Welcome to Three Book Thursday! Three Book Thursday is a feature that’s all about sharing the joy of books with children. To read more posts like this one, go here!
My children and I are in the middle of the best unit study for young kids ever. We’re studying frontiersmen (and frontierswomen? frontierspeople?). Seriously, what kids do not want to pretend they’re churning butter in the mud pit under the swing set? Or tying meat onto their horse after hunting (but the horse is actually a mop and the meat is actually your sister’s pink cupcake purse…)? It has been an amusing for me to watch them play after doing this study, at any rate!
(Side note on our history theory: A lot of people say “It’s important to study history chronologically,” in a more classical method like Susan Wise Bauer‘s books follow. Another group says “read what your kids are interested in” or “start with U.S. history because it has the best literature for young children to go with it!” Rea Berg is a big proponent for this theory. Since I’m crazy about reading, I’m a big fan of the route with lots of stories and literature. And we also pick up The Story of the World and read that, too. In other words, we like it all! But mostly we stick with a literature based approach to history, so sometimes our just-for-fun books will also be our school books, but please know that these books stand alone as great books to read with your kids and it’s important to pick the educational method that fits you and your children best.)
Without further ado, here are our favorite books this week!
Daniel Boone’s Great Escape by Michael P. Spradlin is currently Isaac’s very favorite book. It’s just a snippet of what Daniel Boone did in his life, but it works well for young children because it’s an exciting adventure through and through. In the later part of Daniel Boone’s life, after he’s founded Boonsborough and even become a grandfather, he was captured by Shawnee warriors. His escape is pretty amazing! This book definitely falls in the Heroes For Boys category that I’m always seeking out on our library trips.
We’ve also enjoyed Who Was Here: Discovering Wild Animal Tracks as we talk about tracking animals. One page has a clue about the animal and a picture of its print, and the next page has the answer. It’s a good combination of learning about 
the animals’ tracks, their habitats, and some interesting facts about them. We read Tracks in the Snow as another track-themed book, but it was definitely more for the 2-3-year-old age group than for a 4-year-old or 6-year-old. It was very cute and Violet loved it, though the concept of snow was totally lost on her.
I’m thankful we get to investigate tracks for fun instead of for food, but I also think it’s good for our modern-day children to know how much hard work frontiersmen went through. So of course, I chose Little House in the Big Woods as our read aloud for this month. Last time we read it, Ella was only four. She 
doesn’t remember much of it, and it’s all new to Isaac this time around. Does homeschooling mean I get to read the Little House books to my children every two years? Sold! =) I feel like I need to reread these books for my own perspective on how much easier my life is than Caroline Wilder’s was. And if you want to put Christmas gifts into perspective for your kids, read them just the Christmas chapters from Little House in the Big Woods or Little House on the Prairie. Wow. Besides the perspective, these are simply some of the best books ever. And the great part is I hardly remember On The Shores of Silver Lake! Can’t wait ’til we get to that one.
So that’s what’s in our reading basket this week. What have you and your kids been reading?
mothers and educators, and sought out some poetry to share with my children. The book I’m using to do this right now is 
The Doorbell Rang 
illustrations and crazy costumes. My kids love it for the pictures; I don’t think they understand a quarter of the words. It takes Fancy Nancy to task on increasing vocabulary. Whether you like it or not, it will leave you craving a big grilled cheese sandwich.
trying to find a restful vacation. Hint to the Good Knight: leave the little dragons (a.k.a children) at home. I actually think this book might help a child see how ridiculous a dragon/child can be on a road trip. They may recognize themselves in the dragon who says, “I’m too squashed!” or the one who says, “Who at all the potato chips!” Maybe they’ll even turn themselves into great vacationers and tuck you into your bed when you finally make it home like the little dragons in the story do. Or maybe not. It’s worth a shot, though, right?
reading for a unit study on attentiveness we’re doing right now, because who doesn’t want to start the school year drilling the words “attention” and “notice” into their children? I mean, sign me up! Pat Hutchins wrote and illustrated Don’t Forget The Bacon about a boy who is doing the shopping for his mom (yes, it’s that old of a book) and has a hard time remembering his mental list. I couldn’t help wondering if the mother in this book was sending a child out to do her errands who is so young, he couldn’t even read a list. Couldn’t you just write it down for the poor kid? I myself can’t remember more than 4 things I need to pick up at the grocery store and that’s all in the same place! But then I remembered “it’s just a book.” As a side note, the book uses the word “fat” a few times, which is another sign that it’s a bit dated, since that word is currently social taboo. It’s not meant to be insulting in this book, but I think it could hurt a child’s feelings if that word has been an issue in the past. Consider yourself warned.