Sixth Grade Required Reading List for 2015-2016

Grace's 6th Grade Required Reading List

I've been working on a required reading list for Grace for 2015-2016 school year.

We already do the Drawn Into the Heart of Reading program that covers many genres and she gets to choose the specific books within the genre. I LOVE that set up and feel like she reads lots of great types of books she might not otherwise choose. However, there are SO many classic and award winning novels that are often read around this age and I want her exposed to them also. SOOOO, after hours of searching the web, talking to our librarian and pinning like a crazy person, here is what she will be doing next year for the required books. (She will still pick the 9 genre books (but only do one of each) on her choice for a total of 20 books read for school.) She will still read for fun too of course, but no assessment or reports will be required on those! ;-)

Grace’s 6^th Grade Required Reading List – 2015-2016 school year:

Amos Fortune, Free Man
by Elizabeth Yates
IBSN:  9780140341584

Across Five Aprils 

by Irene Hunt
ISBN  978-0425182789

The Red Badge of Courage

by Stephen Crane

ISBN: 9781508482765 / 1508482764

Wonderful Wizard of Oz

 by Baum

ISBN: 9780060293239 

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

by Taylor

ISBN: 9780140384512 

Crispin: The Cross of Lead

by Avi
 (ISBN: 978-0439120425)

The One and Only Ivan
by Katherine Applegate

Number the Stars
by Lois Lowry

Sarah, Plain and Tall
by Patricia Maclachlan

Hatchet

by Gary Paulsen

ISBN: 9780689840920

Whipping Boy

 by Sid Fleischman

ISBN: 9780688062163

Summer Goals 2015

It's that time again - SUMMER GOALS!

The last couple years we have been intentional about writing out our summer goals. Since Cian was born, we have been intentional about doing one-on-one with the kids, but sometimes it might just be running to the grocery store and getting a little treat after. We decided to let them PICK in the summer what they wanted to do AND choose one for with both mom and dad. 

Here is last year's goals. We did okay on them, 3 of the 4 family goals and almost all the one-on-one goals (how did I miss the two that included cold summer treats!?!?!) 

This summer my goal is for all the one-on-one to get done! 

Things I added this year:

1. Mom and Dad date nights!

2. I told the kids that one goal needed to be a free event such as the pool, park, or bowling (we do the kids bowl free! You can sign up for that here if you haven't signed up for that! Kids bowl free ALL SUMMER- 2 games each day!)

2015 Summer Family Goals

1. Go out to eat at a Mexican restaurant
Completed in July

2. Go bowling Completed in July

3. Go to a new zoo

One-on-one Goals

Grace and Mom: go to dinner at Olive Garden Completed June 17th

Grace and Dad: go bowling
Completed in July

Cian and Mom: go to a movie Cian wanted to switch this to go to Mexican with just Mom Completed June 13th 

Cian and Dad: go bowling
Completed in July

Zoe and Mom: go swimming with just Mom
Completed in July

Zoe and Dad: get Hawaiian shaved ice
Completed in August, but had to get ice cream since the shaved ice was closed :(

Ellie and Mom: go to Pizza Hut and get Cinnamon sticks
Completed in August

Ellie and Dad: go to ice cream Completed June 23rd

Fionn and Mom: go to Walmart (she can't talk, but she seems to enjoy going shopping! LOL!) Completed June 23rd

Fionn and Dad: go for a walk     Completed June 1st

Mom and Dad: date night - dinner out

Mom and Dad: date night - go to a movie

Emotionally Scrambled Day

9:30 a.m. Disclaimer- I'm sitting in a Perkins alone  getting ready to order the mother of all breakfasts so my blog post title might have been influenced by my desire for some eggs...

Why (or perhaps "how" might be the better question) am I sitting alone at Perkins when we have 5 kids' dentists appointments in an hour? Well, my awesome husband suggested I go get a big breakfast and he will bring all the kids over later and meet me at their dentist. :-)

Why you ask? Because I ALSO have to go to the dentist today. I have to get a CROWN. :-/// I picked the most freaked out face to insert there intentionally. I am totally freaking out. I am much stronger and tougher than I think I am, but I am emotionally panicked over this. For goodness sakes, I have birthed 5 babies- the last one with no pain meds (NOT intentionally- I'm all about those birthing meds- my epideral was out and the anesthesiologist couldn't get to me in time.) I've been AWAKE for one of my kidney stone surgeries and had nothing but the spinal to hold me still for pain management both during the procedure  and after as to not pass any meds to my nursing 2 month old at that time. So why is a tooth crown giving me SOOO much anxiety?  :-(

I think it's because I'm already emotionally scrambled today as I titled this post. Fionn turned 14 months old today. 

That gets a :-) and a :-(! It is amazing how fast they grow. Even more emotionally charged- this little lovie has weaned herself from breastfeeding. That also gets a :-) and a :-(. I feel so proud that I nursed her exclusively to 6 months and then continued to nurse alongside babyfood and table food to 14 months. My goal was 12 months so any past that was great. I am a big believer in baby-led weaning (not to be confused with a nursing strike- she had one of those at 10 months- they aren't the same). She had dropped feedings over the last few weeks and we were down to one feeding at sometime between 9pm and midnight and other than that sleeping through the night! Then she started sleeping through the night! I mean 6pm-6am! 12 hours!! I at first tried to offer when she woke or when she went to bed, but she wasn't really interested so she'd nurse for maybe a minute or so. So I just set my goal as her 14 month birthday. She met the goal for me as it is today and yesterday she nursed for like 30 seconds before refusing. So we are done. And I'm not sure how I feel. I'm excited for making my goal, excited for some more flexibility in the evenings, but sad for the end of a special bonding and sad she's growing up so fast. 

So I sat and ate quite a bit of this huge plate of food in case I couldn't stand to eat for hours after my crown:

10:30 -

All 5 kids were cavity free at their appointments today and Fionn had her first visit to the dentist:

12:00- Then this happened:

That's my scared face! Lol! Or at least me trying to make a scared face ;-) in the dental chair post numbing shots pre tooth shaving for the crown. :-(

8:00 - Home for the day, after 6 dentist appointments, 1 library event, and 4 dance classes this evening. 

Despite my scrambled nerves, I survived the crown appointment today.  My new dentist is awesome and helped ease my nerves and made it pretty painless! In fact, the evening after pain of the soreness is way worse that the procedure itself. So I sit here sore tooth and engorged, but happy and proud. Proud of my cavity free kiddos, proud I nursed Fionn to 14 months, and proud of my sweet baby girl whose growing so fast.