July 2022 Wrap

July TBR Pile (18/24):

BOTM: TBD
Bookworms BC: The Bone Orchard by Sara A. Mueller ✓
Bookworms BC: Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel ✓
Bookworms BC: A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham ✓
Friend BC: Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Currently Reading Buddy Read: The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility
Fantasy: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas ✓
Fantasy: A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas ✓
Fantasy: A Mirror Mended by Alix E. Harrow ✓
Fantasy: Wonderland edited by Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane ✓
Fantasy: Lobizona by Romina Garber ✓
Horror: The Fervor by Alma Katsu
Horror: The Haunting of Blackwood House by Darcy Coates ✓
Romance: Wicked Beauty by Katee Robert ✓
Romance: The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory ✓
Romance: Sweet Filthy Boy by Christina Lauren ✓
Science Fiction: Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki ✓
Kid Read Aloud: Wishtree by Katherine Applegate ✓
Kid Read Aloud: The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall
Classics: Address Unknown by Kathrine Kressmann Taylor ✓
Middle Grade: The Minor Third by Neil Patrick Harris ✓
Middle Grade: Wretched Waterpark by Kiersten White ✓
Poetry: 100 Essential American Poems edited by Leslie M. Pockell ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 6092 pages
Pages Remaining: 394,825 pages

Current Read - The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall; Hotel Magnifique by Emily J. Taylor; A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas

Books I Gave Up On (0)

Books Bought/Received (5)

My BOTM selection was Tomorrow, Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin

At the library book sale, I picked up three books just for me.

Benjamin Franklin by Walter Isaacson
The Bounty by Caroline Alexander
Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

While traveling with popped into a cute little used book store in Peoria and I picked up Sabriel by Garth Nix.

UnRead Shelf Progress

Starting Number: 335
Books Read: 1
Books Acquired: 5
Books Unshelved: 0
Finishing Number: 339

August TBR Pile:

BOTM: TBD
Bookworms BC: Already read
Friend BC: Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley
Currently Reading Buddy Read: The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
Currently Reading Buddy Read: The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin
Currently Reading Buddy Read: Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility
Fantasy: A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
Fantasy: Hotel Magnifique by Emily J. Taylor
Horror: The Fervor by Alma Cats
Romance: Dirty Rowdy Thing by Christina Lauren
Historical Fiction: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Kid Read Aloud: The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall
Kid Read Aloud: Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Kid Read Aloud: Children of the Longhouse by Joseph Bruchac

Movies watched

Tall Girl
The Grey Man

TV Shows watched

Only Murders in the Building S2 - Still really loving this show.
Stranger Things S4 - How am I supposed to wait two years for the next season?
The Boys S3 - A little disappointed that they didn’t make the move I thought they would
Last Week Tonight - Our constant
Below Deck Med S4 - Seriously hope to see the downfall of Raygun as she’s terrible at her job.
Below Deck Down Under S1 - Somehow I didn’t know about this one. Must watch!
Holey Money S4 - Our delightfully silly show.
The Umbrella Academy S3 - Finally started this season. Klaus and Five are still my favorites.

Comments - Lots of books read this past month, but it was definitely a mixed bag.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Wretched Waterpark by Kiersten White

Title: Wretched Waterpark (The Sinister Summer #1)

Author: Kiersten White

Publisher: Delacorte Press 2022

Genre: Middle Grade Horror

Pages: 256

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Summer TBR

Meet the Sinister-Winterbottoms: brave Theo, her timid twin, Alexander, and their older sister, Wil. They’re stuck for the summer with their Aunt Saffronia, who doesn’t know how often children need to eat and can’t use a smartphone, and whose feet never quite seem to touch the floor when she glides—er—walks.

When Aunt Saffronia suggests a week pass to the Fathoms of Fun Waterpark, they hastily agree. But the park is even stranger than Aunt Saffronia. The waterslides look like gray gargoyle tongues. The employees wear creepy black dresses and deliver ominous messages. An impossible figure is at the top of the slide tower, people are disappearing, and suspicious goo is seeping into the wave pool.

Something mysterious is happening at Fathoms of Fun, and it’s up to the twins to get to the bottom of it. The mystery, that is. NOT the wave pool. Definitely NOT the wave pool. But are Theo and Alexander out of their depth?

Such a delightful middle grade horror book! This reminds me of a cross between A Series of Unfortunate Events and a Goosebumps. We are thrust into a mysterious adventure where Will, Theo, and Alexander have no idea what to do or how they got there. I loved seeing the three siblings attempt to navigate the strangeness of the waterpark. Even though the waterpark is very strange, I totally would love spending a day there. I flew through this book and cannot wait to read the next one once it is published.

The Sinister Summer

#1 Wretched Waterpark
#2 Vampiric Vacation
#3 Camp Creepy

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Next up on the TBR pile:

A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham

Title: A Flicker in the Dark

Author: Stacy Willingham

Publisher: Minotaur Books 2022

Genre: Mystery Thriller

Pages: 357

Rating: 2/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

When Chloe Davis was 12, six teenage girls went missing in her small Louisiana town. By the end of the summer, her own father had confessed to the crimes and was put away for life, leaving Chloe and the rest of her family to grapple with the truth and try to move forward while dealing with the aftermath.

Now 20 years later, Chloe is a psychologist in Baton Rouge and getting ready for her wedding. While she finally has a fragile grasp on the happiness she’s worked so hard to achieve, she sometimes feels as out of control of her own life as the troubled teens who are her patients. So when a local teenage girl goes missing, and then another, that terrifying summer comes crashing back. Is she paranoid, seeing parallels from her past that aren't actually there, or for the second time in her life, is Chloe about to unmask a killer?

Ooof. This is not what I wanted tor read this past week. I was hoping for a good mystery/thriller, but this is just full of 2-dimensional characters and terrible tropes detrimental to women. Our main character sometimes act like she’s 19 and other times like she’s 30. There’s a big mixed bag to her behaviors. And then we see how she operates as a psychologist and there is just so many ethical violations that I couldn’t take her seriously. Worst yet, she’s painted as an addict popping pills and downing alcohol that leaves her in a fugue state for most of the book. Can we stop with this trope. Women can have lots of issues and baggage to deal with without resorting to drugs and alcohol. And some women are addicts and alcoholic without the issues and baggage. The book really paints Chloe as some “typical” damaged woman and I was very over it but the middle of the book. And then we get to the central murder mystery and I cannot believe how the plot resolved itself. I was so angry. One visit from Chloe to her Dad or even her listening to mother would have pointed Chloe to the real killer. Instead we get the big red herring of the fiancee. And don’t get me started on the fact that the fiancee never actually communicated anything with Chloe. All these people kept way too many secrets from each other and that resulted in multiple girls being murder. I just could not handle this book at all.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Sweet Filthy Boy by Christina Lauren

Title: Sweet Filthy Boy (Wild Seasons #1)

Author: Christina Lauren

Publisher: Gallery Books 2014

Genre: Romance

Pages: 418

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Summer TBR

When three besties meet three hot guys in Vegas anything can—and does—happen. Book One of the New York Times bestselling Wild Seasons series from the author of the Beautiful Bastard series.

One-night stands are supposed to be with someone convenient, or wickedly persuasive, or regrettable. They aren’t supposed to be with someone like him.

But after a crazy Vegas weekend celebrating her college graduation—and terrified of the future path she knows is a cop-out—Mia Holland makes the wildest decision of her life: follow Ansel Guillaume—her sweet, filthy fling—to France for the summer and just...play.

When feelings begin to develop behind the provocative roles they take on, and their temporary masquerade adventures begin to feel real, Mia will have to decide if she belongs in the life she left because it was all wrong, or in the strange new one that seems worlds away.

I finally got around to starting the other early Christina Lauren series that I haven’t read yet. And my response is a resounding meh. I loved the setup of the surprise marriage in Vegas, but the book quickly went a bit downhill from there. I liked Ansel up until his secret was exposed. I could have dealt with his secrets and the fallout if we could have seen a good cathartic conversation. Instead, we get a quickie happy ending and I was annoyed. And then we turn to Mia and I just could not get behind her at all. Not a fan of her character at all. As a final note, I am going to say something very unexpected. I think this book might have had too many sex scenes… There I said it. Too many sex scenes in this contemporary romance.

Wild Seasons

#1 Sweet Filthy Boy
#2 Dirty Rowdy Thing
#3 Dark Wild Night
#4 Wicked Sexy Liar

Next up on the TBR pile:

Currently #13

Reading: I’m about halfway through A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham. It’s a murder mystery thriller that’s not really my jam, but It was a book club pick. I’m really scared that there’s going to be some big silly twist coming soon.

Watching: While at my mom’s house, I discovered that there was another Below Deck variation that I didn’t know about. This one is set in the waters off of Australia. I most definitely added the series and started watching it. Now I have two different Below Decks to watch during lunch.

Listening: Arthur has zoo camp this week and is gone from 9am-3:30pm every day. Already Quentin has taken the opportunity to be a little chatterbox with Arthur away. So many silly conversations with him!

Making: With the start of the new coop semester and the new homeschooling year, I’ve been making a ton of Facebook events.

Feeling: I’m being stretched mentally as well as physically. I’ve got a ton of plates to juggle to get the coop started off right. And my scar tissue has been acting up leading to more stretching and uncomfortable nights.

Planning: I’m almost got everything prepped for our first Homeschool week. I still need to gather some random supplies and make the day piles, but the rest is ready to go.

Loving: With the terrible high temperatures, it was nice to have a few days of lower temperatures. More exciting was the cloud cover. It really helped to not feel like we are on the surface of the sun.

Next up on the TBR pile:

We're Homeschooling - Year 3! Planning and Schedule

Our Schedule

So now I have the supplies, it’s time to start planning and gathering everything I want to do. I’m a Type A planner that always feels better with a good plan going in. I’m always up for flexibility and change in the spur of the moment, but I need a plan to reference when things change. I started with making a simple list of of the various curriculum we will be using.

I’m a big fan of time blocking, but we have multiple events outside of our house to account for. This coming year, we have our STEAM coop, coop art class, and science with a friend family.. My first pass at scheduling our day began with the outside items. From there, I came up with this basic schedule:

Next, I broke the week schedule down into days to better see if everything would fit. Arthur’s schedule is set and I am still tweaking Quentin’s schedule. I primarily use Roam to accomplish my day to day planning.

My next step was to create an overview calendar with our big themes. I used index cards cut into smaller pieces laid out on my desk so I could see everything at once and move things around. Very low tech solution, but sometimes paper really is better.

I was having trouble remembering if I was including all the pieces, so I created this weekly checklist to make sure. I’m certain that I will be tweaking this as the semester progressed. Right now this is what I have… (after taking this picture, I added Cooking and Q STEM to the checklist).

My last big planning step is to create very detailed lesson plans including videos, books, and details. This will be my second year using a special note talking app called Roam. I’ve been actively using Roam to collect all my notes, lesson plans, scheduling, and other miscellaneous items. (Also, you can see from the sidebar that I use Roam for a wide range of projects, not just homeschooling.) I’m still exploring the various tools on Roam and I’m sure that my planning with get more advanced and efficient as this year goes on. This screenshot is the start of our first week.

And that’s it! My planning and scheduling process seems very complicate but most of it is prep work before the year begins. Once we start, I mainly use the paper planner as reference and work inside Roam for the day-to-day planning. As usual, I tweak the process as I go along but this is my starting place.

We’re officially starting our homeschool adventure the first week of August. Starting August 8th, I’ll post a weekly wrap-up. I hope to do weekly updates highlighting our highs and lows on this journey.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Music Monday - Jimmy Eat World "Something Loud"

New music from one of my favorite bands! I’m so excited!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

Title: Light from Uncommon Stars

Author: Ryka Aoki

Publisher: Tor Books 2021

Genre: Science Fiction

Pages: 372

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Summer TBR

Shizuka Satomi made a deal with the devil: to escape damnation, she must entice seven other violin prodigies to trade their souls for success. She has already delivered six.

When Katrina Nguyen, a young transgender runaway, catches Shizuka's ear with her wild talent, Shizuka can almost feel the curse lifting. She's found her final candidate.

But in a donut shop off a bustling highway in the San Gabriel Valley, Shizuka meets Lan Tran, retired starship captain, interstellar refugee, and mother of four. Shizuka doesn't have time for crushes or coffee dates, what with her very soul on the line, but Lan's kind smile and eyes like stars might just redefine a soul's worth. And maybe something as small as a warm donut is powerful enough to break a curse as vast as the California coastline.

As the lives of these three women become entangled by chance and fate, a story of magic, identity, curses, and hope begins, and a family worth crossing the universe for is found.

This book defies a simple description or genre. There’s sone science fiction. There’s some fantasy. There’s some family saga, even if it’s a found family. We’re thrown into multiple lives without much extra information. The first section of this book is rough. We get details of familial abuse. We get details of sexual assault and some descriptions of sex work. Once Katrina starts to settle into life with Shizuoka, I started to settle into the story and really appreciate the book. We dive deep into the main characters and sit with their highs and lows. It’s the lows that really pull at the emotions. While I really enjoyed the story and characters, it does settle into a melancholy atmosphere that I appreciated. The writing style took a bit to get used to, but ended up being a an interesting concept. We get a bit of stream of consciousness as a variety of music is played. I loved how we get to read exactly how the specific music affects certain characters. I’m still processing all my feelings and thoughts on this book, but it was definitely a winner.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Lobizona by Romina Garber

Title: Lobizona (Wolves of No World #1)

Author: Romina Garber

Publisher: Wednesday Books 2020

Genre: YA Fantasy

Pages: 400

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

Some people ARE illegal.
Lobizonas do NOT exist.
Both of these statements are false.
Manuela Azul has been crammed into an existence that feels too small for her. As an undocumented immigrant who's on the run from her father's Argentine crime-family, Manu is confined to a small apartment and a small life in Miami, Florida.
Until Manu's protective bubble is shattered.
Her surrogate grandmother is attacked, lifelong lies are exposed, and her mother is arrested by ICE. Without a home, without answers, and finally without shackles, Manu investigates the only clue she has about her past—a mysterious "Z" emblem—which leads her to a secret world buried within our own. A world connected to her dead father and his criminal past. A world straight out of Argentine folklore, where the seventh consecutive daughter is born a bruja and the seventh consecutive son is a lobizón, a werewolf. A world where her unusual eyes allow her to belong.
As Manu uncovers her own story and traces her real heritage all the way back to a cursed city in Argentina, she learns it's not just her U.S. residency that's illegal. . . .it’s her entire existence.

I listened to this on the way back from Indiana. While the book starts fairly slow, I was completely hooked by the time Manu finds herself in the Everglades and encounters a whole new world. This book tackles identity and family as well as cultural heritage, gender constructs, immigration, and body autonomy. Garber deftly weaves together a host of topics to paint a complete picture of one teenage girl. I loved imagining the various scenes (especially those that involved the tree) walking into Manu’s world. I most definitely need to read the folllow-up as this one leaves us on a big cliffhanger. And for the record, I totally called the identity of Manu’s father way before the reveal.

Wolves of No World

#1 Lobizona
#2 Cazadora

Next up on the TBR pile:

Summer Bucket List Update #1

Another season, another summer bucket list. In our town, it’s been feeling like summer for weeks now. I sat down with the kids the other day and they helped me come up with a list of activities for this season.

Complete the Library Reading Program ✓
Tour of Midwest Zoos ✓ - We saw four zoos in Illinois and Indiana on our trip last week.
Ice Cream Tour of Omaha
Louisville SRA ✓ - We’ve been there twice so far this summer.
Durham Dinosaur Exhibit
Trip to Indiana, Iowa, Illinois ✓
Cookout with Friends
Lincoln Day
Medieval, Pirate, and Prehistoric Putt - In progress. The boys went with J to Medieval Putt while I was gone at the end of June.
Redo the Playroom
Bird Watching Hike
Pam Nelson Farm
Lauritzen Gardens
5 Splash Pad Visits - 3 done
3 Movies at the Theater - 2 done
3 Omaha Zoo Visits - 1 visit done
Craft/Art Day - Not yet, but we are going to The Makery tomorrow with coop friends.
Read 50 Books
July Movie Month!
Clear Out My Library Cart

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory

Title: The Wedding Date (Wedding Date #1)

Author: Jasmine Guillory

Publisher: Berkley 2018

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 317

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Summer TBR

Agreeing to go to a wedding with a guy she gets stuck with in an elevator is something Alexa Monroe wouldn't normally do. But there's something about Drew Nichols that's too hard to resist.

On the eve of his ex's wedding festivities, Drew is minus a plus one. Until a power outage strands him with the perfect candidate for a fake girlfriend....

After Alexa and Drew have more fun than they ever thought possible, Drew has to fly back to Los Angeles and his job as a pediatric surgeon, and Alexa heads home to Berkeley, where she's the mayor's chief of staff. Too bad they can't stop thinking about the other....

They're just two high-powered professionals on a collision course toward the long distance dating disaster of the century--or closing the gap between what they think they need and what they truly want....

I grabbed this one as my audiobook selection for driving to Indiana. I was looking forward to a breezy fun contemporary romance. This one was okay, but definitely not my favorite. Let’s start with what I did like. I liked the meet-cute set-up between Alexa and Drew. I loved that they both had jobs that they were passionate about. I loved the interactions between each of them and their friends. I was board with all that. Unfortunately, this could not completely make up for a few of my issues. My first point is not about this particular book, but I did realize that I don’t love listening to open door scenes. I would most definitely prefer to read them instead. With respect to this actual story, I didn’t love how abrupt the ending was. I really wanted more of a discussion between the two characters about the miscommunication they engaged in. I wanted both parties to have a more serious discussion of their hang-ups before the obligatory epilogue chapter. I also became very annoyed with Alexa’s constant disparagement of her body. It really got old really fast. I imagine that I will continue reading the series, but this wasn’t the strongest start for me.

Wedding Date:

#1 The Wedding Date
#2 The Proposal
#3 The Wedding Party
#4 Royal Holiday
#5 Party of Two
#6 While We were Dating

Next up on the TBR pile:

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

We’re back home and I’ve got a huge list of things to accomplish before August 1st.
Arthur’s got zoo camp next week and I need to make him lunches every day.
So sad that we didn’t get to add any bald eagles to our summer count.
But we did visit four different zoos on our trip.
Coming home is always nice, but I do not love the laundry piles afterward.

Next up on the TBR pile:

100 Essential American Poems edited by Leslie M. Pockell

Title: 100 Essential American Poems

Author: Leslie M. Pockell

Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books 2009

Genre: Poetry

Pages: 304

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

The way we view our nation---its history, its traditions, even our distinctly American voice---is largely determined by our literature. In this rewarding and thought-provoking book are gathered poems that have been essential components of our common American culture, from the earliest days of our nation through canonic works of the nineteenth century and up to the present day. 100 Essential American Poems includes fondly remembered works by such familiar figures as Longfellow, Poe, and Whitman, and popular classics like "A Visit from St. Nicholas" and "Casey at the Bat," but it also features passionate outcries from poets like Paul Laurence Dunbar and Langston Hughes that highlight our ongoing national racial tensions, and poems by such women as Anne Bradstreet, Emily Dickinson, and Edna St. Vincent Millay that supply a distinctly female perspective on American life. Also included are the lyrics of such expressions of the American spirit as "Yankee Doodle," "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "This Land Is Your Land," in addition to a few surprises! The immortal poems and songs included here, each preceded by an illuminating headnote, will remind every reader of the richness and variety of the poetry of America and its people.

Meh. I am really not having a great reading week here. Two three star reads in a row. For this one, I was excited to read a variety of poets and styles. Instead, I feel like these are all the of the most well-known poems that appear in every anthology. And then we don’t really get very diverse in our poets and styles. Lots of the same over and over again. And we don’t really get any recent selections. I found a few gems in here, but overall I found the collection to be lacking greatly.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Haunting of Blackwood House by Darcy Coates

Title: The Haunting of Blackwood House (Haunting of Blackwood House #1)

Author: Darcy Coates

Publisher: Sourcebooks 2015

Genre: Horror

Pages: 356

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

Mara is the daughter of spiritualists. Her childhood was filled with séances, scam mediums, and talk of ghostly presences.
When Mara left her family’s home, she vowed she would never allow superstition into her life again. She’s ready to start over with her fiancé, Neil, in a world based on rationality and facts.
But her past isn’t ready to let her go just yet.
Mara and Neil purchase Blackwood House, a derelict property outside of town. They’re warned about strange occurrences in the crumbling building. Doors open by themselves, voices whisper in the night, bloody handprints appear on the walls, and cold spots linger in the basement, where the house’s original owner was murdered.
But Blackwood was dirt-cheap. Mara loves her new home, and she disregards the warnings.
Because ghosts aren’t real…are they?

I was hoping for some pulpy horror to tied me over during my trip, and this mostly delivered. I really loved the actual horror sections of this novel. The ghosts and ghostly occurrences were very creepy and set up nicely. I even found myself listening for odd noises in my house a few times. But then, I turned to the actual main characters and thoroughly disliked both Mara and Neil. I didn’t find either of them likable and did not root for either of them. I couldn’t even see the real attraction between those two. It didn’t quite make sense to me… The very late addition of two more characters didn’t do anything to make me like any of them more. My love of the horror aspects couldn’t bring this book up past three stars. Oh well.

Next up on the TBR pile:

We're Homeschooling - Year 3! Our Curriculum 3rd Grade

Two years of homeschooling under my belt, and I feel like I’ve really found my groove. It wasn’t hard to pick curriculum for this coming year. I knew that we wanted to be literature heavy so Build Your Library and Blossom and Root were obviously choices for us overall. Once I started looking into things, I went on a shopping spree and got my ducks in order. The hard part this coming year will be to balance each child’s individual needs and levels. Arthur will be in 3rd grade and Quentin will be in Kindergarten. I am working on creating a schedule that works for everyone while allowing for flexibility.

As a reminder, we are a pretty eclectic household with a strong literature base. My criteria when looking for curriculum:

secular
rigorous
wide world perspective
not necessarily all-in-one
at least some physical items, not all online
cheap (not necessarily the cheapest, but not expensive)

Let’s take a look at what I have for curriculum for next year!

Arthur - 3rd Grade

Math

We will be continuing with Singapore Math Common Core Edition as our base curriculum. Arthur will be starting with 4A and push through 4B. Beyond the basic text, we will be supplementing with Khan Academy, lots of math games, and random workbooks and packets. We will also be continuing with our logic puzzles.

Singapore Math 4A and 4B
Multiplication and Division G3-4
Random Target Workbook
Scholastic Math Tests G4
Scholastic Math G4
Sylvan Super Math Success G4
Kumon Geometry and Measurement G4
Logic Liftoff
50 Logic Puzzles
The Math Book by Clifford A. Pickover
Five Below Random Workbooks

Language Arts

This is Arthur’s grammar workbook selections for this year. We don’t do every page and question, but bounce around between some of them.

Evan Moor Daily Summer Activities 3rd to 4th Grade
Brainquest Summer 3&4
Brainiest 3rd Grade
Grade 3 Complete Curriculum
Evan Moor Daily Language Review 3rd Grade
Scholastic Grammar 3rd Grade
Scholastic Writing 3rd Grade
Scholastic Reading Comprehension 3rd Grade
Scholastic Grammar 4th Grade
Scholastic Writing 4th Grade
Scholastic Reading Comprehension 4th Grade
Five Below Workbooks
Grade 3 Readiness

Arthur’s readers will be a mix of Blossom and Root’s Grade 3 Language Arts, Build Your Library 5, and our home library selections.

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia
The Wild Robot by Peter Brown
The Beast of Buckingham Palace by David Walliams (coop book club selection)
The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill (coop book club selection)
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert O’Brien
Tristan Strong Destroys the World by Kwame Mbalia
Wildwood by Colin Meloy
Winterhouse by Ben Guterson
The Secrets of Winterhouse by Ben Guterson
The Winterhouse Mysteries by Ben Guterson
Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate
The Secret Garden by France Hodgson Burnett
Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan
Insignificant Events int he Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

Readers continued…

El Deafo by Cece Bell
Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke
Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
Hollowpox: The Hunt of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall
The Penderwicks at Last by Jeanne Birdsall
Midsummer Mayhem by Rajani LaRocca
My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
The Strangers by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Wings of Fire by Tui T. Sutherland
Iggy Peck and the Mysterious Mansion by Andrea Beaty
Word of Mouse by James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein (coop book club selection)

Our language arts selections also include a mini unit on Native America stories and one on Shakespeare. I found some interesting resources for those.

In the Beginning: Creation Stories from Around the World by Virginia Hamilton
One World, Many Religions by Mary Pope Osborne
Bravo Mr. William Shakespeare by Marcia Williams
Tales from Shakespeare by Marica Williams
Shakespeare for Kids by Colleen Aagesen
A Child’s Introduction to Poetry by Michael Driscoll
Between Earth and Sky: Legends of Native American Sacred Places by Joseph Bruchac
The Earth Under Sky Bear’s Feet: Native American Poems of the Land by Joseph Bruchac
They Dance in the Sky: Native American Star Myths by Jean Guard Monroe
Pushing Up the Sky: Seven Native American Plays for Children by Joseph Bruchac

And of course we have a stack of poetry selections.

My America: A Poetry Atlas of the United States by Lee Bennett Hopkins
Poetry for Young People: American Poetry
Poetry for Young People: Carl Sandburg
Writing Down the Days by Lorraine Dahlstrom
Poetry for Young People: Walt Whitman
Poetry for Young People: Emily Dickinson
Poetry for Young People: Langston Hughes
Poetry for Young People: Edgar Allan Poe

Social Studies

Arthur’s social studies will focus on the United States to coincide with our history selection.

Map Skills for Today Grade 3
License Plates Across the America
Nat Geo Kids U.S. Road Trip Atlas
The Geography Book
Map Skills for Today Grade 4
Evan Moor Geography Skill Sharpeners Grade 5
Target U.S. Workbook
Nat Geo Kids United States Atlas
The 50 States Activity Book

As our history base, Arthur is using Build Your Library Level 5 (U.S. History) combined with History Quest’s new U.S. History release.

DK American History
DK When on Earth?
DK Timelines of Everyone
DK History
Don’t Know Much About The Presidents by Kenneth C. Davis
DK Timeline of Everything
Nat Geo Our Country’s Presidents
Words that Build a Nation by Marilyn Miller

What Color is My World? The Lost History of African American Investors by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
The Declaration of Independence by Rod Gragg
Inventing America: The Life of Benjamin Franklin by Mark Regan Essig
Remember the Ladies: 100 Great American Women by Cheryl Harness
Evan Moor Native Americans History Pockets
A Kid’s Guide to Native American History by Yvonne Wakim Dennis
Lewis and Clark for Kids by
Target U.S. Presidents Workbook
The American Revolution for Kids
A Kid’s Guide to African American History by Nancy I. Sanders
Heart and Soul by Kadir Nelson
The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales by Virginia Hamilton
Trickster: Native American Tales by Matt Dembicki

Our history curriculum has a ton of extra readers. I’m very excited to get to all of these.

King George: What was His Problem? by Steve Sheinkin
Which Way to the Wild West by Steve Sheinkin
Two Miserable Presidents by Steve Sheinkin
Day of Tears by Julius Lester
Sarah Journey’s West by Nikki Shannon Smith
Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
Chains by Laurie Halse Andreson
Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson
Ashes by Laurie Halse Anderson
In the Shadow of Liberty by Kenneth C. Davis
Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
A Different Mirror for Young People by Ronald Takaki
Pocahontas by Josephy Bruchac
The Winter People by Joseph Bruchac
Morning Girl by Michael Dorris
A Young People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States for Young People by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
Sunnie Press Maps

Science

Our science is going to be a combination of Build Your Library Level 8 (history of science), Level 4 (Physics), and RSO Physics. Lots of interesting combinations.

Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia
DK Science Year by Year
The Way Things Work Now by David Macaulay
Build This Book by David Eckhold
Astronomy for All Ages by Philip Harrington
The Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way by Joy Hakim
The Handy Science Answer Guide
A History of Earth in 100 Groundbreaking Discoveries by Douglas Palmer
Six Easy Pieces by Richard P. Feynman
The Annotated Flatland by Ian Stewart
Five Equations that Changed the World by Michael Guillen
Introducing Quantum Theory
Nick and Tesla’s High Voltage Danger Lab by Bob Pfluffelder
Flatterland by Ian Stewart

In addition to our formal science curriculum, we will be doing a variety of nature science lessons. We still have a ton of leftover lessons and resources from last year.

Art

This is actually all the art books for Quentin and Arthur. I took just one picture. Each one of their Build Your Library levels has a related art book to dip in and out of. Arthur’s selection is Great American Artists for Kids book to go along with U.S. History. Beyond that book, I imagine that we will occasionally do a art lesson on other people and styles. Plus, coop is supposed to be starting an art class. Very excited about this possibility.

Music Monday - Loveless "Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)"

In honor of my family binging Season 4 of Stranger Things, I’m featuring this great cover of Kate Bush’s classic. I absolutely love this cover with a hard rock edge.

And I had to add the bonus of the original Kate Bush song:

Next up on the TBR pile:

Life Right Now #22

On my bedside table: Hmm… I don’t know what I want to read next.

On my tv this week: I finally finished Stranger Things S4. My mom and I started watching Below Deck Down Under and I’m really enjoying that season. She also had me watch Southern Charm and Tall Girl randomly.

Listening to: I listened to an entire audiobook on the way to Indiana. I’ve got another one on tap for going back home. We’ll see how much I get read on the way.

On the menu for this week: We’re still gone through Wednesday, but then I’ll have to eventually make a meal plan.

On my to do list: I need to review my student loan settings and pick a new doctor. I hate dealing with loans and insurance. It’s the worst.

Happening this week:

Monday - Indianapolis Children’s Museum (seriously that place is amazing!)
Tuesday - Indianapolis Zoo
Wednesday - Peoria Zoo; Drive home
Thursday - Home recovery day
Friday - Park day (I need to pick a place)
Saturday - Friend’s Going Away Party
Sunday - Currently Reading Zoom Book Club

What I am creating: I brought my Memory Planner pages to Indiana and hope to knock out April and May while I’m still traveling.

My simple pleasures: A few quiet moments

Looking around the house: Well, I’m not home, so no house issues for me.

From the camera: Enjoying the hotel pool

The Minor Third by Neil Patrick Harris

Title: The Minor Third (Magic Misfits #3)

Author: Neil Patrick Harris

Publisher: Little, Brown Books 2019

Genre: MG Fantasy

Pages: 336

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Summer TBR

Theo Stein-Meyer loves being part of the Magic Misfits. Armed with his trusty violin bow, he completes the team with his levitation skills, unflappable calm, and proper manners. But when a girl named Emily begins to spend time with the group and the other Misfits grow suspicious, Theo is surprisingly drawn to her. She seems to understand the pull he feels between music and magic, family and friends.
Then a famous ventriloquist arrives in town, and the Misfits are sure he (and his creepy dummy Daniel) are up to no good. With their mentor, Mr. Vernon, suddenly called away and tension simmering among the friends, will they be able to come together to stop this newest member of the mysterious Emerald Ring? It's time for Theo to make a choice about where -- and with whom -- he belongs.
Join the Magic Misfits as they discover adventure, friendship, and more than a few hidden secrets in this unique and surprising series. Whether you're a long-time expert at illusion or simply a new fan of stage magic, hold on to your top hat!

I finally got around to reading this third volume in the series. I was stressed out from page one and it didn’t let up even when the book ended. Theo’s entire story holds so much tension. I found it very difficult to really sink into this story. Instead, I felt like we sped through the story and didn’t even take one breath. I would have loved to get a few more answers to the big mystery. I guess that I have to wait until the next and last book in the series.

The Magic Misfits

#1 The Magic Misfits
#2 The Second Story
#3 The Minor Third
#4 The Fourth Suit

Next up on the TBR pile:

Wicked Beauty by Katee Robert

Title: Wicked Beauty (Dark Olympus #3)

Author: Katee Robert

Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca 2022

Genre: Romance

Pages: 402

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Summer TBR4

In Olympus, you either have the power to rule...or you are ruled. Achilles Kallis may have been born with nothing, but as a child he vowed he would claw his way into the poisonous city's inner circle. Now that a coveted role has opened to anyone with the strength to claim it, he and his partner, Patroclus Fotos, plan to compete and double their odds of winning.

Neither expect infamous beauty Helen Kasios to be part of the prize...or for the complicated fire that burns the moment she looks their way.

Zeus may have decided Helen is his to give to away, but she has her own plans. She enters into the competition as a middle finger to the meddling Thirteen rulers, effectively vying for her own hand in marriage. Unfortunately, there are those who would rather see her dead than lead the city. The only people she can trust are the ones she can't keep her hands off—Achilles and Patroclus. But can she really believe they have her best interests at heart when every stolen kiss is a battlefield?

Another solid very open door contemporary romance retelling of Greek myth. (I apparently have a thing recently for Greek myth retellings.) I had been intrigued by Helen from the second book in the series and was glad to see that she gets her own story here. I was initially not sold on Achilles as a character, but immediately loved Patroclus. How different are this two men? Ultimately, I really enjoyed watching these three people come together to create their own version of happy. On the other hand, I was a bit disappointed in how the action sequences and the romance sequences where jammed together. The transitions between the two weren’t the best and it felt like a bad porn movie a few times. I still ended up reading this in just a few days and enjoying my time. I’m looking forward to the next story featuring Apollo and Cassandra.

Dark Olympus

#1 Neon Gods
#2 Electric Idol
#3 Wicked Beauty
#4 Radiant Sun

Next up on the TBR pile:

I'm Not Home Videos

Here’s hoping they don’t fuck this up. I adored the comic series, but it’s a strange story to put on screen.

I cannot wait! Nadja is my absolutely favorite.

I’m not usually one for movie dramas, but this looks interesting.

Love Tim Minchin’s music. Can’t wait to see the movie version of the musical. So excited!