Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak

Title: Hidden Pictures

Author: Jason Rekulak

Publisher: Flatiron 2022

Genre: Thriller

Pages: 373

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

Fresh out of rehab, Mallory Quinn takes a job as a babysitter for Ted and Caroline Maxwell. She is to look after their five-year-old son, Teddy.

Mallory immediately loves it. She has her own living space, goes out for nightly runs, and has the stability she craves. And she sincerely bonds with Teddy, a sweet, shy boy who is never without his sketchbook and pencil. His drawings are the usual fare: trees, rabbits, balloons. But one day, he draws something different: a man in a forest, dragging a woman’s lifeless body.

Then, Teddy’s artwork becomes increasingly sinister, and his stick figures quickly evolve into lifelike sketches well beyond the ability of any five-year-old. Mallory begins to wonder if these are glimpses of a long-unsolved murder, perhaps relayed by a supernatural force.

Knowing just how crazy it all sounds, Mallory nevertheless sets out to decipher the images and save Teddy before it’s too late.

I got this recommendation from Meredith at the Currently Reading Podcast. Every once in a while I really want a fluffy spooky thriller. I want something that I can speed through and get involved in a story but not think too much about anything. This book hit just exactly what I needed this week. I immediately got sucked into the spooky drawings and figuring out the mystery of what they mean. We are on a roller coaster of emotions as we speed through the mystery. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the unreliable narrator trope. Couldn’t we have made Mallory a regular person and not a former drug addict? Why dies every protagonist have to have a tragic backstory? Other than that quibble, I enjoyed the rest of the story. I definitely did not guess the ending of the mystery.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Currently #15

Reading: Almost finished with Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley. I started Sunday and have had a hard time putting it down to do house tasks. Can’t wait to discuss this with book club in a few weeks.

Watching: For family movie night, we started watching Ms. Marvel. I am loving the styling!

Listening: I finally started listening to Mother Country Radicals from Crooked Media about the Weather Underground. I knew very little about this group and it has been fascinating so far.

Making: Q is doing a world tour this year and we’re starting our in-depth study with North America. Part of our curriculum involves making a dish from the country. I’ve decided that we’re just going to add this idea as part of our weekly meal plan. First up is our Canada study. We will be making wild rice, maple chicken, bannock breads and blueberry crisp.

Feeling: August has been a lot. Between starting our next school year, kicking off the coop semester, and the high temperatures have left me so tired. Here’s hoping September gives me more energy.

Planning: I’m taking the kids for a long weekend to Des Moines in September. We’re starting at the Living History Farms for homeschool day and then doing a small tour of the area. I’m looking forward to our arcade visit.

Loving: We’re heading to trivia night tonight with the kids and everyone’s excited. Last time we did this as a family was back in May. And we won!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W3: Finding Our Groove

What We Studied

I think we are finding our groove this month. I cut back on some subjects, beefed up some others, and made sure to balance our weekly activities. It was such a good week that I apparently did not take very many photos. So enjoy all our adventures at the zoo!

Literature and Poetry

Arthur finished Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll for his ELA read aloud. After finishing, we were going to watch a movie version, but my favorites all include parts of the sequel. So I changed up our schedule a bit (the one I see not the one Arthur sees) and we are going to start reading Through the Looking-glass and What Alice Saw There next week. He also has a weekly poetry selection. We continued our Myths and Maps extra curriculum from B&R. We began covering creation stories from around the world. I’m liking these short retellings of myths. Eventually we will add our squares to a world map and see where all the civilizations are. We continued reading The Beast of Buckingham Palace for our next coop book club selection. Only ~40 pages more to go!

• Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

• Nat Geo Book of Nature Poetry

• In the Beginning by Virginia Hamilton

• The Beast of Buckingham Palace by David Walliam

Quentin continued reading The Very Very Far North for his read aloud. He finally settled in and started thinking about the book more. We also started sprinkling in animal stories from around the world. I’m trying to line them up with our continents as we move across the world.

• High Five Intro Issue

• Nat Geo Book of Animal Poetry

• The Very Very Far North by Dan Bar-El

• A World Full of Animal Stories by Angela McAllister

Math

For both boys, we have scheduled math for three days a week. One day is focused on logic, games, puzzles, and special projects. The two other days are focused on covering the main math curriculum (Singapore 4A and 4B for Arthur and Singapore 1A and 1B for Quentin). I also found a fun packet of logic puzzles based on Alice in Wonderland. We will be spreading these out over our reading of the text.

• Logic Liftoff (Arthur)

• Singapore 4A

• Tinkeractive Math Kindergarten

• Lollipop Logic Book 2 (Quentin)

Lionesses taking a nap

Social Studies

Arthur started his large study of United States history using a combination of Build Your Library Level 5 and History Quest United States History. We did a bit more exploration of the various groups of Native Americans. Last minute, I found a great Outschool class called “What are Native Americans?” This is a two week class focusing on introducing students to Native Americans and doing a bit of geography and history. It’s being taught by Kelly Tudor, who is Lipan Apache. (I’ve tagged her other classes for future reference. She has one about Indigenous Peoples’ Day that I hope works out for us time-wise.) Arthur also started reading a graphic novel collections of Native American tales as part of his independent work.

• A Kid’s Guide to Native American History by Yvonne Wakim Dennis

• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

• The Earth Under Sky Bear’s Feet: Native American Poems of the Land by Joseph Bruchac

• Turtle Island: The Story of North America’s First People by Eldon Yellowhorn and Kathy Lowinger

• What the Eagle Sees: Indigenous Stories of Rebellion and Renewal by Eldon Yellowhorn and Kathy Lowinger

• Trickster: Native American Tales by Matt Dembicki

• History Quest: U.S. History

Quentin began his study of the world with Build Your Library Level 0. We did an overview of the Arctic and general North American overview this week.

• Nat Geo Beginner’s World Atlas

• DK Countries of the World

• DK First Earth Encyclopedia

• DK Children Just Like Me

• DK Children Just Like Me; A School Like Mine

• What We Wear: Dressing Up Around the World by Maja Ajmera

• Kumak's Fish: A Tall Tale from the Far North by Michael Bania

• Arctic Communities Past and Present by Cindy Jenson-Elliott

• Arctic Tundra by Ellen Labrecque

Arthur Independent Time

We are working on following a checklist in a planner for weekly independent work. There’s usually some math workbook pages, an ELA packet, weekly writing prompts (1-2 times a week), independent reading time, and a special creative project. Beyond the paperwork, Arthur focused on his game he’s been making (Lord of the Book) and some random side creative projects.

Science

Arthur is focusing on Physics this year. We are covering the text and related videos at home and then joining friends for experiments and extra projects. This week the boys learned Newton and his First Law of Motion. Their engineering challenge was to build an egg carrier that protected an egg from a fall. Both boys’ designs ended up failing, but we talked about the hows and whys and reviewed the concept of forces. For our history of science, we read a chapter about Ionia and Thales. I found a great clip of Cosmos with Carl Sagan that talked about Thales and the importance of the early Greek scientists.

• RSO Physics

• The Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way by Joy Hakim

• Forces Make Things Move by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

• Let’s Get Moving by Chris Ferrie

Quentin will be focusing on animal science with BYL Level 0. We talked about ecosystems and sorted some animals into their ecosystems.

• Nat Geo Wild Animal Atlas

• DK Animal

• Lonely Planet: The Animal Book

• My Home on the Ice by J. Patrick Lewis

• Animal Camouflage in the Snow by Martha E.H. Rustad

• The Arctic Fox's Journey by Wendy Pfeffer

• Arctic Fox by Dee Philips

• North: The Amazing Story of Arctic Migration by Nick Dowson

STEAM Coop

Coop continued with a slightly smaller group (thank goodness). We had a great week where the older kids learned about rocks and the rock cycle. The older kids made a sedimentary rock to take home. The younger groups started their theme of reptiles and amphibians. Quentin got to make a snake from a paper plate. He loves to paint at coop!. Afterwards, we had two more families officially join the coop. We are growing, but hopefully not too much more so we can fit in peoples’ houses for winter.

Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking

We’re planning one doing on art project and one cooking project each week as well as picking a composer or musician to listen to and enjoy. This week, art and music just didn’t happen. But that’s okay. This is why I have built in flex weeks to catch up on some of the things that get pushed aside during a normal week.

Thursday as a bit of a slog and we didn’t make it to art class. But I put it as a definite for next week.

Field Trip

No coop field trip this week, but we did get to the zoo for Tuesday. We had free ride tickets that expired on August 31st, so I definitely wanted to use those. The weather was very rainy and overcast in the morning which made it perfect to keep the crowds away and the animals active for our visit. We stayed five hours. The crowds started to coming after lunch so we only stayed until about 1:30pm. Still it was a good day and we got so many steps in!

High

• The zoo was so lovely! I definitely like it cooler and less busy.

Low

• Kid attitudes meant that we missed art class this week. I was really hoping to work this into our schedule weekly, but now I’m thinking biweekly.

Next Week

• Starting the sequel to Alice in Wonderland (A)

• Figuring out more logic puzzles (A)

• Learning about Native American cultures of the Southeast and Plains (A)

• Moving on to Newton’s Second Law for Physics (A)

• Reading some animal stories (Q)

• Finishing The Very Very Far North (Q)

• Covering Canada and the United States (maybe) (Q)

• Covering geology (A) and amphibians and retiles (Q) for coop

• Introducing the art of John Singleton Copley?

• Finishing The Beast of Buckingham Palace for coop book club

• Listening to Bach

• Going to the Durham, Heron Haven, Trivia Night, and Gaming Afternoon

Next up on the TBR pile:

Music Monday - A Day to Remember "Miracle"

How did I miss this????? Love Day to Remember!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Summer Bucket List Update #2

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.

1. Complete the Library Reading Program ✓

2. Tour of Midwest Zoos ✓

3. Ice Cream Tour of Omaha

4. Louisville SRA ✓

5. Durham Dinosaur Exhibit - We’re going on Monday.

6. Trip to Indiana, Iowa, Illinois ✓

7. Cookout with Friends ✓ - We had a great cookout with coop friends.

8. Lincoln Day

9. Medieval, Pirate, and Prehistoric Putt - In progress. The boys went with J to Medieval Putt while I was gone at the end of June.

10. Redo the Playroom ✓

11. Bird Watching Hike

12. Pam Nelson Farm

13. Lauritzen Gardens

14. 5 Splash Pad Visits ✓

15. 3 Movies at the Theater - 2 done

16. 3 Omaha Zoo Visits ✓

17. Craft/Art Day ✓ - We went to The Makery for a free crafting day.

18. Read 50 Books

19. July Movie Month!

20. Clear Out My Library Cart - In progress

Next up on the TBR pile:

Life Right Now #25

As I look outside my window: Bright and sunny again after yesterday’s weirdly overcast day

Right now I am: Prepping a big to-do list for today and making breakfast.

On my bedside table: Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley (book club selection); Dark Wild Night by Christina Lauren

On my tv this week: We caught up with our currently airing shows (Loot, What We Do in the Shadows) and watched two movies this week. We’re formulating a plan for music movies/documentaries September. With the kids we started watching Ms. Marvel. Really digging the style choices.

Listening to: Mostly just podcasts this week. My satellite radio finally updated after our cancellation and so I am still figuring out the local radio channels. The commercials are killing me. Guess I need to queue up music on my phone more often.

On the menu for this week:

• Monday - Potato Soup with Sausage

• Tuesday - Out for trivia

• Wednesday - Canada Night (Maple Chicken, Wild Rice, Bannock Bread, Blueberry Crisp)

• Thursday - Fiesta Chicken and Rice Bowls

• Friday - Texas Cheese Fries

• Saturday - Steak on grill, sweet potatoes, broccoli, dinner rolls

• Sunday - Lemon Butter scallops, parmesan tilapia, clam dip

On my to do list: Amongst many other things, I do want to make eye appointments and booster appointments for the kids.

Happening this week:

• Monday - Durham Museum Visit

• Tuesday - Heron Haven Visit; Family Trivia Night

• Wednesday - Science

• Thursday - Coop; Art Class

• Friday - Gaming Open House

• Saturday - Home Day

• Sunday - BC Zoom for The Left Hand of Darkness

What I am creating: Mostly just lists of what I need to accomplish in the next two months. We have a weekend trip to Des Moines and the boys’ birthday party to prep for.

My simple pleasures: Good dreams, overcast days, cleaning off my side table

Looking around the house: Meh. I’m okay with everything this weekend. Just want to do a sweep style pickup hour later this afternoon.

From the camera: I didn’t win at Music Bingo this week, but it’s always fun. Only two more weeks of the bar’s Luau Disco Queen theme before they repaint.

The Mermaid by Christina Henry

Title: The Mermaid

Author: Christina Henry

Publisher: Berkley 2018

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 325

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

Once there was a mermaid called Amelia who could never be content in the sea, a mermaid who longed to know all the world and all its wonders, and so she came to live on land.

Once there was a man called P. T. Barnum, a man who longed to make his fortune by selling the wondrous and miraculous, and there is nothing more miraculous than a real mermaid.

Amelia agrees to play the mermaid for Barnum and walk among men in their world, believing she can leave anytime she likes. But Barnum has never given up a money-making scheme in his life, and he's determined to hold on to his mermaid.

I was excited for a dark retelling of a mermaid story. What I got was a bit of a bore. Barnum is not a great historical figure or book character. He’s definitely a bit of a villain. Despite all of that, I was fairly interested in that story. Seeing how a real life mermaid becomes an exhibit for Barnum’s museum could have been a good novel. And yet, Henry decided to interject a big romance plot line and lost me. The romance plot line was plodding and boring and really dragged down the story. I got to the end without my dark storyline and felt very disappointed.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin

Title: The Left Hand of Darkness

Author: Ursula K Le Guin

Publisher: 1969

Genre: Science Fiction

Pages: 315

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Summer TBR

A lone human ambassador is sent to the icebound planet of Winter, a world without sexual prejudice, where the inhabitants’ gender is fluid. His goal is to facilitate Winter’s inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the strange, intriguing culture he encounters...

I tried reading this one again as part of the Nerdy Bookish Friends book club read. And I still didn’t like it. Back in 2011, I found this very clunky, slow-moving, and confusing. This time, I mostly still agree with that. While I can appreciate Le Guin’s attempt to discuss the big questions in sci-fi and her inspiration of many modern writers, I still find her work oddly stilted and non-engaging. I disliked every singly character we meet and was not engaged in the supposed plot line. The discussion of non-gender can be interesting, but I found many of the passages to contain a lot of misogynistic language. Feminine behaviors and attributes are almost always deemed to be unsavory. I would prefer to read a more modern take on gender and questions of gender than this ponderous tome.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Lore Olympus Vol. 2 by Rachel Smythe

Title: Lore Olympus Volume 2

Author: Rachel Smythe

Publisher: Random House Worlds 2022

Genre: Fantasy Comic

Pages: 368

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

Persephone was ready to start a new life when she left the mortal realm for Olympus. However, she quickly discovered the dark side of her glamorous new home—from the relatively minor gossip threatening her reputation to a realm-shattering violation of her safety by the conceited Apollo—and she’s struggling to find her footing in the fast-moving realm of the gods. Hades is also off-balance, fighting against his burgeoning feelings for the young goddess of spring while maintaining his lonely rule of the Underworld. As the pair are drawn ever closer, they must untangle the twisted webs of their past and present to build toward a new future.

This volume collects episodes 26–49 of the #1 WEBTOON comic Lore Olympus.

Another great volume from my favorite Webtoon! We get further development between Hades and Persephone as well as learning more about some of the side characters. I really love Hecate and Hera. I definitely want to see more of them in future issues. Minthe causes me such distress. I really hope the next volume starts unraveling that particular relationship so we can see the development of the one that I want.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Dirty Rowdy Thing by Christina Lauren

Title: Dirty Rowdy Thing (Wild Seasons #2)

Author: Christina Lauren

Publisher: Gallery Books 2014

Genre: Romance

Pages: 352

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Summer TBR

Despite their rowdy hookups, Harlow and Finn don’t even like each other...which would explain why their marriage lasted only twelve hours. He needs to be in charge and takes whatever he wants. She lives by the Want-something-done? Do-it-yourself mantra. Maybe she’s too similar to the rugged fisherman—or just what he needs.

Okay better than the first book in the series. I really did love Harlow and Finn as individual people. I even enjoyed them together as a couple. My biggest issue with this book is the communication issue. I understand that the non-communication is the main conceit of this romance, but I don’t quite buy it and I definitely don’t love it. The steamy scenes were fairly steamy, but I would have liked more relationship scenes.

Wild Seasons

• #1 Sweet Filthy Boy

• #2 Dirty Rowdy Thing

• #3 Dark Wild Night

• #4 Wicked Sexy Liar

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W2: Goodness, I am Tired!

What We Studied

We reached the end of our second week of regular homeschooling routine and I am exhausted. Seriously, by Friday afternoon, I could barely keep my eyes open. And we didn’t do that much! I think it’s a combination of the heat and the mental load of keeping all the plates in the air that has me so tired. The kids are fairing better, but they also get a lot more breaks and free time…

Literature and Poetry

Arthur continued Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll for his ELA read aloud. To go along with the text itself, Blossom and Root Grade 3 Language Arts gives us a ton of activities and creative projects to go along with the text. We will be reading this for one more week. He also has a weekly poetry selection. We also started our Myths and Maps extra curriculum from B&R. We began covering creation stories from around the world. One last item, we started reading The Beast of Buckingham Palace for our next coop book club selection.

• Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

• Nat Geo Book of Nature Poetry

• In the Beginning by Virginia Hamilton

• The Beast of Buckingham Palace by David Walliam

Quentin started a big read aloud as his main focus. I timed the read aloud to coincide with the area of the world that we are studying. The Very Very Far North seemed perfect for starting with the Arctic. He also did a day study of the Stone Soup story. We read a traditional European telling and then grabbed multiple others for variety. We did a bit of compare and contrast with the stories. I enjoyed it!

• High Five Intro Issue

• Nat Geo Book of Animal Poetry

• The Very Very Far North by Dan Bar-El

• Stone Soup by Marcia Brown

• Quill Soup by Alan Durant

• Fandango Stew by David Davis

• Bone Soup by Alissa Satin Capucilli

• Some Friends to Feed: The Story of Stone Soup by Pete Seeger and Paul DeBois Jacobs

• The Real Story of Stone Soup by Ying Chang Compestine

• We All Play by Julie Flett

Playing Arthur’s homemade game, Lord of the Book

Math

For both boys, we have scheduled math for three days a week. One day is focused on logic, games, puzzles, and special projects. The two other days are focused on covering the main math curriculum (Singapore 4A and 4B for Arthur and Singapore 1A and 1B for Quentin). This week Arthur and I played a monster themed multiplication game. I also found a fun packet of logic puzzles based on Alice in Wonderland. We will be spreading these out over our reading of the text.

• Logic Liftoff (Arthur)

• Singapore 4A

• Tinkeractive Math Kindergarten

• Lollipop Logic Book 2 (Quentin)

• Numbers Everywhere by Linda Leopold Strauss

• Everyone Counts by Judy Sierra

Social Studies

Arthur started his large study of United States history using a combination of Build Your Library Level 5 and History Quest United States History. We did a bit more introduction and then started learning about the native nations of the northeast. Last minute, I found a great Outschool class called “What are Native Americans?” This is a two week class focusing on introducing students to Native Americans and doing a bit of geography and history. It’s being taught by Kelly Tudor, who is Lipan Apache. (I’ve tagged her other classes for future reference. She has one about Indigenous Peoples’ Day that I hope works out for us time-wise.)

• A Kid’s Guide to Native American History by Yvonne Wakim Dennis

• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

• The Earth Under Sky Bear’s Feet: Native American Poems of the Land by Joseph Bruchac

• Turtle Island: The Story of North America’s First People by Eldon Yellowhorn and Kathy Lowinger

• What the Eagle Sees: Indigenous Stories of Rebellion and Renewal by Eldon Yellowhorn and Kathy Lowinger

• What was the Ice Age? by Nico Medina

• Prehistorical Animals: Prehistoric Mammals by David West

Quentin began his study of the world with Build Your Library Level 0. We covered the basics of the world with a close look at maps the globe. We took this week to do some more big overview of the world and talk about the different types of climates and geography throughout the world.

• Nat Geo Beginner’s World Atlas

• DK Countries of the World

• DK First Earth Encyclopedia

• DK Children Just Like Me

• DK Children Just Like Me; A School Like Mine

• On Earth by G. Brian Karas

Finding fossils at Schramm

Arthur Independent Time

We are working on following a checklist in a planner for weekly independent work. There’s usually some math workbook pages, an ELA packet, weekly writing prompts (1-2 times a week), independent reading time, and a special creative project. Beyond the paperwork, Arthur focused on his game he’s been making (Lord of the Book) and some random side creative projects.

Q missed his friend

Science

Arthur is focusing on Physics this year. We are covering the text and related videos at home and then joining friends for experiments and extra projects. This week the boys learned about water displacement and density. They had a long experiment session that culminated in a challenge to construct a boat that would hold 30 pennies. Lots of fun there! For our history section, Arthur learned about various cultures keeping time throughout history. Talks about calendars and time-keeping.

• RSO Physics

• The Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way by Joy Hakim

Quentin will be focusing on animal science with BYL Level 0. We talked about ecosystems and sorted some animals into their ecosystems.

• Nat Geo Wild Animal Atlas

• DK Animal

• Lonely Planet: The Animal Book

• Many Biomes, One Earth by Sneed B. Collard III

• Earth: Extreme Facts by Steffi Cavell-Clarke

STEAM Coop

Coop continued with a slightly smaller group (thank goodness). We had a great week where the older kids learned about plate tectonics and the younger groups learned about rocks and minerals. The older kids really enjoyed demonstrating the different types of plate boundaries using frosting and graham crackers. Probably helps that they got to it their creations afterward. Lots of fun there! Afterwards, we had three more families official join the coop. We are growing, but hopefully not too much more so we can fit in peoples’ houses for winter.

Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking

We’re planning one doing on art project and one cooking project each week as well as picking a composer or musician to listen to and enjoy. This week, art and music just didn’t happen. But that’s okay. This is why I have built in flex weeks to catch up on some of the things that get pushed aside during a normal week.

Coop art class was canceled due to illness.

Field Trip

We had a great field trip to Schramm with a guided tour of the geologic site. The kids got to dig for fossils and some free play at the rocks. We had a lovely picnic by the fish hatcheries and ended our visit back at the nature center. The boys were excited that all the imaginary play items were back out.

High

• Science on Wednesday was delightful. While Arthur worked with his friend on some experiments, I sat in the other room with Quentin and did some of his packet work. I think we used our time wisely this week.

Waddling like a duck

Low

• So tired!

Next Week

• Finishing Alice in Wonderland (A)

• Figuring out more logic puzzles (A)

• Learning about Native American cultures of the East Coast (A)

• Moving on to Newton’s Laws for Physics (A)

• Reading some animal stories (Q)

• Continuing The Very Very Far North (Q)

• Covering the Arctic and Canada (Q)

• Covering geology (A) and amphibians and retiles (Q) for coop

• Introducing the art of John Singleton Copley?

• Moving through The Beast of Buckingham Palace for coop book club

• Listening to Bach

Next up on the TBR pile:

Music Monday - Death Cab for Cutie "Here to Forever"

Apparently my favorite bands from the early 2000s are all coming out with new music this year. Love it!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Life Right Now #24

Right now I am: Hoping to fit in some reading time this morning along with vacuuming and the laundry.

On my bedside table: The Palace Papers by Tina Brown; The Fervor by Alma Cats

On my tv this week: We’ve sped through The Sandman and it is just as glorious as I thought it would be. Just beautiful.

Listening to: Mostly just podcast, but I’ve also downloaded the new songs from Sleeping from Sirens. Absolutely loving it!

On the menu for this week:

• Monday - Leftovers

• Tuesday - Potato Soup with Sausage

• Wednesday - Parmesan Tilapia

• Thursday - Black Bean Soup; Chicken Ranch Tacos

• Friday - Spinach and Artichoke Melts; Grilled Cheese

• Saturday - Apple-Cheddar Stuffed Chicken

• Sunday - Leftovers

On my to do list: I have some random tasks that need to get done as well as finalize the plan for this week’s coop and science experiments.

Happening this week:

• Monday - Home school day

• Tuesday - Zoo Day; Grocery

• Wednesday - Science

• Thursday - Coop; Art Class

• Friday - Home school day

• Saturday - Home Day

• Sunday - Book Club Zoom

What I am creating: I finished June’s Memory Planner pages yesterday. Here’s hoping to be able to work on the July pages today.

My simple pleasures:

Looking around the house:

From the camera: Arthur made me take screenshots of his Minecraft zoo.

Hide by Kiersten White

Title: Hide

Author: Kiersten White

Publisher: Del Rey Books 2022

Genre: Horror

Pages: 319

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

The challenge: Spend a week hiding in an abandoned amusement park and don’t get caught.

The prize: enough money to change everything.

Even though everyone is desperate to win—to seize a dream future or escape a haunting past—Mack is sure she can beat her competitors. All she has to do is hide, and she’s an expert at that.

It’s the reason she’s alive and her family isn’t.

But as the people around her begin disappearing one by one, Mack realizes that this competition is even more sinister than she imagined, and that together might be the only way to survive.

Fourteen competitors. Seven days. Everywhere to hide but nowhere to run.

Come out, come out, wherever you are.

An overall entertaining horror novel. This wasn’t the best I’ve ever read, but it definitely kept me wanting to turn the pages and see what happened next. We start with a fairly unlikable character, Mack, that I never can to love, but definitely came to understand by the end of the book. We throw in 13 more contestants and a few game organizers and set them loose in an abandoned amusement park. Chaos and murder ensues. I figured out the big allusion to another story by the end of Day 1, but knowing the big secret didn’t deter me from continuing to read. I still found it a very entertaining ride. There is gore (a lot of it), murder, and suicide. Not a book for everyone, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

Title: The Lincoln Highway

Author: Amor Towles

Publisher: Viking 2021

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 576

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

In June, 1954, eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the juvenile work farm where he has just served fifteen months for involuntary manslaughter. His mother long gone, his father recently deceased, and the family farm foreclosed upon by the bank, Emmett's intention is to pick up his eight-year-old brother, Billy, and head to California where they can start their lives anew. But when the warden drives away, Emmett discovers that two friends from the work farm have hidden themselves in the trunk of the warden's car. Together, they have hatched an altogether different plan for Emmett's future, one that will take them all on a fateful journey in the opposite direction—to the City of New York.

Oh my this was another winner from Amor Towles! I didn’t quite know what I was going to think of it when we first met the characters. Emmett seems like a likable guy, but Duchess and Wooley are hard to like at first. I was concerned that we would be leaning on white America tropes (and we are a bit), but it’s more of a story of journey for two brothers and their adopted family. We get to see Emmett and Billy try to make sense of a world after losing their parents and facing prejudice from the inhabitants of their hometown. They attempt to strike out for a new life and encounter a variety of obstacles. I loved how Towles weaved the narratives of multiple side characters into the story of the brothers. I ended up really caring for all the characters we encounter (even the pretty vile Pastor John). Towles has a way of really diving into the lives of characters and showing you as the reader their humanity. In many ways this is a quiet book, but the plot keeps us moving from day to day until we reach the closing on chapter for Emmett and Billy and an opening of another. Delightful!

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

Title: Atlas Six (The Atlas #1)

Author: Olivie Blake

Publisher: Tor 2020

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 375

Rating: 2/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

The Alexandrian Society, caretakers of lost knowledge from the greatest civilizations of antiquity, are the foremost secret society of magical academicians in the world. Those who earn a place among the Alexandrians will secure a life of wealth, power, and prestige beyond their wildest dreams, and each decade, only the six most uniquely talented magicians are selected to be considered for initiation.

Enter the latest round of six: Libby Rhodes and Nico de Varona, unwilling halves of an unfathomable whole, who exert uncanny control over every element of physicality. Reina Mori, a naturalist, who can intuit the language of life itself. Parisa Kamali, a telepath who can traverse the depths of the subconscious, navigating worlds inside the human mind. Callum Nova, an empath easily mistaken for a manipulative illusionist, who can influence the intimate workings of a person’s inner self. Finally, there is Tristan Caine, who can see through illusions to a new structure of reality—an ability so rare that neither he nor his peers can fully grasp its implications.

When the candidates are recruited by the mysterious Atlas Blakely, they are told they will have one year to qualify for initiation, during which time they will be permitted preliminary access to the Society’s archives and judged based on their contributions to various subjects of impossibility: time and space, luck and thought, life and death. Five, they are told, will be initiated. One will be eliminated. The six potential initiates will fight to survive the next year of their lives, and if they can prove themselves to be the best among their rivals, most of them will.

Most of them.

Goodness this was not good. I was super intrigued by the premise (I’m always up for a book about the Library of Alexandria), but this book did not live up to any of the promise. The plot moves incredibly slow with nothing really happening for about 80% of the book. I never felt compelled to pick it up and keep reading. That’s never a good sign. The characters are all pretty terrible. The jacket copy makes it seem that although they all start out as enemies, the six characters will come to care deeply for each other. They didn’t. They mostly hate it each other throughout the entire book. I just wanted to see some genuine affection for another person. If these six people are the best of the best, we are a species are doomed. They are all terrible. Libby may have been the least terrible, but she would have been a pain to live with and ended up with the corruption arc. That didn’t make any sense at all… I hated this book.

The Atlas

• #0.5 Sacred Hospitality

• #1 The Atlas Six

• #2 The Atlas Paradox

Next up on the TBR pile:

Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots

Title: Hench

Author: Natalie Zina Walschots

Publisher: William Morrow 2020

Genre: Science Fiction

Pages: 403

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Summer TBR

Anna does boring things for terrible people because even criminals need office help and she needs a job. Working for a monster lurking beneath the surface of the world isn’t glamorous. But is it really worse than working for an oil conglomerate or an insurance company? In this economy?

 As a temp, she’s just a cog in the machine. But when she finally gets a promising assignment, everything goes very wrong, and an encounter with the so-called “hero” leaves her badly injured.  And, to her horror, compared to the other bodies strewn about, she’s the lucky one.

So, of course, then she gets laid off.

With no money and no mobility, with only her anger and internet research acumen, she discovers her suffering at the hands of a hero is far from unique. When people start listening to the story that her data tells, she realizes she might not be as powerless as she thinks.

Because the key to everything is data: knowing how to collate it, how to manipulate it, and how to weaponize it. By tallying up the human cost these caped forces of nature wreak upon the world, she discovers that the line between good and evil is mostly marketing.  And with social media and viral videos, she can control that appearance.

It’s not too long before she’s employed once more, this time by one of the worst villains on earth. As she becomes an increasingly valuable lieutenant, she might just save the world.

This book came a recommendation from my favorite podcast, Currently Reading. I don’t always align with the hosts’ tastes in books, but when we do, I absolutely love the book! We get a complete flip of the superhero genre, imagining if the fact of having superheroes create much more damage and trauma than they save. I fell for Anna right away even if she is very prickly and has questionable social skills. I was rooting for her to find a good position and then the incident happens. From there, I felt like the novel was full-steam ahead, diving us and Anna into the world of real supervillains. We get to peel back the layers to see all the dirty secrets and revel in the downfalls of many superheroes. I especially loved Leviathan and his entire character arc. This is a very fast-paced thriller style science fiction novel with a few very graphic scenes of mutilation. Nothing I couldn’t handle, but just imagining the body horror scenes at the end has me shivering a bit. Oh so good!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Currently #14

Reading: Hide by Kiersten White - I totally figured out the weirdness within the first third of this book, but I’m still loving it. Almost finished.

Watching: We started The Sandman and it’s amazing! I loved the comics and the television is a beautiful adaptation of the comics.

Listening: We have a few field trips coming up and have been listening to back episodes of Eons podcast.

Making: For this week’s coop lesson, the younger groups are going to be covering rocks and minerals (biggest kids are doing plate tectonics). I’m making the rock cycle out of starburst. It is a bit time-consuming, but a very easy way to explain the rock cycle.

Feeling: The temps cooled off just a tad and I feel so much better. I can do mid-80s, I am not a fan of mid-90s.

Planning: We scrapped our bit fall family road trip (we had one in May anyway) in favor of me taking the kids for a long weekend to Des Moines. We’re going for a living history event on Friday and then staying to explore the area.

Loving: The bakery inside Baker’s makes these amazing brown butter caramel cookies, but I don’t love paying the price they are marked. Lucky me that I keep finding them on the bakery clearance rack! 50% is totally my price point for these delicious cookies.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W1: We're Back at It!

What We Studied

We dove into our third year of homeschooling with Arthur entering 3rd grade and Quentin entire kindergarten. This first week was all about attempting to figure out our weekly schedule. We have to work in coop on Thursday morning, art class on Thursday afternoon, physics with friends on Wednesday afternoon, and a weekly field trip. I’m attempting to decide if we will be doing art class and field trips weekly or on a different schedule. I’m still thinking about that. As for the curriculum itself, we dove right in and accomplished a ton this week.

Attempting to make a paper hole to step through a la Alice

Literature and Poetry

Arthur started Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll for his ELA read aloud. To go along with the text itself, Blossom and Root Grade 3 Language Arts gives us a ton of activities and creative projects to go along with the text. We will be reading this for two more weeks. He also has a weekly poetry selection. We also started our Myths and Maps extra curriculum from B&R. We began covering creation stories from around the world. One last item, we finished reading The Penderwicks in time for coop book club on Thursday evening. Only one other family joined us, but we chatted about the book for awhile before the kids scampered off to the playground.

• Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

• Nat Geo Book of Nature Poetry

• In the Beginning by Virginia Hamilton

• The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall

Quentin has a mixed week. We started with a few books related to traveling the world (preview of our social studies curriculum). He also covered the Blossom and Root Kindergarten Language Arts week dealing with names and the importance of identity.

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

• Johnny Appleseed: A Tall Tall retold by Stephen Kellogg

• Alma and How She Got Her Name by Juana Martinez-Neal

• Your Name is a Song by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow

• The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi

• Me and My Family Tree by Joan Sweeney

• High Five Intro Issue

• Rocket Finds an Egg by Tad Hills (Quentin read)

• Rocket’s Very Fine Day by Tad Hills (Quentin read)

• Nat Geo Book of Animal Poetry

Math

For both boys, we have scheduled math for three days a week. One day is focused on logic, games, puzzles, and special projects. The two other days are focused on covering the main math curriculum (Singapore 4A and 4B for Arthur and Singapore 1A and 1B for Quentin). This week Arthur and I played a Pirate themed place value game. I also found a fun packet of logic puzzles based on Alice in Wonderland. We will be spreading these out over our reading of the text.

• Logic Liftoff (Arthur)

• Singapore 4A

• Tyrannosaurus Math by Michelle Markel

• Tinkeractive Math Kindergarten

Social Studies

Arthur started his large study of United States history using a combination of Build Your Library Level 5 and History Quest United States History. We covered an introduction to Native American history and a general geography review. We also started some great resources for stories from Native American societies. Arthur did a short research project about the Omaha and Ponca tribes as we live on their ancestral land.

• If America were a Village by David J. Smith

• The Scrambled States of America by Laurie Keller

• A Kid’s Guide to Native American History by Yvonne Wakim Dennis

• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

• The Earth Under Sky Bear’s Feet: Native American Poems of the Land by Joseph Bruchac

• Turtle Island: The Story of North America’s First People by Eldon Yellowhorn and Kathy Lowinger

• What the Eagle Sees: Indigenous Stories of Rebellion and Renewal by Eldon Yellowhorn and Kathy Lowinger

Quentin began his study of the world with Build Your Library Level 0. We covered the basics of the world with a close look at maps the globe. He worked through some activities and completed most of the introduction box from Atlas Crate. He also prepped his world passport for our studies.

• The World is Waiting for You by Barbara Kerley

• Our Earth by Anne rockwell

• Exploring by Alain Gree

• Me on the Map by Joan Sweeney

• Nat Geo Beginner’s World Atlas

• DK Countries of the World

• DK First Earth Encyclopedia

• DK Children Just Like Me

• DK Children Just Like Me; A School Like Mine

• My Bed: Enchanting Ways to Fall Asleep Around the World by Rebecca Bond

Arthur Independent Time

We are working on following a checklist in a planner for weekly independent work. There’s usually some math workbook pages, an ELA packet, weekly writing prompts (1-2 times a week), independent reading time, and a special creative project. Beyond the paperwork, Arthur made an Alice puppet and worked on his board game. .

Science

Arthur is focusing on Physics this year. We are covering the text and related videos at home and then joining friends for experiments and extra projects. The first week was an introduction to the realm of physics and a review of the scientific method. We also started The Study of Science, which we will be slowing moving through the first book over the entire year. We wrapped up the week with a documentary about our human ancestors (NOVA S36 E15 Becoming Human Episode 3: Last Human Standing).

• Where Did We Come From by Chris Ferrie

• RSO Physics

• The Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way by Joy Hakim

Quentin will be focusing on animal science with BYL Level 0. We did a small introduction of animals across the world. Next week we will dive in more.

• Nat Geo Wild Animal Atlas

• DK Animal

• Lonely Planet: The Animal Book

• The Tarantula in My Purse by Jean Craighead George

STEAM Coop

Coop started with a crowd! Seriously,, we had about 43 kids come to the first meeting of the semester. The oldest group (4th-8th grade) had 20 kids by itself! All three groups learned a bit about the layers of the Earth (more in-depth for the oldest kids obviously) and then make models of the layers of the Earth using Model Magic Clay. Some of the kids really got into adding their green continents as accurately as possible. I loved the attention to detail! Of the 8 new families that came, 2 have already officially joined us! Next week, we will be continuing with the geology theme.

Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking

We’re planning one doing on art project and one cooking project each week as well as picking a composer or musician to listen to and enjoy. This first week we scrapped the intended craft project of making a carved apple doll for an apple taste test and scientific observation. I just knew that I would end be be the one doing the entire apple doll and wanted to give the kids something hands on. While doing our apple taste test, we enjoyed listening to a variety of composition from Beethoven. We even went on a Fifth Symphony deep dive and listened to about 20 different variations of the piece. I really liked the Bossa Nova version. Arthur liked the organ version, and Quentin like the marching band version. Lots of fun with that one! My goal is definitely to keep this light and fun.

At coop art class, the boys learned about landscapes featuring a background, middle ground, and foreground. They then created their own versions. A nice low-key art class was just what we needed.

Field Trip

None this week due to my Monday afternoon to Tuesday morning migraine.

High

• We loved getting back with our coop friends for a fun session (and art class and book club). We missed them so much on our mini summer break.

Low

• I overloaded the curriculum a bit this week. I knew the first week would be a bit rough in terms of the schedule. Hopefully next week will be better balanced.

Next Week

• Continuing to read Alice in Wonderland (A)

• Figuring out more logic puzzles (A)

• Learning about Native American cultures (A)

• Moving on to Density and Water Displacement for Physics (A)

• Reading some animal stories (Q)

• Starting The Very Very Far North (Q)

• Covering Biomes and Ecosystems of the World (Q)

• Covering geology for coop

• Introducing the art of John Singleton Copley

• Starting The Beast of Buckingham Palace for coop book club

• Listening to Bach or Mozart - haven’t decided which exactly

Ice cream to wrap up the week: Blue Moon for Quentin, Blood Orange sorbet for me, German Chocolate for Arthur

Next up on the TBR pile:

Music Monday - Lindsey Stirling feat. Amy Lee "Love Goes On and On"

I’m such a sucker for both of these women.

Next up on the TBR pile: