What Spawn is Reading This Week - 5/6/2011

I know I don't usually post these on Fridays, but Spawn just wrapped up his first novel yesterday and I thought that was as good an excuse as any to celebrate. =D He finished The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and he LOVED IT!!! =D I am one happy mama today! Not just because he finished his first novel, but it's a classic, and he enjoyed it, understood it, and it's at a 7th - 8th grade reading level! Dude. I taught him that! My home/cyberschooled 8 year old is reading 5 grade levels ahead of his classmates! =D I'm going to buy myself a milkshake tonight in lieu of a pat on the back. =D After he completed his independent reading book, his language arts teacher asked him to complete the first three questions of a worksheet to determine comprehension. Since Spawn finished the book already, we opted to complete all 6 for this book and we'll do all 6 questions for the next book as well. (More on the next book later on.)

Spawn really enjoyed this book, so we zipped through the questions easily and without any grumbling on his part. It has been excellent typing practice for him as well. =D (I had to export this from Word to PowerPoint to save it as a JPEG, so you may have to click the picture below to zoom in and read Spawn's answers.)

When all was said and done, he was glad he'd chosen this book first. It gave him a taste for adventure and mystery reading and was just the right, masculine type of novel to keep a young boy's (excuse me) man's interest. He feels more adult for having read it, too, so it's building his self-confidence as well. It also inspired us to play some mystery games (Scooby Doo's Haunted House board game) and to watch a Sherlock Holmes-inspired movie (The Great Mouse Detective). 

Spawn has a new pen pal that he will be getting in touch with at the end of this month (we'll call his pen pal "A" for now on our blog). So in the spirit of Sherlock Holmes, we're also putting together a little theme park mystery scavenger hunt for his pen pal, A, (who happens to live in the Orlando area and has an annual pass to Walt Disney World =D).

Spawn's next independent reading choice is "Treasure Island" by Robert Louis Stevenson. He just began reading it yesterday and he's already really involved in the story and characters. It has much shorter chapters and a LOT more of them, so I don't know how or if that will effect Spawn's reading. Also, it's one long story rather than three short stories in the life of a single character, so I'm curious to see how he handles the comprehension needed for a much longer story overall.

And can I just say what a fabulous deal these Great Illustrated Classics are? $3.00 a piece when I find them in the grocery store or craft store and this publication of "Treasure Island"  that I bought in the last year or two must be out of print already. Check out the going rate on B&N: $74.40 new. =O

Chrissi, Cyber School Mom

The Color of Boogers

Spawn: "Mommy, what color are your boogers? Mine are greenish-yellow. I thought everybody's boogers were that color, but I saw a commercial with green boogers in it that don't look like MY boogers."

Me: ::sigh:: "I think everybody has a different nose, so everybody must make their very own shade of boogers. That's why not all boogers look like yours."

Spawn: "Ohhh...that makes sense." He gets up, starts to run upstairs...

Me: "Wait, where are you going?"

Spawn: "Upstairs. I'm going to look into Daddy's nose to see if his boogers are purple! That would be awesome!"

Chrissi, Cyber School Mom

What Spawn is Reading This Week - 4/26/2011

Spawn just began reading this book today, so I don't have much to say about it yet. It includes three stories and is the first of the 3rd grade independent reading books he's chosen. I tend to gravitate towards mysteries for him because comprehension is a stumbling block for Spawn due to his ADHD. So, every few months, we hit the book store or thrift store and stock up on mysteries to keep him challenged and engaged in his reading. Mysteries force him to give more time and thought to the details and force him to follow the thread of the story, rather than trying to figure out just the theme or moral to a story. (After all, what fun is reading a mystery if you aren't trying to figure it out before the hero does?) Kids with ADHD are great at seeing the big picture, but the details can get lost. Mysteries helps him practice focusing on those details instead and put them front and center.

This is a fairly advanced reading level. The publisher's website says it's intended for Grades 3 - 8,  but it's pretty advanced reading for a 3rd grader. Spawn is an excellent reader, so I don't have any worries there. He's tackling this one in blocks - 20 minutes at a time, so you'll be hearing about this one for a few weeks. =D It has just three chapters because each chapter is a different story/mystery. Here's a peek at the beginning of the first chapter, "The Red-Headed League": The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Chrissi, Cyber School Mom

This one is just for my fellow Parrotheads...

With thanks to my friend, Debbie, for reminding me. =D

Happy Jimmy Buffett Day!!!

 

How are you celebrating today? 

We've watched the Concert for the Gulf Coast (we TiVo'd it when it first aired) and we made these: Margarita Popsicles with Salt 

Incidentally, it's also National Eggs Benedict Day and I forgot to go out for some this morning. :( Next year. ;)

Fins up!

Chrissi, Cyber School Mom

25¢ Word of the Week - Paraprosdokian

Paraprosdokian. It's a great word, isn't it? It's derived from Greek, meaning "a figure of speech that ends despite expectation".

The examples from Wiki are fantastic! And they show that Winston Churchill was a speaker who was fond of the use of paraprosdokian turns of phrase:

• "He was at his best when the going was good." - Alistair Cooke on the Duke of Windsor.
• "There but for the grace of God— goes God." - Winston Churchill

• "If I am reading this graph correctly—I'd be very surprised." - Stephen Colbert

• "You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing—after they have tried everything else." - Winston Churchill

• "If all the girls who attended the Yale prom were laid end to end, I wouldn't be a bit surprised." - Dorothy Parker

• "I've had a perfectly wonderful evening, but this wasn't it." - Groucho Marx

• "A modest man, who has much to be modest about." - Winston Churchill

• "She looks as though she's been poured into her clothes, and forgot to say 'when'." - P.G. Wodehouse

• "I like going to the park and watching the children run around because they don't know I'm using blanks." - Emo Phillips

• "If I could say a few words, I'd be a better public speaker." - Homer Simpson

• "I haven't slept for ten days, because that would be too long." - Mitch Hedburg

• "I sleep eight hours a day and at least ten at night." - Bill Hicks

Have you learned any new, fun, 25¢ words this week?

Chrissi, Cyber School Mom