Marcus' recent completed readings:
Journey to the Center of the Earth (Great Illustrated Classics), Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D, Andrew Jackson (Steve Potts)Lella's recent completed readings:
Swiss Family Robinson (Great Illustrated Classics), The Jungle Book (Great Illustrated Classics)Books they have both read recently:
G-Force, The McElderry Book of Grimm's Fairy Tales (Saviour Pirotta): The Magic Gingerbread House, The Girl Who Spun Straw into Gold, Little Mouse and Lazy Cat, The Swans and the Brave Princess, The Naughty Princess and the Frog, Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (Wenzel and Wheeler): Little Snow White, The Three Sluggards, The Shoemaker and the ElvesThis is an interesting article on handwriting:
Marcus is learning cursive this year and it's one of his favorite things we do in a school day. We use
Handwriting Without Tears, Cursive.
This part of the article encourages me that this is not a waste of time:
"...[A]ccording to Vanderbilt University professor Steve Graham, who cites multiple studies showing that sloppy writing routinely leads to lower grades, even in papers with the same wording as those written in a neater hand."
Finally, a few months ago, Marcus and Lella asked me to buy them a place mat (it was $1.00) that showed all 43 U. S. Presidents, the time they served, their party affiliation, and various facts. They both took it upon themselves to memorize all 43 presidents! Marcus also memorized their party affiliation and is in the process of memorizing their years of service.
At Disney,
The Hall of Presidents was recently redone and Marcus and Lella thoroughly enjoyed it! It was fun to see them find so much joy in our country's history. If you ever have the opportunity to view this exhibit and show, I highly recommend it!
Although the children and I have no "formal" art curriculum, we often look through art books or "youtube" slide shows of famous artists. We recently studied Vincent van Gogh and this was Marcus' masterpiece.
As promised, here are the paddle dolls Marcus and Lella made after reading Senefer (see post below). 
If your children are familiar with any of the Grimm Fairy Tales, they will love this book by Michael Buckley. Marcus and Lella are listening to this book on CD and so far, they have enjoyed this book more than any others we have listened to... even Magic Tree House! 
Quick Summary:
I came across 45 Great Illustrated Classics books at a garage sale and bought the whole lot for $20. Each time you turn the page, you see a page of text and a sketch of what is happening in the story. These books are a wonderful way to expose children to classic literature and although they are abridged, the essence of the original text remains. Below is a list of books Marcus and Lella have recently finished.
I have terrible TMJ, and often when I am reading to the children, my jaw begins to hurt. Most of the time I just ignore the pain because I find so much joy in reading alound to Marcus and Lella. Recently, the children and I have been listening to some of their favorite books on CD (We are almost finished listening to Island of the Blue Dolphin).
