R is for Red Rock Mysteries! This fun series is written by Jerry B Jenkins and Chris Fabry. We were first introduced to the series through the online audio dramas but my son is collecting all of the paperback books and highly recommends them.
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The Red Rock Mysteries star a brother and a sister whose father died and later their mother remarried and they moved out to the desert of Colorado where they ride ATVs, have adventures and solve mysteries. Their mother is new to the Christian faith and they struggle with figuring out what they believe and learning to trust in God. It is a fun series that shares important lessons without feeling like a sermon. I would recommend these for ages 8-14. This series could also be used as a family read aloud, but know that there are a few scary parts as the teens run from bad guys and solve mysteries that might bother younger children.
For moms, I highly recommend the Read Aloud Family by Sarah Mackenzie. This book was such an inspiration to encourage me to get back into the habit of reading aloud with my children, including audio books into our days, and just encouraging a love for books in our home. The book is part inspirational and part practical suggestions to help you actually put into practice those ideals that you long to see in your home. You can find out more about the Read Aloud Family over at my Read-Aloud Family Book Study posts.
Have you read any of the Red Rock books or Read Aloud Family? Tell me what books come to mind when you think of the letter R.
When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.
This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.
Q is for Queen Esther! It is not often that I write a post about a book I have not actually read. In fact, I think this may be the very first time. I was having a bit of a difficult time coming up with a book to share for the letter Q and I remembered this great series that we had reviewed last summer, Barbour Publishing Kingdom Files Biography Series . We reviewed the two books about Mary and Jonah but they have a book about Esther that looks great. I love the story of Queen Esther and how by stepping out in faith she allowed God to use her to save her people.
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This series of books, written by Matt Koceich, teaches children about Biblical people and each book is set up to contain three parts: Fact File, Action File and Power File. These parts take them through learning the basic facts about the person and timeline, telling the story of that person, and then walks them through how that all applies in their life today.
These are great for independent reading for roughly ages 8-12 and for family read alouds or devotional times. There are currently six books in this series which each focusing on a different person from the Bible.
Have you read any of the Kingdom Files books? Tell me what books come to mind when you think of the letter Q.
When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.
This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.
P is for The Penderwicks! This funny and charming story about four sisters and their father is fun for the whole family. This is the first in a series of five books that chronicle the adventures of these sisters and their friend Jeffery (whom they meet in this first book). The sisters, Rosalind, Jane, Sky, and Batty show a love for each other and while they do not always agree, they are great role models for positive sibling relationships.
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While there is a bit of a romantic crush discussed in the book, it is a mostly clean and wholesome book that had us both laughing and crying. The girls make mistakes, but learn from them and have some really grand adventures on their summer vacation with their father. Their mother died shortly after Batty was born and so the girls have learned to really stick together. They play soccer, watch pet rabbits, get chased by a bull and a host of other silly adventures.
My 11-year-old daughter said, “I like the Penderwicks because they go on adventures, whether they go somewhere or stay home. I also like their dog, Hound.” You might think that because it is just a group of sisters it would be a book for girls, but my 13-year-old son also enjoys listening to all of their adventures.
In addition to The Penderwicks, I have listed below a list of other favorite P books that we have enjoyed or that my readers recommended over on my Facebook page! Have you read any of the The Penderwicks books? Tell me what books come to mind when you think of the letter P.
When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.
This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.
Otis is a charming and entertaining tractor. Yes, I said tractor. This adorable book series, written and illustrated by Loren Long, is based on the adventures of an old farm tractor and his farm friends. I don’t know that I ever thought my children could learn so many life lessons from an old tractor but this series is full of great lessons woven into engaging stories.
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In the title book of this series, Otis, the kind old tractor enjoys his life working on the farm and sleeping in the barn near his friend the calf. Then one day Otis is retired when a new tractor is purchased to do the farm work. This is a sad day for Otis and his friend, but in the end when his friend is in trouble it is Otis who saves the day.
My four year old loved that books so much that I had to read it over and over. Once he found out there were more books in the series he asked for them all. We have been collecting them at various holidays or when I have been able to find them at yard sales or used book sales.
In addition to Otis, we have Otis and the Kittens, Otis and the Tornado, and Otis Gives Thanks. Otis Gives Thanks is a shorter book because it is a board book and great for toddlers. My son loves all of these books and has me read them to him often. I love the moral lessons that they fit seamlessly into the stories. They teach children to value friendship, be kind, be helpful, and work together.
These adorable picture and board books make a great read aloud to toddlers and preschool age children. They would also be fun reading for young elementary aged children. They are the kind of books that I plan to keep even after my children are older, so that I can read them to my future grandchildren.
Tell me what books come to mind when you think of the letter O. Have you read any of the Otis books?
When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.
This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.
There is a lot of discussion about summers in the homeschool world. Should I take a long break? School year-round? Keep doing math? Spend all day outside? The choices seem endless and sometimes a little overwhelming.
However, I love that each family can decide what works best, and that can change from summer to summer.
Last week I shared a little about how we were going to focus on resetting our rhythms and routines over the summer to help us get back on track with chores, fitness, and Bible reading.
These are things that I want to become ingrained habits that are a natural part of our day. In addition to working on those rhythms and routines, I had to decide how I wanted to spend our summer days.
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After such a busy year, I really wanted to be sure we had some downtime to relax and rest. I have left lots of ‘white space’ in our calendar to play outside, watch a few movies, make lemonade, and just enjoy our time together. We will have the opportunity to spend some time enjoying time with our family down at the river: swimming, boating, and playing in the sand.
However, I know that my children do best with a little bit of structure. I have decided that we will be enjoying some focused time on a few ‘electives’ this summer, as well as some family reading. In addition, we will be continuing to work on a few new reviews for various products, so keep an eye out for those.
Big sister helping little brother with his violin (messy bed and all).
Music Lessons
My three oldest children have been learning instruments this year and I plan to have them commit some of their time this summer to furthering their musical goals. My daughter just moved up a level in her Practice Monkeys violin class and feels that she has a lot to learn to be successful in this level. Some extra practice time this summer should help her feel more confident and continue moving her forward.
My five-year-old son is also working in the first level of violin and will hopefully be able to move to level two before the summer is over. My oldest son wants to play the guitar and has begun to learn but has not felt that he has the time to devote a lot to practicing. I am hopeful that this extra time will allow him to gain confidence.
This also fits well into my rhythm and routine theme for summer because I believe that if he is practicing daily and making progress, it will be easier for him to fit that in when we start our regular school schedule in the fall.
You Are An Artist Art Camp!
We are excited to be spending some time at ‘art camp’ this summer. It is the perfect camp because we don’t have to leave home! It is included in the price of our regular art program, it has lots of option for various interests and ages, and I can fit in around our schedule.
My plan is to get up in the mornings and work on our routines (chores, Bible time, and fitness), have breakfast, and then complete an art lesson.
Next, we will have a snack, and then the kids can spend some free time outside playing before we tackle our other projects and review work. Nana with You Are an Artist has so many wonderful art lessons for them to choose from each day can be new and exciting.
Summer Reading
I do not want to lose the momentum that we have with reading and books. I am grateful that my children naturally spend time reading, and I do not have to assign free reading, but I want us to spend some time reading books together this summer. Some of these books I will read aloud, and some of them I plan to purchase using my audible subscription. First, I want to read The Secret Garden. I found this great free family book club guide from The Read Aloud Revival to go along with the Secret Garden, and I’m excited to get started.
Next, we have been talking about reading Wonder and just have not gotten around to it. I plan to read it together and then have a family movie night to watch the movie. Finally, a couple weeks ago, I shared about how much we love the Mr. Lemoncello books.
When I went online to share the link with everyone, I found out that a new book had just been released: Mr. Lemoncello’s All-Star Breakout Game. This should be a great light summer read that will make us laugh. I also have a few other books that we may find the opportunity to read, and, of course, I’ll be reading lots of picture books with my younger children.
Independent Learning
Finally, I plan to have each of my three older children pick a topic or skill of interest to work on independently this summer. I really want to cultivate the skill and love of lifelong learning in them. I want them to experience the joy and satisfaction that comes from deciding they want to learn about something and figuring it out.
I believe that my daughter is going to learn more about photography with her new camera. We have some resources that she can use in our SchoolhouseTeachers.com membership as well as some free online resources. My 13-year-old son is wanting to take beekeeping classes to further his skill in that area. I’m not sure about the five-year-old yet, but I’m sure we will come up with something fun for him to work on.
All in all, we are excited about summer. I am hoping that this flexible plan of fun with a little structured enrichment will keep things on a smooth track. We can further some skills, get some rest, and make some memories. I would love to hear more about your summer plans.
Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure
When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library, you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.
This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always, I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in, and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.
A couple of years ago I saw, A Nest for Celeste recommended for our study of history. It sounded really interesting, so I purchased it to use with my children. When it came in I sat down to look through it a bit before I gave it to my son to read and ended up reading the entire book. It was a fun and engaging book that combines art, history, science, and fiction.
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Written and illustrated by Henry Cole, this book tells a bit about the life of James Audubon through the eyes of his young apprentice Joseph and Joseph’s friend Celeste the mouse. If you are looking for a biography of James Audubon this is not the book for you, however, if you are looking for a book that can introduce James Audubon while getting kids excited about birds and nature this may be a great choice. The illustrations are done in beautiful detailed black and white pencil sketches.
The story tells of Joseph’s adventures as he travels with James Audubon and helps him to collect and draw specimens for his research. There is some sadness in the book as animals are killed in order to be saved for drawing but it is well written and appropriate for most children. Many of the events in the book are based on real events recorded in James Audubon’s journals. Joseph was also a real person and apprentice; though Celeste, of course, is fictional.
This book is a great independent read for upper elementary school students and possibly even middle school. It is also a good family read aloud for younger children. And don’t tell my children because I have not bought it yet, but as I was putting this post together I found this sequel, Another Quest For Celeste. I will be adding it to my wish list!
In addition to A Nest for Celeste, I want to recommend that you check out the scripture based picture book Nothing that I reviewed a couple weeks ago. It is a beautiful book that is perfect for preschool and early elementary students.
Tell me what books come to mind when you think of the letter N. Have you read A Nest for Celeste or Nothing?
When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.
This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.
God is Better than Trucks sounded like the perfect book title for my son. This alphabetical picture book is written by Sarah Reju and published by Christian Focus. The overarching message of this book is, “Trucks are powerful, big and fun! BUT GOD IS BETTER THAN TRUCKS!”
Opening his package!
A new book!
This hard-cover picture book includes fun and colorful illustrations on each page. It is an alphabetical book that features a different mode of transportation for each letter. Each letter also included a Bible verse that correlates to that page. The text of the book shares what is wonderful about each mode of transportation but then reiterates that God is better than each of those things.
For example, for the letter ‘U’ they showed an underwater submarine. The text for that page was, ” THE UNDERWATER SUBMARINE explores a mile DEEP, but God made the whole ocean. God is better than UNDERWATER SUBMARINES!” Then they shared ” The sea is his, for he made it…” Psalm 95:5 as the verse for that page.
I read this book several times with my five-year-old son, who really enjoyed the pictures. By the end of the book he could say the last line of each letter, ” God is better than …” One of the pages featured and ice cream truck handing out ice cream at the beach. He said that was his favorite page because he loves ice cream.
This book is great for young children ages birth to six or seven. The younger children will enjoy looking at the pictures and listening to it being read aloud. Many children on the older end of that range are fascinated by various cars, trucks, and trains and may enjoy reading about the different types. In addition to using it as a read aloud book, you could pick a page to focus on each week and memorize the scripture and maybe find out more about that type of transportation.
In addition to God is Better than Trucks, the Review Crew had the opportunity to review a variety of different books from Christian Focus. These included another picture book, God is Better than Princesses. Some families also reviewed a biography of Elizabeth Prentiss and Big Bible Science. which are for older children. Be sure to check out their website and use the link below to check out reviews from the other Crew members!
Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure
When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.
This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.
When I was a young girl I fell in love with the Mandie series by Lois Gladys Leppard. In a time before Amazon and other online retailers, my mom would take me to our local Christian bookstore and I would purchase one or two new books. I would begin reading them as soon as we got into the car and often finished at least one of them before I went to sleep that evening. They were engaging, entertaining, and full of adventure.
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Fast forward a ‘few’ years and my eleven year old daughter is now also enjoying these books. I even found out that there were movies made about the first few books and we have enjoyed watching them together. We even found out that the movies were filmed in our home state and we had been to the ‘mansion’ in the movie that now serves as a visitor’s center for a park.
These books tell of the many adventures of Mandie and her friends Cecilia and Joe. Mandie is helped by her Uncle Ned; who is a Native American friend of her father. After her father dies, she goes to live with her uncle and continues to find mysteries to solve. Adventures seem to await her with every turn of events. Mandie goes through some difficult circumstances during the course of the book, but she learns to trust in God to help her through adversity.
While the main character is a girl, these books are truly fun for girls and boys. They are clean wholesome fiction that will excite and engage readers. I would recommend the Mandie series for upper elementary and middle grades readers.
Tell me what books come to mind when you think of the letter M. Have you read any of the Mandie series?
When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.
This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.
Fit2B just announced they are having a Mother’s Day sale! Use code mothersday25off for 25% off! We use this for both my personal fitness and some of our PE for the kids (all included in one membership). A great way to get you safely moving and incorporate fitness into a busy day.
Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.
The Tummy Team is having a 35% off sale! This makes for some very reasonably priced online rehab programs or esessions. I am excited to be getting a course to help me get back to being in my best health! I have loved the other courses that I have taken from them and they are so helpful and supportive. I know this one is not directly homeschool related but it affects so many moms that I wanted to share.
Nothing by Natalee Creech from WorthyKids, an imprint of Hachette Book Group was a fun book review. I requested this review to read with my five-year-old son and I am so glad that I did! He was excited to get the book in the mail and had me read it to him as soon as he opened the package.
The first thing that I noticed with this book was the adorable cover. The dust jacket on this hard cover book is an adorable illustration of a rocket ship at the top and a scuba diver on the bottom. The fun illustration by Joseph Cowman makes you immediately want to open the book and find out more.
I’m convinced that nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus our Lord: not death or life, not angels or rulers, not present things or future things, not powers39 or height or depth, or any other thing that is created. Romans 8:38-39 CEB
The book is based on Romans 8:38-39, which talks about how nothing can separate us from God’s love. The author includes that scripture in the beginning of the book and then goes through and explores that thought throughout the book. After the scripture she asks the question, ” Can anything separate me form God’s love?” and then on each page she talks about different things and how they cannot separate us from God’s love. For example, the deepest sea, an overseas flight, the desert, moon, etc. It even talks about how doing what we shouldn’t do, doesn’t change God’s love for us.
One of his favorite pages!
The illustrations are beautiful and full color. They help really engage the young reader (or listener as the case may be) into the story. I love how it really brings a verse of scripture to life. In addition to listening to me read the book, my five year old enjoyed looking at the pictures on his own. He was even able to ‘tell’ the story as he looked at the pictures once we had read the book a couple of times. Though he did not know it word for word, he understood the pattern of the story and the pictures gave him plenty of clues.
This was a great way to help my son internalize this scripture verse and it would make a beautiful gift for a birthday or Christmas. I would recommend it for ages 3 to 6 as the simple nature of it makes it easy for a young child but might be boring for older children. I encourage you to check out the other reviews from the Review Crew at the link below and visit the WorthyKids, an imprint of Hachette Book Group website to learn even more about Nothing by Natalee Creech.
Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure
When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.
This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.
Today I want to share a children’s book and a mom book for the letter L. I thought that I was going to tell you about a series of three children’s books that my children thoroughly enjoyed; only when I went online to find the link for you I realized that as of this week it is actually a four book series! The Mr. Lemoncello’s Library series is a funny series that encourages reading and having fun with books and libraries. We have not yet read book four since I just found out about it, but I think we will use one of our audible credits so that we can listen to it on our next long car ride.
*Some of the links in my posts may be affiliate links see below for more information. *
*Some of the links in my posts may be affiliate links see below for more information. *
My friend Jennifer, who blogs over at Homeschool Fanatic introduced me to this book series a couple of years ago and the children fell in love with it. The books tell about the eccentric Mr. Lemoncello and the games and adventures that he orchestrates, including saving a library and hosting crazy library games in which children compete for prizes by finding answers using the library’s resources. These chapter books are great read alouds for elementary through middle school or independent reads for late elementary or middle grades. They are light and funny but have a great message. So grab a few glasses of lemonade, and enjoy these books with your children.
When I think of books that begin with L and moms, my mind immediately goes to the Lifegiving Home and the Lifegiving Table. These wonderful encouraging books by Sally Clarkson are perfect for encouraging women to create a home environment that is life giving for their families and for those that we invite into our homes. I have found that these books both encouraged me and challenged me to create an environment that shares God’s love with all of those whom enter my home or sit at my table. There are practical ideas and lofty ideals all wrapped up in an easy and enjoyable read. If you have not yet had a chance to check these out, I encourage you to purchase a copy and read them this summer. You can find out more about these books by reading some of the blog posts I did as I worked through them as a book study.
Tell me what books come to mind when you think of the letter L. Have you read any of the Lemoncello series or the books by Sally Clarkson?
When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.
This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.
Fit2B just announced they are having a Mother’s Day sale! Use code mothersday25off for 25% off! We use this for both my personal fitness and some of our PE for the kids (all included in one membership). A great way to get you safely moving and incorporate fitness into a busy day.
Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.
The Tummy Team is having a 35% off sale! This makes for some very reasonably priced online rehab programs or esessions. I am excited to be getting a course to help me get back to being in my best health! I have loved the other courses that I have taken from them and they are so helpful and supportive. I know this one is not directly homeschool related but it affects so many moms that I wanted to share.
The Schoolin' Swag Blog 