Challenges in 2014

Thanks to Jen @ Teach Mentor Texts, I have become more apt to publicly state that I WILL READ...such and such.  And, I WILL DO such and such in the year 2014.  So, here are the challenges I am accepting.  Some are the Un-Boring List for 2014:  Here is the one I created-

Un-Boring List for 2014

Hold a Book Swap Cocktail Party for friends
 Take kids to Chicago to visit Robie House OR Falling Water
 Read 100 picture books
 Participate in Teachers Write over summer
 Take a jewelry making class with Abby
 Write more
 Do book drops at coffee shops
 Make garden “growers” as seen on Pinterest and located in my Greenhouses and Gardens page
 Plant LOTS of lavender!
 Build a bread oven in backyard
 Have an adventure over the summer with kids—hikes, bikes and trails
 Take Anne to Sarnia
 Have a graphic novel read a thon
 Start a YA book group

 So, those are my goals.  I've already started the YA book group:  got a date, members and a book (BEING HENRY DAVID by cal armistead).  I wrote like crazy during the "Polar Vortex" but have to get back to it now that life is back in full swing.  Daily blog posts are my goal.  

My next goal is the Book Gap Challenge, started by Donalyn Miller in a Nerdy Book Club post.

So,  here is my personal Book Gap Challenge for the year.  These are books everyone seems to have read in high school or college except you.

   1.  The Little Prince

   2.  Hatchet

   3.  Catch-22

   4.  Heart of Darkness

I think that's it for the first year of this challenge.  

Next:  Picture Book Challenge.   I noticed from reading several blogs that I am getting severely deficient in reading these amazing books!  Now that my kids are older and reading on their own or more sophisticated books, I have failed to take these out of the library and read them.  So far,  here are the picture books I've read in 2014 and my goal is 365.  One book-a-day.  

The Boy Who Loved Words by Roni Schotter and Giselle Potter

Stones For Grandpa by Renee Londner and Martha Aviles

The Boy Who Loved Math:  The Improbable Life of Paul Erdos 

                                by Deborah Heiligman and LeUyen Pham

Tea Party Rules by Ame Dyckman and K.G. Campbell

Penny and Her Marble by Kevin Henkes

The Dark by Lemony Snicket and Jon Klassen

God Got A Dog by Cynthia Rylant and Marla Frazee

Red Knit Cap Girl by Naoko Stoop