Fun suggestions!!! My kiddos get lots of books for Christmas. Horrible Histories and Horrible Science are at the top of my list right now. Along with the Fablehaven set. It looks like I have more to look over and decide upon. Thanks :)

We are gearing for a 9-hour road trio next week and these suggestions will come in handy!

No plans here to go chronologically. Right now we just read whatever history topics sound interesting. Sometimes it is my interest, others the interest of my kids. We do tend to camp in one period/theme for a bit. Right now we are deep in a study of Native Americans. And I know they have plans to learn about medieval & Lewis and Clark after the holidays. I will say that while we aren't going chronologically in a formal way I did pick up the SOTW audios and we listen to them in the car from time to time. We recently listened to the chapters on Ancient Greece and are now on an audiobook kick of books about this time period. My only goal at this age is exposure and a love of history. I feel confident we are moving in the right direction. Maybe we'll tackle a chronological study in high school.

We were part of several homeschool groups, but my kids never developed close friendships that were worth our time. This year we have moved away from groups so the only friends my kids have at the moment are in the classes they take. They do have a couple neighbor friends, but they are always on the go so it is hit or miss how much time they spend with them. They are happy, though sometimes I am a bit sad that they don't have close friends. I am also sad that we haven't found a group that we fit with either :(

So, so true. Like I mentioned early, my 'best friend' left me in my darkest hour. She turned overnight, with no warning and no why. I am still trying to come to terms with this one.

My almost 10-year-old is really interested in becoming an illustrator/writer of picture books. He is very, very passionate about this and has asked for anything that can help him figure this path out. I am all about feeding this passion, but I am at a loss for where to begin. Any ideas out there??? Right now he draws/paints all the time working on figuring out how to improve upon his work. We stumbled upon the blog of the illustrator for A Famous Day for Amos McGee and he was memorized reading about her process wanting to try his hand at print making. He has lists/outlines of story ideas in notebooks. Some he writes out, but mostly he just gathers the ideas that find their way into his brain. Or he'll get really inspired by a certain part and write it out in detail. He has never been too interested in making books out of paper, but I thought about maybe offering to print a collection for him from a photo site maybe if he wanted to polish a few of the ideas??? (It'd be too expensive I think to print one at a time.) He reads stacks upon stacks of picture books from those directed at babies to those directed at older kids. He loves them all. And will lose himself himself to different illustrating techniques and search out books that are similar so he can have reference to practice. And practice he does. We started our journey with Five in a Row and the art lessons were always the favorite of his. So any ideas on how I can further feed this passion. Any book recs that he can look at? He'll read anything. This idea/passion has always been there, but he is just now showing a strong interest in doing something with it.

I agree. Especially this year. I've been stepped on over and over again.

That people can be very selfish, say they have your back 100% and things will always be good between you, and then show their true colors and walk away from you in your darkest hour. I am not a bitter person, and I am forgiving. It was a hard reality to discover someone I thought was similar in thought was actually very bitter and extremely unforgiving.

I am curious how others keep track of books they want to read. I have tried Goodreads but don't really love the system, but can see promise if I commit to it. I guess what I really want is a way to organize them by topic/theme/genre/etc. and be able to easily find the list...

Anybody else? I know someone out there has read a fantastic picture book bio that I have never head of :D

Awesome - Thanks :)

I wanted to pipe back in with some of our recent favorites since starting earlier this year. We have really enjoyed reading the books with an afternoon snack on Friday. My kids have already gone on many rabbit trails from these books alone which is great! Lost Boy: The Story of the Man Who Created Peter Pan by Jane Yolen The Road to Oz: Twists, Turns, Bumps, and Triumphs in the Life of L. Frank Baum by Kathleen Krull Manfish: A Story of Jacques Cousteau by Jennifer Berne The Fantastic Undersea Life of Jacques Cousteau by Dan Yaccarino The Watcher: Jane Goodall's Life with the Chimps by Jeanette Winter The Boy Who Invented TV: The Story of Philo Farnsworth by Kathleen Krull The Day-Glo Brothers by Chris Barton books by Barbara Kerley books by Don Brown

One of my goals this year is to do a simple biography study once per week. I am not trying to tie it to any of our studies since we do unit studies or Five in a Row and there isn't always one that fits. My idea is to simply read 1-2 good biographies about someone each Friday. I am trying to come up with a list of some great picture book biographies to choose from so I don't have to look each week. I would love to know your favorites if you have any to share! TIA :D

I'll start by saying I've got a toddler that I am trying to balance with schooling and I understand the naptime issue. Boy do I understand it! We try and squeeze as much out of each nap for reading aloud that we can (and he isn't the best, most reliable napper to begin with). We've discovered recently that we far prefer being home to being out. In fact, I just recentely dropped all of our homeschool groups and, I have to admit, it was quite the relief to see it all go. I used to feel like I needed to 'do it all' like every other homeschool parent out there. I'd say in the last year I've realized that I just can't have much scheduled on my regular calendar because it leaves me feeling frazzled that we aren't doing all that we talk/dream about doing with our time. In the past year I have become very, very selective about how we spend our time. My kids each of classes that they chose, and love. We have the opportunity spend 3 complete days at home each week if we desire (and we often do - getting lost in science experiments, read alouds, cooking, or other random projects). I'd say on those days we might plan something with close friends 1-2 times per month at most. Field trips we have learned are much more fun if we can make them family trips on the weekends. The best thing I did this year was stop worrying about what everyone else was doing and only worry about what we were doing. Evaluating our happiness, our goals, our dreams, our time. It really feels good to finally have found balance.

This has been such a great read :) I have a strong passion for interest driven studies. I bounce between planning a unit study based on interest, and just letting them be. I think it really depends on what the interest is, and also what they request of me. Sometimes they do ask me to come up with a more directed study that we can do together, so I do plan it out, but a lot of times we start strong and follow our own trail anyway. Sometimes I take their request and strew a stack of books about the house, leave open an experiment idea from a book, I might leave a note for them with an idea for them to try, etc. I have always tried to be interest-led around here, and we definitely spend a lot of time chasing rabbit trails. I try to follow passions and help assist in anyway I can. One of mine has a list a mile long of projects he'd like to complete. He has a focus issue and can't land on one, but I try and encourage what ever little bit he does dabble in. I think there are several projects going on around here right now - a collection book full of pressed flowers that I always being added to, there is a HUGE book about birds from the library and he spends hours drawing and/or painting them, he loves to build and make things and just the other day spent hours building a marble run that connected to a domino run and then back to a marble run (it was awesome!), and so much more. I do have some core subjects that we do and won't part with - math, Braverwrite stuff, and lots & lots of reading aloud (which I use wisely to dump ideas/subjects/topics into their little brains - I love how something I read will suddenly be all they can think about and research :)) Our day is structured around the resident toddler as to when we do the core subjects. I strive to take care of them first thing so the day can be theirs to pursue their interests, but don't grumble if we don't get to them until naptime (or, sometimes, not at all). There are only two weekdays each week that we have to be out of the house for classes (which are also 100% interest/passion driven) and the other three are up for grabs how we spend them. We all seem to enjoy making sure there is at least 2 days home without leaving (preferably in a row). This is when I see the magic of projects happening the most. They have the time and they go to town. I have more thoughts to share but I hear said toddler waking up so I'll have to come back later!

Thanks for the heads up on the book. I remember reading here blog once upon a time and always loving what I read. We are pretty much interest led here so I think this will be a great read. Looking forward to reading the conversation :)

Thanks so much! Right now I am leaning toward either TOPS radishes or corn & beans (anyone prefer one to the other?), electricy from TOPS, and one of the GEMS books (just need to narrow that down a bit). Still on the fence with lentil science 4-6???

Thank you so much fo the information. We move all over the place with our learning so I am sure we'd benefit from, and enjoy, both approaches. We also love to make messes here! Gathering supplies...not my favorite pastime, but I know how worth it it can be :D Thanks again!

I am looking to purchase one or the other, or maybe some of both. The way we tend to do science around here (and history too) is to throw ourselves into a study for 4-6 weeks, then switch to something else. Right now I am knee-deep in planning. Ideally I'd like to have 3-4 different science avenues to choose from. Oh, and the kids are 8 & 10. TOPS: We have dabbled with Lentil Science in the past (the k-3 book) and I am now considering moving up to the 4-6 book. I was also looking at Corn & Beans or Radishes (or both???). I was also thinking maybe electricy and/or magnetism. GEMS: This just stumbled onto my radar and I am impressed. There are a lot of choices so I am hoping someone can point me to some 'gems' :D that we can consider. There haven't been any real science request other than the human body (but I think I've got my path for that one already) so I am open to anything really!

ages 8 & 10. We did a wearable body like this years ago. It was awesome!

Thank you so much! Looking forward to looking through it when it comes in at the library :)

I did finally locate it in our library system and put it on hold. But if anyone can give any ideas as to what I can expect that be great. I won't have it for a good 2-weeks most likely.

Thanks. I'll check these links out.

I am planning out a 4-6 week study of the human body (maybe a touch longer, but I notice eyes start to glaze over if we stay in one place much longer than 4-6 weeks). The plan is to use living books & a few science experiments/projects. Just curious if you'd be willing to toss out any must read books or must do experiments :)

I am in the midst of planning a 6-8 week study of Native Americans. I have seen Childcraft: The Indian Book mentioned in several posts when I search, but I can't find any information about what I will find if I get the book. Can someone fill me in? TIA :)