I am bound and determined to not let homeschooling defeat me this year.
I will remain steadfast! I will soldier on! I will not panic! I will not eat excessive amounts of baked goods and gain 5 pounds on account of my stress!
I have begun a quest for a more organized life and am devoting the month of August to trying to find ways to do that.
Bonus: I might get out of huckleberry picking! Holla!
So, I thought I might share with you all some of the ideas that come my way. I am, of course, assuming there are other people out there like me who need some HELP. If you are super organized and don’t need help, you can just read these posts and shake your head whilst sighing at me.
And I am ok with that.
Today is all about books.
Have I hooked you yet?
Even if you are not homeschooling, the library is an excellence resource for all families. I wanted to share with you how I use it to help me save time.
First, our library has an online card catalog where I can search for books and request for them to be put on hold. The library also searches about 25 nearby libraries, and I am free to request books from those libraries as well and pick them up at the library of my choice.
Tip: Never take your children to a library and try to find specific books with them in tow.
Mayday! Mayday! This is a bad plan!
No. Do the book searching from the comfort of your own home. I beg of you. The people will thank you.
Alright. So, I have struggled before with which books to check out for my children. I now use these books to help me find some options:
The Story of the World and Writing with Ease are both a part of the curriculum we use, which is part of The Well-Trained Mind. All items for that curriculum can be seen here.
The Story of the World is our history and we LOVE it. Each chapter has additional reading that can be checked out to further enhance the lesson. Here is a sample page:
So, I can look through those selections and request them from the library to supplement our history.
Writing with Ease is our writing program. It takes selections from literature and the kids either write summaries on the reading or copy a sentence from the book.
Usually, the kids become hooked on the book they have been reading about and ask me if we can check it out at the library.
I recently checked out Honey for a Child’s Heart by Gladys Hunt. In it, she provides book recommendations for your child’s reading level.
Here are some selections for Daisy Mae’s level (she is entering 2nd grade):
So, I can just look through the list, pick a few, and see if my library carries them.
Here are some recommendations for Sweet Pea (soon to be 3rd grader):
So, say I wanted Sweet Pea to read Heidi by Joanna Spyri.
I can look it up online at my library
Next, I can choose to either request it right then, or add it to my book list.
Since I am in planning mode right now, I am just adding lots of book ideas to my book list.
I am making notes in my lesson planner for which books to request for which weeks, so when I am ready I can select the books I want from the list and ask the library to hold them for me.
Look at me and my bad self!
We don’t live in a very “advanced” area, so I bet your library has something similar. You should totes check it out.
Another fun thing to look for is books with a cd for little ones. My boys have always loved Brown Bear, Brown Bear, so I recently checked out that book with its cd.
It entertains them for hours, I kid you not.
Some library tips:
1) When visiting the library, let your kids explore and choose books that they are interested in.
2) If you are wanting to select some books for them, try searching them out ahead of time. It is hard to try to look up books at the library when you have little ones.
3) Try magazines. Our library allows older magazines to go home.
4) Try books on audio for car trips or quiet time. Sometimes my girls like to put on an audiobook and color. This works well for books they want to read, but are a little advanced for their reading levels.
So, that’s my advice so far on libraries and books.
And I would listen to me. I have homeschooled for one whole year now, you know.
Feel free to add your two cents in the comments!
Happy Tuesday!
You are doing great. I am an unorganized homeschooler of 10 yrs now. lol Looking at the calendar and yesterday realizing it was August first…..not a good thing. I shall now go try to organize and bake brownies just in case. 😉
I don’t have kids and even taught for a whole semester in an American high school (kids are fantastic. Their parents aren’t so much), and I can’t stop laughing. Thanks for the smile.
May I go huckleberry picking in your place? 🙂
I will take your kids and my little boy with me. 🙂
Look at you and your bad self, all homeschooly and all! Remember not too long ago when you were wondering if you could do it?? I knew you could!
You’re so on top of things! I haven’t even ordered my curriculum yet. Although since it’s just Kindergarten, I’m not too worried about it;) What do you do when the books you need for your lessons are not available? Do you just skip it or do you have a plan B?
Wow! Big Girl Homeschooling Pants are not only being worn, but rocked, I believe. Good work and great suggestions.
We won’t start school until Sept 19, after we move, after the two fairs are over and 4-H animals sold. Sheep bring more $$ than rabbits. But they aren’t as smart. And as you know all about brilliant rabbits, that’s sayin’ somethin’.
Love your organization!!! Have you introduced your boys to the other books in the Brown Bear series? There is even one about the Bible called Adam, Adam. My kiddos love it! For the record, I have those books now memorized and don’t even have to look at the pages, it amazes the small ones every time!
I only wish I could be as “library-fluent” as you! Currently, we owe $8.00 in overdue fines to our local library, and $24.00 to the library in the next town over. The curriculum we are using this year calls for a LOT of books, and knowing my own library downfalls, I have chosen to purchase all of them. But, I have done an excellent job at hunting down some incredible deals, and I’m going to end up saving us about $160!…..Guess we’ll have enough savings to pay off the overdue fines! HA!
We did Story of the World 1 last year for history and this year we’ll be doing volume 2. I use Sonlight and felt like I was “cheating” when I switched to Story of the World but it’s just too good. Also we’ll be doing the Well Trained mind language arts – I really like it as well. Wondering if a writing program would help my writing-phobic third grader.
I found paperback copies of Black Beauty and Heidi at my Target last week in the dollar section. Those are great books and I figured they were well worth my $2.00. Good luck on your organizing! (and the dodging of the berry picking.)
Great post! I don’t home school… so… ya…. anyways, speaking of books… you should WRITE ONE! Just sayin….
PS – I have posted this very request in previous comments sections, but my comments preceding the request were much more witty than todays because… well… I had nothin’ 🙂
I’m a children’s librarian and just wanted to tell you that your advise is VERY good. Libraries are great places. Letting the kids pick some books by themselves is a wonderful way to let reading be an enjoyable experience.
Just return your books on time to avoid those fees.
Have you visited thepioneerwoman.com and checked out the homeschooling portion of her blog? Lots of info there.
I just checked out the Well-Trained Mind book (because I am a nerd, I mean a former teacher, who is already thinking about curriculum tho’ my babies are 2 and 8 months) from my library (which also has a super-awesome online-request checkout AND drive-thru window). Perfect for a mom of two littles. Plus the reminder of when my books are due has probably saved me hundreds.
Libraries can be the bestest ever resource and entertainment as well. And mostly all for freeeeee!