Learning | Charlie Goes to School

SSJCPL bloggers have been posting about the back to school theme quite a bit lately. I hope you can indulge me while I write about yet another book on the topic of school.

Most of our back-to-school posts are assuming that children are learning in a school building that is designed only for that purpose. They leave their home in the morning, have their lessons in the school building with children from other families, and return home at the end of the day. Of course, there are plenty of families whose children are homeschooled, in the same building where they live, like the characters in Charlie Goes to School.

Charlie Goes to School is a picture book by Ree Drummond, with beautiful illustrations by Diane de Groat. You may already be familiar with the main character from Ree Drummond's I Can Read Book, Charlie the Ranch Dog: Where's the Bacon?  Charlie is based on Ree Drummond's real-life basset hound. 

Charlie sees his human family learning at home on their ranch, and he starts thinking about all of the things he knows. It isn't very long before he decides to open his own school.  His students are the other animals on the farm--and he encounters a few classroom management issues. (Can you imagine teaching a kitten and a puppy to read and count?  It wouldn't be easy.)

Homeschooling families will especially enjoy this book. Children who like animals will like it, too. It reminds me of a story about one of my sons' favorite preschool teachers, Miss Barbara. Miss Barbara's mother told me that she used to pretend she was a teacher when she was a little girl; she put all of her dolls and stuffed animals in chairs, and wrote assignments on the blackboard.  I can imagine this book inspiring a child or two to teach their pets, friends, siblings or toys how to say the alphabet or count. 

The target audience for Charlie Goes to School ranges from preschoolers to third grade.  

P.S.  Here's the link for Ree Drummond's The Pioneer Woman Cooks : Food from My Frontier, which Rena mentioned in her comment below.  

Food, Food, Food | Meet Mr. Burt Reynolds

So my blog is about food, but I am going to bore you with stories about my dogs from time to time so I thought I might introduce them to you. 

Burt Reynolds, the human

My oldest dog is a sweet, fat, Border Collie mix named Mr.  Burt Reynolds.  He recently turned 7.  He lives with me and two female dogs that you will meet in the future.  He has had many other girlfriends as he is aptly named.  His favorite activities include sleeping, eating, sleeping, kissing me, sleeping and what we call basically: “Reynolds-ing.”  The “Reynolds-ing” primarily includes him barking and destroying my living room window sills. 

This dog talk has made me wonder what you pet owners do for food for your animals?   I buy food but one of my good friends makes food for her dog.  We have books at the library for people who want recipes for food for their dogs.  I am hardly capable of cooking for myself and my imagined dinner partner  George Clooney. 

Check these out:

• The Holistic Guide for a Healthy Dog by Wendy Volhard
• Earl Mindell’s Nutrition and Health for Dogs by, not surprisingly, Earl Mindell.

Something else to remember in case reading about Mr. Burt Reynolds has made you wonder about the movie star he shares a name with is our Biography Database: Biography in Context.  It’s a great place to learn things like Burt’s middle name (Leon) and about how many movies and television shows he’s been in (a lot!) 

See you next week when you will read about the adventures of one Mazie Reynolds.  (My dogs share a surname that is not my own.)

Picture courtesy of Mr. Blog's Tepid Ride