Homeschool Talk: Books are a Treasure!

Today's homeschool talk is about one of the great classics...Treasure Island!

My son is reading this book for his homeschool book club this month so I thought I'd share some resources and ideas. This semester he is actually reading several books by Robert Louis Stevenson. Click the following link to go to the Robert Louis Stevenson Website. http://dinamico2.unibg.it/rls/rls.htm

My son is 11 so he's not really into doing crafts that go along with the books, but if your child is here is a good website: http://www.easyfunschool.com/article2275.html

When we meet for book club this month we will be meeting at a park. I'm going to send the kids on a treasure hunt. I'm going to stick clues all around the park and when they collect all of the clues and put them together the back of them will reveal a treasure map. This map will lead them to a hidden treasure chest full of goodies. Now, I must admit, this is going to be as much fun for me as it will be for the kids! Since books are treasures themselves I think I'll include a book for each child in the chest as well as some treats to snack on during our book discussion.

Before the treasure hunt all of the kids will have to have a pirate name. I'm going to have them draw from 2 different cans of names and use their first name as the middle name. For example, if my son, Nathan draws Salty and Fourfingers then his name would be Salty Nathan Fourfingers!

I've always thought pirates were interesting and pirate parties really fun. (We did one a few years ago for my son.) I've listed some pirate links in the "homeschool corner" section of my margin. Check them out...they are a lot of fun!

At every book club we discuss the book. These kids are 10-12 yrs. old and they get really into it. I've always been surprised at just how much they get out of reading. We also will watch the movie if one exists. EVERY movie we've ever watched has resulted in me hearing the same thing from the kids...THE BOOK WAS BETTER! That phrase just makes me feel so good!

One last link: http://www.teachervision.fen.com/tv/printables/penguin/treasureisland_penguin.pdf

This is a complete guide to Treasure Island by Penguin Books. Its the one I'm using for my son and you can download it free!