We go to the library once every week or so. Last week when we made our visit, I will admit we were in a bit of a hurry. So, my daughter hurried to see if the LAST Harry Potter book was in. Hooray! She is already half-way through after just a few days. My son went to every shelf pulling out "reader books" and I went behind him putting some away and stashing many others into our bag. I also take some time each week and pick out beautiful picture books that I think both my 8 and 5 year old would enjoy. One that caught my eye this week was "Basho and The Fox", by Tim Myers.
I love it when we get home and read through most of the books in our bag! "Basho and the Fox" was really neat, though. It is a book that teaches children about Haiku, and about one of its greatest masters, Basho, who lived in Japan in the 1600s. The book was not only illustrated beautifully, but the story just had a way of drawing my children in - and leaving them trying to make their own Haiku afterwards. (For my daughter this was fairly easy, but my son doesn't quite understand the concept of syllables yet, so it was a little harder!). While this didn't really fit in with any of our specific curriculum for the week, it certainly was a welcome addition. We sat at the lunch table, eating our peanut butter and honey sandwiches, and talking about haiku. I really LOVE homeschooling!
In doing a little bit of research for this post I found a lesson online to go along with the book. I may diverge a little this week and try it out - or we may just read the book a few more times and leave it at that. Whatever the case, I love my public library and the treasures it holds!