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
20. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
21. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
22. Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman
23. Corduroy by Don Freeman
24. Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes
25. Stellaluna by Janell Cannon
26. Tacky the Penquin by Helen Lester
27. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
28. The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
29. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr.
30. Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin
31. Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
32. Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss
33. Junie B. Jones by Barbara Park
34. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
35. Make Way For Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
36. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
37. Piggie Pie by Margie Palatini
38. The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
39. The Monster at the End of this Book by Jon Stone
40. The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
41. A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon
42. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett
43. From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
44. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
45. Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
46. Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann
47. Olivia by Ian Falconer
48. The BFG by Roald Dahl
49. The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
50. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
51. The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss
52. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
53. Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel
54. A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
55. Bark, George by Jules Feiffer
56. Bunnicula by James Howe
57. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
58. Charlie the Caterpillar by Dom DeLuise
59. Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
60. Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary
61. Frederick by Leo Lionni
62. Frindle by Andrew Clements
63. Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel
64. Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney
65. Harris and Me by Gary Paulsen
66. Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion
67. Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss
68. How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
69. I Love You, Stinky Face by Lisa McCourt
70. Is Your Mama A Llama? by Deborah Guarino
71. Jan Brett’s books
72. Knots on a Counting Rope by Bill Martin Jr.
73. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
74. Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
75. Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney
76. My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett
77. My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss
78. My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
79. No David! by David Shannon
80. One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss
81. Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
82. Stephanie's Ponytail by Robert Munsch
83. Swimmy by Leo Lionni
84. The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes
85. The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Warner
86. The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper
87. The Empty Pot by Demi
88. The Five Chinese Brothers by Claire Huchet Bishop
89. The Giver by Lois Lowr
90. The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle
91. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
92. The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown
93. The Last Holiday Concert by Andrew Clements
94. The Napping House by Audrey Wood
95. The Quiltmaker's Gift by Jeff Brumbeau
96. The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
97. The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack
98. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka
99. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
100. The Wide-Mouthed Frog: A Pop-Up Book by Keith Faulkner

January Catchup Post

What we were up to in January:

An amazing Broadway Playhouse show, celebrating Comden and Green. A wonderful gallery tour and art workshop on Chagall at the Jewish Museum. Homeschool paperwork. Lots of trips to the library. Commuting to Mikro's Comparative Religions class. (He has now read more of the Bible and the Koran than I have!) As always, trips down to our beloved river. Walks around NYC looking at architecture. Watching the construction of the new Tappan Zee Bridge. Tons of mythology, history, science and math. Map making (imaginary worlds that feature in the stories he's writing and telling.) Sillyness. Singing together. And trying to stay warm in one of the coldest winters I can remember!

A Christmas Story at Madison Square Garden

One of Mikro's Christmas gifts this year was tickets to see the musical version of A Christmas Story. We all loved the show!

December River Views

I am so far behind in editing photos, I may never catch up. These are from some of our trips down by the river in December (which was snowy, but nothing compared to what we've seen lately!)

Mikro on Education and Politics

I have raised a free thinking libertarian. I can die happy...

But seriously, Mikro came up with this project all on his own. All I helped with was typing it up, and blocking and copying the latin terms he generated with Google Translate. Here, then, is Mikro's world view, diagramed:

First, Mikro applies his penchant for cladistics and latinate names to politics....



A: education system bureaucrat (homo bureaucratus)
B: student (homo discipulus)
C: worker (homo laboris nervis mobile lignum)
D: manager / sheep herder (homo pastorus)
E: sheeple (homo ovis dormiens)
F: fat cat corporate type (homo plutocratus)
G: the poor teacher who isn’t allowed to teach what they want to teach (homo magister tristis)

(Those squiggly things are chains, which also serve as puppet strings...)

Next, we have Mikro on educational choice:




A: Unschooler: homo discipulus liberum arbitrium (student free will): The unschooler has a varied diet, by his own choice, of many types of knowledge. Looks amorphous because it can't really be defined and has few restrictions. Kind of like a gas.

B: Homeschooler: homo discipulus semper discentes, et ubique (student always learning, everywhere): The homeschooler feeds mainly on knowledge from books, field trips, homeschool group classes and nature walks. They have a lot of choice over their meal, but their moms make them eat their educational vegetables. You can often find them in libraries, museums, and parks. The flaw among homeschoolers is a lot of us think we are know it alls. I didn't just say that, did I?

C: Homo discipulus discipulus: The typical school kid. Their diet consists of books, worksheets, bubblegum and test prep, and cafeteria lunch. They don't get to pick what they learn. They learn what they are taught.


And then there is Mikro on different types of school kids:


Mikro's classified schoolkids diagram:

A: homo sterotypicus discipulus The typical student. Its diet consists of bubblegum.
B: homo bullyensus discipulus The bully. Feeds on others' fear, esp. that of homo technophilius.
C: homo technophilius discipulus The geek. Feeds on electrical current and information.
D: homo rebellious discipulus The rebel. Feeds on knowledge and freedom.

Remembering Pete

Our tribute to Pete Seeger, on the beach at Croton Point, where the Clearwater Festival is held...