Unlikeable Female Characters by Anna Bogutskaya

Title: Unlikeable Female Characters: The Women Pop Culture Wants You to Hate

Author: Anna Bogutskaya

Publisher: Sourcebooks 2023

Genre: Nonfiction - Media Criticism

Pages: 340

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Fall TBR

Female characters throughout history have been burdened by the moral trap that is likeability. Any woman who dares to reveal her messy side has been treated as a cautionary tale. Today, unlikeable female characters are everywhere in film, TV, and wider pop culture. For the first time ever, they are being accepted by audiences and even showered with industry awards. We are finally accepting that women are—gasp—fully fledged human beings. How did we get to this point?

Unlikeable Female Characters traces the evolution of highly memorable female characters, examining what exactly makes them popular, how audiences have reacted to them, and the ways in which pop culture is finally allowing us to celebrate the complexities of being a woman. Anna Bogutskaya, film programmer, broadcaster, and co-founder of the horror film collective and podcast The Final Girls, takes us on a journey through popular film, TV, and music, looking at the nuances of womanhood on and off-screen to reveal whether pop culture—and society—is finally ready to embrace complicated women.

A decent breakdown of various female archetypes in movies and television. This is my favorite gender studies book in years. It is entertaining and informative without being too dense or overly reductive. Bogutskaya deftly details the nine archetypes and how they have been represented in a variety of movies and television. I especially love the Mean Girl and the Angry Girl chapters. I’ll admit that this book was completely illuminating for me because of my past studies and general reading, but I did enjoying reading this book.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Currently #21

Reading: So close to finishing The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers for Nerdy Bookish Friends book club. It’s such a weird book but I am enjoying it.

Watching: We finished Loki S2 and I definitely started tearing up at the end. I’m super sad that this is the end of Loki, but it’s a beautiful ending for the character.

Listening: Still trucking along through old episodes of 99PI. I’m put to the end of 2016. Only about 250 episodes to go.

Making: The kids in coop are working on their board games. I’m helping them create supply lists for their games.

Feeling: Loving the lower temps and cozy vibes. I’m all about sweater weather, but I’m usually way too hot.

Planning: Working on planning my Holiday reads TBR. Lots of good choices for this year.

Loving: The coop gained two new families with week. While they won’t join Thursday meetings until January, they’ve officially joined the group. We hope to see them at an extra event soon.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W12: Not Much Book Work Happened...

What We Studied

Another week full of activities that impeded on our book work. We managed to find two mornings to focus on book work. In looking at the next week, we’re going to have the same thing happen. Oh well. Right now we’re all about the activities.

Quentin’s Math, ELA, and Spider Unit

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is all in with reading Tristan Strong Destroys the World. It’s number two in the series. B&R has the first book in its curriculum for grade 4, but we’ve already read it. So I’m just adapting. We are enjoying this sequel. Beyond the actual literature, we are working on some basic grammar skills and starting our writing journey. He also continued his Super Secret Notebook from Blossom & Root.

• Poetry for Young People: American Poetry

• Reading Explorer: Intro

• Tristan Strong Destroys the World by Kwame Mbalia

Quentin read books about bats in honor of our coop themes and the time of the year. He also worked on some basic grammar.

• Sing a Song of Seasons

• Fairy Tales Collection

• The Other Side of the Story

• Mr. Bat Wants a Hat by Kitty Black

• Amara and the Bats by Emma Reynolds

• I Am Bat by Morag Hood

• The Bat Book by Charlotte Milner

• Bat Colonies by Karen Latchana Kenney

• Bat Count by Anna Forrester

• Bats Biggest! Littlest! by Sandra Markle

• Bats in the Band by Brian Lies

• Bats at the Ballgame by Brian Lies

• Bats at the Library by Brian Lies

• Good Night, Bat! Good Morning, Squirrel! by Paul Meisel

• Little Bat in Night School by Brian Lies

• It's Raining Bats and Frogs by Rebecca Colby

Chemistry Class

Math

Arthur continued to dive into Singapore 5A. We are definitely going to slow down our math lessons a bit to make sure that Arthur achieves mastery. These past weeks, the units were very much a review of decimals and fractions. We also continued our next logic book.

• Singapore Common Core 5A

• Orbiting with Logic

Quentin continued with the Tinkeractive Math Book and worked through about a third of it this week. We’re all about review right now. I don’t anticipate starting Singapore 2A until January. We also continued our logic book.

• Lollipop Logic Book 3

• Tinkeractive Math Grade 1

Social Studies

Arthur covered the beginning of the immigration unit with a discussion of the waves before and right after the Civil War.

• DK American History

• We were There Too! Young People in US History

• Words that Build a Nation

• Heart and Soul

• Nat Geo Our Country’s Presidents

• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States

• This is Our Land: A History of American Immigration

• Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Park

Quentin finished exploring Egypt. We focused on daily life and the myths and stories. Next week, we’ll move on to Mesoamerica. So much to learn and explore!

• History Quest Early Times

• DK When on Earth?

• Human Wold

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK A Child Through Time

• A History of Western Art

• DK Science Year by Year

• DK Myths, Legends, and Sacred Stories

• Ancient Worlds by Miranda Smith

• Nat Geo Investigates: Ancient Egypt by Jill Rubalcaba

• Egypt in Spectacular Cross Section

• Ancient Egypt by Jinny Johnson

• DK Eyewitness Ancient Egypt

• Hieroglyphs by Joyce Milton

• What Did the Ancient Egyptians Do for Me? by Patrick Catel

• Tales of Ancient Egypt by Roger Lancelyn Green

Science

Arthur learned about Periodic Groups this week. We did an experiment about the difference Sodium and Potassium.

• RSO Chemistry

• DK Super Simple Chemistry

• Story of Science Vol. 2: Newton at the Center by Joy Hakim

• DK The Elements

Quentin got back into RSO Life with a unit on Arthropods and specifically arachnids. Q really got into spiders!

• RSO Life

• DK Oversimple Biology

• Are You a Spider by Judy Allen

• Frank the Seven-Legged Spider by Michaele Razi

• The Spider and the Fly by Mary Howl

• Spiders! Strange and Wonderful by Laurence Pringle

• The Eeensy Weensy Spider Freaks Out by Troy Cummings

Board Games at a Coffeehouse

STEAM Coop

Arthur continued his exploration of board games. By the end of the six weeks, the kids will have created their own board games. We learned about the elements of games and created a rough and dirty race-to-the-end game as an example. Quentin’s class finished their theme on government.

STEM Day

Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking/Documentary

None this week. Maybe next week…

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

• Modern Art Adventures by Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw

• 13 American Artists Children Should Know

• A Child's Introduction to Art

• Women in Art by Rachel Ignotofsky

• We are Artists by Kari Herbert

Field Trip

We had a field trip planned for Tuesday, but it completely fell apart at the last minute. The boys and I pivoted and went to one of the new parks. We played for a few hours before continuing with our planned day.

On Wednesday, we got to participate in DoSpace’s STEM Day. The kids cycled through four different topics and projects through the morning. They learned about hydroponics, rockets, robots, and DNA. The logistics were a little messy, but we had a good time.

Making a board game at coop

High

We had a successful meeting with a new coop family coupled with the boys playing a few board games with their friend. We followed that up with a board game meet-up with some coop friends.

Quentin’s Math and Bats Unit

Low

A friend started a Pokemon group. We went, but it was so draining for me. I know the boys had fun, but my goodness, I was so tired afterward. Hopefully this will get better as the kids really learned to play.

Quentin’s Egypt

Arthur’s ELA and Math

Next Week

• Finishing Tristan Strong?

• Covering more classic tales

• Reviewing multiplying and dividing fractions (A)

• Lots of math review (Q)

• Move to Meosamerica for Q’s History

• Moving into industrialization for A’s History

• Covering more of the Periodic Table

Pokemon Club

Next up on the TBR pile:

Music Monday - Bad Omens "The Death of Peace of Mind"

I keep going back to Bad Omens… Guess I’m really digging their sound.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Life Right Now #33

As I look outside my window: After weeks where our backyard tree stayed green with just a tinge of red on one side. In two days, all of the leaves dropped. I didn’t get my beautiful red tree this year. Feeling a bit sad…

Right now I am: Pulling out my book for my normal Sunday morning reading time. I haven’t been able to do it for a few weeks and I miss it!

Thinking and pondering: Should we get donuts this morning? The eternal Sunday question…

On my bedside table: So many books! I have a stack of spicy romances to preread for Dirty Book Month, a few book club books, and a stack of Christmas romances. Not sure what I’m going to pick up next. First I need to actually finish my very strange but enjoyable book.

On my tv this week: We had to watch the S2 finale of Loki; it had me close to tears. And we have watched a few more Nicolas Cage movies to continue our retrospective.

Listening to: I managed to listen to multiple podcast episodes in the last few days. Nearing the end of S1 of Hello from the Magic Tavern, nearing the end of 2016 for 99PI, and continuing with a few of my currently airing podcasts like If Books Could Kill.

On the menu for this week:

• Monday - Pork and Green Chile Stew

• Tuesday - Spicy Thai Noodles

• Wednesday - Fettuccini Alfredo with Chicken, Bacon, and Broccoli

• Thursday - Leftovers

• Friday - Apple Bacon Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

• Saturday - Italian Beef Sandwiches

• Sunday - Peanut Sauce Chicken and Broccoli Bowls

On my to do list: Meh. I’m feeling very over my to do list right this second. I’m sure I have a ton of things to do, but I’m going to focus on prepping our curriculum and getting my Chemistry and Coop lessons set aside. Otherwise, I’m just existing this week.

Happening this week:

• Monday - Meeting with a potential coop family; Chemistry Class

• Tuesday - Kids’ Dentist Appointments; Book Club

• Wednesday - Playdate with a friend

• Thursday - Coop; Pirate Putt

• Friday - Nature Explorers at Fontenelle Forest

• Saturday - Kid Birthday Party

• Sunday - Breakfast Club

What I am creating: Nothing beyond piles… seriously I’m just making piles of clothes and things to get rid of. I don’t often do a spring cleanout. I do a before Christmas cleanout.

My simple pleasures: Hot tea, apple cider, Italian soda — apparently I was very thirty this week!

Looking around the house: Beyond the piles, I got a ton of the first floor back under control. I do want to vacuum today and get the laundry done, but otherwise, the house is in decent shape.

From the camera: Got my semiannual hair chop! So much lighter and able to get a bit of volume through the winter months.

Fall Bucket List Update #2

My favorite season of the year. We’re diving into the spooky season and planning on soaking up all the fall fun.

1. Visit Vala’s 6x ✓

2. Celebrate Friendsgiving

3. Read 50 Books - in progress

4. Complete Spooky Movie Month ✓

5. Execute a Halloween Party for Coop ✓

6. Have an Art/Craft Day

7. Three State Park Visists ✓

8. Two Zoo Visits

9. Pick Out and Carve Pumpkins ✓

10. Go Trick-or-Treating ✓

11. Jump in a Pile of Leaves

12. Go Through a Corn Maze ✓

13. Make 5 Fall Recipes

14. Make Leaf Art ✓

15. Go Pick Apples ✓

16. Go on a 3 Fall Forest Hikes (2/3)

17. Make 3 Pumpkin Recipes

18. Go Bowling

19. Use our GetOut Pass 2 Times

20. Decorate for Fall ✓

Next up on the TBR pile:

Wicked Bite by Jeaniene Frost

Title: Wicked Bite (Night Rebel #2)

Author: Jeaniene Frost

Publisher: Avon 2020

Genre: Romance

Pages: 371

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

Spice Rating: 5

Some promises are meant to be broken…

Veritas spent most of her life as a vampire Law Guardian. Now, she’s about to break every rule by secretly hunting down the dark souls that were freed in order to save Ian. But the risks are high. For if she gets caught, she could lose her job. And catching the sinister creatures might cost Veritas her own life.

Some vows are forever…

Ian’s memories might be fragmented, but this master vampire isn’t about to be left behind by the woman who entranced him, bound herself to him, and then disappeared. So what if demons, other Law Guardians, and dangerous, otherworldly forces stand against them? Come hell or high water, Ian intends to remind Veritas of the burning passion between them, because she is the only person seared on his mind—and his soul…

A fun continuation of Ian and Veritas’s story. I liked how we moved beyond the Dagon storyline from the original book. We get to see some more players and learn more about Veritas’s nature. Her love story with Ian continues to evolve while staying true to who both of them are. I would have liked a few more conversations between the two and less miscommunication, but I realize that it’s in both their natures to conceal their true plans from others. I’m excited to finish off their story with the last book in the trilogy.

Night Rebel

• #1 Shades of Wicked

• #2 Wicked Bite

• #3 Wicked All Night

Next up on the TBR pile:

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

• This week has been nonstop with activities. I need a break.

• Nic Cage November has been an interesting experiment. Slowly making our way through.

• Planning a very quiet very small reading weekend for February. There’s some cute options within 2 hours of here.

• I still need to clean out the clothes in my dresser. It’s been slow going.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Find Him Where You Left Him Dead by Kristen Simmons

Title: Find Him Where You Left Him Dead (Death Games #1)

Author: Kristen Simmons

Publisher: Tor Teen 2023

Genre: YA Horror

Pages: 272

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

Four years ago, five kids started a game. Not all of them survived.

Now, at the end of their senior year of high school, the survivors—Owen, Madeline, Emerson, and Dax—have reunited for one strange and terrible reason: they’ve been summoned by the ghost of Ian, the friend they left for dead.

Together they return to the place where their friendship ended with one goal: find Ian and bring him home. So they restart the deadly game they never finished—an innocent card-matching challenge called Meido. A game without instructions.

As soon as they begin, they're dragged out of their reality and into an eerie hellscape of Japanese underworlds, more horrifying than even the darkest folktales that Owen's grandmother told him. There, they meet Shinigami, an old wise woman who explains the rules:

They have one night to complete seven challenges or they'll all be stuck in this world forever.

Once inseparable, the survivors now can’t stand each other, but the challenges demand they work together, think quickly, and make sacrifices—blood, clothes, secrets, memories, and worse.

And once again, not everyone will make it out alive.

This was strange and weird and gory. Usually I would love those adjectives when describing a horror book, but ultimately this one wasn’t really for me. We’re thrown right into this story with little set-up. I had a little trouble connecting to the four main characters and getting their backstories straight to understand their current situation. From there, the game starts. I didn’t mind not knowing the rules. What I minded was the fact that I could never really get a sense of the setting and action. The writing was really unclear at times. I never could really see the story in my head. From that, I was annoyed. And the characters themselves. Too whiny, too closed off, not enough growth for anyone over the course of the novel. Plus there was a big subplot about the Empress character that just never went anywhere. Not my cup of tea.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The September House by Carissa Orlando

Title: The September House

Author: Carissa Orlando

Publisher: Barley 2023

Genre: Horror

Pages: 344

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

When Margaret and her husband Hal bought the large Victorian house on Hawthorn Street—for sale at a surprisingly reasonable price—they couldn’t believe they finally had a home of their own. Then they discovered the hauntings. Every September, the walls drip blood. The ghosts of former inhabitants appear, and all of them are terrified of something that lurks in the basement. Most people would flee. 

Margaret is not most people. 

Margaret is staying. It’s her house. But after four years Hal can’t take it anymore, and he leaves abruptly. Now, he’s not returning calls, and their daughter Katherine—who knows nothing about the hauntings—arrives, intent on looking for her missing father. To make things worse, September has just begun, and with every attempt Margaret and Katherine make at finding Hal, the hauntings grow more harrowing, because there are some secrets the house needs to keep.

Another new random book from the library. I had to sneak in a few more spooky books even if it is November now. This one did not disappoint. I was creeped out by the first chapter. We’re told about this house in snippets and flashbacks injected with Margaret’s very detached narration. The events that she recounts are certainly creepy, but are they real? I was desperate to find to the answer to that question. And the book does not disappoint. We get an answer by the end, and it’s a good one. This is very horror filled and not for the feint of heart.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W11: Back to a Semblance of Normal

Art and Music Books

What We Studied

I think that I’ve accepted that this past week is going to be a new normal. We just don’t have enough hours in a week to shove everything in and I need to make some cuts. Basically, I have slowed down our book work to continue our nature hikes, extra coop activities, and errands. At some point I have to actually go to the grocery store and the library. We made time for all of that this week and I don’t feel like our school work completely disappeared. This year has really been about adjusting expectations with two kids doing full-time work.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is all in with reading Tristan Strong Destroys the World. It’s number two in the series. B&R has the first book in its curriculum for grade 4, but we’ve already read it. So I’m just adapting. We are enjoying this sequel. Beyond the actual literature, we are working on some basic grammar skills and starting our writing journey. He also continued his Super Secret Notebook from Blossom & Root.

• Poetry for Young People: American Poetry

• Reading Explorer: Intro

• Tristan Strong Destroys the World by Kwame Mbalia

Quentin covered the B&R theme of Tell it in Three with books on the Goldilocks and Three Little Pigs fairy tales. He loved them! We also did a mini unit on pumpkins. He also worked on some basic grammar.

• Sing a Song of Seasons

• Fairy Tales Collection

• The Three Bears by Paul Galdone

• Goldilocks and the Three Knocks by Gregory Barrington

• Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas by Natasha Yim

• Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs by Mo Willems

• The Other Side of the Story

• You Choose: Goldilocks and the Three Bears

• The Three Little Pigs by Paul Galdone

• The Three Little Pigs by Barry Moser

• The Three Little Pigs by James Marshall

• The Three Wolves and the Big Bad Pig by Eugene Trivizas

• The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka

• Three Three Superpigs by Claire Evans

• The Three Swingin' Pigs by Vicky Rubin

• It's Not the Three Little Pigs by Josh Funk

• The Three Little Pigs and the Somewhat Bad Wolf by Mark Teague

• The Three Little Javelinas by Susan Lowell

• Let's Celebrate Halloween by J. Patrick Lewis

• The Pumpkin Mystery by Carol Wallace

• Pumpkin. by Jackie Lee

• Ten Little Pumpkins by Rosie Greening

• Pumpkin Heads by Wendell Minor

• When Pumpkins Fly by Margaret Lawrence

• The Bumpy Little Pumpkin by Margery Cuyler

• The Great Zombie Pumpkin Parade by Robert Burleigh

• Flat Stanley and the Missing Pumpkins by Lori Haskins Houran

• Mystery Vine by Cathryn Falwell

• Rocket and the Perfect Pumpkin by Tad Hills

• Oh My, Pumpkin Pie by Charles Ghigna

• Duck, Duck, Dinosaur: Perfect Pumpkin by Kallie George

• Pumpkin Day by Candice Ransom

• Mr. Pumpkin's Tea Party by Erin Barker

• A Unicorn Named Sparkles and the Pumpkin Monster by Amy Young

• Pumpkin Trouble by Jan Thomas

• Let's Explore Pumpkins by Jill Colella

• The Great Pumpkin Contest by Angie Rozelaar

• Runaway Pumpkins by Teresa Bateman

• 10 Spooky Pumpkins by Cris Grimly

• The Runaway Pumpkin by Kevin Lewis

• It's a Pumpkin by Wendy McClure

Ancient Egypt

ELA/Math and Goldliocks Books

Math

Arthur continued to dive into Singapore 5A. We are definitely going to slow down our math lessons a bit to make sure that Arthur achieves mastery. These past weeks, the units were very much a review of decimals and fractions. We also continued our next logic book.

• Singapore Common Core 5A

• Orbiting with Logic

Quentin started a Tinkeractive Math Book and worked through about half of it this week. We’re all about review right now. I don’t anticipate starting Singapore 2A until January. We also continued our logic book.

• Lollipop Logic Book 3

• Tinkeractive Math Grade 1

Happy Halloween!

The Great Candy Sort of 2023 (complete with math lesson)

Social Studies

Arthur covered cowboys vs. farmers and the end of the west for this week’s history. Our next big unit is all about Industrialization, Immigration, and Urbanization. We’re getting to my favorite time period in U.S. History.

• DK American History

• We were There Too! Young People in US History

• Words that Build a Nation

• Heart and Soul

• Nat Geo Our Country’s Presidents

• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States

• Which Way to the Wild West by Steve Sheinkin

• Bill Pickett: Rodeo-Riding' Cowboy by Andrea D. Pinkney

• Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Park

Quentin continued exploring Egypt. We focused on the famous pharaohs. We have one more week in Egypt before we cross an ocean to Mesoamerica. So much to learn and explore!

• History Quest Early Times

• DK When on Earth?

• Human Wold

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK A Child Through Time

• A History of Western Art

• DK Science Year by Year

• DK Myths, Legends, and Sacred Stories

• Ancient Worlds by Miranda Smith

• Tut’s Mummy Lost and Found by Judy Donnelly

• Howard's Mummy: Howard Carter and the Search for King Tut's Tomb by Tracey Fern

• Nat Geo Investigates: Ancient Egypt by Jill Rubalcaba

• Egypt in Spectacular Cross Section

• Ancient Egypt by Jinny Johnson

• DK Eyewitness Ancient Egypt

• Tutankhamun by Demi

• The Pharaoh’s Boat by David Weitzman

• Pharaohs and Dynasties of Ancient Egypt by Kristine Carlson Asselin

• Hatshepsut: His Majesty, Herself by Catherine M. Andronik

Science

Arthur covered another chapter in our Story of Science. This was our break week from Chemistry class. We’ll get back into the periodic table next week.

• RSO Chemistry

• DK Super Simple Chemistry

• Story of Science Vol. 2: Newton at the Center by Joy Hakim

• DK The Elements

• The Periodic Table of Elements by Jenny Karpelenia

Quentin got back into RSO Life with a unit on Arthropods and specifically insects.

• RSO Life

• DK Oversimple Biology

• Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert

• Are You a Ladybug by Judy Allen

• Are You a Butterfly by Judy Allen

• Are You a Grasshopper by Judy Allen

• Are You a Dragonfly by Judy Allen

• Are You a Bee by Judy Allen

• Becoming a Butterfly by Karen Wallace

• Nat Geo Kids: Great Migrations Butterflies by Laura Marsh

• Insects by the Numbers by Steven Jenkins

• Wild Kratts: Wild Insects and Spiders! by Martin Kratt and Christ Kratt

• Insects and Spiders by Christine Taylor Butler

• Bug Off! Creepy, Crawly Poems by Jane Yolen

• Insects Biggest! Littles! by Sandra Markle

• My Life as a Monarch Butterfly by John Sazaklis

• Insect Detective by Steve Voake

• B is for Bee y Catherine Ipcizade

• Ants Don't Wear Pants by Kevin McCloskey

• Insects by Seymour Simon

• Small Wonders: Jean-Henri Fabre & His World of Insects by Matthew Clark Smith

• Butterflies are Pretty Gross by Rosemary Mosco

• Bugs are Insects by Anne Rockwell

• How to Build an Insect by Roberta Gibson

• One Million Insects by Isabel Thomas

• DK Eyewitness Insect

A’s Math, ELA, and History

STEAM Coop

Arthur started his exploration of board games. By the end of the six weeks, the kids will have created their own board games. I taught this week and focused on “What is a game” and the History of Board Games. The kids got to play some ancient board games. Quentin’s class started their theme on government. They learned about the city council and pretended to vote on some issues.

Q’s Math and Tell It in Three (Three Little Pigs)

Q’s Insect Unit

Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking/Documentary

I actually fit in art and music this week! I’m so excited. We actually covered two artists (Amrita Sher-Gill and Oscar Howe) and two musicians (Miles Davis and Camille Saint Saens). The boys really enjoyed heir free art time this week.

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

• Modern Art Adventures by Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw

• 13 American Artists Children Should Know

• A Child's Introduction to Art

• Women in Art by Rachel Ignotofsky

• We are Artists by Kari Herbert

• Amrita Sher-Gil: Rebel with a Paintbrush by Anita Vachharajani

• Birth of the Cool: How Jazz Great Miles Davis Found His Sound by Kathleen Cornell Berman

• Looking for Bird in the Big City by Robert Burleigh

• Welcome to Jazz: A Swing-along Celebration of America's Music by Carolyn Sloan

• The Carnival of the Animals by Jack Prelutsky

• Carnival of the Animals: Poems Inspired by Saint Saens' Music edited by Judith Chernaik

Q’s Insect Unit (Part 2)

Miss Allyson teaching Q chess

Field Trip

No proper field trip this week, but we did have the Coop Halloween Party on Halloween. The organizers secured an indoor space as it was freezing that day! The kids got to do some crafts and trick-or-treat indoors while hanging out with their friends. That night, I did take the boys trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. We also got in a nature hike on Friday. It was the perfect temperature. We definitely needed a bit of outdoor exercise time.

Playing the Royal Game of Ur

Q’s Math and Pumpkin Unit

High and Low

After coop, I took the boys to the Library Book Sale to use their Summer Reading Programs coupons for a free book. I forgot that the library does not take credit cards so we couldn’t really dig into the shelves (My Low). We took our three books up to the checkout where the ladies told us that each coupon actually gets us three kids books! So we went back and got a few more. Thank you to the library ladies for helping us out and getting more books that we were anticipating. I’m planning on getting some cash from the ATM and going back this week after coop. I saw some brand new workbooks and summer bridge books and hope they will still be there (I’m sure they will be…).

Q’s Pumpkin Unit (Part 2)

Next Week

• Continuing Tristan Strong

• Covering more classic tales

• Reviewing multiplying and diving fractions (A)

• Lots of math review (Q)

• Finishing Egypt for Q’s History

• Moving into industrialization for A’s History

• Covering more of the Periodic Table

• Learning about spiders and bats

• Hitting the Library Book Sale again!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Music Monday - Lacey Sturm feat. Lindsey Stirling "Breathe with Me"

Two powerhouses together! I love it!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Life Right Now #32

As I look outside my window: The temperatures have increased and we’re back to the high 50s and low 60s.

Right now I am: Deciding what to make for brunch. I have sausage and eggs, but what else? Maybe cranberry orange muffins? Or lemon poppy seed scones?

On my bedside table: Rest of the Night Rebel series by Jeaniene Frost; The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers

On my tv this week: We started our Nic Cage November this week. Multiple movies in and we’re loving it.

Listening to: Nothing much this week. I’ve just been putting my Apple Music on shuffle while in the car.

On the menu for this week:

• Monday - Pomegranate Chicken

• Tuesday - Leftovers/Snack Dinner

• Wednesday - Lemon Butter Shrimp and Asparagus

• Thursday - Apple-Cheddar Stuffed Chicken

• Friday - Pork and Green Chile Stew

• Saturday - BLT Pasta Salad

• Sunday - Kofta Patties

On my to do list: Hmm… Guess I need to look at my brain dump.

Happening this week:

• Monday - Chemistry Class

• Tuesday - Squirrel House Jail Tour; Coop Happy Hour

• Wednesday - DoSpace STEM Day; Board Games at a Friend’s

• Thursday - Coop; Me Haircut

• Friday - Hasta La Muerte at The Orpheum

• Saturday - Home Day

• Sunday - Home Day

What I am creating: Still working on my September Memory Planner pages.

Looking around the house: I really need to clean up some stuff in preparation for Monday’s chemistry.

From the camera: A neighbor had a fun claw machine for the kids to play on Halloween. The kids got three tries to get something. Quentin managed to grab one of the cauldrons. Arthur didn’t get anything but the guy had extra candy for him.

Shades of Wicked by Jeaniene Frost

Title: Shades of Wicked (Night Rebel #1)

Author: Jeaniene Frost

Publisher: Avon 2018

Genre: Romance

Pages: 370

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

Spice Rating: 6

The Rule Breaker...

Master vampire Ian is unrepentant, shameless…and every shade of wicked. He’s made one too many enemies in his two centuries of existence, including Dagon, a demon who now lays claim to his soul. Ian’s only chance to escape Dagon is to join forces with a Law Guardian, but he's never been able to abide by the rules for long.

The Law Maker...

Veritas’ normal role is police, judge, and jury to reprobates like Ian. But she has her own ax to grind with Dagon, so if she can use Ian as bait...well, all’s fair in law and war. As they scour supernatural hotspots to perfect their trap, Veritas soon realizes Ian’s carefully cultivated, devil-may-care roguish image hides something much more powerful. And Ian discovers Veritas has shocking secrets of her own. As they’re drawn to each other with a passion as intense as their peril, either love or justice will prevail. But each will have devastating consequences.

Finally, finally, finally we get Ian’s story! I got super excited when his storyline got teased in Vlad’s quartet. I was hoping for a good romance adventure that didn’t nerf Ian’s quirky and rebellious nature. Thankfully, this is still Ian. He’s still brash and at times grating. But darn it, he’s still so incredibly hot. Pairing him with Veritas is genius. We have to have a strong female character to go up against Ian. Their romance is delightful. Beyond that, I really enjoyed the adventure story. The battle with the demon is perfect! I can’t wait to see where their story goes next. This book is great fun!

Night Rebel

• #1 Shades of Wicked

• #2 Wicked Bite

• #3 Wicked All Night

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Dragon's Bride by Katee Robert

Title: The Dragon’s Bride (A Deal with a Demon #1)

Author: Katee Robert

Publisher: Trinkets & Tales 2022

Genre: Romance

Pages: 179

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Romanceopoly - Haunted House (Monster Romance)

Spice Rating: 6

Briar Rose might have a name out of a storybook, but she learned at a very young age that no prince was coming to save her. She’ll have to save herself. Unfortunately, even that is an impossible task in her current situation—trapped in a terrifying marriage to a dangerous man.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, which is how she finds herself making a deal with a demon. Freedom from her husband…in return for seven years of service.

She expects the service to be backbreaking and harsh. She doesn’t expect to be put on an auction block in a room full of literal monsters and sold to the highest bidder.

To Sol. A dragon.

He might seem kinder than his fearsome looks imply, but she knows better than to trust the way he wants to take care of her, or how invested he is in her pleasure. In her experience, if something seems too good to be true, it certainly is.

Falling for Sol is out of the question. She’s suffered enough, and she has no intention of staying in this realm…even if she leaves her heart behind when she returns to her normal life.

Unlike yesterday’s 3 star book, I liked this one much more. But I still ended up coming to the end of this book with a general air of meh. We first meet the demon bargainer in another one of Robert’s book. I was intrigued but the setup of the auction of the various women in exchange for a favor. I’m glad to read about one of those women’s story in this book. Briar has so much trauma and I really connected to her anxiety and trepidation about getting involved in someone else. Sol creates a safe space for Briar to heal. All of those parts, I really enjoyed. The actual romance I enjoyed less. The sex scenes are often very strange. I don’t mean the monster-human pairing, I’m referring to the tone. The tone is often very weird and I wasn’t quite buying into the sexual attraction. Oh well. Maybe the next one will be more my style.

A Deal with a Demon

• #1 The Dragon’s Bride

• #2 The Kraken’s Sacrifice

• #3 The Gargoyle’s Captive

• #4 The Succubus’s Prize

• #5 The Demon’s Bargain

Next up on the TBR pile:

Brutal Prince by Sophie Lark

Title: Brutal Prince (Brutal Birthright #1)

Author: Sophie Lark

Publisher: Bloom Books 2020

Genre: Romance

Pages: 304

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Fall TBR

Spice Rating: 5

The Griffins and the Gallos have been battling for control of Chicago’s underworld for generations.

Their bitter rivalry reignites when Aida, the youngest and wildest Gallo sibling, crashes a party at the Griffin mansion, accidentally setting fire to the library.

To stave off all-out war, her father arranges a marriage with Callum Griffin, eldest son and heir.

Cold, ambitious, and brutal, Callum is determined to tame his headstrong bride. Aida is more than capable of giving as good as she gets – starting with poisoning Callum on their wedding night.

In their struggle for dominance, who will break first?

Pretty disappointed in this one. I was hoping for a good spicy romance with fun characters, an enemies-to-lovers setup, and spicy sex scenes. What I got was the pretty icky trope of forced marriage (forced by their families) with some episodes of dubious consent. Throw in an age-gap, which I’m not always opposed to, and I was not here for it at all. The age gap is now quite as much of a concern to me as the maturity gap. I wanted to like Aida so much, but she spent most of the book very horny for her husband while simultaneously acting like a spoiled teenager. But also constantly talking about how independent and mature she is. Spoiler alert, she’s not. I just couldn’t root for her at all. And then Lark decided to throw in some commentary about being sex positive. I do not have issues with being sex positive. I wanted to see communication and empowerment happening within characters. I did not see that at all. This was a contender for dirty book month, but I’m definitely crossing it off my list now.

Brutal Birthright

• #1 Brutal Prince

• #2 Stolen Heir

• #3 Savage Lover

• #4 Bloody Heart

• #5 Broken Vow

• #6 Heavy Crown

Next up on the TBR pile:

November 2023 Life Goals

Let’s check in on October’s goals and my progress.

• Read 18 Books ✓

• Figure Out Christmas Plans

• Visit Vala’s 5x ✓

• Make a TBR for the Rest of the Year ✓

November Goals:

• Read 18 Books

• Have a Great Thanksgiving

• Finish Cleaning Out My Clothes

• Make Christmas Plans

Next up on the TBR pile:

October 2023 Wrap-up

October TBR Pile (25/26):

1. Bookworms BC: A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher (already read)

2. Friend BC: Savage Appetites by Rachel Monroe ✓

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas ✓

4. Kid Read Aloud: Echo Mountain by Lauren Wolk ✓

5. Kid Read Aloud: Finding Langston by Lesa Cline-Ransome ✓

6. Kid Read Aloud: In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse by Joseph M. Marshall III ✓

7. Kid Book Club: Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mulllaly Hunt ✓

8. Fantasy: A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas ✓

9. Fantasy: The Seventh Bride by T. Kingfisher ✓

10. Fantasy: Beanstalker and Other Hilarious Scarytales by Kiersten White ✓

11. Fantasy: Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher ✓

12. Fantasy: The Thorns Remain by JJA Harwood ✓

13. Fantasy: White Cat by Holly Black ✓

14. Fantasy: Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott ✓

15. Romance: Into the Fire by Jeaniene Frost ✓

16. Romance: The Prince & the Apocalypse by Kara McDowell ✓

17. Comics: Eat the Rich by Sarah Gailey ✓

18. Comics: Preacher Vol. 1 ✓

19. Mystery: Girls of Brackenhill by Kate Moretti ✓

20. Horror: Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie ✓

21. Horror: This Delicious Death by Kayla Cottingham ✓

22. Horror: The Ghost Tree by Christina Henry ✓

23. Horror: Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw ✓

24. Horror: Starling House by Alix E. Harrow ✓

25. Horror: Those We Drown by Amy Goldsmith ✓

26. Horror: Goblin by Josh Malerman ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 8098 pages
Pages Remaining: 286,801 pages

Current Read - The September House by Carissa Orlando; The Dragon’s Bride by Katee Robert; Brutal Prince by Sophie Lark

Books I Gave Up On (0)

Books Bought/Received (3) - I keep debating about canceling my BOTM subscription and then they have another month like this one. I ended up buying three books this month:

• Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

• The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young

• The Fragile Threads of Power by VE Schwab

UnRead Shelf Progress

• Starting Number: 338

• Books Read: 2

• Books Acquired: 3

• Books Unshelved: 0

• Finishing Number: 339

November TBR Pile:

1. Bookworms BC: All Systems Red by Martha Wells

2. Friend BC: Underground Airlines by Ben Winters

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers

4. Kid Read Aloud: Tristan Strong Destroys the World by Kwame Mbalia

5. Kid Book Club: From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks

6. Romance: Brutal Prince by Sophie Lark

7. Romance: A Delicate Deception by Cat Sebastian

8. Romance: Secretly Yours by Tessa Bailey

9. Romance: Unfortunately Yours by Tessa Bailey

10. Romance: Love of My Lives by Yamille Saied Mendez

11. Romance: The Wake-Up Call by Beth O’Leary

12. Romance: Wicked All Night by Jeaniene Frost

13. Romance: Wicked Bite by Jeaniene Frost

14. Horror: Find Him Where You Left Him Dead by Kristen Simmons

15. Horror: The September House by Carissa Orlando

16. Nonfiction: Unlikeable Female Characters by Anna Bogutskaya

17. Comics: Preacher Vol. 2

18. Comics: Preacher Vol. 3

19. Comics: Preacher Vol. 4

Movies Watched

• Final Girls

• The Seventh Seal

• Don’t Worry Darling

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

• The Lodger

• Crawl

• Scout’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse

• Candyman (1992)

• The Wicker Man

• Totally Killer

• Sympathy for the Devil

• The Hidden

• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

• The Platform

• Candyman (2021)

• The Haunted Mansion

TV Shows Watched

• Werewolf by Night

• Lower Decks

• Archer

• Preacher S2

• Below Deck: Med S

• Only Murders in the Building S3

• The Great British Bake-Off S14

• Loki S2

• Bachelor in Paradise

Comments - Wow! Another huge month for my reading and our media watching. I knocked out many spooky books to fit my theme and found some gems among them. J and I complete our spooky movie month with a very decent showing of 17 movies.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W10: What Happened to My Weeks?

What We Studied

This is actually a recap of two weeks: one normal week and one flex week. But, I’m really asking myself, What happened to my weeks? Everything seemed to just go off the rails these past two weeks and I wanted to get back on track. School work was all over the place. Everyone was stupid exhausted. And scheduled kept changing everyday. Not a fan. Here’s hoping we can get it together for this week.

Quentin’s Owl Unit

Arthur’s Monday ELA and Math

Literature and Poetry

Arthur wrapped up the unit on Langston Hughes with lots more poetry and a new picture book. We also started reading Tristan Strong Destroys the World. It’s number two in the series. B&R has the first book in its curriculum for grade 4, but we’ve already read it. So I’m just adapting. Unfortunately, we didn’t get very far at all. Her'e’s hoping we make some progress next week. Beyond the actual literature, we are working on some basic grammar skills and starting our writing journey. He also continued his Super Secret Notebook from Blossom & Root.

• Poetry for Young People: American Poetry

• Poetry for Young People: Langston Hughes

• Reading Explorer: Intro

• Tristan Strong Destroys the World by Kwame Mbalia

• There was a Party for Langston: King O' Letters by Jason Reynolds

Quentin first covered a unit theme about owls for his reading. We then moved onto starting B&R Level 1 Language Arts. We introduced the concept of fairy tales and covered two different themes. He also worked on some basic grammar.

• Sing a Song of Seasons

• Where I Live: Poems About My Home, My Street, and My Town

• Owls by Gail Gibbons

• Berkeley’s Barn Owl Dance by Tera Johnson and Tania Howells

• Whobert, Whoever Owl Detective by Jason Gallaher

• Knight Owl by Christopher Denise

• Little Owl Lost by Chris Haughton

• Hooray for Today by Brian Won

• The Happy Owls by Celestino Piatti

• Owl Sees Owl by Laura Godwin and Rob Dunlavey

• Owl Moon by Jane Yolen

• Whoo-ku Haiku by Maria Gianferrari

• Otto the Owl Who Loved Poetry by Vern Kousky

• Good Luck Baby Owls by Giles and Alexandra Milton

• Owls are Good at Keeping Secrets by Sara O’Leary

• The Owl and Other Night Creatures

• Owls by Valerie Bodden

• Owl Babies by Martin Waddell

• Happy Owl-Oween by Laura Gehl

• Knight Owls by Eric Setlzer

• A Haunted Ghost Tour in Nebraska by Louise Martin

• The Turnip by Jan Brett

• The Gigantic Turnip by Aleksei Tolstoy

• The Giant Carrot by Jan Peck

• It Could Always Be Worse by Margot Zemach

Quentin’s ELA and Math

Arthur’s ELA and Quentin’s History

Math

Arthur continued to dive into Singapore 5A. We are definitely going to slow down our math lessons a bit to make sure that Arthur achieves mastery. These past weeks, the units were very much a review of decimals and fractions. We also continued our next logic book.

• Singapore Common Core 5A

• Orbiting with Logic

Quentin finished Singapore 1B with a unit on math to 120.We will be taking a short break between levels to do a Tinkeractive Book and finish our math packets.. We also continued our logic book.

• Lollipop Logic Book 3

• Singapore Common Core 1B

Social Studies

Arthur continued through the passage of time with a few weeks on the Transcontinental Railroad and conflicts with the Native Americans.

• DK American History

• We were There Too! Young People in US History

• Words that Build a Nation

• Heart and Soul

• Nat Geo Our Country’s Presidents

• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States

• Which Way to the Wild West by Steve Sheinkin

• In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse by Joseph M. Marshall III

• The Transcontinental Railroad by John Perritano

• Ten Mile Day and the Building of the Transcontinental Railroad by Mary Ann Fraser

Quentin dove into Egypt. We will be sticking to that civilization for the next few weeks also. So much to learn and explore!

• History Quest Early Times

• DK When on Earth?

• Human Wold

• DK History

• DK Timelines of Everything

• DK A Child Through Time

• A History of Western Art

• DK Science Year by Year

• DK Myths, Legends, and Sacred Stories

• Find the Journeys Around the World by David Long

• Mummies, Pyramids, and Pharaohs by Gail Gibbons

• Nat Geo Investigates: Ancient Egypt by Jill Rubalcaba

• Egypt in Spectacular Cross Section

• Ancient Worlds by Miranda Smith

• Ancient Egypt by Jinny Johnson

• DK Eyewitness Ancient Egypt

• DK Eyewitness Pyramid

• 20 Fun Facts About the Great Pyramid by Kristen Rajczak

• Pyramids of Ancient Egypt by Christopher Forest

• What Did the Ancient Egyptians Do for Me? by Patrick Catel

• Nat Geo Investigates: Ancient Egypt by Jill Rubalcaba

• Who Built the Pyramid? by Meredith Hooper

• Mummy Cat by Marcus Ewert

• The Mummy Makers of Egypt by Tamara Bower

Science

Arthur explored more of the periodic table and atom basics. We also covered another chapter in our Story of Science. At chemistry class, they built elements and learned about how changing the combination of elements changes the outcome.

• RSO Chemistry

• DK Super Simple Chemistry

• Story of Science Vol. 2: Newton at the Center by Joy Hakim

• DK The Elements

• The Periodic Table of Elements by Jenny Karpelenia

Quentin ended up not covering any units from RSO Life these two weeks. He did get some great clouds and weather lessons from coop, so that’s okay. We’ll catch up soon.

• RSO Life

• DK Oversimple Biology

Quentin’s Turnip Stories, Poetry, and Math

Arthur’s ELA and Math

STEAM Coop

Arthur finished art mediums with two weeks spent exploring watercolors. He really got excited by the projects. Quentin covered clouds and weather. His favorite part was making a glittery red tornado bottle. .

Art/Music/Crafts/Cooking/Documentary

And I continued not fitting in these subjects. I just could’t seem to get it to fit in our schedueles. I suspect this will be an issue until November, but hoping we can slide it in at least half of the weeks.

• DK Music and How it Works

• DK The Arts

• Modern Art Adventures by Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw

• 13 American Artists Children Should Know

• A Child's Introduction to Art

• Women in Art by Rachel Ignotofsky

• We are Artists by Kari Herbert

Arthur’s ELA and Math featuring Langston Hughes Unit

Arthur’s History

Field Trip

We did a fun free exploration day at Arbor Day Farm with coop friends. We really love it there. The kids enjoy the nature classroom and treehouses. Unfortunately, the trampoline had been taken down. I assume that it needed to be replaced. Just annoyed that the website didn’t notate that. The kids very disappointed about running full out to the treehouses and realizing that the trampoline wasn’t there.

Quentin’s Egypt Unit

Quentin’s ELA

High

We finished our season of visits at Vala’s. Our total for September and October was eight visits. Many rides were ridden and ciders were drunk. We had tons of fun. Until next year Vala’s.

Low

Constant schedule changes left me a bit of a mess. I really hate last minute changes to plans.

Next Week

• Continuing Tristran Strong

• Covering Tell It in Three as a read aloud theme

• Multiplying and diving fractions (A)

• Lots of math review (Q)

• Continuing Egypt for Q’s History

• Moving into cowboys and farmers for A’s History

• Covering more of the Periodic Table

• Learning about insects

• Having fun for Halloween!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Music Monday - Portugal The Man "Doubt"

Oh. Great new song from them!

Next up on the TBR pile: