From the bookshelf...

I thought that this morning I would post about what we are reading at the moment, starting with me.
I have recently written about my recent discovery of Dr Kevin Leman and his very witty, entertaining and not to mention practical books about parenting. (In fact he also writes about marital relationships and step families if anyone is interested.) At the moment I am reading 'Making children mind without losing yours'. A well used quote from his writing is 'pull the rug out and let the little buzzards tumble'. Sounds harsh doesn't it? Well, no, not to me. I'm more than ready to let my little buzzards tumble! They've been tripping me up for the past nine years! But really, it is not as harsh as it sounds. He explains about the 2 bad parenting habits most of us slip into: permissive and authoritarian. He explains why they don't work - seems so obvious when you read it - and then shows us how to become an authoritative disciplinarian. (Note the different endings in those words). This is done by letting reality be the teacher in a child's behaviour. I don't want to try and sum it all up here. But it is a great read and worth a few quid, I think.
I have put Kevin Leman's book next to the good book - The Holy Bible. Now. I have a bit of a confession to make. Despite being Catholic, I haven't made much time for reading the Bible during my adult life other than reading the usual stories to children at school and home; but not for myself. I recently found myself in an uncomfortable spot when the Jehovas arrived at the front door to discuss armaggedon. I thought that informing them that I was Catholic would be enough for them to leave me in peace, but no. The very glamourous lady began talking about the different types of Bible (what? - thought there was only one!) and she said 'I expect you have a such n such bible indoors' (Can't remember the word she used). I tried to look like I knew what she was talking about but was thinking 'it's a blue one, innit?'
Anyway. Kevin Leman talks about the Bible a lot in his book. I have been kind of introduced to Ephesians 6:1-4 that begins 'children obey your parents; this is the right thing to do because God has placed them in authority over you...' If this was a Facebook status I would click the 'like' option and for the rest of the quote. Leman explains what he thinks this means and it makes good sense. I've started looking to the Bible a bit more to help us in our family life. But just let me reassure any non-religious readers... both books offer very good advice, in fact I'd go as far as to say that the latter is probably the best self-help book ever written!

Now for the kids.
I discovered these books on somebody else's blog (but I can't remember whose).
They are nice picture story books that incorporate a bit of maths reinforcement. Penrose (above) isn't really a story, though, more like little math adventures/lessons.
The other stories are great though, bringing a new element to mathematical understanding.


I read 'Sir Cumference' to Honor and Henry last night. It is an entertaining story with very nice pictures and will hopefully help the children to remember the meaning of the terms circumference, diameter and radius. I'm gonna test them later to see if it worked!
(And I got the books from Amazon.)