Bringing back childhood memories ....

Recently, I have taken a trip back to my childhood literary experiences and am enjoying re-reading some of my old favourites with the children I teach.  I am a firm believer that children should be read to every day and should experience the joy of listening to good quality literature.  In schools, this often slips by the wayside as the pressure of 'covering' the curriculum and preparing for special events gets in the way.  One of the joys of homeschooling is not having this pressure and being able to spend more time really getting into and enjoying books.  At the moment, the kids and I are enjoying several books together.  Six year old R. and I are currently reading 'The Faraway Tree' stories, by one of my all time favourite children's authors, Enid Blyton.  Ten year old B. and I are reading a series of children's novels about Mount Everest.  And, each afternoon, the three of us spread out on the couch to read one of Roald Dahl's books, another of my favourite authors.  We've just finished 'Fantastic Mr. Fox' and have moved on to 'The Twits'.

Now, I'll take you back even further into my childhood to the wonderful world of picture story books.  A  very close friend of mine has just had her first baby, so I jumped at the chance to go shopping for picture story books.  My all time favourite baby book is 'Peepo', in my opinion it is the best baby book!  Another favourite is 'Rosie's Walk', which is quite appropriate for my friend, Anita, as her newborn daughter will be growing up on a farm!  I really had to restrain myself from buying up big, so instead, I made a list of future books to buy, including anything by Mem Fox (especially 'Koala Lou' and 'Ten Little Fingers, Ten Little Toes'), Pamela Allen, Shirley Hughes (especially the 'Alfie' books) and Janet and Allen Ahlberg.  It really is worth it to spend the time re-reading your childhood favourites, even if you're not a teacher.  Happy reading!