August 31, 2007

Updated Reading Lists


Well it has been many months since I posted any reading lists. This summer I kept more laid back records of our reading time. I only recorded a book once - though many of these we read dozens of times and many of them we did not record. I decided to simply things and keep a single summer list - so these lists are from May-August. Here are some of the books that we have read this summer. Look for regular monthly updates once school starts.

Summer 2007 Read Aloud List

Ciaran's Summer Reading List

Rhiannon's Summer Reading List

A few people have asked how I keep my records that keep track of all our reading. We have a big bin that the kids place all books into after they have been read. When it fills up (usually around once a week or so) I sit down with my computer, barcode scanner and the stack of books. We have Book Collector software on the computer and I use it to scan all the books in. The bar code scanner (a Christmas gift from my parents) really speeds up this process enough that it is not tedious anymore. I used to hand type in all the book titles and authors. Now I only need to do that for the few editions that do not have a barcode or valid ISBN (this is very few maybe about 5% or so). The software takes the book information scanned in and surfs the web for more book information (like publishing details, notes, book art and places it all in a central location. I can save different databases - so I start a new one each month for read alouds and each of the kids independent reads.

After all the information is registered in Book Collector I export it to an html page and copy the html information into the Google Page Creator which I have set up a template for and then post the links here on my blog. This is a much more efficient and centralized way for me to keep the information current. I always wanted a book list of all the books I have ever read in my life. Maybe my kids will come close to having that - at least for as long as I have the patience to help them with it.

Of course a MUCH simpler way to do this was recommended by a fellow homeschooling mom. Around second grade they purchase each of their children a nice special journal and have the kids write the title and author and date read for all the books they read. But then only my kids and I can enjoy our book lists - this way all of you can and I have a nice digital record of it. Besides it gave me a great excuse to own a barcode scanner and purchase library software for our book and video collection :) For previous lists see the right navigation bar under Family Reading Lists.

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