For the third year, my daughter is gearing up to start BookWorm Wednesday. A little neighborhood book club project I doubted would work, did — very well. The BookWorm Wednesday crew has changed faces over the years, and has matured with experience. What I witness now looks more like the functioning of a well-oiled machine — not the floundering chaos of its birth.

The girls have focused their work and established what I think is a more manageable schedule. Their twice-per-month book club will allow time for the crew to prepare on the off-weeks. It’s been an awesome progression to watch.

Here’s the proposal they wrote for this year’s grant funding from Empowering Youth. They definitely sound like they know what they’re doing.

Dear Empowering Youth,

Bookworm Wednesday is a neighborhood bookclub run by middle school students during the school year. Every other Wednesday all of the children in the neighborhood will come to the Bookworm Wednesday library and we will read them stories and do crafts based on that day’s book.

The overall purpose of Bookworm Wednesday is to inspire children to enjoy reading.

Goals: One of Bookworm Wednesday’s goals this year is to find good book matches with the theme that Wednesday. Another is to encourage youth around the world to start Bookworm Wednesdays of their own. The last goal is to be more diligent in staying organized.

Reaching the Goal: In order to find good books this year we plan on visiting the local library every other week to find good book matches. To spread Bookworm Wednesdays around the world, we will try our best to reach out to local news papers by submitting articles and broadcast our accomplishments by spreading the word in person and online at the Pass the Torch blog. To keep organized, we will visit the Bookworm Wednesday library every week to prepare for the following BWW. We will hang graphs on the wall for students to see how they have progressed over the year. In addition, we will keep up with organizing the shelves of alphabetized books.

Usage of Grant Funding: We will use the money to help pay for the craft items, prizes and snacks. The crafts and prizes will cost approximately $60.00 and the snacks will cost approximately $40.00. In total we need $100.00.

Please consider this worthwhile cause. Thank you!

Sincerely,

The Bookworm Wednesday Crew

What a lucky neighborhood we have.

How to Start a Kid’s Book Club series:
Read Across America – Youth Leader for Literacy Project
How to Start Your Own BookWorm Wednesday
Adult Mentor
Book Selection
Activities
Safety
Marketing
Management
Teamwork
Money

OTHER BOOKWORM WEDNESDAY POSTS:

Bookworm Wednesday Amazon Sponsorship Page
A Teacher in the Making
A BookWorm Wednesday Halloween
BookWorm Wednesday Potion Recipe
Buy with Amazon and Donate to BookWorm Wednesday
BookWorm Wednesday Gets Some Press

This is the fifth part of our LOST homeschool curriculum – focusing on history, literature, mythology, religion etc. (PART I – THEMES is here.)
NOTE: If you watch the series, this will all make sense to you. If you don’t watch the series, I highly recommend it, but you have to watch it from the beginning – we purchased the first 4 seasons on DVD. You can’t just watch a couple episodes and have any understanding at all. My series here includes only the simplest of the discussion points. For in depth LOST analysis, please visit the message boards or Lostpedia.

MYTHOLOGY/LITERATURE

Egyptian Mythology - The statue in later seasons has been identified as Taweret, and the hieroglyphics seen throughout the temple and on Jacob’s tapestry have kept LOST lovers busy translating for months.

Greek Mythology – much has been discussed about the many Greek characters and how their influence could connect with LOST, particularly Apollo, Persephone, and Cerberus . The stories of Atlantis and Pandora’s Box also offer many parallels to the storylines in LOST.

The Odyssey - This epic story was said to have been written in a way that each chapter (episode) would include flashbacks, etc. In theory, you could start at any point in the book and read it in it’s entirety – like a loop. One could possibly do the same thing with LOST.

Paradise Lost – this poem by Milton tells the story of Adam and Eve’s fall from grace, and the ways Satan pushed them into sin. The battle between God (good) and Satan (evil) is central to Paradise Lost, and some say the same theme exists in LOST.

In addition, numerous other books are referenced in the show, and may or may not have meaning in the plot. For instance, here’s just a list of what Sawyer is reading during the show:
* Watership Down
* Lord of the Flies
* A Wrinkle in Time
* Lancelot
* Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret
* Bad Twin
* Of Mice and Men
* The Fountainhead
* Evil Under the Sun
* The Invention of Morel
* Grimm’s Fairy Tales

Visit Lostpedia for a complete listing of books featured on LOST.

HISTORY/RELIGION

Whether you see the religious references as “religion” or “history”, they certainly exist in LOST> Possible plot lines that follow the lines of purgatory, reincarnation, heaven/hell and redemption. Themes seem to touch on history of numerous religions, including Christianity, Judaism, Islaam, and Buddism.

Most major religions are used in some way in the series, and names are one of the strongest references. While this is certainly not a comprehensive list of all the meaningful names in the series, it does give you an idea about the complex discussions potentially generated by them. One of the reasons LOST is such an amazing show, is that the writing is so intelligent, weaving references to history, literature and religion into every episode.

Adam and Eve are mentioned when the skeletons are found in the cave in Season 1. Their descendents are Abraham (Bram) Jacob, Jacob’s son Benjamin, and his descendent AARON (Moses’ brother.) Ben jokingly refers to Locke as “Moses” in season five. Jacob’s descendants carry the line of David and this is the family tree that includes Jesus Christ, the Good Shepard (Christian Shepard.) Who knows how any of this will play in the final season, but it all offers lots of opportunity for discussion. SOURCE: ABC LOST MESSAGE BOARDS

LOST Homeschool Lessons Series:
Themes
Character Arc
Symbols
Games!
History/Literature

It’s our year to host Christmas for my husband’s family, and rather than exchanging gifts, we’ve decided to play a game with “white elephant” gifts and put our cash to better use.

In his letter to family, my husband wrote about a population he serves as principal in his rural Northwestern Wisconsin school district:

I thought about adopting a family for Christmas gifts, but the population I would like us to adopt is so transient that I’m not sure it would work. We have 43 homeless children in our district with two homeless shelters. The problem is that they move in and out all the time so I’m not sure they would still be there after we rounded up gifts. Instead, every day I see the need for winter clothes, so I think that would be the best way to give….. besides they don’t need toys – I do know they need to keep warm.

On a side note: Every year Darla and Craig adopt a boy/girl at a grade level they would like to buy a backpack and school supplies for. Last year, our school put together a total of 20 backpacks with school supplies. Teachers knew we had them and if a family shared their child would not have school supplies, they sent them to the office. All 20 were given away during our open house. If you are looking for a tax write-off – check with your local school district. Better yet just take a school supply list at a grade level and fill a backpack and donate it to your school.

Within a few days, his two sisters – owners of Guestbook Store and Font Diner – sponsored 12 students and delivered this beautiful pile of filled backpacks. They’d spent an afternoon shopping with our young niece and nephew, who loved the idea of helping needy children to get ready for school.

Ask and ye shall receive…

Former posts about backpack donation:
Donating School Supplies: It Feels Good
Positively Speaking: Lessons about Poverty

This month’s Positively Speaking column has been published, and I discuss the common “back to school” issue of separation anxiety.

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