A cry for Help!

I have a dilemma... My children are missing something.... It's called Literature!  haha!  Seriously though, it's that time of year again where I go crazy trying to figure out what the heck I am going to teach them next year.  "I" is going to be in Grade ONE this coming fall!  He's breezing through his kindergarten year.  He's already reading small books and doing addition and subtraction like a pro.

This year I am taking a more classical approach to their language arts and history programs.  In order to do this, I need to get my hands on some classic books.  I would love to own these books so that I don't have to scramble around looking for them for the upcoming kids.  So I created a book list, researched them all online for prices and found that some of them I can't even buy anymore.  The ones that I can buy will get pretty expensive if I have to buy them all new. 

So then I had an idea... what if some of my lovely friends and families had some of these books just laying around not being used?  What if those said friends and family members would love to get rid of those books for a small price.  I am going to put my book list out there and hope that someone somewhere has at least a few of them and is willing to let me take them off their hands.    I will try to link as many of the books to Chapters or Amazon as I can so that you can see which versions I need.  Keep in mind that these books are going to be read to a 6, 8 and 11 year old so the versions that I need have to be adapted for those ages.  Here goes!!

Book list

Stories and Poems by, about or from…

Ancients  

Trojan Horse by David Clement-Davies

The Odyssey by Geraldine McCaughrean

Black Ships beforeTroy: The Storyof Iliad by Rosemary Sutcliffe

The Gods andGoddesses of Olympus by Aliki

Pandora by Robert Burleigh

Atalanta’s Race: AGreek Myth by Shirley Climo

King Midas: TheGolden Touch by Demi

Pegasus by Marianna Mayer

An IllustratedTreasury of Read-Aloud Myths and Legends by Joan C Verniero and Robin Fitsimmons

Favorite GreekMyths by Mary Pope Osborne

Aesop’s Fables

Anything about Plato

Anything about Aristotle

Eygtian God’s and Goddesses by Henry Barker

Savitri: A Tale ofAncient India by Aaron Shephard

The Adventures ofSpider: West African Folktales by Joyce Cooper Arkhurst

Anything about Confucius

The Five ChineseBrothers by Claire Bishop

Ancient Chinese and Japanese poetry

Anything about Cicero or Virgil

Traditional Irish Fairy Tales by James Stevens

Medieval/Early Renaissance 

Beowulf: A NewTelling by Robert Nye

Sir Gawain and theGreen Knight by J.R.R. Tolkien

The CanterburyTales by Geoffrey Chaucer (retold by Geraldine McCaughrean)

Prologue to the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (Translated by Nevill Coghill)

Dante’s Inferno (Translated by Robert Pinsky)

Saint George andthe Dragon by Edmund Spenser (retold by Geraldine McCaughrean)

The Sword and theCircle by Rosemary Sutcliff

The Boy’s KingArthur by Thomas Malory

The Sword in theStone by T.H. White

Le Morte D’Arthur (Audiobook version read by Derek Jacobi)

Shakespeare Stories by Leon Garfield

Late Renaissance/Early Modern  

John Milton

Perrault's Fairy Tales by Charles Perrault

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift.  adapted by James Riordan

Pilgram’s Progress by John Bunyan

The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo and Marc Cerasini

The ThreeMusketeers by Alexander Dumas and Debbie Felder

Songs of Innocence by William Blake

William Wordsworth

Jane Austen

Poetry for Young People by Lord Tennyson Alfred 

The Pied Piper ofHamelin by Robert Browning

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Grimms Fairy Tales by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens  (Illustrated by Dean Morrissey)

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens and Monica Kulling

The Complete Nonsense of Edward Lear

Christina Rossetti (Children’s poems)

Through theLooking Glass by Lewis Carroll

Any stories by Mark Twain

Last of theMohicans by James Fenimore Cooper  (or any of his novels)

Any novels by Jules Verne especially 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Norwegian FolkTales by Peter Asbjrnsen

So there it is.. there you have it... If you could be so kind as to look on your bookshelves for any of these books, Please contact me through email, facebook or comment on this post!

Things are settling down... I think

The past two days I feel like I have my little sweet pea back. We haven't had near as many fights and meltdowns.

Thank you to those who have read and have prayed. I think she is starting to realize that she is not the boss! Hehe.

Here's some pictures of our silliness at bedtime tonight. My phone is a great bedtime tool!

It is easy to lose sight....

I've had a hard day today... Sweet Pea woke up screaming at 7:30 this morning and she stayed in a mood almost all day. Fighting every single thing we wanted her to do. Worse of all is wearing her glasses. Not something mommy is willing to back down on.

By lunchtime, I was ready to pull my hair out, scream and pack my bags. I took a shower instead and had a long talk with God. Still I didn't feel any peace about the situation at all. It is times like this when it is so easy to feel as though God has forgotten me.

The only reprieve I had was our annual Boxing Day potluck with my extended family. There she was too busy playing with her cousins so she barely had time to fight me..... barely....

Surprisingly, bedtime went rather smoothly. I was able to use some of my old tricks to convince her to brush her teeth and use the bathroom without too much fuss. I even got her into her bed without hearing the word "NO"

Lately, instead of the usual kiddie songs that we sing at bedtime, she has been asking me to sing worship songs. It was there that I realized that I wasn't forgotten. I was loved. As I held my little girl listening to her sing love songs to Jesus, Jesus touched me. I realized how thankful I was to have such a wonderful family and such a spitfire of a girl who will surely grow to be an amazing leader someday. The things that I have and the people in my life..... I haven't been forgotten. I've just lost sight....

My strong willed child.

I have four wonderful children. While raising them hasn't been completely easy, I have always thought that I have been so lucky to have such well behaved kids.

Sure, "I" has been a handful as a little one physically. He learned to climb at a very young age and hardly ever stops moving. I learned to anticipate his next moves and have kept him pretty safe so far. No broken bones at least.

Sweet PEa, however, has taken me completely by surprise. I used to call her my dream baby. She was so content as a baby and slept well. Things started to change as she turned 18 months-2 years old. She became super independent. She was very particular about things. She had a certain set list for songs at bedtime. If you sang those songs out of order??
Well lets just say you would feel her wrath. She craved routine and if things didn't go her way, there would be a complete meltdown. Eventually, I learned the warning signs and could most of the time avoid major meltdowns. I hoped and prayed that it was just her terrible twos and that when she turned three, things would just magically get better. Boy was I wrong. She had been three for exactly 4 months now and it seems as though things are getting worse. Lately I haven't been able to see her meltdowns coming and therefore haven't been able to stop them.

Can a three year old be Bi-polar? Sometimes I wonder about her. She can be completely happy one minute and flying into a rage the next. When she is happy, she is super sweet. A lovely girl. But I always find myself wondering how long it will last. When she is having a meltdown, there is no reasoning with her... No chance of getting her to settle down. Her newest thing now is screaming. She screams in short little bursts. Ear piercing screams that is. Also a complete refusal to so anything. Even if it is something she wants to do. For example tonight, She needed to go to the bathroom at my mother in laws. Jeff picked her up and carried her down the first flight of steps. That set her off. She had wanted to walk down herself. Jeff responded that he was sorry and didn't know. He set her back up the stairs so she could walk down. Nope she wouldn't have any of it. She started screaming and Jeff had to take her downstairs until she had calmed down enough to come back upstairs.

I am not sure why I am writing this all out. I just know that I'm at a loss and needed to get this out there. I don't know what to do with my three year old girl. I thought after having three older kids that I had this parenting thing down but she has definitely proven me wrong and so I am here. Completely at a loss.....

November 25th ~ Last journal entry

November 25th

I didn't journal the last two days of the trip because it was all travel time and I was very sick.  Travelling while feeling so crappy is gruelling   Almost a week after I got sick and my stomach is still not back to normal.

I am so happy to be home and with my family.  I miss Africa... I miss Izak and Maria... I dream about them at night and my thoughts go to them all the time during the day.

I was asked to speak today in church about my experiences so I thought I would write som things down that impacted me the most.

1.  Meeting Izak.  Meeting him made sponsorship real.  It's hard to think of your sponsor child as a person when you have never met them.  But to get to know what kind of person they are and how my measly so much a month means so much to him......

2.  The village feeding programs.  So many kids needing food.  Older siblings carrying little ones on their backs. Dividing up the food between them so they can bring some home for later.  That last family who only had one plate to share between the five of them and how grateful they were for that one plate.

3.  How desparate the kids were for love and touch.  as soon as we arrived eah day, the kids fought over our hands, held onto our arms and sat so close to me that I thought I was going to die of heat.

4.  The love they had for Jesus and for each other.  They took care of each other.  They are truly a family.

November 19th - Our last full day

November 19th

Went swimming this morning.  I'm feeling ill today.  I've got a sore spot in my side that hurts when I move.  Also a headache and sleepy.

We went to Noviane this morning to hand out the remaining shoeboxes to the kids who are being sponsored there.  Also to give out the cows shirts to all the kids we there.

After that Don D, Morgan and I went to Mieze to pick up Martino and his wife Christina.  I got to see Izak for a few minutes.  I gave him a beef jerky stick to see if he liked it.  We headed back to Pemba to pick up the rest of the team. I stretched out in the back of the truck. I ended up dozing for a little bit.  

After we picked up the team, we went to a restaurant for lunch.  I had a burger and fries but really shouldn't have.

We are heading to Mieze for a dance party tonight and to say goodbye to the kids.  I'm going to be a mess tonight.

9:00pm

What a blast we had tonight.  It was just the center kids so it wasn't as crowded.  Well with 63+ kids and all the adults in their schoolhouse it was quite crowded but good.

Once they got the music set up, Barry got together a game of musical chairs.  The kids loved it! I think they played at least 10 games.  I let Izak take pictures but the camera battery died so I have no idea what kind of pictures he took.  After the musical chairs we just turned up the music and the kids danced and danced.  Even Martino and Gracinda danced.

I gave Izak a note I wrote to him and told him to have Martino help translate it.  A little while later I saw him with Martino and the note.  He came back and gave me a great big smile.  I also asked him if he liked the beef jerky and he did.  So I gave him the rest of what I had, plus my almonds.  He was quite happy.

After dancing to a few songs, it was time to say goodbye.  Lots of tears...  Some of the kids were mad we were leaving.  I can't imagine not coming back.

Funny I felt sick all day but when we were in Mieze, I didn't at all.  Now that we are back, I feel sick again.  Tonight I was glad to be in the back of the truck with the wind whipping at my face. It was dark too so I could just let the tears flow.  I've grown to love Izak just like one of my own and I'm going to miss him so much.

Nov 18th~Church in Meize!

November 18 ~ 3:10pm

This morning we went to church in Meize.  There was an english speaker.  We all had to get up on stage and introduce ourselves.  After that we got to sit down with the kids.  I probably had 5-6 practically on top of me the whole time.  We had a great time making faces at each other.  They were all being very silly.  



When church was over, they had us line up at the door to shake hands with everyone leaving.  I must have shook 200 hands.  Afterwards we headed back over to the children's center to have lunch.  I hadn't seen Izak during church but right afterwards he found me with a big smile.  He had a english/portuguese bible in his hands so I showed him Philippians 4:13.  I asked him if he liked the bible and he said yes in english.  I asked him if he knew any english and he said yes but that's all he would say so I'm guessing that yes was his only english word.

After lunch they had us line up in the gazebo and they presented us with presents.  Raciena put a beautiful necklace around my neck. Most of the other women got earrings.  Interesting that I got a necklace since I never take my earrings out.  Very shortly after that we left to go back to the Pemba base.  We have had some down time now.  Some have gone to the beach, some have stayed behind.

Oh I was able to get some background on Izak.  Elizabeth asked Martino.  He is from the village by where we went to the beach.  His father died and his grandmother was taking care of five of them and having trouble feeding them.  Elizabeth wasn't sure how Izak was chosen to come to the children's center but she thought it had something to do with him having potential to go to school further on and such.  I believe he is going to be a great leader someday.

8:55pm

The rest of the day was mostly relaxing.  I had a bun with peanut butter on it for supper with some almonds.  I liked the rice and beans when we first got here but it's getting hard to stomach it now.  Today at lunch, I'm pretty sure there was sand in it.  I asked Izak if he liked it and he said no.  I feel bad for him because he has to eat it every day and I'm sick of it after a week.  I'm going to bring him some beef jerky and almonds tomorrow night when we go.

Tomorrow is our last full day.  I'm excited to see my kiddos and Jeff again but I wish I could stay and do more for the kids in Meize.