I’ve learned over the past few years the benefit of reading living books and I am making a real effort this year to add as many living books into our days as possible. Composer study and artist study are not something that are generally taught in the regular school system but hang around homeschoolers for a little while and chances are you will hear about them soon enough! Composer and artist study could be really overwhelming for kids but teaching them with living books makes it so easy, both to teach and for the kids to understand. Who doesn’t love listening to stories about the lives of people in the past?…
Children’s Books About Egypt
As part of the Explore the World From Your Home digital resource guide that I’ve created I’ve got book lists for the countries included in the guide thus far. Today I thought I’d share some of the books from the Egypt section with you! The Explore the World digital resource guide is more than just book lists, included in the guide are virtual field trips, a variety of video clips, online treks to explore and discover and more! Plus at the beginning of the guide I’ve shared our absolute favorite resources for exploring the world from our home. Each month 1-2 countries are added to the guide so once you…
The 40 Best Classic Read Alouds for Kids
I really value a lot of the classics. We definitely don’t just read classics (which you’ll realize right away when you look at our book lists), but there is a reason these books have stood the test of time. While I was an avid reader as a child I hardly read any classics, something I wish I could go back and change. But, classics weren’t the books that were prominent in my childhood so I stuck to The Baby-Sitter’s Club series and all the Nancy Drew I could get my hands on. This is not something I want my children to say about their childhoods so we are making sure…
Eight Middle Grade Novels Even Adults Will Love
I have developed a love for mid-grade novels in the last few years. Generally middle grade novels are geared towards ages 8-12. They are around 30,000-50,000 words and don’t have any profanity, graphic violence or sexuality. There are a ton of novels that fit into this category and today I wanted to highlight some that not only your middle graders will enjoy, but I think you will as well. EIGHT MIDDLE GRADE NOVELS ADULTS WILL LOVE Think Little House on the Prairie in free verse, I just love this one! May B. I’ve known it since last night: It’s been too long to expect them to return. Something’s happened.…
Easy & Enjoyable Poetry Tea Time in Our Homeschool
Poetry Tea Time is something we’ve been doing for a few months now in our homeschool and I’ve had a few people ask about it. I first came across the idea of Poetry Tea Time on Instagram and through my rabbit trail found out that the idea started with Julie from Brave Writer. Of course it did, she’s brilliant. At first I didn’t even want to start with poetry tea time, feeling overwhelmed and like everything had to be perfect. And while I do love perfection, I just knew if that’s what it needed to be it wouldn’t happen. So, I threw the idea of perfection out of the window. I…
7 Books For Studying Oceans & Sea Creatures
I totally blame it on the show Octonauts but we’ve been on a bit of an underwater kick around here lately. Each week Raeca picks a new animal or two to learn about in science and we’ve had a good stretch of sea creatures; pilot fish, jellyfish and the green sea turtle). The kids have quite enjoyed the show and I appreciate the educational aspect while it is still entertaining. This new found interest in sea creatures has prompted us to start looking through those sections of the books we already own as well as discovering new-to-us books. The ones on this list have been great resources for our studies.…
