Readers are leaders…

And leaders are readers!

My main goal this school year is to nurture a love for reading in my children. Although we read everyday as part of our routine school day I want them to enjoy it so much that they naturally pick up a book rather than a random iPad or other device. I want them to carry a book with them as often as they carry their device of choice…I want their imaginations to run wild and for the books that they read to come alive.

I come from a long line of book lovers. I don’t ever remember a time that. Y grandparents didn’t have a book nearby. My mom is the same way. Now, I’ve picked up that trait.

Today I stumbled across this list of childhood books. A few posts ago I spoke about older childhood books….this one is of stories that are from more recent years, or at least it seems that way since I remember when some were published. My goal is to read through this list (as much as possible and feasible) with my kiddos. Hope you do the same!

Favorite Childhood Books
http://www.feelslikehomeblog.com/2013/04/101-chapter-books-to-read-before-you-grow-up/

Top universities are pursuing homeschoolers…wha?!?

Another reason to homeschool? Although another reason isn’t needed….top universities are changing their acceptance policies and are leaning more towards homeschoolers…are you prepping your kiddos for colleges?

http://education.penelopetrunk.com/2012/04/27/top-universities-want-you-to-homeschool/

100 years ago….

Have you ever wondered what kids were reading 100 years ago or more? Here’s a great list! Personally, I have several of these on our reading list for this school year and have already downloaded them or bought them at a used book store (see previous post…) but I wanted to add these to the list for you all to see! Enjoy!

Reading List

Readers are Leaders

We love to read at our house….okay, correction…I love to make sure my kids are reading and then provide the kids the time to read in their daily schedule. We also do “read-alouds” and daily devotionals where the kids read…we have books upon books. I buy them at yard sales and thrift stores, I download them on digital readers….Books! It may be a slight addiction of this homeschool mama’s!

Anyways, there are some great titles on these lists, make sure to check it out!

successwithlesley

“A person who does not read is no better than one who cannot read.” – Earl Nightingale

Readers are leaders. What are you reading for your personal development?

Below is a short list to get you started:

As A Man Thinketh – James Allen

Think and Grow Rich -Napoleon Hill

How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie

Leadership Bible – John C. Maxwell

The Richest Man in Babylon – George S. Clason (www.manifestgoldfreedom.com for a free copy)

Another important question … WHAT are you reading to your children? Jim Trelease, author of “The Read Aloud Handbook”, states that even college aged children need to be read aloud to.

I have always maintained that when it comes to the education of their children one of THE biggest mistakes that parents make is that they stop reading aloud to their children once they can read themselves. Sadly, some parents…

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Daily Freebies

This particular freebie comes from Frugal Homeschool and is a year-round planner. This is great for keeping track of the learning that occurs all the time, not just in a typical 9 month school calendar!

YEAR-ROUND PLANNER

I’m in LOVE with this blog! With a special emphasis on raising boys, they bring you free deals and printables everyday.  We at the Hope household are starting to feel the fall fever and I came across this reading challenge chart with a fall theme.

READING CHALLENGE CHART

We do a lot of online and app learning. Every week I spend some time online finding resources to match our lessons for the week. I’ll even download apps to the iPad or our phones as well. Here is a pretty concise list of great apps to consider. We have many of these already ourselves. As a side note, to save memory I’ll download, use them for the lessons and then delete them. iTunes is great for this because you don’t have to pay any fees again if you actually purchased the app.

FREE APPS

You should be inspired!

Political Fireball

Every one of us needs to be passionate about confronting the Left and evil!  Here are a few great quotes from Andrew Breitbart for today!

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Publicize Crash Course: Facebook, Google+, and Twitter

Good information, especially if you’re just starting out as a blogger.

The WordPress.com Blog

“I’m publishing posts every day, but where are my readers?”

While there’s no exact science to successfully building a readership, you have a number of built-in tools on WordPress.com to share your work with the world. Our advice? Hook up your various social accounts to WordPress.com and let us do the rest. We want to emphasize, especially to our newest users, that no blog is an island. Clicking Publish is just the first step, and sharing your work across the internet is key to expanding your audience.

What is Publicize?

With Publicize, you can automatically push out your new posts to social networks: Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, and Path.

Connecting to your accounts is easy, and you can select which ones to link to your WordPress.com account. To get started, head over to Settings → Sharing. At the top of the page, you’ll see the options pictured…

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15 Things Boys Need from their Fathers

Life As I Know It

My son is lucky enough to be loved by two men. His father and his stepfather. They are quite different from each other but, I believe, they both have a lot to offer him. And, in their own ways, I pray that these are the things they leave with him.

Boys need:

For his father to love his mother – fiercely, passionately. Teach him to be romantic and the protector of his family. Show him the ways a woman needs to be loved. If you aren’t married to his mother, expect him to love her anyway. Let him know that, not only are you ok with it, but that you expect it from him.
For his dad to wrestle with him – in the living room, in the pool, and in the backyard. Teach him that appropriate physical touch is important.
To help you “fix” things – get him his…

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14 Things Girls Need from their Fathers

Life As I Know It

There is nothing like the dynamic between a little girl and her daddy. Little girls learn so much, and need so much, from these first men in their lives.

A girl needs:

To see her father love her mother – show her the kind of love she should expect from a man. She will look for a husband that is just like you. If you aren’t married, she needs love, and she needs to be shown the kind of love she should search for.
To dance with her dad – on the tops of your shoes. Her first memory of dancing with a boy should be the one who loves her unconditionally. You’ll both remember that moment when you dance with her on her wedding day.
To be told she’s beautiful – every. single. day. Whether she’s in her nicest dress or covered in mud. Never let a day pass…

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17 Things Boys Need from their Moms

My sweet, sweet John Michael is such a blessing. He’s the first boy child in 50+ years on my father’s side and he is making up for all of that lost time! All boy but I wouldn’t change a thing. He loves life and sets the bar high on how to look at things. So quick witted and funny, he’s brought such a joy to our little family. Again, this is beautifully written…mamma’s, teach those boys!

Life As I Know It

Children need many things from their parents. They need stability, protection, nurturing, and love. They also need other things, different things from each of their parents. I have seen several such lists, and I wanted to add my opinion into the mix.

Because I am a mommy to a little boy, this is what I know. So, here’s the list of things I pray I give to my little guy, in order to help him grow into a good man – the things I think every little boy needs from his mom.

A boy needs:

To be showered with affection – hugs, kisses, all of it. Until he is big enough to not want that anymore. Then he needs you to ruffle his hair, put your hand on his shoulder, and hug him anyway. He needs to know the importance of human contact so that he doesn’t keep it from…

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