Create a book with your own child

December 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

While buying books is always fun, something that your child may enjoy even more is creating their own book. Writing their own story and with your help creating a book of their own is a treat that they can enjoy any time of the year and is a wonderful way for you and your child to spend time together. They even make great gifts for other family members.

First, gather all the items that your child will need such as paper, pencil, construction paper, scissors, a paper hole punch, colored string and crayons. Encourage your child to write out their own story about whatever they wish using the paper and the pencil. Once your child’s story is complete, have them cut out the shape of their book in their favorite color of construction paper. Help them when necessary, with cutting. After their construction paper cover is cut out, cut the paper the story is on to fit the cover, making sure that you don’t cut into or cut out any of the story.

Have them write the title of the story on a blank sheet of paper that’s cut to fit, write their name and the date. This will be the title page. With the Crayons have them illustrate the cover and if there is any room on the pages, draw pictures illustrating their story. Make sure to remember to have them write the story’s title on the cover! After the illustrating is complete, line up the front cover and the back with the pages of the story inside.

Punch at least 3 holes in the side of the entire book. Using the Colored thread(or yarn) measure out how long they want it to be, cut the string and then thread the string through each hole. Tie in a bow, or just in a knot, to hold the story together. and Viola! Your child(with your help of course) has just created a book!

Filed Under: Book Collections, Books In The News, Children Series, Reading Tagged With: , , ,

Children’s Books, and Why Adults Should Read Them, Too

December 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Have you ever wandered into the children’s section of a bookstore without a child chaperone? If you have, you may know the furtive stares and blooming bewilderment an adult can inspire in others when she browses the shelves alone or shocking! dares to pick out and purchase a children’s book for her own shelf and self. While sharing children’s books with the special kids in one’s life is never a bad idea, here are a few reasons why any adult can enjoy these books by herself:

Nostalgia No book can have quite the same effect on a person as the first ones she fell in love with. The best only get better with time, so pick up a few of your favorites and relive a little.

Conversation Starters Most people love talking about their favorite books to read as children, and a shared childhood favorite can begin an instant friendship between two adults. You may even receive some recommendations for some new titles to enjoy.

•Story-Time – Adults do not often indulge in the pleasure of being read to, an experience that can be soothing, amusing, or thrilling, depending on the story. Many bookstores, libraries, and even museums hold story-times regularly, and don’t mind a lone adult or two enjoying the story as well as the wee ones.

Feeling of Accomplishment  If you don’t have time to finish War & Peace in your spare time, you can always finish a children’s book. Chapter books can take as long as a couple of hours, but most picture books take 15 minutes, longer if you spend some time exploring the delightful illustrations.

Next time you head into your favorite bookstore or library, indulge your inner child a little by marching into the children’s section with pride and settling yourself into those tiny chairs for a few minutes or more.

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Homeschooling Your Kids

December 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment
"Under the Horse Chestnut Tree" by M...
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If you have decided to homeschool your kids, you are in for a treat. Not only will you be able to control what and how much they learn, you will also bond with your children even more when you become their teacher. You can check with the top affiliate programs to find homeschooling parents like yourself, or you can learn by trial and error.

You first need to check to see what the homeschooling laws are in your state. They vary for each state, so make sure you read the correct laws so that you are legally allowed to homeschool your child.

While your child may go to school for six to eight hours per day, it doesn’t take that long to homeschool your child. Your day will vary, but if you keep things moving and flowing, you won’t have to spend a whole day teaching your child.

Make sure that your job or home situation allows for plenty of time to teach your children. You definitely don’t want to run through lessons quickly because you will be late for an appointment or meeting. If you can work out your schedule, you will be able to plan ahead for any last minute issues that come up.

Talk with other parents that homeschool their kids. Also talk with parents that started out homeschooling and changed their mind. Find out the pros and cons of homeschooling before you decide to take it on. It may be very different than what you think it is, and you don’t want any unwanted surprises.

Take online classes or check out books in the bookstore on homeschooling. Read and research. You want to have as much information as you can before you decide to homeschool.

With the right research and information, you will have a great time homeschooling your children.

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Filed Under: Children Series, General Tagged With: , , ,

Children’s Books and Websites Mix

November 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

It’s a growing trend when it comes to children’s books. The story of the book is interactive but not in the way that parent’s would expect. These children’s stories require that a child have to connect to the Internet in order to play certain games, gain information or even sometimes finish the story.

This combination of having stories and the Internet combine has just recently started. It used to be if a child wanted to read a book, they read the book. If they wanted to play video games they played video games. There was no mixing the two items together. That is not the case anymore.

Publishers in what they hope was a way to reach out to a generation of children who are very connected to the Internet and active games hopes that by having these types of books they can encourage children to read.

However, critics of books have many issues with this type of reading material. First is that it requires the use of the Internet and therefore a child isn’t really enjoying a story but really just reading to play along online. Another issue that is brought up is what if a child and their family cannot afford to keep up with the rising costs of the combination of these two items. At times it is required that children had to own the book to go online and play. This puts children who use the library or do not have an Internet connection at a disadvantage. They do not get to play along or interact with other readers.

What is a way to encourage children from a young age to read might not be working out. It is still too early to tell how children will react to this type of combination. It will be interesting to see if this combo will work, prevent reading or just become another fading fad in a child’s life.

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Filed Under: Book Collections, Books In The News, Children Series Tagged With: , ,
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