It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date
Hello everyone! We had a pretty quiet week around here – which I greatly appreciated honestly. We need these quiet weeks from time to time!
Despite having a fairly slow week, I didn’t read that much! I have too many books that I want to read and now I am bouncing all over because I can’t choose which one to start with!
I did read one book though. Dandelion Cottage.
I am really into reading these old-fashioned vintage books right now, and this one was a great find. It is set in the upper peninsula of Michigan, and is based on the real life hometown of the author Carroll Watson Rankin. Dandelion Cottage is a real place that tourists can visit too! I was in Marquette a few years ago and I would have visited had I known about this cottage then.
I also started a slow read, inspired by Katherine of I Wish I Lived in a Library. She has a book she is reading from just twenty minutes a day, and I started doing that with this next book.
At the Pond is a collection of essays about the Hampstead Ladies’ Pond, and is divided into sections by season. I have to be honest, to me these women are so brave to wild swim like this in a pond. I am so afraid to swim in anything that is not a pool and swimming in a pond like this in the winter is so courageous! The essays I have read talk about how they feel invincible after a lap or two in the freezing wild water and if I were to ever get the gumption to do that, I would probably feel the same way.
This week I have a few books I am considering (that whole can’t choose and settle down thing).
Billy and I are also hopping all over with our tv watching. We are usually binge watchers but we have been skipping around lately. We have been watching The Brokenwood Mysteries (0ne of my faves!), When Calls the Heart, The Great British Sewing Bee, and Palm Royale. I absolutely loved the first season of the Great British Sewing Bee, it was just so wholesome and cozy.
And that is it from my little corner of the internet this morning! I hope you are all doing great!
Hello everyone! I hope you are doing well this morning! I am feeling relief this week, and could start singing the Hallelujah chorus; Wyatt has not been sick from his meds in the morning for six whole days, and I am hoping and praying that we turned the corner!
We actually had a visit with his epileptologist on Tuesday morning, which went pretty well. Wyatt has medication resistant epilepsy, which means that despite trying multiple medications, they are not able to get them under control. Wyatt’s seizures are focal/myoclonic so right now he is not having those full body, clonic seizures like everyone immediately thinks of when they think of seizures, and hopefully he never does. We learned that he is not a candidate for resection surgery, due to where his seizures originate, but there are still options out there for us to try. There are still medications to try (after giving this poor kid a break for a bit! After a month of vomiting he deserves some time off), and something called a vagus nerve stimulator. This is sort of like a pacemaker that zaps his vagus nerve which dispels the electricity that is gathering to create a seizure. It is something we are very seriously considering in the future. Overall, I left the appointment feeling pretty hopeful.
He was so funny at the appointment too, despite it being super early. He rolled up to sit right next to the doctor like he was conducting the appointment too, and was just chilling with her. Sometimes he takes to people right away, others he needs to warm up too. He absolutely adores Dr. Reed though, which gives me a very good feeling about her.
Last week Devin (my brother) and his fam met us for pizza and then we all headed back to our house for games with the kids. It was hysterical. We played a game called Castle Feud, where two teams each set up their castle and the other team shoots a tiny catapult to knock the other team’s castle down. We spread out between our den and family room and tried to take each other’s castles down. The adults might have made it a bit too exciting, with the Game of Thrones music playing, hyping up the rivalry, because both big kids – Wyatt and Mermaid girl – got a little too excited and ended up getting in a wee bit of trouble. Lol. Nothing too much, they are good kids and just needed a reminder but I think they were a bit overstimulated. The wee one was funny, wandering between rooms like an attacking giant. We of course made sure she was seated and protected before firing the catapult each time! She enjoyed looking at our fish tank too. She would point to Moon swimming around and then turn around and look at me in wonder. It was really neat to experience it with her.
Speaking of Moon, he and his tankmate Sunny the snail are doing well. We took our water to be tested at the aquarium store and the woman working said we were doing awesome. We had A+ water, phew. Sunny is doing so well that she even left us a gift of a clutch of eggs… I don’t know what to do with them honestly because I can’t raise 200 baby Mystery snails! We had fun looking around at the crazy fish types they have there, like this Lionfish. They also have the cutest little cherry shrimp! I didn’t know what those were until we visited that store and they are adorable. I won’t get them as I have nowhere to put them but they are pretty cute.
Other than that, we have been living pretty quietly over here. With our easier mornings (Wyatt is now just super tired after his meds, which is an improvement) I have had time to catch up on some of the things I had to let slide for a month due to his being sick most of the morning. I caught up on Cub Scout stuff I needed to get done, bills.. you know all those fun things….
And that is it for this week! I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!
This week’s prompt is books that you had very strong emotions about. (Any emotion! Did a book make you super happy or sad? Angry? Terrified? Surprised?)
I am starting out strong on this one with Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner. I did not read this as a kid but I did pick it up and read it one day while working. I used to work in an elementary school library so I would read here and there, obviously. This book though. This book. I will NEVER read it again! It was emotionally devastating. I got to the end and just was sobbing sitting there at my desk in the quiet library, all by myself. I hate this book, and I will never read it again. If you have read it you know.
The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating hit me in the feels in a much different way. I was in a deep state of grief over the loss of my aunt, whom was like a second mother to me in many ways. We were very close and I was struggling. This book did not erase that sadness, but it did lift me up and give me hope. It is beautifully written and is still one of my favorite books.
The Call of the Wild and Free is a book the deeply resonated within me, and spoke to my heart. Homeschool is not the perfect choice for every family, but it is the perfect choice for mine. This book put into words all I had been feeling.
I had to take the wayback machine for this one. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. I read this in high school and afterwards, I gave up meat and became a vegetarian for about 30 years. I still struggle with my decision to eat meat now, but it became a convenience thing during the pandemic. My son is a total carnivore, and for a long time was failure to thrive no matter what we fed him (for five years) and my husband can’t eat carbs for medical reasons. It is just not financially easy for me to eat a different meal.
I could not make this list without including All Creatures Great and Small. My mom gave me the series when I was just a young girl, probably around ten years of age, and I devoured them. They did make me feel so many emotions – joy, but yes, also sadness. Confusion, because I didn’t understand what some of the book was talking about, because well, I was ten. However, this is another book that affected me profoundly in my life, encouraging my love of animals and all life. I even named our little homeschool after James Herriot.
Meadowland by John Lewis-Stempel is one of the first nonfiction nature books that I ever read as an adult and it started me down a rabbit hole that has lasted for years. It affected me very much, it was so calming and full of hope like The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating, but in a different way. It’s like that quote from Jurassic Park, “Nature finds a way” – such a powerful quote from an unexpected source. I feel like this book inspired a whole new direction in my life.
Wow when I started this post I didn’t realize how much nonfiction would be on it! Another nature nonfiction book, The Nature Fix opened my eyes to how nature heals, and I used what I learned from it to open Wyatt’s world and my own. I was always a nature-lover, a hiker, sort of outdoorsy sort (except in humidity and heat) but this showed me just how important that time outside really is for our brains.
I know that this series is considered problematic now, but I still love Little House. I read the books every year, since I was kid. I have read them even more than I have read Watership Down, which is a LOT. When I was little the idea of living so wild and free was fascinating, and it taught me a bit about a different way of life. I loved that Laura was not a perfectly behaved little girl, because I wasn’t a perfectly behaved little girl either. I tended towards heroines like Ramona, like Emily from Emily’s Runaway Imagination, and Anne from Anne of Green Gables, who tended to find themselves in predicaments, much like I did. Today, I think these old stories can still be useful as teachable moments, and can be read alongside books like Children of the Longhouse, The Birchbark House series, and Prairie Lotus which have a different perspective.
I loved this book so much! I read my copy until it fell apart and I actually just replaced it with a new copy a few months ago. I read these in high school and it sparked a love for New Orleans that has never abated. I have visited many times, the last time a week and a half before Katrina, which was a weird time to be there! I of course had my picture taken in front of Rice’s home while I was there. It also inspired me to look into my one family history and genealogy, which wasn’t as supernatural as those of the Mayfairs (or at all lol) but I did love talking to my grandparents about their lives, memories, parents and grandparents. My grandfather was born in England, and my grandma was the first of her siblings to be born in America, the rest of her family was born in Scotland, her older sisters and brothers.
And finally, of course, Watership Down.
I really can’t put into words why I love this book quite so much. I just do. There is just something about this book that is comforting and hopeful despite that hardships. Maybe that is it. Maybe it is that they endure and are resilient and rely on each other to get through their lives, as a community. They go through these hard things and keep a levity to their lives as well, a hope for a better life, which they ultimately do get. They are clever and brave and strong, and have moments of fear, even Bigwig, but get through it and live their dream.
And there you have it. I wasn’t planning on getting so serious with this, but it happened. There are so many other books that I could list but if we are talking which books made me feel the strongest emotions, they would be the books that shaped me or affected my life in some way. So that is where I went!
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date
Hello everyone!! I feel like I am draggin’ wagon today. I blame this weather, all overcast this morning. I have to get ready for church soon but I am procrastinating big time. I’ll have another cup of coffee and finish this post then I will get ready.
We had a pretty good week last week. Not anything exciting or noteworthy, just everyday life things. We did set up a fish tank for my kiddo who has wanted a fish, so that was our big event of the week. Wyatt is loving his fish Moon and his snail Sunny.
Read Last Week:
I had started listening to Tress last summer but then stopped because after listening I realized it was a book that I wanted to read, not listen to. And I am glad that I made that choice, because I loved Tress! Brandon Sanderson was inspired to write it after he and his family watched The Princess Bride (one of my all time favorite movies) during lockdown. His wife brought up a question about Buttercup and he started thinking about what it would be like if Buttercup went in search of Wesley rather than accepting that he was dead. And Tress was born. I absolutely loved it although I did find some parts a bit slow moving.
I started reading You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight as part of the Camp Spooky Readathon hosted by the Midnight Book Club on Instagram, and it was such a fast read that I finished it the same day I started. And it was a very busy day too! It was just one of those books that you could not put down and also was a quick read too. It was so good! Kaylnn Bayron said that she was a fan of those 80s slasher movies as a kid (just like me) and wanted to write her own homage to them. So she did! Very good read, not super gory.
Both of my books were inspired by movies! I just realized that.
Reading This Week:
Version 1.0.0
In keeping with my trend of reading vintage or older middle age books, I picked up Dandelion Cottage from the library the other day. I am excited to read it! The author grew up in Michigan on the shores of Lake Superior, and the Dandelion Cottage is apparently a real cottage that is still there. I think I am also going to start At the Pond this week as well.
Billy and I have been watching a few different things. My favorite that we have been watching is the newest season of The Brokenwood Mysteries. I just love that series so much. We are also watching When Calls the Heart and Palm Royale. I love the way Palm Royale looks and the cast is fire, but ooh it is hard for me to watch sometimes because of secondhand embarrassment and cringe. But the set and the costumes and the colors are just beautiful so that makes it worth it so far. This article is about the costumes if you want to read more.
We also watched The Fall Guy! I had been waiting for this movie to go to streaming and I was so excited. Now, I know this movie was panned but I loved it, and so did Billy. We both loved the tv show with Lee Majors as kids, and there were so many references and throwbacks to the 80s. We were so excited every time we caught one. We also think that the character Tom Ryder based his characters mannerisms and speech pattern after Matthew McConaughey, who I love. We both thought it was a lot of fun. I think people wanted nonstop action and this movie had a bit of a plot and a love story to boot.
And that is it from me today! I hope you all have a wonderful day!
Ah summer. I talked in my summer TBR post about how summer is my least favorite season of them all. I am just not a big fan of being hot, and Michigan is so humid and swampy.
That doesn’t mean that there aren’t things about summer that I love. I love the slower mornings, and the evenings that stretch on forever. I have always loved sitting outside at twilight, watching the birds all head home to bed, singing their day’s final song, with the fireflies winking in and out of sight. The crickets and katydids chirp, frogs start their evening calls, rabbits and baby bunnies hop about, and the day sinks into night. Those are nights for dreaming on, and on those magical type evenings I drag myself back into the house from the porch where I am half-hidden from sight by the green leaves of the apple tree, bringing my empty mug of tea or wine glass in with me, and feel so content with the world as I climb into bed.
I also love the easy days, although Wyatt and I spend the heat of them inside. There is a quote from Watership Down that says, “Many human beings say that they enjoy the winter, but what they really enjoy is feeling proof against it.” I agree with that, isn’t that the perfect definition of cozy, but I think I also like feeling safe inside from the heat of summer. The two of us just aren’t made for the hot weather- Wyatt especially has trouble regulating his own temperature in the heat. So on the hottest days we seek the coolness of buildings filled with air-conditioning, our little house that overflows with life in all of our pets and terrariums and house plants, museums and stores, the library for books, car rides for ice cream. We play games and read books, paint and draw and watch movies.
I think those were my own favorite days of summer growing up. Reading all the books, the summer reading program at the library, playing with my cousins and my friend Dawn who lived across the street, swimming and biking and playing outside in the evenings right before the sun went down. Cheese sandwiches, popsicles, the ice cream man, lemonade. Peaches picked from my uncle’s tree and eating it all damp from the sprinkler, trying to get a peek at the toad that lived under his grill. All these memories!
We do venture outside of course, to gardens and pools, for picnics at the park, to the zoo, on walks or bike rides. But evening is our favorite time. Many weekend nights are spent at my brother Devin’s house, sitting around a fire, while Wyatt plays with his cousins and the four adults sit and chat over cool drinks. Sometimes we set up a tent in the yard for the kids to play in and around, which I remember my parents doing for me when I was little. This year Devin wants to show movies on his garage, which will be fun for the kids.
I think this year I am going to finally try to get Wyatt to the farm to pick strawberries. I say it every year but June always is so busy and goes so fast. This month we do have a lot scheduled. Music camp in Lansing and a 48 hour EEG are the big ones, but we have the school bus races to go see (hopefully), the strawberry moon party which will be a more subdued affair this month as it is sandwiched between camp and the EEG, and then Billy is off to Manitou Island for a few days as well. Wyatt and I will be on our own for a few days and I need to come up with some fun activities because kiddo is going to miss his dad.
This morning I am waiting for my squirrel friend to show up for her breakfast. She is a tired mama squirrel, and by the way she looks I am sure she has a nest of kittens somewhere. She comes and scratches at the window where I sit, and I feed her peanuts. Yesterday afternoon I caught her napping, spread out flat on the wooden railing, and I understood where she was coming from. It is tiring being a mom! I hope she enjoyed her little break before she headed off home. I will finish this second cup of coffee and by the time I am done, she will show up more than likely, so I should probably get her peanuts ready. I hope you all have a wonderful first day of June!
Hello everybody! I hope that you all had a wonderful weekend!
We were worker bees and homebodies all weekend, which was nice. Billy worked more on the door/inside part of the ramp project while I did some work on our new fish tank. Wyatt has wanted one and with his mornings being so not fun these days, I decided to get one when we got a little surprise bonus check.
I had no idea that setting up a fish tank was so involved, but now I know. On Friday after dinner at our local pizza place, we decided to see if the aquarium store was still open. It was about 7 so we thought there was a chance it would be closed but we were happily surprised to find it open – and busy! The woman working was extremely helpful and kind, and is exactly the type of person you want working in your store. I can’t say enough good things. The store itself was really neat too – there were so many cool fish and little shrimp and snails and axolotls, and all sorts of things to look at inside – even bullfrog tadpoles! We saw the tadpoles inside and then the actual bullfrogs outside. It was neat.
We also got a little Mystery Snail that Wyatt named Sunny, who spent the night in a glass jar with a strainer lid on my nightstand. I heard him clinking around in there all night. We all are fascinated by him to be honest. He only had to stay one night in there because we set up the tank Saturday morning, one step closer to getting Wyatt’s fish.
Then it was time to add the beneficial bacteria! I had no idea this was a thing, but my friend Kelly did, and she also gave me some. I guess this is good for your aquarium to help break down bad stuff like waste, dead plants, etc and you can buy it but Kelly gave me some from her axolotl tank instead. Which meant a trip to Kelly’s – who has more animals than I do! Two axolotls, 6 toads, 2 tree frogs, and some baby toads that she raised from tadpoles last year. She also has a bunch of cats, but we only saw one, Pal. I didn’t get to see my favorite Buddy, but maybe next time.
We added the beneficial bacteria and then it was a waiting game. We let it cycle a few days then on Tuesday I took a water sample to the aquarium store and had them test it. I figured the woman could let us know if we were good to go, and if not, what we needed to do to get there. Wyatt was very happy when she told him things were good to go! He looked at all the betta that they had, so many colors and varieties, and finally made his choice.
Meet Moonlight, or Moon, for short. (and Sunny the snail again)
Moon is so pretty! He did a great job! He was thinking that he wanted a yellow one but when the lady told him that this was a Halloween betta ( I am pretty sure she was just calling it that and that it is not an actual type?), that was it for Wyatt. That was the one he wanted, my little Halloween loving boy. He named it Moon although I was petitioning for the names Spooky or Stormy. Moon is a great name though, and it is his fish so he wins!
The art exhibit that Billy had his work entered in opened on Thursday, and we went to that too. It was pretty neat seeing all of the small works of art, but Billy’s was the smallest. I am quite proud of him! He was interviewed by the Downriver Council for the Arts while we were there, which was neat to watch. We had a good time exploring all of the pieces on display, and it was hard to pinpoint our favorites. We all loved the lizard/dinosaur/dragon eye, which is amazing. I also could not get over the detail on that portrait! Look at Billy’s little terrariums down there! So exciting!
Oh, and I got a boba tea for the first time. Except I got boba lemonade, and it was delicious.
And now, some random photos!
And that is it from me this very early morning! I hope that whatever you do today, that you do something that makes you smile.
Ok guys so here it is. I am not a big fan of summer. Oh there are things I enjoy about the season, like the longer days and more sunlight, the easy days, the lushness of the outdoors, sunsets, fireflies, summer foods (wow there is more than I thought!), but I am not a fan of heat and humidity. I loathe being hot and sweaty, so so much. I am also one of those people who looks just awful in heat. My face gets red, always has (and so does Wyatt’s and Mermaid Girl’s too..), my hair gets frizzy. I just don’t like it. I don’t like beaches or swimming in lakes or oceans. I am a reallllll bummer about summer.
I do have so many good memories of summer from when I was kid. One of them is the summer that my cousin Brian and I spent riding bikes to the library and checking out Stephen King books. We would check them out, then go back to his house and read them. My mom, a single mom, worked everyday and my brother and I would go to my aunt’s house during the summer while my mom worked. My brother is six years younger than me so he didn’t get to go to the library with Brian and I. Sorry Devin. He was back having fun with our aunt anyway. Brian and I would ride back to his house after, then hole up in the cool darkness of the den, eat snacks, and read Stephen King together. It was a great summer, if a little spooky. Since then, I have always equate summer reading with spooky books. No beach reads for me, I guess. I do mix it up here and there, because I can no longer just binge scary like I used to, but I will forever think of summer reading and scary books together.
That being said… here is my tentative summer reading list, which I think is a nice eclectic mix of genres.
So many scary/thriller books! I can’t wait to read What Lives in the Woods, since it is set in Michigan in a town I have been to many times. I love Saugatuck, it is such a neat little artistic community. That one will be fun.
I also have quite a few that are summer camp themed – one of my favorite settings. I realize I am a bit of a sucker for a setting, and I think I am going to do a post on that in the future. There are just places and cities that make me immediately pick a book up, and summer camp is one of them. (I also love summer camp themed movies, just saying) You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight, When She Was Me, and The Last Time I Lied all involve summer camp and I am super excited about it.
I have been on a mission to find “own voices” books by authors with disabilities about characters who disabilities, especially when the representation is “casual” and You Never Know by Connie Briscoe came across my radar. The main character in You Never Know has an hearing impairment, as does Connie Briscoe. I have been compiling a list for Wyatt as well, to have in our own home library, starting with middle grade and working my way up to YA. It is important that books are mirrors as well as windows.
The Berry Pickers has been on my TBR for a little while, and I am looking forward to finally getting to it. I actually think I am going to listen to this one on audio. At the Pond is another that has been on my list; it was hard to find here so I caved and bought it for myself so that I could read it. I think it will be perfect summer reading!
I will be honest, the cover is what drew me to The Twilight Garden, as well as the word twilight. I can be so weird. But that cover is beautiful! I keep seeing Every Time I Go on Vacation Someone Dies all over the place, and Italy is another setting that I love. Plus, it’s a cozy! Wolfsong by TJ Klune is another I have been eyeballing far too long, and I just feel like this summer is the perfect time to pick it up. And finally – The Easy Life in Kamusari. I started reading a bit of Japanese Literature this year and this one was one of those suggested reads, like if you liked this then you will like this – and after reading the blurb, I decided I probably would like it indeed!
So many! And I am sure that I will add in some older middle grade books, from decades ago because I love them. Looking at this list, I really don’t think I will get to all of these. When did my list get so long for the summer?? I will give it the old college try though!
I probably won’t start these for another week or two still, as I have to finish my spring TBR still!
When do start thinking summer? In June, after Memorial Day? Or on the first day of summer, June 20?
Hi everyone!! It’s been hot as blazes around here lately! Summer has arrived with a fury apparently, and I am not ready.
My heart and prayers go out to all of those who have been affected by the tornadoes; the loss of lives and devastation they are leaving behind is heartbreaking.
Things have been chaotic around here. We have two huge projects going on right now, in addition to our normal life stuff, and on top of that, Wyatt is still not tolerating his medication and we spend the first four hours of the day with a kiddo who is very nauseated and vomiting. We have been in contact with all of his doctors though, and there is a plan. It is just going to take time and use the process of elimination to see which medicine in the culprit. In the meantime, Wyatt and I have been spending a lot of time on the couch or in the bedroom in the mornings – most of the time with him resting his head on me and me just being a momma, trying to help my kiddo the best I can.
As for our projects, we are in the process of starting our cub scout troop and at the same time Billy is building Wyatt’s wheelchair ramp on the weekends and evenings. It is all sort of triggering me as I am used to my routine and with everything in a kerfuffle all the time I have to take lots of deep breaths, drink lots of tea, and find time to decompress (usually at night watching a show with Billy).
Let’s talk about the wheelchair ramp project first~ the window into a door. This felt so meaningful to me, as Wyatt has had a lifetime of windows and no doors. Now, with this door, he will be gaining independence and freedom of movement out of the house, under his own power. Or he will once the ramp is done. But this is the first step and to me it felt so huge.
Wyatt helped us pick the door, and I love it. I love the wavy weird glass ~ it casts beautiful rainbows on the hallway floor in the evening, and it feels sort of cozy when you are in the room, despite the gigantic mess of debris and my possessions pushed to one side of the office. It will be even better once the office is put to rights, which should be soon – after Billy finishes the trim, plasters, and paints… lol. Luna my leopard gecko will be happy once Billy is finished in there as well. Her little quiet peaceful world has been full of activity and even worse, loud noises and she does not like it. Her tank is just too big and heavy to move; Harlow, my pictus gecko I was able to relocate, but Luna had to stay. Miso will be happy too when the room is back to normal, as she likes to nap in the rays of afternoon sun in there and she hasn’t been able to.
The second project is one I am spearheading, the Cub Scouts! Billy is going to be the Cub Master, and I am the Pack Committee Chair, which is a fancy way to say that I do all the paperwork and behind the scenes administration. The other night I had a meeting with the vestry at my church to ask them to be our Chartering Organization (every pack/troop has to have one) and while I was quite nervous as I am quite shy in person, it went very well. They happily agreed and they are even donating to the pack to get the kids off to a good start. I am super excited.
Tonight we have a local art exhibition to attend! I submitted some of Billy’s tiny little “nature under glass” creations to an art exhibit made for it ~ Pocket Sized. It’s in the evening and Wyatt should have rallied by then, and it will be good to get him out of the house for an hour. Plus it’ll be nice for him to see the artwork, especially since he is a little artist himself. You will be able to view the exhibit online, starting tomorrow (I think)!
So it’s a bit wild around here right now! Hopefully we get some relief for my kiddo, that is the biggest concern right now for me. I did surprise him with something he has been wanting though – an aquarium. We got a little surprise insurance check refund and he has been asking and I thought this kid has to lay around for 4-5 hours a day right now, he might as well have something pretty and calming and something he wanted right? I will 100% be the person caring for it and that is fine, especially when it makes my kiddo smile like this.
And now some random photos…
And I forgot to tell you about my dad’s birthday!! I will do a mini post tomorrow for that. 🙂 Have a good one everyone.
If you have ever homeschooled, or know someone who does, then you probably know just how much time, effort, research, conversations, and comparisons go into picking the curriculum your child uses. Our position is unique – we do not need to choose something that will be effective for an entire school district of children all with different needs. We need only choose based on our own child and their educational journey. However, despite having a much, much smaller student body, it is just as important and just as time consuming.
After weighing Wyatt’s needs, where he is academically, and how he best learns, I FINALLY made my choices and started purchasing them, always with the slightest trepidation and anxiety about making the wrong choice. And then I remind myself, when I start doubting myself, that if it doesn’t work, then we find something that does. Wyatt’s education is probably our biggest expense outside of our actual bills, and it is something we sometimes make sacrifices for. But it is 100% worth it.
The homeschool world has so many options. Secular, non-secular, nature based, wildschooling, unschooling, roadschooling. We sort of take a little bit of everything over here, and have a very eclectic approach.
Let’s start with Language Arts!
This year I am going with Blossom and Root Year 3. I am super excited! There is just so much diversity and depth included in the year 3 curriculum, and when I spoke with other parents in the Blossom and Root Facebook group, so many told us that their children loved both years 3 and 4 and not to skip them. I had told them that this year Wyatt and I did our own thing and I didn’t know if I should just skip year 3 and they emphatically said no way, it is too good. So, I am listening!
Math is the most challenging subject for Wyatt, and we tend to go very slowly and really spend time on it to make sure he understands a concept before moving on. One of the perks of homeschooling! I don’t care what “grade level” he should be at, he doesn’t need to keep up with anyone, it is all about Wyatt learning and understanding at his pace. We have found he responds very well to the math teaching style presented in The Good and the Beautiful, and then if we need to supplement for a concept it is is easy for me to just make stuff myself for additional material.
History this year is also a mix of topics and creators. I wanted to focus on two topics, Government and Michigan history. I know that in Michigan, fourth grade spends a lot of time on these two areas in public schools, so I wanted to make sure we cover them. I found some great looking materials on Teachers Pay Teachers and Living Books Curriculum.
As for art and music, we are going to stick with my own studies. I have so much fun making them for Wyatt and he seems to really enjoy them. Although, I would love to hear suggestions for artists to study. We have covered so many and so many different styles as well. We haven’t done Warhol or Pollock, and they are on my list. Who else do you think I should I add? I would also like to add more women artists, we have only covered a few. I would love to hear your suggestions!
And finally, a present for me, to keep myself all organized. With all the different hats I wear, and now adding in Cub Scouts, I need to be organized, and I am a person who needs it written down. I am not into digital planners. So, I use a Passion Planner right now for my overall life – meetings, appointments, etc, and I treated myself to a Clever Fox Teacher Planner for next year. It is so cute! The one that I bought last year was really nice but was more than I needed. This one looks to be about the speed I need. It is undated which I like because we school all year, with breaks here and there so I can make the dates work for when we are actually actively in school. It has stickers, monthly and weekly pages, extra blank pages for notes, and an events area where I will plan field trips. It does have a bit more than I need, but the one I purchased last year had way more pages than I needed, and it was designed for homeschool. So although this is designed for a traditional teacher, it still will be more practical for my particular needs.
And of course I got it in the dark green, because it is my favorite and matches my Passion Planner. Lol.
We will be ending for the month of June very soon now and I am looking forward to the next school year already! We will be starting these particular curricula in the fall, and finishing up this school year over the course of 6 weeks in the summer. I would not change what we do for the world.
Authors I’d Love a New Book From (These could be authors that have passed away, who have retired from writing, who have inexplicably gone quiet, or who might jut not be able to keep up with how quickly you read their books!)
So some of these writers just don’t write as fast as I can read them, although they are pretty quick and prolific. I just want them to churn them out I guess! Karen White, I am waiting for your next book in the Royal Street series! I feel like it has been forever! Although, it really hasn’t been that long. Not as long as I waited for Emily Croy Barker’s next book however! I read The Thinking Woman’s Guide to Real Magic in 2013 and loved it so much, then I had to wait 8 years until the next book came out! Now I don’t even remember too much about the first one, and it is such a chunky book that I am not sure I can read it all over again. So I haven’t gotten to the second one. It just took too long. Lydia Kang is not too bad, but the wait always feels immense and I love her books, especially A Beautiful Poison, which is my favorite by her. The same for Shea Ernshaw and Erin A. Craig – they actually write fairly quickly but if they could release books as quickly as Stephen King that would be great. Kate Racculia, she is sort of dragging her feet on another book. I read Tuesday Mooney back in 2019 and am patiently waiting for another. Obviously though life can get in the way of writing. I know that Sarah Addison Allen took a long time off after her mother got sick, and so I often think about that when I am waiting for a new book by a favorite author to come out, that maybe there is something going on in their life. Jane Johnson is a new to me author, and The White Hare was one of my very favorite books in 2022. I can’t wait for another book by her to come out, and I am hoping it is one that is similar to The White Hare. Her writing actually reminds of the authors I am about to talk about, Barbara Michaels and Mary Stewart.
Barbara Michaels and Mary Stewart are two writers who have passed but I would love to read a new book by them. Their books are huge comfort reads for me, and my copies are very well loved. I just love their slight romance, the folklore and history, the gothicness of them. (is that a word?) I can just about always pick one of their books up and read it, and it is sad to think there will never be a new one. They were both very prolific in life though, so I am lucky to have a wealth of their books to read!
Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs.. 