Summer Reading

Since Bonnie's birth, my stack of  "to-read" books has kept growing and growing! I rarely attempt reading while the boys are awake, for fairly obvious reasons, and am generally too tired to read much after they are in bed. This summer has been nice so far because I've been able to use their afternoon nap/rest time to read, since that time was designated for one on one teaching with Bonnie during the school year. It's also usually too hot to do much outside during that time of the day anyway.

I'm still meandering through Independence Days, and finally read Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle. Currrently I'm waiting for a library copy of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart and plan to start that later this week. In the mean time, I've started a nonfiction book about philosophy by Stephen Law, The Philosophy Gym. It's subtitled "25 Short Adventures in Thinking," and I'm looking forward to having my brain stretched a little. Bonnie's reading a juvenile book by the same author called Really Really Big Questions, and I'm hoping she and I have some fun discussions after reading these books! The next two school years we will be warming up for former logic that starts in seventh grade, so it seems a good time to introduce Bonnie to philosophy as well.

Bonnie's reading list is also growing. She decided to participate in the Mensa for Kids Excellence in Reading Award Program, and I'm so proud of her! (I especially love that she didn't bat an eye at the length of the list, or suggest that reading was "school work" that should wait for August.) There's no deadline, but the list is extensive and I'm sure it will take her a while to work through it. She wants to work right down the list in order, and the first books will be waiting for her when she returns from camp. I'm also considering working with the boys on completing the K-3 list, as reading aloud by parents is also allowed.