Heavenly Man, by Pastor Yun and Paul Hattaway. Life in China’s underground church and the incredible perspective believers have on life and the purposes of God. Very, very different from we who are prosperous in a free society.

Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith, by Anne Lamott. Perspectives on faith written by someone who seems to have grown up on a different planet than I have. Delightful, laugh-out-loud.

Pursuing Giraffe, Anne Innis Dagg. Giraffe are cool but the travels, experiences and Canadian perspectives of apartheid in 1950’s South Africa are the main attraction for me.

The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the road to 9/11, Lawrence Wright. I expected dreary and dull but instead found a fascinating tale and insight into Osama bin Laden and the Islamic terrorists who work to destroy us. And, yes, we should be very, very concerned about Pakistan.

Me, Myself, & Bob: A True Story About God, Dreams and Talking Vegetables, Phil Vischer. The rise and fall of VeggieTales, the family favorites when our kids were younger. It’s really Vischer’s autobiography, a very funny, talented guy who just wanted to do great stuff for God.

Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austin. One of the best books ever written and I’ve lost count how many times I’ve gone through it. The five-hour 1996 BBC/A&E mini-series is far superior to the recent big screen film starring Keira Knightley.

I highly recommend Goodreads.com for keeping track of books and finding reviews.

my ‘read’ shelf:

1. How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms by Carol Anne Tomlinson
2. Classroom Management That Works: Research-Based Strategies for Every Teacherby Robert J. Marzano, Jana S. Marzano, Debra Pickering
3. What Works in Schools: Translating Research into Action by Dr Robert J. Marzano
4. Professional Learning Communities at Work: Best Practices for Enhancing Student Achievement by Richard DuFour, Robert E. Eaker
5. Teaching to the Brain’s Natural Learning Systems by Barbara K. Given
6. Teaching The Best Practice Way: Methods That Matter, K-12 by Harvey Daniels, Marilyn Bizar
7. Teaching 101: Classroom Strategies for the Beginning Teacher, by Jeffrey Glanz
8. Results: The Key to Continuous School Improvement, Second Edition by Michael J. Schmoker
9. Sheltered Content Instruction: Teaching English Language Learners with Diverse Abilities (3rd Edition) by Jana Echevarria, Anne Graves
10. Native Science: Natural Laws of Interdependence by Gregory Cajete

One of my favorite history resources through the years has been Greenleaf Press. Rob and Cyndy Shearer provide great ‘twaddle-free’* books and study guides and other materials for those who homeschool in the Charlotte Mason tradition. I eagerly anticipated the annual print catalog with its listings and recommendations. Then it was the website with Rob’s reviews of recent releases. Well, the good news is Rob Shearer is blogging at RedHatRob. Now his book reviews and cultural commentary are fetched by my Google Reader. Rob is also the director of the Francis Schaeffer Study Center, a tutorial program for homeschooled high school students in Juliet, Tennessee.

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The book opens with Tyler Heights scoring phenomenally and unexpectedly well in the Maryland School Assessment (MSA). Principal Tina McKnight is thrilled and very proud of her staff and students. The whole school rejoices but the question faces them… was this a fluke? The celebration is short-lived as they turn their attention to preparing for next year’s exams. Tested takes the reader through the day-to-day challenges and personal lives of staff and students as they work toward the MSA.

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In a nutshell, these books are delightful and laugh-out-loud. It helps to know that the cane toad is a despised but ubiquitous creature in Queensland. Their spreading population is the result of a backfired experiment to import cane toads from South America to eat cane beetles. Cane toads are poisonous and there are few natural predators to stem their spread. Aussies are encouraged to kill them. Limpy is puzzled by humans’ hatred of his kind and is sure that he can make a difference. These are hilarious, heart-warming stories. And good news! They are now available in the U.S.

Other Reviews:

Infodad.com
Curledupkids.com
Boomerangbooks.com

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The day of the paper-based textbook is over. The era of digital curriculum has dawned, and it is fiscally irresponsible for school district leaders to continue to purchase paper-based curriculum materials in light of the digital curriculum resources now available and continuing to become available via electronic means. Digital, web-based curriculum materials are vastly superior to static, analog/paper based curriculum materials for many reasons.

He goes on to say the future of learning is 1:1. Instead of using static instructional materials in a very expensive paper textbook the future demands that we use the dynamics of digital learning in an individualized education: not just as consumers but also as collaborators and contributors. The digital learning environment is collaborative. Kids have access to vast resources but can also produce and add their own material. Creativity becomes integral to the learning process.

As a homeschool mom I’ve avoided dull textbooks as much as possible and collected ‘living’ books a la Charlotte Mason. Learning and teaching this way has been a blast. Mr. Fryer is very careful and adamant to add that lots and lots and lots of good books are always necessary.

Homeschooling is 1:1 learning. How best should we add this digital aspect of learning? How can we best use Web 2.0 or wikis or YouTube or Google? It seems we are only limited by our creativity.

• Need to buy some books. For school? For pleasure? If you’re like me you click your way through several websites comparing prices before ordering. I’ve come across an all-in-one site that checks and compares prices from all the usual book websites and some ones I never heard of. Search for the book you need and you’ll get a long list of prices plus shipping for new and used books. Check out booksprice.com and, hopefully, you’ll save time and a few bucks, too.
  (HT: DuctTapeMarketing via Missionary Geek)
• I make lists of books. Kind of like birding lists. Here’s a great site that lets me do just that and share reviews and ratings, goodreads.com. Shelfari is a similar site.
• I like to read through book reviews and recommendations. I came across this list today, Ten Must Read Books About Mathematics. Looks like there may be some interesting reads in that list. (I said I was a nerd, right?) Listmania at amazon.com is a fun way to find new books.
• Bookcrossing.com. I’ve not participated in this one. The philosophy is ‘read and release’ then track the books as they change hands. Anybody done this? Sounds kind of fun.
• Of course, our local library is the primary source of good reads. If your library doesn’t carry the book you need be sure to check the Interlibrary Loan program (ILL). We can request ILL books online and pick them up when they arrive without charge. Very cool.

UPDATE: This great post says it all on getting the books you want on the cheap: 20 Ways to Get Free or Cheap Books, and Give Away Your Old Ones

Samuel Blumenfeld came to Anchorage. I heard him speak and read his book, NEA: Trojan Horse in American Education. That’s what started it. I gained some understanding of why my sister who is 15 years younger than I had difficulty reading and I didn’t. Teaching reading had changed dramatically and I did not want our kids to have that as an obstacle to learning.

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