Showing posts with label book reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book reviews. Show all posts

Sunday, November 26, 2017

December in Our Homeschool

For the last few years, each December we've had a special month in our homeschool. I let a few things drop off my homeschool mental to-do list (such as science and history exposure), and instead we shift our focus to holiday-related activities. This makes December a month to celebrate the flexibility of homeschooling while we dig into more artistic and musical pursuits.

December Curriculum Focus

Our curriculum focus for December includes the following. I don't require my children to participate in these activities, but nonetheless they generally both choose to participate in all of these to varying degrees.

  • Family music recital
  • Advent crafts
  • Homemade Christmas presents
  • Family reading of A Christmas Carol script
  • Winter and Christmas-themed read-alouds
  • Winter and Christmas movies


Family Music Recital

The children and I choose a few Christmas songs to play together. Throughout the month, we practice individually and together, as much as we each desire to. On Christmas Eve, we perform the songs together. The instruments we have on-hand for our Christmas songs are:
(If there is interest, I can post more details about how and what we do for our December music together.)

Advent Crafts

As a fun way to count down the days until Christmas, my children enjoy doing Advent crafts, which have one activity for each day from December 1st through 24th.  My kids have especially enjoyed doing the Advent Colouring Pages from Activity Village, such as the Christmas train and village, which can be cut out and made into a scene.

The Activity Village Advent resources used to be free, but are no longer.  Some other free options I have found include the following:
Commonly, my kids are really excited about Advent crafts for the first couple weeks of December, and then their interest fizzles out. This is totally okay, and I just let them participate as much (or as little) as they want to.


Homemade Christmas Presents

In the week leading up to Christmas, my children and I get to work on making homemade Christmas presents for family and friends.  The presents we've made have included Christmas tree ornaments, cardboard and/or popsicle stick toys, artwork, and food treats. This is an inexpensive and sweet way to shift the focus of Christmas away from ourselves and onto what we can make for others.


Family Reading of A Christmas Carol Script
Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is a wonderful little story about the real meaning of Christmas. My family has enjoyed doing a reading of A Christmas Carol script for the last few years. Sometimes, this has been as simple as us all reading it together on Christmas Eve; other times, it has turned into more of a project for myself and the kids in putting on a little play with figurines, costumes, and sound effects. In the weeks before Christmas, the kids and I do a few practice read-throughs of our parts so that we are ready for the Christmas Eve reading. 

Winter and Christmas-Themed Read-Alouds

Throughout the month of December, I read-aloud books which have an emphasis on winter and Christmas. These include the following:

Christmas Movies for Family Movie Night

For our weekly Family Movie Nights in December, we watch winter and Christmas movies. Some of our favorites include the following:

A Great Way to End the Year

By shifting the focus in our homeschool for December, we are able to thoroughly enjoy the last month of the year together.  Instead of feeling like we are dragging our feet or going through the motions, December has become a cherished month of homeschooling for our family.  

Do you have any December homeschool traditions to share?


Affiliate Disclosure - Links to Amazon are affiliate links. If you use these links, your price remains the same, but I earn a small commission. Thanks for supporting this site!
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Sunday, August 20, 2017

Our Semester-Long Study of the United States

This post is the 2nd in my back-to-school series for 2017-18.

Although we usually follow a 4-year-cycle for history and science in our homeschool, last year we decided to do something different. Spurred on by my children's interests, we spent the first half of 2017 exploring the United States through books, pictures, foods, and videos. Rather than focusing on memorization of state names and capitals, I sought to give us all a small sense of the culture in each region of the USA. To make our United States unit study more holistic, I decided to incorporate the following for each region:
  • geography
  • history
  • Native American studies
  • science
  • stories and folk tales
  • chapter books, including books for my own education
  • media to accompany the read-alouds
  • pictures of landscapes and famous sites
  • foods and recipes


Read-Alouds, Not Worksheets

I wanted our unit study to be an enjoyable, shared experience between me and my children. To that end, I purposely avoided basing our unit study upon worksheets, which are often used as busy work, and which my children would come to dread. Instead, I built our unit study around read-alouds.

With read-alouds, I was able to easily introduce my children to new ideas, cultures, and places. Through read-alouds, we were immersed in loving households, in the triumph of overcoming struggles and challenges, and in the wondrous fantasy of folk and fairy tales. Read-alouds also sparked some of our most important discussions, leading to the foundation of good character, integrity, responsibility, and kindness.

Whole USA Books

There were a few books which I read to my children throughout our USA unit study:


Regional USA Books

As we progressed around the USA, I checked out many, many books from the library. We read lots of picture books as well as a few chapter books. I thought it would be fun to learn about some of the animals, history, and landmarks in each region, so we read books about national parks, state mammals, and historical figures in each region. (If you want to know more about what we read, I've put together a comprehensive list of books for our United States unit study here.)


Nurturing Our Own Interests

I purposely incorporated our individual interests into the unit study. For instance, since my daughter is very interested in Native American culture and horses, we read Native American folktales and books about horses for each region of the USA. My son is quite interested in machines and structures, so we read books about bridges and inventors as we progressed around the USA.

Part of what made this unit study so enjoyable for my family was that I included topics of my own interest. I love cooking and developing recipes, so making recipes for each region was a great way for me to fuel my own passion while doing this unit study with my kids. We all enjoyed having meals with foods from each region of the USA.


How We Carried It Out

We spent about 2 weeks studying each region of the USA. I wanted our USA unit study to be unstressed and fun, so my kids and I would thoroughly enjoy it. To that end, I made sure to never make our unit study into a "requirement". Rather, we just enjoyed reading books together, looking at pictures of each region, and watching short videos about the animals in each region.

Introducing Each Region
I began the study of each region by briefly taking time to introduce the region. We referred to our large wall map of the USA to see where the region is located geographically within the USA, and I read a chapter from Hillyer's A Child's Geography of the World. Whenever we were interested in a specific state, we'd look it up in The United States of America: A State-by-State Guide to learn more about it.

I printed out pictures of the landscapes and sites in each region and hung them on the wall. It was quite enjoyable to see the different regions in this way, adorning our walls and shifting as we progressed across the United States.

Digging Into Books and Associated Videos
A few days each week, we read picture books for the region in the morning, generally before or during breakfast. It worked well to read one fiction book (such as a Native American folktale or story book) as well as one non-fiction book (such as a science or history book) at a time. Then we followed up the reading with any associated short videos to accompany the books.

In the evenings, we read more picture books and then the chapter book for each region.

Exploring the Foods
Once or twice a week, I made a meal incorporating regional foods. We enjoyed these meals in an unpressured way, allowing everyone the freedom to fall in love with or reject the new foods. The main objective was just to have an enjoyable regional meal together, to experience a small taste of the regional cuisine. 

Enjoying My Own Regional Books
In addition to reading books aloud to my kids, I made time to read some regional books on my own. These books allowed me to fuel my own interests throughout the unit study. When children see their parents feeling passionate and excited about their own interests, the children are inspired to do the same.

Want to Have Your Own USA Unit Study?

My kids and I had so much fun exploring the USA in this way. I hope this post helps you feel inspired to have your own read-aloud unit study of the USA.

To make it easy for anyone else who wants to have their own United States Unit study, I have created a comprehensive USA unit study. It includes over 250 book recommendations as well as associated videos, landscape pictures, and recipes for each region of the USA. 


Have you had any success with unit studies in your homeschool? If so, what were your favorite features?





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Thursday, January 26, 2017

Teaching Life of Fred Math, Including Tips for Teaching Children of Multiple Ages Concurrently

What is Life of Fred?

Life of Fred is an engaging story-based math curriculum spanning from elementary school all the way through university math courses such as calculus and statistics.  For the elementary years, Life of Fred includes ten books in the elementary series for 1st-4th grade and three books in the intermediate series for 4th to 6th grade. The beauty of Life of Fred as a math curriculum is that it is humorous and fun for kids.  Rather than focusing specifically on math concepts and then having the child work through problem after problem like a traditional math curriculum, Life of Fred instead weaves the math concepts into the story of Fred's days.

Fred is a 5-year-old math genius who teaches math at a university in Kansas. He lives with his doll Kingie in his office at the university. Although Fred is obviously precocious in math, he is lacking many other life skills and accordingly he often ends up in strange situations (such as when he adopts 30 dogs to save them from being euthanized, or when he ends up being swindled out of all of his money by a con-artist).  In addition to the math concepts, many other concepts are woven into Life of Fred books as well, such as the differences between carnivores and herbivores, details about the Orion constellation, and basic information about nutrition.

After each chapter of the book, there is a short section titled "Your Turn To Play".  This section generally includes a few math problems as well as other questions related to the content of the chapter. As the books move on from the earliest elementary books, "Your Turn to Play" also often includes a "Row of Practice" that can be used to reinforce the math facts (such as addition and subtraction facts).

a random page from one of the Elementary Series books

 

Our Experience With Life of Fred

We've been using Life of Fred in our homeschool for over 4 years. We are currently working through the 7th book in the elementary series.  My children LOVE Life of Fred.  They ask to read it often, they enjoy the math problems, and they find the bizarre storylines to be very entertaining. I use Life of Fred in addition to games, everyday math, and a few other math read-alouds for teaching elementary math without a traditional math curriculum.

spontaneous answer to the question, "What do you think of Life of Fred?"






















My daughter will be 10 years old in March, and my son will be 7 years old in a couple weeks. Because my children are 3 years apart in age, their math comprehension is not at the same level. Instead of reading two different Life of Fred books to match up with their math skills, I just read one Life of Fred book at a time, continuing to progress through the books even though some of the math concepts have moved beyond my son's level.  That doesn't mean that my son doesn't get to learn math through Life of Fred; rather, I customize their experience with Life of Fred so that it works for both of them at the same time even though they are 3 years apart. 

Tips for Teaching Life of Fred to Children of Multiple Ages

When teaching Life of Fred to kids of multiple ages concurrently, I try to keep in mind three principles:
  • Avoid the Glaze
  • Inspire, Not Require
  • Customize the Math Problems

 

Avoid the Glaze

While my children generally love Life of Fred, sometimes there may be a math concept introduced that my kids are not ready to engage in. I can tell if a concept is a bit too abstract or complicated if I see the "glaze" on my kids' eyes.  For instance, in the early elementary books the author keeps bringing up the idea of cardinal numbers versus ordinal numbers.  This concept is one that I can tell my children are uninterested in or not ready for yet, as they get the "glaze" over their eyes whenever it is mentioned. I don't think this concept is important for them to know at their current ages, so I just skip over those parts and skip over any problems in "Your Turn to Play" that focus on that concept.  There is plenty of time for my children to learn about the cardinality of numbers as they get older (and, indeed, that same concept is introduced later in Life of Fred: Fractions, which is one of the middle school math books).

When reading Life of Fred to kids of multiple ages, sometimes the glaze will only be present in the younger children.  At those times when I note that my son's eyes are glazed over (or he seems otherwise uncomfortable) but his older sister is still engaged, I make sure to reassure him that this particular concept is just for his older sister, and that he'll be ready to learn about it later.  That gives him the confidence to be okay with not understanding the concept, and then I can proceed with teaching it to my daughter.

(As a side note: I think that avoiding the glaze is very important in other subjects in addition to math. Because I am endeavoring to create a Love of Learning in my children, the glaze is a signal for me to know when it is time to back off.  Sometimes the glaze just means that the student is tired and not ready to engage at that particular moment, but other times it means that I need to back off and wait a few months before coming back to that concept.) 

a random page from one of the Intermediate Series books

Inspire, Not Require

"Inspire, Not Require" is one of the 7 Keys of Great Teaching, and applying this principle to our math studies is a crucial part of keeping math enjoyable for my children. I know from previous experience that forcing academics in our homeschool is detrimental to creating a Love of Learning in my children. In applying the principle of "Inspire, Not Require" to our use of Life of Fred:
  • I don't require the children to participate in Life of Fred.  However, they enjoy it so much that they request it often.
  • Both of my children have had periods of time when they did not want to participate in the "Your Turn to Play" section at the end of the chapters. I've given them the freedom to choose whether or not to participate. When they choose not to participate, I just work out the answers to the problems on a dry erase board so they can observe.
  • I am working my way through my own math studies and reading math classics myself. I am working my way through the middle school Life of Fred books as a way to refresh my memory before jumping into the Life of Fred high school and university level math books. In this way, I am leading out by showing my children that math is important enough that I am willing to spend some of my free time brushing up my own math skills. When they see me working on my own math skills, it often inspires them to do the same.

 

Customize the Math Problems

When we get to the "Your Turn to Play" section at the end of each chapter, if both children have chosen to participate, my younger child gets first dibs at answering each question. If he declines a question (usually by saying "too tricky"), then his older sister gets to answer the question. Because I keep things light and fun, with no pressure, my son has no issue with saying that he can't do a particular problem. If there are no questions that I think would be appropriate for my son, I will make up a few so that he has a chance to participate.

Once we've worked through the questions, if there is a "Row of Practice" to do (for practicing math facts), my son will answer any that he can and the rest will go to his sister. In the books we are currently using, none of the problems are appropriate for my son, so I will make up a few problems for him to solve while his sister works through the problems from the book. In this way, both children are able to participate as much as they want to, and I am able to individualize their math lessons even though I am reading from only one math book for both of them.

 

How We Use Life of Fred

In case it is helpful, here is a run-down of how we use Life of Fred in our homeschool.
  • A few times per week, I read Life of Fred out loud while the kids eat breakfast. 
  • Because we do our morning chores right after breakfast, reading Life of Fred during breakfast gives us a nice little interlude of learning in the middle of our morning routine. This also helps to break up our school time into smaller chunks, which works better for keeping my children's attention.
  • Both of my kids like using small dry-erase boards to write out the answers to their math problems.
  • If neither of my kids feels like writing out the answers to their problems, or if their hands are too messy from eating, they will just answer the problems out loud.
  • Often, when they are done with their own problems, the children like to quiz me with math problems they come up with. They can come up with quite tricky problems for me to do, such as one where I had to use the order of operations and eventually ended up dividing 2,187 by 26,500. Sometimes they like to use calculators to check my answers. 
  • When there are periods of time during which my children aren't interested in me reading Life of Fred to them, I don't force it. I know that they will always come back to Life of Fred, and it's okay to take an occasional break.  Nonetheless, we've already made it through three Life of Fred books this school year.

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Sunday, January 22, 2017

26 World Picture Books

When I posted a list of our favorite world fairy and folk tales, I promised to also post a list of our other favorite picture books from our Homeschool World Trip.  These 26 picture books span 6 continents and 14 countries.  I have found picture books to be a wonderful way to engage my children in learning about other countries and cultures.

Kenya

Owen and Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship is a sweet tale about a friendship between an elderly giant tortoise and an orphaned baby hippopotamus. My children loved reading about this unusual pair.









The Circle of Life: Wildlife on the African Savannah is a large, full color photography book filled with amazing photos. My children pored over this book, soaking in all of the details.






 

South Africa

The Dove is a story of a grandmother and granddaughter who are struggling to get by after a flood. My children loved hearing about the ingenuity of the granddaughter and how it was able to put food on the table.


France



 



Madeline has been an adored character for both of my children since they were toddlers. While we were "visiting" France, they loved re-hearing these classic stories of Madeline's life at a French orphanage ad her escapades in Madeline and the Gypsies. 



The Story of Babar tells of an orphaned elephant who runs away to live in Paris. My children giggled along as Babar decked himself out on clothes and learned how to fit into Paris society.






England

My children enjoyed seeing the sites of London in The Inside-Outside Book of London. It includes many of the popular sites, such as Big Ben and Buckingham Palace, as well as everyday places such as an umbrella shop and a bus.








Madeline in London continues the tale of Madeline and her friend Pepito, the son of the Spanish ambassador.  My children enjoyed this Madeline book just as much as the others, and it included sites of London that they were able to pick out as we read.








Out and About is one of my favorite children's books to read aloud. It includes short poems about everyday life in England, taking us through the seasons and showing many ways that kids can play outdoors. We especially love the illustrations in this book.


  

The Caribbean

The Sea, the Storm, and the Mangrove Tangle is a fascinating book that tells of how a mangrove seed floating in the ocean can create a habitat. This book was an excellent addition to our World Trip that showcased some of the Caribbean flora and fauna.








Brazil

The Great Kapok Tree is a great book for discussing care of the environment with children. Both of my kids liked hearing the perspectives of the different creatures who relied on the kapok tree, and this book was a good addition to our study of Brazil.



Rainforest is a large book of full-color photographs of rain forest flora and fauna.  This photos in this book are breathtaking, and many of them offer up-close details that are amazing to look at. My children and I loved looking at this book.







Guatemala

Corn is Maize is a book that weaves together both science and culture.  This book details how corn grows as well as its uses by native peoples in the Americas.  This book gave my children a better understanding of this important food source while we studied Central America.

 

 

Mexico

My children were fascinated by Family Pictures and In My Family. These two books show snippets of traditional Mexican life, ranging from birthdays to wedding celebrations to everyday family activities. The text is printed in both Spanish and English. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Canada

Caribou Song is a book with striking illustrations that tells of a family and their experience with a herd of caribou. My children waited with bated breath to see if the children would be injured by the caribou, only to breathe a sigh of relief and joy as the magic unfolded.






Scaredy Squirrel is a germa-phobic, meticulous animal who tries to control all the risks in his world. This book is laugh-out-loud hilarious, and had my kids begging me to read it over and over again. The other books in the series have proven to be just as entertaining.



 

 

 

Australia

Are We There Yet? tells of a family's long road trip around Australia. My children liked learning about the different sites in Australia and had fun watching the family as they adjusted to life on-the-road.

 

 

 

Japan


The Perfect Sword tells of a master swordsmith and his apprentice, and their search for the right owner for the perfect sword they have created. This book served as a good character study for my children.





Kamishibai Man is the story of a man who performed paper theater for children, yet he was slowly made obsolete by up-and-coming technology.  In the end, the Kamishibai Man is once again telling a story, and this time there is a crowd ready to watch. This story was a nice reminder of the simple, beautiful life of the past. The illustrations in this book (as well as others by Allen Say) are gorgeous.





Tea with Milk tells of the author's mother, May, who lived in San Francisco as a young girl but then moved to her parent's native Japan.  Back in Japan, May felt out of place and homesick, caught between two cultures.  This interesting narrative captured the interest of my children as they watched to see what would happen to May and how she would finally find home.


 

 

 

 

Russia

The Littlest Matryoshka tells of a set of nesting dolls, created by a craftsman in Russia and eventually sold in the United States. The littlest nesting doll becomes lost and separated from the others, and my kids were so happy when she was finally reunited with the rest of her doll sisters.

 

 

 

China

The Empty Pot reads like a folktale of ancient China, weaving the story of Ping, a little boy who loves flowers. When the emperor sets a challenge in order to select the next emperor, Ping is not able to make his plant grow, and yet his courage and honesty show the emperor that Ping is the only one worthy of being the next emperor.




Daisy Comes Home is the story of Mei Mei and her six happy hens. The illustrations in Jan Brett's books are always a delight, and her entertaining stories are always a hit with my children. In this book, Daisy the hen is lost, and Mei Mei finally finds her and brings her back home. Both of my children love any books featuring chickens, since we have our own flock, and this book set in China was an interesting twist on the theme.

 

 

India

Same, Same But Different is a cute story, telling of penpals who learn about the many differences between life in India and life in the United States. The penpals find that, although their lives seem very different, they are also similar in many ways.


Finders Keepers? A True Story of India tells of the author's journey in India, wherein his lost wallet was returned to him by a young boy. The boy adamantly refused to accept any reward for returning the wallet, as the idea of accepting a reward for just being honest made no sense to him. I could see the gears turning in my children's heads while I read this book, as they thought about the deep lesson of doing right just because it was the right thing to do.



I hope this list of picture books is helpful in finding good resources to teach children about different places and cultures. Do you have any favorite world picture books?




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Sunday, November 27, 2016

26 World Folk and Fairy Tale Picture Books

My children and I have recently finished our 5-month-long Homeschool World Trip. This started as a small idea that soon grew into a semester-long adventure into books, music, and food from around the world.  My children absolutely loved our World Trip, so much, in fact, that next semester we will be doing a similar adventure in exploring the different regions and states of the United States. In the coming months, I will be sharing our favorite books, music, and recipes from our Homeschool World Trip.

Why Folk and Fairy Tales? 

In reading our way around the world, I decided to place a special focus on reading folk and fairy tales from the different cultures we visited on our World Trip. Folk and fairy tales are valuable because:
  • they offer a unique insight into the culture of any specific place,
  • they often include moral lessons which are so important for children to integrate into their consciousness, and
  • children find them to be very engaging. 
The following are our favorite folk and fairy tales from the 20 countries we "visited" on our World Trip. These books were a pleasure for me to read aloud to my children, and were especially enjoyed by both of my children (who are currently 6 and 9 years old).

Asia

Japan
The Paper Crane tells a story of wonder when an origami crane comes to life. This story illustrates kindness being repaid.




 

Russia
Baboushka and the Three Kings is a Russian Christmas folktale about a peasant woman who is visited by the three kings and then sets off on a search for the Christ child which ends in her giving gifts to children along the way.




 



China
The Emperor and the Kite tells the story of a small, nearly-forgotten princess who saves her father and the kingdom. This story is inspirational in its demonstration that even the smallest can do great deeds.






Fa Mulan: The Story of a Woman Warrior is a compelling tale about a young girl who saves her family by secretly taking her father's place as a warrior. Mulan becomes a great general of much acclaim, before returning to her home and family. My 9-year-old daughter was especially enamored with this book.




India
Indian Tales is a collection of Indian folktales which highlights the regions of India.  It includes information about each of the Indian states, followed by folktales from each region that my children found to be very engaging.





Monkey: A Trickster Tale From India is a classic tale of a monkey outwitting a crocodile. My 6-year-old son especially enjoyed this book and wanted me to read it again and again.

 

 

Middle East

Iraq
Lugalbanda: The Boy Who Got Caught Up in a War is a beautifully-illustrated picture book that tells the oldest written story in the world (which was discovered on ancient Sumerian clay tablets only 150 years ago). My children were enthralled to hear this story of Lugalbanda's epic adventures.






  
Gilgamesh the King tells the beginning of the world-famous story of Gilgamesh. This book, and the two others in the series, have some of the most beautiful illustrations I've ever seen in a picture book, and my children were engrossed in the story of Gilgamesh as he changed from a lonely, mean tyrant, into a kind and beloved man.




Israel
Joseph and the Sabbath Fish is a Jewish parable that illustrates the principles of charity and giving versus greed and selfishness. This is a sweet little book that makes these lessons very accessible to kids. 





Africa

Nigeria
Why the Sun and the Moon Live in the Sky is an African folktale that was fascinating to my children. This story sparked some imaginative discussions in understanding how ancient peoples crafted their myths to explain the world around them.







West Africa
Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock is a book that had both of my kids laughing hysterically. They loved hearing about Anansi the trickster spider and how he was repaid for his tricks.

 

 

Europe

Germany
The Bear and the Kingbird is a humorous tale by the Brothers Grimm. The bear insults the kingbirds, and a battle amongst all the creatures of the land and air ensues. The detailed illustrations in this book were a studied minutely by my children, giggling all the while.




 
Greece
Mr. Semolina Semolinus tells of princess Areti, who creates a perfect man from sugar, almonds, and semolina. When her perfect man is kidnapped by an evil queen, Areti journeys far to rescue him. This is one my children's all-time favorite stories.






Unwitting Wisdom: An Anthology of Aesop's Fables is a lavishly-illustrated collection of some of the most famous fables of all time.  These engaging tales illustrate life lessons so well, and had both of my children begging for more and more.






Atlantis: The Legend of a Lost City weaves the story of an island blessed by the sea god Poseidon. When the people of Atlantis lose their way and decay into bickering, treacherous people, Poseidon's wrath sinks the island to the bottom of the sea forever.  


 





France

Rapunzel is a well-known classic fairytale, yet this book by Zelinski gives it a whole new depth. The paintings in this book are gorgeous, and both of children listened with rapt attention to see what would happen with the evil sorceress and the entrapped girl.







Puss in Boots, by Perrault and Marcellino, tells of a crafty feline who rescues his owner from poverty. My kids loved this feline hero, and the book led us to interesting discussions about the propriety of the cat's actions.






South America

Brazil
The Dancing Turtle tells of a flute-playing turtle who loves to dance. When turtle is captured, her only chance of escape is to convince the hunter's children to open her cage. My children were rooting for turtle, and this book led to some valuable discussion about children and their parents.






North America

Guatemala
The Honey Jar is a short chapter book that tells Mayan myths about the earth, sky, nature, and animals. My kids loved hearing these different perspectives on how the world came to be as it is.




Cuba
The Bossy Gallito, which is written in both English and Spanish, is a fun tale about a rooster trying to make it to his uncle's wedding. Since we have hens and a rooster, any books featuring chickens are especially adored by my children. The illustrations in this book are entertaining, and my kids loved pointing out the error of the Bossy Gallito's ways. 







Mexico
The Twenty-Five Mixtec Cats is a folktale that combines superstition and mysticism when a healer brings home twenty-five kittens. My kids thought this tale was quite funny and engaging.



 

United States
The Children's Book of America  is a great treasury of American Tall Tales, poems, and historical passages. My children especially loved the stories of Paul Bunyan, Johnny Appleseed, and the Legend of the Grand Canyon.




The Story of Jumping Mouse is a Native American folktale about a mouse on a journey to a far-off land. On the way, the mouse faces many obstacles and sacrifices his own natural gifts to help others in need. My children loved hearing about the mouse's journey and his wonderful transformation at the end of the story.







The Magic Hummingbird is a Hopi folktale from our area of the United States. My daughter, especially, loves this story of the hummingbird who saves the children from starvation during the long drought.



Canada/United States
Thirteen Moons on Turtle's Back is a collection of Native American tales about the thirteen moons of the year. This book took us on a beautiful journey through the seasons of the year. 


Australia

The Biggest Frog in Australia
is a folktale about a frog who drinks all the water from the land. The rest of the animals conspire to find some way to make the frog laugh and spill the water back out onto the land. My children thought this story was very funny. 






These are all of our favorite folk and fairy tales from our Homeschool World Trip. I will be sharing another list with the rest of our favorite picture books from our World Trip soon. Another excellent resource for world book recommendations is Jamie Martin's Give Your Child the World.


What are your favorite folk or fairy tale picture books?

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