- Age 3-5, Age 5-8, Age 8-12, Age early elementary, Homeschool, Homeschool Curriculum, Our Literate Life
Gentle Phonics with Dash into Reading: Our Journey
This week I boxed up our Dash into Reading curriculum until my next child is ready. (She’s 18 months right now.) As my now-fluent reader blew through the final story, let’s just say I felt quite sentimental. It has been…
Family Read Alouds {Spring 2023, Age 8 & 10}
As our read alouds get longer, these lists get shorter! And although it's been increasingly challenging to find time to sit down and read together with my kids amongst busy schedules and a busy toddler, we have plodded along and…
Homeschool 2nd Grade Curriculum {What Worked}
Our school year is winding down, so I wanted to share in one post what worked this year. Rather than a rosy-eyed, hopeful post of what I'm *planning* for an upcoming school year, this post shares what we actually DID,…
Books About Birds for All Ages
Spring is for the birds! We have been seeing so many nests, hearing little chirps of baby birdies, and even found a robin’s egg on our hike today. And there are so many lovely books and educational materials about birds!…
- Age 5-8, Age 8-12, Age early elementary, Chapter Books, Family Read Alouds, Homeschool, Our Literate Life
Favorite Family Read Alouds of the School Year
As we wrap up 4th and 2nd grade, I am sharing our favorite read alouds of the school year: This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon associate, I earn a small commission on eligible purchases. Chasing Vermeer by Blue…
A Simple Easter & Holy Week
I love giving gifts to my children as much as anyone. It’s one of my primary love languages. But as I sat contemplating our Easter plans and I found myself scrolling wishlists and looking at my Amazon shopping cart, I…
Family Read Alouds {Winter 2023, Age 8 & 10}
We’re in a season where family read aloud times feel hard-fought for; between a baby-turned-toddler and increased academic reading for older kids, the leisurely pleasure reading hours have grown shorter. Interestingly as well, the kids have taken to asking for…
Favorite Family Read Alouds {End of Year Wrap Up}
What a year! Amidst morning sickness and later adjusting to a new baby, we managed to read a nice stack of novels together. Truth be told, that was all I was able to muster a lot of days, and it…
Family Read Alouds {Fall 2022, 2nd & 4th grade}
There’s a distinctive middle ages theme to our book list this time around, with a sprinkling of Christmas stories, too. Novels provide such a rich way of delving farther into our history topics, so we enjoyed the books below to…
- Age 0-1, Age 1-2, Age 2-3, Age 3-5, Age 5-8, Age 8-12, Age early elementary, Christmas Books, For Grown Up Bookworms, Our Literate Life
GIANT List of Christmas Books We Love {Picture Books, Chapter Books, Mama Books}
We have read literally hundreds of Christmas books over the years as a family. There’s just something extra cozy about reading Christmas stories, isn’t there? Throw in a fuzzy blanket, a fire (on the TV for us), and perhaps some…
Cozy Christmas Chapter Books {plus Mom Reads!}
My favorite part of Christmas planning is deciding what novels I’ll read to my children, and that I’ll read myself. I have so many treasured memories of reading in front of the Christmas tree with my kids. While they’re snuggling …
- Age 3-5, Age 5-8, Age 8-12, Age early elementary, Christmas Books, Holidays, Nature & Outdoors, Our Literate Life
Nature Themed Christmas Books {updated}
There’s something special about the combination of Christmas + nature. The smell of fresh evergreen, the bright colors of holly and berries, the crisp cool air of winter. There are so many beautiful picture books that focus on the natural…
- Age 5-8, Age 8-12, Age early elementary, Audiobooks, Chapter Books, Elementary, Podcasts, Upper Elementary
Family Read Alouds {Summer 2022, age 7 & 9}
In this season with a needy infant (hello there, four month sleep regression and cutting 4 teeth in 5 months!), I am grateful for audiobooks and a parenting partner who enjoys reading to our kids! We managed to squeeze in…
Homeschool Fourth Grade {Curriculum Picks}
I nearly didn’t write this post as it feels that 4th grade is a continuation of 3rd grade. We’ve homeschooled from the beginning, whichever beginning you want to count from (preschool? birth?). At this stage, it feels like a lot…
Summer Chapter Books for Read Alouds
I wanted to get this post published nice and early, for maximum summertime reads! And so, this is a live draft of sorts. I’ll be adding to this post as we read through our summer reading list in the coming…