November 2021 Wrap-up

November TBR Pile (16/23):

1. BOTM: TBD

2. Bookworms BC: Code Name Helene by Ariel Lawhon ✓

3. Friend BC: Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead ✓

4. Nonfiction: The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green ✓

5. Nonfiction: Girl Gurl Grrrl by Kenya Hunt

6. Nonfiction: Dr. Mutter’s Marvels by Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz

7. Nonfiction: The Comfort Book by Matt Haig

8. Nonfiction Bad Fat Black Girl by Sesali Bowen ✓

9. Nonfiction: The Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Adachi ✓

10. The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

11. Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune ✓

12. Red Wolf by Rachel Vincent

13. Beautiful Bastard by Christina Lauren ✓

14. Malorie by Josh Malerman

15. Reprieve by James Han Mattson ✓

16. Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren ✓

17. Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas ✓

18. The Happy Ever After Playlist by Abby Jimenez ✓

19. Landline by Rainbow Rowell ✓

20. Shutter Vol. 1 ✓

21. The Forest of Vanishing Stars by Kristin Harmel ✓

22. The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood ✓

23. Along the Saltwise Sea by A. Deborah Baker ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 5163 pages
Pages Remaining: 440,799 pages

Current Read - The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Jenny Bayliss; The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams

Books I Gave Up On (0)

Books Bought/Received (6)

I grabbed a few random titles from Book Outlet when I placed my kids’ Christmas order.

• To Love and To Loathe by Martha Waters

• A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem by Mandarin Collins

I grabbed a book from Amazon for my book club.

• Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead

And I picked a few from BOTM.

• The Keeper of Night by Kylie Lee Baker

• A Rogue of One’s Own by Evie Dunmore (to complete having the trilogy in physical form)

Finally, I got a book in a book flood book exchange.

• The 22 Murders of Madison May by Max Barry

UnRead Shelf Progress

• Starting Number: 291

• Books Read: 2

• Books Acquired: 5

• Books Unshelved: 0

• Finishing Number: 294

December TBR Pile: I love to end my year with some fluffy holiday romances. This year is no exception. Instead of trying to sneak in a few more big books of a more serious nature, I’m going to lean into the holiday romances. Let’s see what I have on my Kindle right now (also including a few must reads for book club):

1. Bookworms BC: (Already Read)

2. Friend BC: The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams

3. The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Jenny Bayliss

4. The Christmas Village by Annie Rains

5. The Christmas House by Victoria James

6. A Little Christmas Spirit by Sheila Roberts

7. The Holiday Swap by Maggie Knox

8. One Day in December by Josie Silver

9. Santa Cruise by Fern Michaels

10. The Christmas Wedding Guest by Susan Mallery

11. Eight Perfect Hours by Lia Louis

12. The Santa Suit by Mary Kay Andrews

13. A Winter’s Night by Elizabeth Cole

14. A Brand of Christmas by Maggie Shayne

15. A Cheyenne Celebration by Caroline Lee

16. A Cheyenne Christmas Homecoming by Caroline Lee

17. A Cheyene Christmas by Caroline Lee

18. A Grosvenor Square Christmas

19. A Cotswold Christmas by Kate Hewitt

20. A Kiss for Christmas by Melody Grace

21. Miss Kane’s Christmas by Caroline Michelson

22. Mistletoe at Moonglow by Deborah Garner

23. Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Sweater by Debbie Johnson

24. Once Upon a Christmas by Lisa Plumley

25. Pastels and Jingle Bells by Christine S. Feldman

26. The Perfect Gift by Serenity Woods

27. A Pirate for Christmas by Anna Campbell

28. Scandalous Lord Dare by Stephanie Laurens

29. Silver Bells by CJ Hunt

30. Where the Heart Is by Darcy Burke

31. Wilhelmina by Hildie McQueen

Movies watched

• The Cloverfield Paradox - Meh. Wasn’t terrible, but wasn’t great either.

• The Making of Army of Darkness - Fascinating look at the making of a classic.

• Spectre - Rewatch so we can watch the new Bond movie

• No Time to Die - I was annoyed by the Madeline storyline, but overall, I enjoyed this last Daniel Craig movie.

• Shang-Chi - Might be my favorite Marvel movie now.

• Red Notice - Mediocre, but we will watch anything with Ryan Reynolds.

• The Great Hack - Very depressing, but enlightening.

• Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage - I love the banter between Eddie and Venom. I was less enamored by the action sequences. Still, it was entertaining. And that mid-credit scene had be gasping out loud.

• Desk Set - Starring Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. Delightful romantic comedy.

TV Shows watched 

• Foundation S1 - Oh goodness, that was good. I cannot wait for the second season.

• Doctor Who

• Lupin S2

• The Great British Bake-Off

• Below Deck

• The Bachelorette

• Last Week Tonight

• Jack Whitehall’s Travels with My Father

• Hit Monkey S1 - Very strange show, but oddly compelling.

• Cowboy Bebop S1 - Sqeeee I am so excited about this show. It’s gorgeous and everyone is just amazing in it!

Comments - I thought that I would have a very low reading month, but I ended up on a reading spree towards the end of the month. So a very decent showing! Although I have a mix of stars, I did end up reading some really good books. Plus, we watched some good television and a few interesting movies. Now I’m prepping for Holiday romance December!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Along the Saltwise Sea by A. Deborah Baker

Title: Along the Saltwise Sea (The Up and Under #2)

Author: A. Deborah Baker

Publisher: Tordotcom 2021

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 193

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

After climbing Over the Woodward Wall and making their way across the forest, Avery and Zib found themselves acquiring some extraordinary friends in their journey through the Up-and-Under.

After staying the night, uninvited, at a pirate queen’s cottage in the woods, the companions find themselves accountable to its owner, and reluctantly agree to work off their debt as her ship sets sail, bound for lands unknown. But the queen and her crew are not the only ones on board, and the monsters at sea aren’t all underwater.

The friends will need to navigate the stormy seas of obligation and honor on their continuing journey along the improbable road

Another installment in Avery and Zib’s adventures in the Up and Under. I’m still getting the vibes of a cross between The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland. For this slim volume, we are treated to a whole new area on the sea with a fascinating cast of characters. Captain Alas is a gem in this one. I do think that Baker could have pumped up the path to the sea and cut out the big “previously on” chapter at the beginning. But I really enjoyed the adventure and cannot until the next one is published.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool Thanksgiving Week

What We Studied

While we took time off for Thanksgiving and a bit of a break, we did end up having school Monday and Tuesday, and a bit on Wednesday. The kids benefit from structure and routine, so we kept at time albeit at a relaxed pace.

Literature and Poetry

We finished reading our collections of African folktales before starting our next read aloud, The Wind in the Willows. We also covered a few picture book studies.

• A Pride of African Folktales by Donna L. Washington

• Dinosaur Dinner (with a Slice of Alligator Pie) by Dennis Lee (poems)

• Wake Up House! Rooms Full of Poems by Dee Lillegard

• Enemy Pie by Derek Munson

• The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant

• A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon

• The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

Math

We focused on some math puzzles this week. Both boys progressed in the Khan Academy math program. Arthur also did some multiplication and division practice during independent time. And Quentin got to play some math board games.

• Singapore Math Common Core Edition 3A

• Primarily Logic

Social Studies

None this week

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. This week, he focused on packet work and some random building projects.

Science and STEAM Coop

Continuing with our Dinosaur unit from Blossom and Root! We covered Pterosaurs, Mesozoic Mammals, and Marine Reptiles.

• Dinothesaurus: Prehistoric Poems and Paintings by Douglas Florian

• Monster Fliers: From the Time of the Dinosaurs by Elizabeth MacLeod

• Beyond the Dinosaurs: Monsters of the Air and Sea by Charlotte Lewis Brown

• DK Find Out

• Life: The First Four Billion Years by Martin Jenkins

• Dinosaurium by Chris Wormell and Lily Murray

• DK Dinosaur

• DK Where in Earth? Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Life

• Dinosaur Bones

• When the Whales Walked and Other Incredibly Evolutionary Journeys by Dougal Dixon

• Giant Sea Reptiles of the Dinosaurs Age by Caroline Arnold

Art/Music

Nothing 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. This week was all about reading and playing games.

ELA

• The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle

• Why Mosquitos Buzz in People’s Ears by Verna Aardema

• High Five Magazine

Math

Other

Field Trip

No field trips this week on account of it being Thanksgiving week.

Documentary Selection

I have carved out a one hour time block each week to watch a documentary related to our studies. We didn’t actually watch anything this week, but made up for it by all the PBS Eons videos for our dinosaur unit.

Misc. - Random picture books read

• 20 Big Trucks in the Middle of the Street by Mark Lee

• The Little Auto by Lois Lenski

• Chester’s Masterpiece by Mélanie Watt

• The Gold Leaf by Kirsten Hall

• Vamos! Let’s Cross the Bridge by Raúl the Third

• Go, Go Trucks! by Jennifer Liberts

• The Artists by Canles Porta

• Monster Trucks by Anika Denise

• Dinosaurs in Disguise by Stephen Krensky

• The Luckiest Snowball by Elliot Kreloff

High

• Arthur spent an entire morning and most of an afternoon creating a solar powered robot.

Low

• Too many days off from school has created a bit of a lazy attitude. We need to get back to our routine.

Next Week

• Continuing to read The Wind in the Willows

• Moving back to Europe for history

• Playing more math games and puzzles

• Reviewing the alphabet (for Quentin)

• Moving forward in time for the Dinosaur Unit

• Covering robots and engineering for coop

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Forest of Vanishing Stars by Kristin Harmel

Title: The Forest of Vanishing Stars

Author: Kristin Harmel

Publisher: Gallery Books 2021

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 376

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

After being stolen from her wealthy German parents and raised in the unforgiving wilderness of eastern Europe, a young woman finds herself alone in 1941 after her kidnapper dies. Her solitary existence is interrupted, however, when she happens upon a group of Jews fleeing the Nazi terror. Stunned to learn what’s happening in the outside world, she vows to teach the group all she can about surviving in the forest—and in turn, they teach her some surprising lessons about opening her heart after years of isolation. But when she is betrayed and escapes into a German-occupied village, her past and present come together in a shocking collision that could change everything.

Another WWII centered historical fiction. Kind of strange that I have read two in the past two weeks. This one is tough, but very engaging and good. The overall tone is very sad and disturbing, but as this is set during war, that is to be expected. My biggest issue with the book is how faith-forward it is. It got to be a bit much at times. But thankfully, Yona is a fairly engaging main character to follow through.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Life Right Now #36

As I look outside my window: It’’s bright and sun. After a very warm yesterday, the temperatures are going to drop a bit today, but not by much. A trip the library later will only require a light sweater.

Right now I am: Finally putting down my book for a bit. I got a late start to my Sunday morning reading due to kid sickness. Here’s hoping that it’s a passing thing.

Thinking and pondering: About my D&D character’s backstory. I think I need to flesh out my character a bit more before next session.

On my bedside table: The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Jenny Bayliss; The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams

On my tv this week: We’ve been making our way through The Hobbit movies with the kids; finishing The Desolation of Smaug tonight. And J and I have been watching Cowboy Bebop and Hit Monkey.

Listening to: Mostly random podcasts, but this week hasn’t left much time for even those.

On the menu for this week: It’s a weird week due to medical stuff and book clubs…

• Monday - Out for book club

• Tuesday - J can’t eat (prepping for a minor medical procedure) and I have book club late, so maybe I grab something at the restaurant?

• Wednesday - Maafe

• Thursday - Fancy BLT Grilled Cheese

• Friday - Pomegranate Chicken

• Saturday - Homemade Pizza

• Sunday - Chicken and Corn Soup

On my to do list: I have some book and activity advent activities to finish prepping before Wednesday. Plus, I need to prep my circuits lesson for later in December. And I need to do some house tasks.

Happening this week:

• Monday - Normal School Day; Book Club

• Tuesday - Normal School Day; Other Book Club

• Wednesday - J’s Medical Procedure; Kids’ 2nd Vaccine Shots!

• Thursday - Coop; Groceries?

• Friday - Visit to See Santa!

• Saturday - Home Day

• Sunday - Home Day

What I am creating: I have made 46 Christmas cards and would like to make probably 14 more to make it an even 60. I’m rolling along with my creations and am just about done.

My simple pleasures: Good coffee, fun D&D adventures, and a good book.

Looking around the house: I’ve put out our meager Christmas decorations including some outside items. I’m sure that I will add a few more things before the end of this year. But as we aren’t going to be here for Christmas, I’m not putting up a tree.

From the camera: Day after Thanksgiving meal made of leftovers.

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

Title: The Love Hypothesis

Author: Ali Hazelwood

Publisher: Berkley 2021

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 376

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn't believe in lasting romantic relationships--but her best friend does, and that's what got her into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after was always going to take more than hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks: Scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting biologist, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees.

That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor--and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford's reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. But when a big science conference goes haywire, putting Olive's career on the Bunsen burner, Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support and even more unyielding...six-pack abs.

Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope.

This one was light and fluffy and oh so cute! I love the grumpy guy - sunshine girl romance trope so much. This was just what I needed to read this week during the Thanksgiving craziness. Right away we fall in with the mess that Olive has created in her life. We get to know her and her struggles to excel at her career and create a found family for her personal life. We get to slowly see Olive open up and get to know a very great (if hidden) guy in the process. I loved Adam’s character so much. The unapproachable and antagonistic male lead is totally my catnip. I really enjoyed this book. But, I would have liked more concluding chapters and a few more steamy scenes would have been nice.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead

Title: Harlem Shuffle

Author: Colson Whitehead

Publisher: Doubleday 2021

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 318

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

”Ray Carney was only slightly bent when it came to being crooked..." To his customers and neighbors on 125th street, Carney is an upstanding salesman of reasonably priced furniture, making a decent life for himself and his family. He and his wife Elizabeth are expecting their second child, and if her parents on Striver's Row don't approve of him or their cramped apartment across from the subway tracks, it's still home.

Few people know he descends from a line of uptown hoods and crooks, and that his façade of normalcy has more than a few cracks in it. Cracks that are getting bigger all the time.

Cash is tight, especially with all those installment-plan sofas, so if his cousin Freddie occasionally drops off the odd ring or necklace, Ray doesn't ask where it comes from. He knows a discreet jeweler downtown who doesn't ask questions, either.

Then Freddie falls in with a crew who plan to rob the Hotel Theresa—the "Waldorf of Harlem"—and volunteers Ray's services as the fence. The heist doesn't go as planned; they rarely do. Now Ray has a new clientele, one made up of shady cops, vicious local gangsters, two-bit pornographers, and other assorted Harlem lowlifes.

Thus begins the internal tussle between Ray the striver and Ray the crook. As Ray navigates this double life, he begins to see who actually pulls the strings in Harlem. Can Ray avoid getting killed, save his cousin, and grab his share of the big score, all while maintaining his reputation as the go-to source for all your quality home furniture needs?

Oh goodness. I really wanted to love this one. A friend has been begging me to read Whitehead for awhile now and so we picked this one for book club. Unfortunately, I found this particular book very boring and ended up giving it 3 stars. I absolutely loved the writing style. Whitehead is amazing at crafting sentences that just roll off you tongue. They are beautiful. But… that’s about all I can say positively for this book. I just found the characters and plot line to be very boring. Nobody went anywhere or did anything. I felt like we were just circling around the same conversations and same activities over and over. In looking into reviews about this particular book, many have said that it departs greatly from Whitehead’s last two books. I think I need to pick one of those up instead.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green

Title: The Anthropocene Reviewed

Author: John Green

Publisher: Dutton 2021

Genre: Memoir

Pages: 304

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

The Anthropocene is the current geologic age, in which humans have profoundly reshaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his groundbreaking podcast, bestselling author John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet on a five-star scale—from the QWERTY keyboard and sunsets to Canada geese and Penguins of Madagascar.

Funny, complex, and rich with detail, the reviews chart the contradictions of contemporary humanity. As a species, we are both far too powerful and not nearly powerful enough, a paradox that came into sharp focus as we faced a global pandemic that both separated us and bound us together.

I’m going to start by saying that this book is definitely going onto my Top 10 of the year. It’s just that good! I finally picked this up thinking that I would read an uneven collection of memoir style essays. Sure I love John Green and his writing, but could his collection of essays engage me all the way through? Turns out that they can. From the mundane to the profound, from the serious to the comedic, Green covers a variety of topics that resonantly directly with me and my life. (As a side note, John Green and I have a lot in common, from where have lived {Indiana} to, at times, crippling anxiety. We are only a few years apart {4 to be exact} and connect on so many strange life points.) On the surface, this is a book of reviews for a variety of subjects, events, and ideas. For example, we get to hear all about the importance of Diet Dr Pepper. But embedded in these reviews are life truths expressed and quiet thoughts and emotions said out loud. Much of this book was written during the pandemic and there are many times when Green connects a variety of ideas to the reality of his present in quarantine. I was moved to laughter and tears throughout this collection. And I was forcing into J’s hands at multiple times. Guess it’s time for me to buy my own copy of this one. I give John Green and The Anthropocene Reviewed five stars!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Landline by Rainbow Rowell

Title: Landline

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press 2014

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 331

Rating: 2/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble. That it's been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply-but that almost seems beside the point now.
Maybe that was always beside the point.

Two days before they're supposed to visit Neal's family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can't go. She's a TV writer, and something's come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her-Neal is always a little upset with Georgie-but she doesn't expect to him to pack up the kids and go without her.

When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she's finally done it. If she's ruined everything.

That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It's not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she's been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts. . . .

Is that what she's supposed to do?

Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?

Hmmm… a Christmas love story? I’m not sure that I would agree with this categorization. I could not connect to any character in the story. Georgie was very fustrating as a lead character. She’s supposed to find out that she needs to reconnect with her husband and children and not spend so much time at work. Clearly, this was the lesson right from page one. And yet, we have to spend hundreds of pages slowly moving towards that realization. There’s nothing new about this story. I was thoroughly bored. As an extra annoying piece, I could not understand exactly why Georgie ever fell for Neil in the first place. All we ever see of Neil is a sad sack of a man. We don’t get to see any personality from him. And Georgie’s constant reassurances that Neil is amazing just don’t give us anything. I was completely bored this entire book.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Shutter Vol. 1

Title: Shutter Vol. 1: Wanderlost

Author: Joe Keatinge, Leila Del Duca, Owen Gieni

Publisher: Image 2014

Genre: Comics

Pages: 136

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

INDIANA JONES FOR THE 21st CENTURY! Marvel Knights: Hulk and Glory writer Joseph Keatinge teams up with artist extraordinaire Leila del Duca for her Image Comics debut in an all-new ongoing series combining the urban fantasy of Fables and the globe-spanning adventure of Y: The Last Man. Kate Kristopher, once the most famous explorer of an Earth far more fantastic than the one we know, is forced to return to the adventurous life she left behind when a family secret threatens to destroy everything she spent her life protecting. Collects Shutter #1-6.

I loved the premise of this series. I was intrigued by the concept. But yet, this one just didn’t quite hit the mark. It was very confusing and chaotic throughout. We spend six issues running from place to place without much explanation or many revelations. I just wanted to learn a bit about Kate and and her past. Instead, we have to pause every few pages for some crazy action sequence and/or explosion. I was not loving it.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W14: A Break Day Threw Off Our Groove

What We Studied

I thought it would be nice to take Tuesday off and spend some time at the park (it was going to be in the 60s). The kids could play and I could get some random planning work done (and maybe read a bit). We didn’t have a coop field trip scheduled, so I thought it would be perfect. Unfortunately things did not turn out well. The kids were really thrown and complained all day. Wednesday felt like we were trying to get back to normal. So not a great week. We did cover some topics and lessons, but attitudes were not great.

Literature and Poetry

We continued reading some African Folktales this week.

• Nobiah’s Well by Donna W. Guthrie

• Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock by Eric A. Kimmel

• Anansi the Spider by Gerald McDermott

• A Story A Story by Gail E. Haley

• The Best Keeper of Lalibela by Cristina Kessler

• The Lions’s Drum by Steven Gregory

• Clever Tortoise by Francesca Martin

• Dinosaur Dinner (With a Slice of Alligator Pie) by Dennis Lee

Math

We moved onto Unit 5 covering measurement. Mainly the chapter focuses on centimeters, meters, kilometers and inches, feet, yards, and miles. We’ll probably circle back to multiplication and division practice after Unit 5.

• Singapore Math Common Core Edition 3A

• Primarily Logic

Social Studies

This week we learned about the Khmer Empire. Arthur really enjoyed studying the images of Angkor Wat. We followed up out history lesson with a few pictures books about Cambodia.

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• When on Earth

• DK History

• Explorers (Henri Mouhot)

• DK Timelines of Everything

• Judge Rabbit and the Tree Spirit by Lina Mao Wall

• The Last King of Angkor Wat by Graeme Base

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. This week, he focused on packet work and some random building projects.

Science and STEAM Coop

Continuing with our Dinosaur unit from Blossom and Root! We finally got to the Cretaceous period!

• Everything Awesome About Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Beasts by Mike Lowery

• The Story of Life: Evolution by Katie Scott

• Life: The First Four Billion Years by Martin Jenkins

• When the Whales Walked and Other Incredibly Evolutionary Journeys by Dougal Dixon

• Prehistoric: Before the Dinosaurs by David West

• DK Prehistoric

• Prehistoric by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld

• DK Dinosaur

• DK Where on Earth? Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Beasts

• Dinosarium by Chris Wormell

• In Search of Dinosaurs by Dougal Dixon

• The Early Cretaceous

• When Sue Found Sue: Sue Hendrickson Discovers Her T. rex by Toni Buzzeo

Art/Music

Nothing 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. For ELA, we finished our overview of each letter of the alphabet! We’ll do some whole alphabet review for the rest of the semester before starting phonetics in January. In math, Quentin practiced his skills and worked on a Khan Academy unit about basic geometry. We also talked about the seasons.

ELA

• Once Upon an Alphabet by Oliver Jeffers

• My “xyz” Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure

• Yoko Yak’s Yakety Yakking by Barbara deRubertis

• Zachary Zebra’s Zippity Zooming by Barbara deRubertis

Math

Other

• Smart Start STEM K

Field Trip

No field trip this week, just an ill-fated park visit.

Documentary Selection

I have carved out a one hour time block each week to watch a documentary related to our studies. We didn’t actually watch anything this week, but made up for it by all the PBS Eons videos for our dinosaur unit.

Misc. - Random picture books read

• Old Tracks, New Tricks by Jessica Petersen

• Car Wash by Sandra Steen

• Float by Daniel Miyares

• The Big Umbrella by Amy June Bates

• Chicken Frank, Dinosaur by S.K. Wenger

• Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert

• Monster Trucks by Joy Keller

• Snacks on a Train by Kathryn Dennis

• School Bus by Donald Crews

High

• Finally getting to the Cretaceous for dinosaurs. Arthur has been desperately wanting to talk about the Spinosaurus since we start, but they didn’t live until about 70 million years ago. We got there this week!

Low

• The utter failure of Tuesday. It was bad, real bad.

Next Week

• Finishing a few African folktales before start The Wind in the Willows

• Mastering measurements

• Moving forward in time for the Dinosaur Unit

• Making time for lots of reading and some board games

Next up on the TBR pile:

Life Right Now #35

As I look outside my window: It’s so weird to be able to see through our backyard tree again. It makes the lights from houses so much brighter at nighttime.

Right now I am: Finishing this post so I can dive into my Sunday reading time. I’m really digging all the essays included in The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green

On my bedside table: Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead and a ton of Holiday romances!

On my tv this week: We finished S1 of Foundation and I completely gutted at the end. Thank goodness they are making a second season. We also started Hit Monkey (very odd show) and Cowboy Bebop (I cannot contain my excitement about this one).

Listening to: Mostly hard rock mixes. Thank goodness Apple Music can create sound-alike playlists. I’ve been really digging the Black Veil Brides channel.

On the menu for this week:

• Monday - Tacos

• Tuesday - BBQ Chicken

• Wednesday - Leftovers

• Thursday - Friends-giving!

• Friday - Leftovers

• Saturday - Maafe (Senegalese Peanut Stew)

• Sunday - Fettuccini with Crab

On my to do list: I’ve got a big list of mostly small tasks to check out. I do want to get the Friends of the Coop Facebook group launched this week. I also need to organize my December planner pages, create a coop lesson for circuits (one week instead of the usual two), clean, and update a few spreadsheets (reading challenges, coop rotation, etc).

Happening this week:

• Monday - Normal School Day; Grocery run

• Tuesday - Normal School Day

• Wednesday - Cleaning and project day

• Thursday - Friends-giving!

• Friday - Project day

• Saturday - Home day

• Sunday - Library run

What I am creating: I got our advent activity calendar sorted and make progress on wrapping our book advent. I’m hoping that Wednesday, Friday, and this weekend can be dedicated to cleaning the house and then working on Christmas cards. I would like to make about 50 this year, but I haven’t even gotten started. I did pull out my box of Christmas supplies to get started when I have a free hour or two.

My simple pleasures: Chocolate cake, snuggly blankets, to do lists

Looking around the house: Things are good, but there are some Christmas stuff piles going on right now. I need to find a place for my next project to live. Maybe a specific cabinet in the kitchen or a shelf on a bookcase? I would just like to avoid the random pile.

From the camera: I got out to Music Bingo on Wednesday and I actually won, twice! In December, we are doing Musicals Music Bingo night. I can’t wait!

The Happy Ever After Playlist by Abby Jimenez

Title: The Happily Ever After Playlist (The Friend Zone #2)

Author: Abby Jimenez

Publisher: Forever 2020

Genre: Romance

Pages: 401

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Modern Mrs. Darcy; Fall TBR

Two years after losing her fiancé, Sloan Monroe still can't seem to get her life back on track. But one trouble-making pup with a "take me home" look in his eyes is about to change everything. With her new pet by her side, Sloan finally starts to feel more like herself. Then, after weeks of unanswered texts, Tucker's owner reaches out. He's a musician on tour in Australia. And bottom line: He wants Tucker back.
Well, Sloan's not about to give up her dog without a fight. But what if this Jason guy really loves Tucker? As their flirty texts turn into long calls, Sloan can't deny a connection. Jason is hot and nice and funny. There's no telling what could happen when they meet in person. The question is: With his music career on the rise, how long will Jason really stick around? And is it possible for Sloan to survive another heartbreak?

I didn’t absolutely love the first book in this series. Kristen just wasn’t my favorite character, but I really loved Sloan. So it was really nice to read Sloan’s story after the terrible tragedy from the first book. Right away, I was suck into the story and fell for Sloan and especially Jason. I absolutely adored Sloan and Jason’s growing relationship. And then they hit some pretty big obstacles. If I was reading any other style of book, I would have been really concerned. As this was a contemporary romance, everything ended up just right and Sloan and Jason got their happily ever after. So don’t been too sad in the middle of the book, everything will turn out okay.

The Friend Zone

• #1 The Friend Zone

• #2 The Happily Ever After Playlist

• #3 Life’s Too Short

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Adachi

Title: The Lady Genius Way: Embrace What Matters, Ditch What Doesn’t, and Get Stuff Done

Author: Kendra Adachi

Publisher: WaterBrook 2020

Genre: Nonfiction

Pages: 228

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

The chorus of “shoulds” is loud. You should enjoy the moment, dream big, have it all, get up before the sun, track your water consumption, go on date nights, and be the best. Or maybe you should ignore what people think, live on dry shampoo, be a negligent PTA mom, have a dirty house, and claim your hot mess like a badge of honor.

It’s so easy to feel overwhelmed by the mixed messages of what it means to live well.

Kendra Adachi, the creator of the Lazy Genius movement, invites you to live well by your own definition and equips you to be a genius about what matters and lazy about what doesn’t. Everything from your morning routine to napping without guilt falls into place with Kendra’s thirteen Lazy Genius principles.

I picked this one up from a recommendation on one of my reading podcasts. I sped through this book digesting little bits of advice here and there. Thankfully Adachi gives the reader a lot of personal examples to illustrate each of her lazy genius points. None of her advice is particularly groundbreaking, but it is very approachable and easy to implement. After reading the book, I might just start listening to Adachi’s podcast.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Rolling though November with Some Videos

Yeah, I’m pretty excited for this!

You know how I love my disaster films. The might be terrible, but I’ll watch it.

A must-see movie for me.

Squealing noises…

Love all of the It’s Okay to Be Smart videos.

Beautiful Bastard by Christina Lauren

Title: Beautiful Bastard (Beautiful #1)

Author: Christina Lauren

Publisher: Gallery Books 2013

Genre: Romance

Pages: 321

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

Whip-smart, hardworking, and on her way to an MBA, Chloe Mills has only one problem: her boss, Bennett Ryan. He's exacting, blunt, inconsiderate--and completely irresistible. A Beautiful Bastard.

Bennett has returned to Chicago from France to take a vital role in his family's massive media business. He never expected that the assistant who'd been helping him from abroad was the gorgeous, innocently provocative--completely infuriating--creature he now has to see every day. Despite the rumors, he's never been one for a workplace hookup. But Chloe's so tempting he's willing to bend the rules--or outright smash them--if it means he can have her. All over the office.

As their appetites for one another increase to a breaking point, Bennett and Chloe must decide exactly what they're willing to lose in order to win each other.

You would think that me giving this 3 stars is a terrible rating, but it’s really not. I liked reading this book, but I did have a few issues. First the positives. I loved the more open door nature of this book. The more recent Christina Lauren books are much more closed door. This one was definitely not. I really enjoyed Chloe and her entire character. She’s a great character. And the side characters are great additions to the book. Unfortunately, I had a big issue with the pacing of the novel. The pacing felt more like a porn than a romantic book. As soon as the main characters got into an interesting conversation, they paused to have sex. Ok great, but sometimes, I would have liked a bit more conversation. Despite my lower rating, I’m probably going to keep reading this series.

Beautiful Bastard

• #1 Beautiful Bastard

• #1.5 Beautiful Bitch

• #2 Beautiful Stranger

• #2.5 Beautiful Bombshell

• #3 Beautiful Player

• #3.5 Beautiful Beginning

• #3.6 Beautiful Beloved

• #4 Beautiful Secret

• #4.5 Beautiful Boss

• #5 Beautiful

Next up on the TBR pile:

Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas

Title: Catherine House

Author: Elisabeth Thomas

Publisher: Custom House 2020

Genre: Horror?

Pages: 311

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

Catherine House is a school of higher learning like no other. Hidden deep in the woods of rural Pennsylvania, this crucible of reformist liberal arts study with its experimental curriculum, wildly selective admissions policy, and formidable endowment, has produced some of the world’s best minds: prize-winning authors, artists, inventors, Supreme Court justices, presidents. For those lucky few selected, tuition, room, and board are free. But acceptance comes with a price. Students are required to give the House three years—summers included—completely removed from the outside world. Family, friends, television, music, even their clothing must be left behind. In return, the school promises a future of sublime power and prestige, and that its graduates can become anything or anyone they desire.

Among this year’s incoming class is Ines Murillo, who expects to trade blurry nights of parties, cruel friends, and dangerous men for rigorous intellectual discipline—only to discover an environment of sanctioned revelry. Even the school’s enigmatic director, Viktória, encourages the students to explore, to expand their minds, to find themselves within the formidable iron gates of Catherine. For Ines, it is the closest thing to a home she’s ever had. But the House’s strange protocols soon make this refuge, with its worn velvet and weathered leather, feel increasingly like a gilded prison. And when tragedy strikes, Ines begins to suspect that the school—in all its shabby splendor, hallowed history, advanced theories, and controlled decadence—might be hiding a dangerous agenda within the secretive, tightly knit group of students selected to study its most promising and mysterious curriculum.

Right away, I’m going to say that this book is not for everyone. But it was definitely for me! I love a super atmospheric gothic style mystery novel. We spend hundreds of pages immersed in the world of Catherine House where we sink deeper and deeper into this very strange world. Nothing much really happens, but I completely fell into this novel. Ines was the perfect slightly unreliable narrator to lead us through the labyrinth. Once we really start to wonder what is happening in the new materials lab, I was so deep that I couldn’t find a way out. It was a beautiful journey through the weird and depressing.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W13: First Snow of the Season!

What We Studied

We had a good week full of lessons, a few outings, and a COVID vaccine!

Literature and Poetry

We continued reading Japanese folktales to coincide with this week’s history curriculum. We also covered a few picture book studies for our fall theme.

• Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds

• How I Met My Monster by Amanda Noll

• Are You My Monster by Amanda Noll

• Lily and the Wooden Bowl by Alan Schroeder

• The Crane Girl by Curtis Manley

• Japan ABCs by Sarah Helman

• Yoshi’s Feast by Kimiko Kajikawa

• The Beckoning Cat by Koko Nishizuka

• Bokuden and the Bully by Stephen Krensky

• Too Many Pumpkins by Linda White

• Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper

• The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig

Math

We’re still working through Unit 3 about multiplication and division. We’ll be staying here for another few weeks to gain some mastery.

• Singapore Math Common Core Edition 3A

• Primarily Logic

Social Studies

This week was all about the medieval Japan. I really enjoyed learning about women’s lives in the time period.

• DK Timelines of Everyone

• DK Timelines of Everything

• When on Earth

• Myths, Legends, and Sacred Stories

• Traditional Crafts from Japan by Florence Temko

• Japanese Gods, Heroes, and Mythology by Tammy Gagne

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. This week, he focused on packet work and some random building projects.

Science and STEAM Coop

Continuing with our Dinosaur unit from Blossom and Root! We covered the Jurassic Period this week. Finally we’re into the more recognizable dinosaurs.

• Everything Awesome About Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Beasts by Mike Lowery

• The Story of Life: Evolution by Katie Scott

• Life: The First Four Billion Years by Martin Jenkins

• Prehistoric by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld

• DK Where on Earth? Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Life

• Dinosaurium by Chris Wormell and Lily Murray

• In Search of Dinosaurs by Dougal Dixon

• Dinothesaurus by Douglas Florian

• National Geographic Kids: Dinosaurs

• DK Dinosaur

• DK Eyewitness Dinosaur

• Sink Your Teeth

• Dinosaur Mountain: Digging into the Jurassic Age by Deborah Kogan
  

Art/Music

Nothing 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. For ELA, we continued our big overview of the alphabet. (Only two more letters to go!) We covered more counting and some basic math concepts as well as simple map skills. And we had some puzzles to round out the week.

ELA

• Once Upon an Alphabet by Oliver Jeffers

• My “w” Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure

• Walter Warthog’s Wonderful Wagon by Barbara deRubertis

• My “x” Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure

• Xavier Ox’s Xylophone Experiment by Barbara deRubertis

Math

Other

• Fall Leaves by Loretta Holland

• Apple Farmer Annie by Monica Wellington

• Why Do Leaves Change Color by Betsy Maestro

Field Trip

After a bit of uncertainty, we did get to tour the Omaha Fire Station #1 on Tuesday. The kids were super excited to see the trucks and watch the firefighters demonstrate fire safety skills. The kids even got to climb through the cab of a real fire truck!

Documentary Selection

I have carved out a one hour time block each week to watch a documentary related to our studies. We didn’t actually watch anything this week, but made up for it by all the PBS Eons videos for our dinosaur unit.

Misc. - Random picture books read

• The Little Fire Truck by Margery Cuyler

• Fire Truck Dreams by Sharon Chriscoe

• Harbor by Donal Crews

• It’s a Field Trip, Busy Bus by Jody Jesen Shaffer

• Planes Fly by George Ella Lyon

• Airport by Byron Barton

• The Littlest Train by Chris Gall

• Under the Umbrella by Catherine Buquet

• Little Monster Trucks by Doug Cenko

• Jonathan and the Big Blue Boat by Philip C. Stead

• Tiny Little Rockets by Richard Collingridge

• Little Lunch Truck by Charles Beyl

• All Aboard by Bill Mayer

High

• The boys got their first vaccine! One step down! I am so relieved.

Low

• The weather was all over the place. It was fairly warm at the beginning and then it got super cold and rainy and then snowy. Weather in the Midwest is so varied.

Next Week

• Reading African folktales

• Moving to the Khmer Empire for history

• Mastering measurements and conversions

• Moving forward in time for the Dinosaur Unit to the Cretaceous Period!

• Attending coop for our second health themed meeting

• Taking a break day on Tuesday (shh the kids don’t know yet)

It’s Snowing!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Life Right Now #34

On my bedside table: Beautiful Bastard by Christina Lauren; The Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Adachie

On my tv this week: We continued with the MCU by watching Spiderman: Far From Home. J and caught up on Foundation and watched the new James Bond movie, No Time to Die, and Red Notice.

Listening to: Random podcasts. I just was very scatter-brained this past week.

On the menu for this week:

• Monday - Parmesan Tilapia

• Tuesday - Sausage and Apple Stuffed Acorn Squash

• Wednesday - Pulled Pork Sandwiches

• Thursday - Pomegranate Chicken

• Friday - Leftovers

• Saturday - Sega Wat

• Sunday - Maafe

On my to do list: I would like to work on some homeschool curriculum this week. I’ve also got many odds and ends to do for coop.

Happening this week:

• Monday - Home School Day

• Tuesday - Thinking about playing hooky from school and doing a park day

• Wednesday - Schramm Hike; Music Bingo

• Thursday - Coop

• Friday - Home School Day

• Saturday - ???

• Sunday - ???

What I am creating: Mostly piles, although I might actually get to Christmas cards later today.

My simple pleasures: Cookies and Cream Twix (very exciting find at 5 and Below), hot tea in the evening. finishing a brick of a book

Looking around the house: I’m finally getting my craft/library room organized and cleaned up. Things are looking much better here.

From the camera: We had our first proper Dungeons and Dragons session and almost got wiped out by a killer broom.

Code Name Hélène by Ariel Lawhon

Title: Code Name Hélène

Author: Ariel Lawhon

Publisher: Anchor 2021

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 496

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Seasonal TBR; Modern Mrs. Darcy

In 1936 Nancy Wake is an intrepid Australian expat living in Marseille who has bluffed her way into a reporting job for Hearst newspaper when she meets the wealthy French industrialist Henri Fiocca. No sooner does Henri sweep Nancy off her feet and convince her to become Mrs. Fiocca than the Germans invade France and she takes yet another name: a code name.

Told in interweaving timelines organized around the four code names Nancy used during the war, Code Name Hélène follows Nancy's transformation from journalist into one of the most powerful leaders in the French Resistance, known for her ferocious wit, her signature red lipstick, and her ability to summon weapons straight from the Allied Forces. But with power comes notoriety, and no matter how careful Nancy is to protect her identity, the risk of exposure is great—for herself and for those she loves.

Our book club selection for November and a return to WWII historical fiction. Overall, I am burnt out on the subgenere, but this volume was a good addition. We get a semi-biographical story of Nancy Wake and her adventures within the French Resistance. We jump back and forth through her timeline understanding where she is now (the present) and how she got there (the past). We see her navigate tough positions and become a very independent thinker. We see she make friends and lose friends. Unlike many other books, the dual timeline was done well and did not annoy me. It probably helped that it’s one person’s timeline and not a modern and historical split like usual. Nancy is such a strong character that she carries the book for me. I was constantly intrigued by how she got into the position that she’s in in 1944. The pacing is a bit uneven. I sped through the first 60 pages and then it lagged for awhile. The book is almost 500 pages long.  There are two very graphic scenes fairly close together that caused me to put the book down for a few days. I definitely could not power through the graphic torture scenes without a bit of a breather. But once I moved past that section, I was back into the story until the end. 

Next up on the TBR pile: