Our own copy of Animal Friends by Oak Meadow. It was well worn and loved!
When my daughter was little, she loved reading about animals, especially cats. Probably because we have two cats who have always lived in our house. So when we happened upon a chapter book called Animal Friends, we knew we had a find. We found this heartwarming book one year, as it happened to be included in our Oak Meadow curriculum box. It quickly became a favorite of ours!
When the kittens were little, they lived in the bathtub, away from Bobbie, the dog. It became their favorite place in the house their whole lives.
Animal Friends is the story of Franky and Pippi, who are cats, a dog named Bobby, and two kids named Abby and Tara. They get into all kinds of sweet, little adventures around the house, in the backyard, and sometimes at the vet.
Animal Friends, a reader aimed at 2nd graders, uses short sentences, common wording, and includes a vocabulary list at the beginning of each chapter, with such stories:
1. Bobby, the dog, and how he meet a new animal (oh, no..a skunk).
2. All the favorite foods of cats.
3. How Bobby, the dog, gets a haircut.
4. Franky, the cat, goes fishing.
Each chapter introduces about 8 new words to learn.
Through these gentle stories, Animal Friends teaches children to love and care for their animal friends. My daughter loved these stories! And also how she was able to do the read aloud herself. One of our favorite chapters was entitled Habits. Here they describe the habits of the animals:
“Franky(cat) likes to balance on things, Bobby(dog) likes to lie down in his special spot and go to sleep. Pippi (cat) likes to stick her paw into the trash box and poke around for fun things to play with.”
Then it asks the reader to think of some of their own habits, and to draw a picture about it.
One of Abby’s habits was to try to keep the cats out of the garbage!
If you are looking for a cozy read for those cold rainy winter days, my family recommends Animal Friends. The book is available from Oak Meadow Publications at www.oakmeadow.com, who also offers homeschool curriculum, for K -12. Oak Meadow curriculum is very hands-on, with a lot of art and homemade projects, and an emphasis on nature study. It has some similarities to Charlotte Mason. And Oak Meadow curriculum has the same gentle, heartwarming tone as in Animal Friends.
Oak Meadow First Grade Curriculum
Here’s a sample of Oak Meadow curriculum as well as Betsy’s full review.
Betsy blogs at BJ’s Homeschool about high school, college, and all the fun of homeschooling the early years too. As a veteran homeschooler, and former OT, Betsy also offers help to homeschool families.
Betsy is a long time eclectic homeschooler who blogs about resources and offers encouragement for moms of kids/teen from preK-12. She and her hubby homeschooled their daughter through high school, and helped her get accepted to each of the colleges on her list. Their daughter is now a college grad working in her chosen field of Communications. Betsy blogs about their journey at BJ's Homeschool about the early years, high school and college too. A former O. T, she also writes about special needs, and handwriting helps. Betsy is the author of "Homeschooling High School with College in Mind, 2nd edition" and also is a homeschool coach. Send her your question on homeschooling. (Free)
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