Friday, February 28, 2014

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

Sunday, February 16, 2014

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!


bwyplayhouse dadnboy lunchdate

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frozensnowcoveredhudson hudsonriverice mistyriver

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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!

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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!)

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Thursday, February 6, 2014

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.

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Remembering Pete

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