Wonderland edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane

Title: Wonderland

Edited by: Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane

Publisher: Titan Books 2019

Genre: Fantasy Short Stories

Pages: 384

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Summer TBR

Join Alice as she is thrown into the whirlwind of Wonderland

Within these pages you'll find myriad approaches to Alice, from horror to historical, taking us from the nightmarish reaches of the imagination to tales that will shock, surprise and tug on the heart-strings. So, it's time now to go down the rabbit hole, or through the looking-glass or... But no, wait. By picking up this book and starting to read it you're already there, can't you see?

As with all short story collections, this volume was a mixed bag, but overall I liked it better than most. It’s no secret that Alice in Wonderland is one of my favorite books. Having a collection of Wonderland related stories as the connecting factor gives this collection an extra star in my book. We get a wide variety of styles and genres within these pages. My favorites were the stories that leaned into the horror of Wonderland. Those seemed to me as the most likely if there really was a Wonderland. I especially loved “There were No Birds to Fly” by MR Carey, “The White Queen’s Pawn” by Genevieve Cogman, and “The Hunting of the Jabberwock” by Jonathan Green. I had picked this up on whim, but so glad that I did.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Address Unknown by Kathrine Kressmann Taylor

Title: Address Unknown

Author: Kathrine Kressmann Taylor

Publisher: 1938

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 79

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

In this searing novel, Kathrine Kressmann Taylor brings vividly to life the insidious spread of Nazism through a series of letters between Max, a Jewish art dealer in San Francisco, and Martin, his friend and former business partner who has returned to Germany in 1932, just as Hitler is coming to power.

Originally published in Story magazine in 1938, Address Unknown became an international sensation. Credited with exposing the dangers of Nazism to American readers early on, it is also a scathing indictment of fascist movements around the world and a harrowing exposé of the power of the pen as a weapon.

A powerful and eloquent tale about the consequences of a friendship—and society—poisoned by extremism, Address Unknown remains hauntingly and painfully relevant today. 

One of the hosts of my favorite book podcast (Currently Reading) clued me into this book. Somehow I had never even heard of this slim novella. I read through the introduction, the text, and the afterward, and then went back to reread the introduction. I was rendered speechless by the powerful message contained within these pages. On the surface we get an epistolary novel between two friends and business partners. We see what happens when Martin returns to Germany in 1932 and very quickly becomes radicalized to Hitler’s message. The novella lulls you into a sense of familiarity and comfort for the first few letters before hitting you with fascism and intolerance in one angry passage. From there, we see the desperation and anger on both sides with a tragic ending. I most definitely will be recommending this book to all my people. I can see so many parallels to our own time and the lure of the alt-right. Should be required reading for all students. I will have to wait a few years for Arthur to truly grok this one, but it’s on my future reading list for his schooling.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Currently #12

Reading: I finally started reading Katherine May’s The Electricity of Every Living Thing. I absolutely loved Wintering, but am not sure how I feel about this one quite yet.

Watching: We finally started Stranger Things S4 after the Fourth of July and I just want to binge it all. We didn’t quite finish before I left for Indiana, but I may finish while there.

Listening: I loaded up a few audiobooks for my driving day. After a few podcast episodes, I started listening to The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory.

Making: I brought my Memory Planner pages to work on this week. Hoping to knock out April, May, and part of June.

Feeling: Travel always makes me feel a bit out of place. Staying at my mom’s house also makes me feel this way. We’re excited to be here, but it’s also a weird feeling.

Planning: Still working on planning curriculum for the next school year. Obviously I’m not home, so my planning is limited, but I do have a few tasks.

Loving: The boys and I had a bit driving day yesterday, but today we’re in Michigan City visiting the Indiana Dunes and the Washington Park Zoo. Loving the adventures that I have lined up for the boys and myself.

Next up on the TBR pile:

We're Homeschooling - Year 3! Our Curriculum Kindergarten

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!

Quentin - Kindergarten

Primarily Quentin will be using Blossom & Root’s Kindergarten Language Arts curriculum and Build Your Library Level 0. B&R is focused on expanding literacy through lots of picture book studies and literature activities. I ultimately decided against using the entire B&R Kindergarten curriculum and just focus on the Language Arts. BYL 0 is a tour of the world including lots of literature, animal science, art, and poetry. Hopefully by combining these two curriculums, we will get to the amount of reading the we accomplish normally.

Language Arts

Blossom and Root and Build Your Library has some basic language lessons and activities, but my kids both seem to love workbook style for grammar lessons and such. We will be starting with the Kindergarten tagged workbooks and then move into the G1 books eventually. We use these as supplemental material. I create little weekly packets that I help the kids work through. Quentin is not good at working independently yet, but we will get there.

• Super Smart Kindergarten (we also have Super Smart First Grade if we need to crack it open)

• Beginning Phonics G1-2

• Phonics G1-2

• Preschool Handwriting Workbook

• Phonics for First Grade

• Smart Start Read and Write G1

• Scholastic Writing G1

• Sylvan Jumbo Language Arts Success G1

• BrainQuest K

• Smart Start Read and Write Kindergarten

• Tinkeractive English PreK (we didn’t get to this last year mostly because of the handwriting components; we will be starting with this book in August)

• Tinkeractive English K

Literature

This will be Quentin’s first year where we are going to try to read longer chapter books. I curated this collection from the Build Your Library and Blossom & Root curriculums and our own bookshelves.

• My Father’s Dragon Collection by Ruth Stiles Gannett

• One Day in the Tropical Rain Forest by Jean Craighead George

• James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

• The Bears on Hemlock Mountain by Alice Dagliesh

• Audrey of the Outback by Christine Harris

• The Very Very Far North by Dan Bar-el

• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

• Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

• Heartwood Hotel Trilogy by Kallie George

• Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne

• Now We are Six by AA Milne

• The Year of the Dog by Grace Lin

• The Witches by Roald Dahl (accidentally included this one in Q’s picture; this is actually for Arthur)

• The Children of Noisy Village by Astrid Lindgren

• Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard Atwater

• The Tarantula in My Purse by Jean Craighead George

This picture includes more of our literature this year. BYL includes a great collection of animal tales from around the world to go with our country study. It also has a giant list of picture books to read with specific countries. Most of those picture books will be checked out from the library, but I did end up buying a few the library doesn’t have and a few that were included in a big curriculum box.

• A World Full of Animal Stories by Angela McAllister

• Around the World in 80 Tales by Saviour Pirotta

• A Boy Called Slow by Joseph Bruchac

• Nat Geo Animal Poetry

• Katie in London by James Mayhew

• The Random House Book of Poetry for Children

• The Random House Book of Fairy Tales

• Linnea in Monet’s Garden by Christina Bjork

• Snow in Jerusalem by Deborah Da Costa

• The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka

Social Studies

Social studies is coming straight from the Build Your Library Level 0 curriculum. I love the idea of doing a tour of the world. We are going to focus on the larger picture while zooming in to specific countries.

• Nat Geo Kids Beginner’s World Atlas

• Nat Geo Kids World Atlas

• Atlas of the World Sticker Book

• Map Skills for Today G1

• Skill Sharpeners Geography K

• Nat Geo Kids Little Kids First Big Book of the World

• DK Flags Around the World Sticker Book

• Around the World Sticker Book

• Maps Activity Book

• Me on the Map by Joan Sweeney

• DK Children Just Like Me

• DK Children Just Like Me: A School Like Mine

• Carson Crosses Canada by Linda Bailey

• Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema

• Africa is Not a Country by Margy Burns Knight

• Cooking Class: Global Feast by Deanna F. Cook

• How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman

• Scranimals by Jack Pretutsky

• Johnny Appleseed by Steven Kellogg

• Nelson Mandela’s Favorite African Folktales

Science

The Build Your Library science for Kindergarten is all about animals! We’re pairing animal studies with our tour of the world. The main bulk of the curriculum is animals.

• DK Animal

• Nat Geo Wild Vet Adventures

• Lonely Planet The Animal Book

• Nat Geo Kids Wild Animal Atlas

• African Critters by Robert B. Haas

• Nat Geo On Safari Sticker Book

• Nat Geo Ferocious Animals Sticker Book

• Random Target workbook

• Usborne Animal World

The curriculum also has some selected topics in Earth Science sprinkled throughout the year. And we will be doing nature science when the weather is nice. The coop topics will also be in the mix.

• Tree of Life: The World of the African Boabab by Barbara Bash

• On the Same Day in March by Marilyn Singer

• A Drop Around the World by Barbara Shaw McKinney

• DK First Earth Encyclopedia

• Archaeologists Dig for Clues by Kate Duke

• Tinkeractive Science K

• DK First Space Encyclopedia

Math

Math is definitely an issue in this house as both boys are at least one grade advanced in math. I am always trying to scramble to find the best choices for them. Quentin is going to be starting out with actual Kindergarten leveled books and quickly moving to G1 books. We will also be adding in some math board games and Khan academy. Looks like a lot, but Quentin loves math, so this looks just about right to me.

• Singapore Math 1A and 1B

• Lollipop Logic Book 2 and Book 3

• Highlights Thinking and Reasoning K

• Sylvan Basic Math Success G1

• Sylvan Page a Day Math G1 (this is basically the same as a portion of the other Sylvan book, so we are going to pass it along to a friend)

• Random Target workbook finds

• Time, Money and Fractions G1-2

• Tinkeractive Math K

• Smart Start Math G1

• Growing Patterns by Sarah C. Campbell

• Money Play Set (Target Dollar Spot find)

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. Q’s is the Global Art book to go along with the tour of the world. 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.

• A Journey Through Art: A Global History by Aaron Rosen

• Storybook Art by MaryAnn F. Kohl

• The Art Lesson by Tomie dePaola

• The Story of Paintings by Mick Manning

• Great American Artists for Kids by MaryAnn F. Kohl

• Global Art by MaryAnn F. Kohl

• Frida Kahlo: The Artist Painted Herself by Margaret Frith

Misc.

• Back issues of High Five magazine - We read through a ton of these last year, but still have a few to go.

• Highlights Magazine

• Highlights Amazing Mazes

• Highlight Amazing Mazes

• I Can Draw Book

• Sunnie Press Maps - I’ve been collecting these for awhile now. Each one details a location that will pair perfectly with our Around the World tour for social studies.

Music Monday - Shakira feat. Rauw Alejandro "Te Felicito"

Oh yeah! New music from Shakira. I’m totally here for this one!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Life Right Now #21

As I look outside my window: Slightly cooler temps and a breeze are greatly appreciated.

Right now I am: Getting reading to sit down and finish my current read, The Minor Third by Neil Patrick Harris before I need to make brunch.

On my bedside table: So many choices! I’m actually trying to narrow down my stack for what I want to haul to Indiana with me on Monday. I’m thinking Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots, The Haunting of Blackwood House by Darcy Coates, 100 Essential American Poems edited by Leslie M. Pockell, The Electricity of Every Living Thing by Katherine May, and Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki. Plus I’ve got four audiobooks downloaded for driving time and I will take my iPad with all the Kindle books.

On my tv this week: We finished this season of The Boys and I’m a bit disappointed that they didn’t go where I thought they would. We have been getting through Stranger Things S4, but won’t be finished before I leave on Monday.

Listening to: Mostly a big shuffle of music from my Apple Music app.

On the menu for this week: No menu as we will be in Indiana all week.

On my to do list: After a quiet morning, I need to do one last library run before our trip. And my biggest to do is obviously to finish packing.

Happening this week:

• Monday - Travel Day

• Tuesday - Washington Park Zoo in Michigan City; Indiana Dunes and Lake Michigan; Travel

• Wednesday - Sunday - Fort Wayne

What I am creating: Mostly piles for packing, but also some curriculum plans.

My simple pleasures: Good books, packing ahead of time

Looking around the house: It’s laundry day! To prepare for our trip tomorrow, I have four loads of laundry to do today. Then I get to pack all of our clothes. Fun fun.

From the camera: Seems like it was weeks ago, but we did have a lovely Fourth of July with friends this past Monday.

A Mirror Mended by Alix E. Harrow

Title: A Mirror Mended (Fractured Fables #2)

Author: Alix E. Harrow

Publisher: Tordotcom 2022

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 144

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Summer TBR

Zinnia Gray, professional fairy-tale fixer and lapsed Sleeping Beauty is over rescuing snoring princesses. Once you’ve rescued a dozen damsels and burned fifty spindles, once you’ve gotten drunk with twenty good fairies and made out with one too many members of the royal family, you start to wish some of these girls would just get a grip and try solving their own narrative issues.

Just when Zinnia’s beginning to think she can't handle one more princess, she glances into a mirror and sees another face looking back at her: the shockingly gorgeous face of evil, asking for her help. Because there’s more than one person trapped in a story they didn’t choose. Snow White's Evil Queen has found out how her story ends and she's desperate for a better ending. She wants Zinnia to help her before it’s too late for everyone.

Will Zinnia accept the Queen's poisonous request, and save them both from the hot iron shoes that wait for them, or will she try another path?

I really enjoyed the first book in their series and was looking forward to the second. This one definitely delivers on it’s promise of a feminist reexamination This time we get to Zinnia deal with a story different from her own Sleeping Beauty story, I loved her uneasy alliance with the Queen as they explore a variety of Snow White stories. This is a very slim novella, but takes the reader on a high-speed journey right from the first page. I really enjoyed the conclusion to this story and really came to love the Queen.

Fractured Fables

• #1 A Spindle Splintered

• #2 A Mirror Mended

Next up on the TBR pile:

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

Title: A Court of Mist and Fury (ACOTAR #2)

Author:Sarah J. Maas

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 624

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Summer TBR

Feyre has undergone more trials than one human woman can carry in her heart. Though she’s now been granted the powers and lifespan of the High Fae, she is haunted by her time Under the Mountain and the terrible deeds she performed to save the lives of Tamlin and his people.

As her marriage to Tamlin approaches, Feyre’s hollowness and nightmares consume her. She finds herself split into two different people: one who upholds her bargain with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court, and one who lives out her life in the Spring Court with Tamlin. While Feyre navigates a dark web of politics, passion, and dazzling power, a greater evil looms. She might just be the key to stopping it, but only if she can harness her harrowing gifts, heal her fractured soul, and decide how she wishes to shape her future―and the future of a world in turmoil.

I thought I loved the first book in this series, but it turns out that what I really loved was the second book. I was hoping that Rhysand would have more of a presence in this volume. The book delivered. By the end of the first section, I was so angry at Tamlin and desperately hoping that Feyre could escape her fate. Thankfully Rhysand arrives and whisks her away, but more importantly, gives her agency and freedom to discover exactly what she wants. I absolutely adore their relatioship. We get to see Feyre grow and change and realize her own destiny. This book was a wild ride and took so many twists and turns, but was always easy to follow. I loved all the quiet moments between characters. Those scenes were the best. But my absolute favorite is the scene where Rhysand shows up at the wedding. Absolutely priceless!

A Court of Throns and Roses

• #1 A Court of Thorns and Roses

• #2 A Court of Mist and Fury

• #3 A Court of Wings and Ruin

• #3.5 A Court of Frost and Starlight

• #4 A Court of Silver Flames

Next up on the TBR pile:

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

• I downloaded multiple books for my travel next week. I’m hoping one of them is good.

• Speeding through my current book (like I knew I would) and I cannot wait to see how it all comes together.

• Taking the boys to the library book sale tomorrow to redeem their coupons. I’m excited to get some new books, because you know, I don’t have any books in my house…

• Maybe I won’t take too many snacks on the road trip. I feel like I might fail at this.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Bone Orchard by Sara A. Mueller

Title: The Bone Orchard

Author: Sara A. Mueller

Publisher: Tor Books 2022

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 432

Rating: 2/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Summer TBR

Charm is a witch, and she is alone. The last of a line of conquered necromantic workers, now confined within the yard of regrown bone trees at Orchard House, and the secrets of their marrow.

Charm is a prisoner, and a survivor. Charm tends the trees and their clattering fruit for the sake of her children, painstakingly grown and regrown with its fruit: Shame, Justice, Desire, Pride, and Pain.

Charm is a whore, and a madam. The wealthy and powerful of Borenguard come to her house to buy time with the girls who aren't real.

Except on Tuesdays, which is when the Emperor himself lays claim to his mistress, Charm herself.

But now—Charm is also the only person who can keep an empire together, as the Emperor summons her to his deathbed, and charges her with choosing which of his awful, faithless sons will carry on the empire—by discovering which one is responsible for his own murder.

If she does this last thing, she will finally have what has been denied her since the fall of Inshil—her freedom. But she will also be betraying the ghosts past and present that live on within her heart.

Charm must choose. Her dead Emperor’s will or the whispers of her own ghosts. Justice for the empire or her own revenge.

I’m very meh about this book. I was intrigued by the premise, but it think the story was too convoluted to live up the premise. Right away we’re thrown in a world without much information. That’s pretty standard for fantasy books. However, I don’t think this one every really explained much. We get a very confusing premise of the bone ghosts as being parts of Charm herself. If so, then how does Charm actually live. Splitting one’s self into different parts doesn’t seem like it would allow the original to live. And maybe she doesn’t really, the story get very unclear and strange from there. I couldn’t really keep her other parts straight and was confused about their names. Names hold power and usually tell us something about the character, but I couldn’t quite connect the dots on these. And then we get to the murder mystery/political intrigue sections of the book and I was completely over it. I did not care at all! I’ll be interested to see what everyone else thinks at book club, but this one was definitely not for me.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

Title: Sea of Tranquility

Author: Emily St. John Mandel

Publisher: Knopf 2022

Genre: Speculative Fiction

Pages: 255

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf; Unread Shelf RC - June (About a journey)

Edwin St. Andrew is eighteen years old when he crosses the Atlantic by steamship, exiled from polite society following an ill-conceived diatribe at a dinner party. He enters the forest, spellbound by the beauty of the Canadian wilderness, and suddenly hears the notes of a violin echoing in an airship terminal—an experience that shocks him to his core.

Two centuries later a famous writer named Olive Llewellyn is on a book tour. She’s traveling all over Earth, but her home is the second moon colony, a place of white stone, spired towers, and artificial beauty. Within the text of Olive’s best-selling pandemic novel lies a strange passage: a man plays his violin for change in the echoing corridor of an airship terminal as the trees of a forest rise around him.

When Gaspery-Jacques Roberts, a detective in the black-skied Night City, is hired to investigate an anomaly in the North American wilderness, he uncovers a series of lives upended: The exiled son of an earl driven to madness, a writer trapped far from home as a pandemic ravages Earth, and a childhood friend from the Night City who, like Gaspery himself, has glimpsed the chance to do something extraordinary that will disrupt the timeline of the universe.

I picked this one for book club on the strengths of Mandel’s earlier work, Station Eleven. I really disliked her work The Glass Hotel, but hoped that the new one was return to the type pf story I love. And it definitely delivered. We get a speculative fiction story that’s ultimately about the human experience. As we piece together the larger narrative story, we get to connect to different people and time periods only to realize that each story shares many element of life. We get to see how people struggle with identity and family. We see characters wrestle with the concept of mortality. And we see characters embrace joy. This book isn’t very long, but it packs a punch. I’ll be thinking about scenes and quotes in this book for months to come. I would’t be surprised if it makes it to my Top 10 of 2022.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W36: Two Abbreviated and One Full Week. We're Done!

What We Studied

Arthur was supposed to have camp through Metro, but unfortunately he and Quentin both caught a cold. So we took it pretty easy for that week. The second week was very abbreviated as I left on Thursday for my weekend retreat. Only this past week was the only full week and it ended up as our last week of the academic year.

Literature and Poetry

We started and finished a read aloud and started a new one. For these two read aloud, we just enjoyed reading them. I didn’t make any worksheets to go along with them. Beyond the read aloud, the boys have been completing their ELA and Math packets for the summer. We’ll be continuing these through July.

• Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman

• Wishtree by Katherine Applegate

• Firefly July: A Year of Very Short Poems selected by Paul Janeczko

Math

We’ve been doing math review through our BrainQuest summer bridge.

Social Studies

Nothing formal

Arthur Independent Time

To allow for one-on-one time with Quentin, I have added an hour of independent work time for Arthur. Each week, he will have a mix of packet work (mostly grammar and math review), independent reading time, and special projects. Many of his projects will be aligned with our literature selections (some taken from B&R Language Arts curriculum) and history.

Science and STEAM Coop

Nothing formal

Art/Music

None this week

Quentin

I have scheduled at least four 1-hour time blocks for one-on-one time with Quentin. I bought Blossom and Root’s Early Years Volume 2 curriculum to use as our base. I love the variety of activities and some of the bigger projects included.

ELA

• Rocket Loves Hide-and-Seek by Tad Hills

• Rocket the Brave by Tad Hills

• R is for Rocket by Tad Hills

• How Rocket Learned to Read by Tad Hills

• Rocket’s Christmas Surprise by Tad Hills

• Where is the Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

• The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s First Spring

• The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s First Summer

• The Bill Martin Jr. Big Book of Poetry

• Ick and Crud: Ick’s Bleh Day by Wiley Blevins

• Doozers have Green Thumbs

• Pigs are Prepared by Hans Wilhelm

Math

• Using Math Outdoors

Other

Field Trip

We didn’t have formal field trips, but we had a ton of outings. We visited multiple splash parks (Cimarron, Eagle Ridge, and The Grove). I took the kids to see the new Jurassic World movie and then to a Pirate Orienteering class at the library. We also went to the lake for a day of swimming.

Documentary Selection

I have carved out a one hour time block each week to watch a documentary related to our studies.

Misc. Picture Books Read

• Lift, Mix, Fling! Machines Can Do Anything by Lola M. Schaefer

• Bird Watch by Christie Matheson

• All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon

• Maiasaura by Susan H. Gray

• Leonard’s Beard by Nancy Cote

High

• We had a great day swimming at the lake. I was hesitant to take both boys by myself, but it ended up being a great experience. We’re planning on going back very soon.

Low

• A week of sickness really derailed our plans. It was terrible timing.

Next Week

Nothing! We are officially done with this year’s curriculum.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Music Monday - Metric "All Comes Crashing"

Finally! Metric is back with new music. I’m so very excited for this new album.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Life Right Now #20

As I look outside my window: It’s weird overcast outside Probably because of all the fireworks from last night.

Right now I am: Surveying the living room and mentally prepping for a whirlwind clean of the house.

Thinking and pondering: About a few potential issues in coop this fall. How exactly do I want to handle them?

On my bedside table: A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas; A Mirror Mended by Alix E. Harrow; Into the Windwracked Wilds by A. Deborah Baker (lots of fantasy reads for my July).

On my tv this week: Not much. I was gone multiple nights this past week. We did catch with The Boys and Loot.

Listening to: Lots of Motionless in White, Ice Nine Kills, Asking Alexandria, and Nothing More. Apparently I needed some metal in my life this week.

On the menu for this week:

• Monday - Cookout

• Tuesday - Orecchiette with Sundried Tomatoes and Broccoli

• Wednesday - Out to Dinner

• Thursday - Maple Bourbon Pecan Chicken

• Friday - Parmesan Tilapia

• Saturday - Mongolian Beef; Miso Soup

• Sunday - Bean and Cheese Taquitos

On my to do list: Obviously I need to clean the house. I also want to finish setting up coop stuff for the fall (planning to open enrollment on July 5th). I would love to make final Indiana plans or not.

Happening this week:

• Monday - Fourth of July with friends

• Tuesday - Groceries; Library; Possible Durham Visit

• Wednesday - Splash Pad Morning; Book Club

• Thursday - Library Book Sale; Lit Society

• Friday - Park Day?

• Saturday - Home Day

• Sunday - Home Day; Zoom Book Club

What I am creating: Nothing currently, although I would love to get back into my MP pages. I do a little bit at the retreat, but did not finish May at all.

My simple pleasures: Cool breezes, hard seltzer, a decent night’s rest.

Looking around the house: Such a mess right now. The boys have a lot of picking up to do so I can vacuum and sweep.

From the camera: Somedays they actually like each other.

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Title: A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR #1)

Author:Sarah J. Maas

Publisher: Bloomsbury 2015

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 432

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Summer TBR

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a terrifying creature arrives to demand retribution. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she knows about only from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not truly a beast, but one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled her world.

At least, he's not a beast all the time.

As she adapts to her new home, her feelings for the faerie, Tamlin, transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But something is not right in the faerie lands. An ancient, wicked shadow is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it, or doom Tamlin-and his world-forever.

After listening to all the hype of them books for years, I finally got around to reading it. For the most part, I really enjoyed this book. I fell into this Beauty and the Beast retelling and didn’t stop until the last page. I’ll admit that the first 50 pages or so were slow going, but as soon as Feyre moves to the Far lands, everything kicks into gear. I enjoyed the world-building aspects of this volume coupled with the intriguing take on a classic fairy tale. I loved the back and forth between Feyre and Lucien and we get an interesting look at members of the other courts. The three tests were interesting, but it was Feyre’s interactions with Rhysand that were my favorite. Of course there is a big cliffhanger that I can’t wait to see what happens next. I think I’ve figured out the random comment by Rhysand before he disappeared. I feel like I’m going to have to dive into the next book very soon.

A Court of Throns and Roses

• #1 A Court of Thorns and Roses

• #2 A Court of Mist and Fury

• #3 A Court of Wings and Ruin

• #3.5 A Court of Frost and Starlight

• #4 A Court of Silver Flames

Next up on the TBR pile:

July 2022 Life Goals

I have somehow not done one of these posts since March. How have I just fallen off on this? Oh well. I’m back at it this month. But first…

Let’s check in on March’s goals and my progress. Wow! I actually ended up meeting all my goals for this month.

• Read 15 Books ✓

• Two Zoo Visits ✓

• Four Park Visits ✓

• Organize the Rest of the Homeschool Read Alouds ✓

• Plan a Two-Day Spring Trip ✓ - This turned into a 5 day family trip to Kansas, but was great!

July Goals:

• Read 18 Books

• Finish prepping curriculum for 2022-2023 school year

• Visit Indiana (and on-the-way states)

• Finish prepping for fall coop semester

• Redo the Playroom

• Put a pause on my library holds for second half of July-August

Next up on the TBR pile: