Spotlight Review: The Tiptoe Guide to Tracking Fairies by Ammi-Joan Paquette

Market copy:

Could a tulip be a good place for hide-and-seek? Could a bit of dandelion fluff be a pillow? They could be, if fairies live nearby. This book invites kids to have a backyard adventure searching for the tell tale signs of fairies who might be residing all around them. Not only can children"search" for fairies in the book's unique blend of art and photography, but they will also be encouraged to discover the wonder and magic in nature, whether in a backyard or a local park. The Tiptoe Guide to Tracking Fairies is a perfect title for summer!

I heard about this adorable picture book a few months ago and jumped at the chance of sharing it with my daughters before its paperback release in a few weeks. THE TIPTOE GUIDE TO TRACKING FAIRIES by Ammi-Joan Paquette is filled with gorgeous illustrations, and the story is sweet and whimsical.

As a homeschooling family, nature study is very important to us and an integral part of our children’s education. Now that it is warmer outside, birds are singing, and plants are blooming again, this story was the perfect catalyst for my daughters to go on their first outdoor exploration. We cuddled together, shared the story, and they took off to the backyard, hunting for their own fairies to discover!
While my thirty-year-old Mom’s opinion is helpful, the praise that is most beneficial comes from the author’s intended audience. Here is my children’s honest opinions:

Cali, five years old: That story was awesome! When they found the fairies at the end, it was the best!

Jordan, six years old: I thought the story was great because it had fairies that are very girly. When the fairy found her slipper, it was my favorite part. I also liked it when they found the secret message. Then she turns to her sister and says, Let’s go look for some clues! Let’s go look for fairies!

Need I say more? This story would make a wonderful Easter gift for the children in your life. It is already available in hardcover and the paperback edition will hit the shelves April 15th.

I was granted the opportunity to review this book via NetGalley and Tanglewood Publishers. (paperback publication 4/15/11)

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The Pilgrims Have Landed

It has been another wonderful week of learning this week at the whole Keep the Way Christian Academy household. The main topics of the week were: Jesus the Light of the World, Mayflower and Pilgrims and Stars.

Two weeks ago we went to Austin for an impromptu mini-vacation, and while we were there, we went into a Borders store that was sadly closing. The good news is that we were able to get some good books, including new curriculum for Handwriting and Spelling! If you remember from previous weeks, Spelling has been my all time biggest failure this year, as far as consistency goes. Well that problem is now fixed and we are really loving our new approach!

Here is how the rest of the week broke down:
Breakfast Time Table Talk:

• We are still focusing on our first Memory Verse, John 8:12. The girls have had it memorized from week one, but we are following the curriculum as provided in regards to this and just really working on internalizing it.
• During Character Training, via the book EVERYDAY GRACES, we read about the life of Louisa May Alcott, poems by Blance Bane Kuder and Florence Bone, and tales from Aesop and Hans Christian Anderson.  The theme is Loving Your Home and I just continue to adore this time together. Love love love this book! 

School Room Topics:

History:

• The Pilgrims have landed! This week we have discussed the Pilgrims in depth, reading through THE STORY OF THE U.S as well as AMERICAN PIONEERS AND PATRIOTS. Their entire history from London, to Holland, through the hard journey across the ocean on the Mayflower, to the rough beginnings once they landed has been discussed and acted out. They also each dictated a summary for their Notebooks.
• This is Jordan's notebook page: Once Squanto helped the Pilgrims make plants grow faster by putting a dying fish in the hole next to the seeds. Then when he was dying, he asked everyone to pray so he could go to heaven.
• This is Cali's notebook page: Pilgrims came from England on a boat named the Mayflower. When they got to America, they planted corn. They put a dying fish next to the seed. Squanto came and they had a feast.
• I should explain the dying fish comment they both made. Apparently they were taught to put a fish next to the seeds while planting, but I am sure it was a regular fish at the time--I don't really know. But both girls faces automatically went a little traumatic at the idea of being buried alive so I told them they were dying and then it was suddenly okay.  

Handwriting:

• Because of their age, I really wanted to focus on fundamentals and slowing things down a bit here. I think we will go with a curriculum next but for now we are using Kumon workbooks and the girls are loving it. Can't beat them being excited and asking for more pages, right?

Creative Writing:

• For Cali, I realized that we had come up with all the parts of her paragraph for her recollection paragraph before on Mississippi, but never actually wrote it. So we started the week doing that, and then moved into our new topic. 
• This is Cali's paragraph: I had fun being with my family in the woods in Mississippi. I went on the four-wheeler with Paran David and went through a sprinkler. I went through it more than one time! The water got on my head and when I got back, Paran David said I looked like I went into a swimming pool! And I went into the woods with Nanny Donna and saw a bunny. It was light brown, and he stayed with us for awhile by the bush, but then he ran off because he was afraid. During the day, Hayley, Jordan, and I had a pretend camp out! We watched movies and we ate marshmallows! I got to give my family really big hugs. I liked being in Mississippi!
• The rest of the week was spent discussing the Parts of a Story (plot, setting, characters, and conflict). As I am sure you know, I loved this lesson and we had fun breaking down The Three Little Pigs together, and then she did Cinderella on her own. This was a lot of fun.
• For Jordan, we worked on adding detail to our sentences, in particular in how things move. Examples she came up with was prowling casually, crawling sluggishly, and creeping.
• Then Jordan dictated a paragraph to me with the leading line, "I wish I could go to . . ." I was very impressed not only with her three points, but the detail she put into them!
• Here is Jordan's paragraph: I wish I could go to a hockey game. The best part of hockey is it has ice skates. The very, very, very super cool part is when they try to get the puck away from the goalie and into the goal! It's like they're trying to get a Princess into a castle and past the ogre! Hockey has action, excitement, and surprise. Action appears when they try to get the puck paste the other team. The excitement is when we can see if they get hurt and fall on their bottom when they are first learners or professionals who win the game. And we don't know who will win, so the surprise appears when we find out who will win. When you go to a hockey game, it's like you are watching a movie, but you are in the movie!
• For the record, we've never been to a hockey game, but apparently we need to! Jordan has also been creating more and more poems that we are planning on putting together and putting up on Barnes and Noble's self publishing format.  

Spelling:

• Woo hoo, no more hiding my head in the sand! Both girls are enjoying their new workbooks. Cali is using Grade One in the Master Skills Series and Jordan is using Spectrum's Grade 2.  For Jordan we could have easily gone to Grade 3 but some of the activities they did with the words were a little more advanced considering her age (6) and we wanted to give her some confidence going into this new curriculum. For Cali (age 5), this grade level is perfect. Very happy here!!

Reading:

• Jordan finished ahead of schedule reading RIDING THE PONY EXPRESS. She reads on her own, comes to discuss it with me, and comprehends beautifully.
• Cali is moving along with reading through the Bible and gaining confidence daily. She reads quite fast and I continue to be impressed.

Read Alouds:

• We finished SQUANTO, FRIEND OF THE PILGRIMS this week. The girls loved this story and I loved that it was a great first autobiography and worked so well with our History. 

Math:

• Since we had hit a wall at this point, the 2 facts, the last time we did this curriculum, I decided to just take a week reviewing what we have done and doing math games. It has been fun and we shall see what next week brings!

Science:

• The girls loved learning more about constellations, galaxies, and particular stars this week. Next week we move onto Bread and Yeast experiments.

So that is how our school week went.  How about yours? 

Have a Great Weekend!

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