Your Teeth Are Simple Machines

The Labbits and Pumpkinhead want to bite into a sandwich
with their wedge-shaped, simple-machine teeth.

So, did you know that your teeth are simple machines? Believe it or not, they are wedges! I had no idea, until I read Simple Machines by Dana Rau.

This book gives a great introduction to simple machines, covering wheels, pulleys, levers, inclined planes, wedges, wheels, and screws. It uses examples of these machines that kids are likely to encounter in their real lives. Includes color pictures and illustrations. 48 pages.

All Holidays, All the Time!

Bet you didn't know that Dean Koontz wrote a book of poetry. For kids. Yes, that Dean Koontz.

The Labbits and Ponyo read the titular poem.

Mr. Koontz's Every Day's a Holiday will introduce your student to poetry as well as holidays- real, imagined, and otherwise. He covers the standard holidays- New Year's Eve, Valentine's Day, Cinco de Mayo, Kwanzaa, Yom Kippur- as well as the imagined- Gravity Day, Me Day, Lost-Tooth Day. And the otherwise- What Should Go Into a Holiday Pie, How to Get to Sleep Before a Holiday.

Despite his well-deserved reputation as a horror author, most poems in the book are not frightening. Good for all ages. Illustrated in black and white by Phil Parks. 127 pages.

Frances the (Adorable) Badger

Bread and Jam for Frances and A Birthday for Frances are two of the titles in the amazing Frances series of books written by Russell Hoban. Frances is an irrepressible badger girl who likes to make up her own songs, and knows that ice cream is spelled q-p-m.

While these gems are in picture book format, the stories are quite long and the vocabulary is not dumbed-down for the pint size crowd. This makes the books perfect for reading practice for kids who are reading on their own, but still not ready for full-length chapter books.

The Labbits think Frances has all the good adventures.

Math IS Interesting!

Ooooo.... so many different math systems!

Are you homeschooling a child who is less than enthusiastic about math? If so, the book Go Figure! might be a good book to use to introduce that child to the magic and mystery of mathematics.

Author Johnny Ball starts with the history of math in different cultures, then moves to math tricks, the mathematics of shape and space (otherwise known as geometry), and ends with ways math helps us understand the world.

The book contains many math problems and puzzles, with the answers in back. It is well written and very visually appealing. 96 pages.

Labbits work very hard to understand math.

Wonderful Bugs

The Labbits are not afraid. They love insects!

Filled with beautiful photos, the book Insects Revealed: Monsters or Marvels by Jacques de Tonnancour gives the reader a fantastical tour of the world of insects. The author notes that he hopes to reach not only those who know and love insects, but those who do not. And indeed, this is one of the rare books that will not only interest young children who are interested in bugs, but will also delight older students or adults who want to learn about insects in greater detail. The youngest readers may just wish to look at the photographs, while the older readers will appreciate the information provided by the text. 160 pages.

The pictures with this post show my two homeschooling Labbits reading the book. They have spent the better part of a week poring over it.

Ooooooooooo... that's a big bug!

Where Do Babies Come From, Mom?

What is a homeschooling parent to do when it comes time for health class, with the necessary discussion of birds and the bees?

A great series of books on the topic has been written by Robie H. Harris and illustrated by Michael Emberley. The first book in the series is titled It's Not the Stork, and it covers the very basics for kids ages 4 and up. The next book it titled It's So Amazing, for ages 7 and up, and the final book is titled It's Perfectly Normal, and is aimed at readers ages 10 and up. All three books cover topics such as anatomy, reproduction, pregnancy, HIV and AIDS, adoption, but with differing levels of detail appropriate to the age level of the reader. All contain anatomically correct color illustrations.

Squiddy Fables

Squids Will Be Squids by Jon Scieszka is a fun way to introduce a child to the idea of fables. The stories are perhaps not as instructive as those in a traditional Aesop collection, but still manage to convey the point of a fable. The illustrations are appealing and humorous, and complement the text well. It includes a few notes about fables, and asks the reader to construct a few fables herself.