Image source: Books, by shutterhacks It looks like everyone is scrambling to put together their homeschool curriculum for the year. We take it pretty easy at our house because my oldest is in Kindergarten, so most of our day involves digging in the dirt, climbing trees, playing with LEGOs, and reading books. Not much structured school time yet. But we do have a few homeschooling resources that … [Read more...]
The Carrots Classic Book Club: Brideshead Revisited Discussion Recap #1
A couple of weeks back, we had our first meeting of the Carrots Classic Book Club and discussed the beginning of Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited (you can see the whole discussion in the FB event). It’s a familiar read for me, my very favorite novel, but I still learned so much from you all. What jumped out at me the most is how masterful Waugh’s characters are. I feel like I know them because … [Read more...]
20 Picture Books That Will Delight Your Children (And That Won’t Annoy You)
This is a popular post from the archives that has been brushed up to share some of our favorite picture books! These are some tried and true titles that have passed an important test: we've read them hundreds of times to our kids and don't hate them yet (miraculous, no!?). The stories and illustrations of these books are enchanting and they have become classics in our household. Enjoy our list and … [Read more...]
A Flood of Earth-Shattering Events and a Few Things You Should Know About Books
What an exciting week! We're still on the road, but will be arriving home tonight after an amazing trip from Florida to New Orleans to Texas and back. We attended the wedding of a dear friend at the church where we were confirmed (and it was the first Catholic wedding we've ever been to!) Gorgeous wedding, glorious reception under the Texas stars. Then we got to visit my best friend's newborn … [Read more...]
A Un-bookish Reader’s Guide to Falling in Love with Fiction
Guest post by Mandi Richards Imagine the quintessential “bookish woman.” In your image, is she sitting next to the fire or in a comfy armchair with a cup of tea in hand? Is she reading Austen? Shakespeare? Fitzgerald? I am not that woman. I’m ambivalent toward tea at best. I love to read, but I’m much more likely to lose myself in war history than a classic. Not only do I struggle … [Read more...]
An ABCs of Must Read Children’s Book Authors
"I am almost inclined to set it up as a canon that a children's story which is enjoyed only by children is a bad children's story. The good ones last." -C.S. Lewis In solidarity with C.S. Lewis, author of The Chronicles of Narnia, I decided to compile a list of children's book authors that my children love and whose books I love reading aloud over and over. Instead of searching for new titles … [Read more...]
Books: The New Year’s Resolution I Actually Care About
I'm not big on New Year's resolutions. By this time of year, I've likely already forgotten them--unless they're about books. I love making a yearly list of reading goals, adding to it, and crossing off books when I finish them. This year I had so much fun seeing the reading lists everyone made to include in the Reading Goals for 2014 link up. But is anyone else already behind on their list? … [Read more...]
Short Stories Giveaway!
So I've talked about the unimpressive nature of modern Christian art/music, but there ARE some bright spots in the Catholic literary movement like the Tuscany Prize for Catholic Fiction. And....TA DA! I have a copy of the prize-winning short stories to give away to a lucky reader. Hurrah! And it's signed by one of the authors: Christie of Everything to Someone, so enter with the handy dandy … [Read more...]
Books Worth Having (A Great Giveaway of Usborne Books!)
While we're sharing about what we've read this year and looking ahead to what we'll read in the new year, I have a great giveaway of wonderful books from Usborne to share with you! When I was homeschooled (3rd-8th grade, I did a little bit of every kind of schooling), my mom would scour used bookstores for anything published by Usborne because they're such high quality books. As I'm starting to … [Read more...]
27 Picture Books for Advent and Christmas
This post contains Amazon affiliate links. I may be compensated for purchases made through these links, but all opinions are my own. It's been a couple of years since I wrote about picture books for Advent and Christmas and we have acquired so many more good ones to share with you! This year I'm going to wrap each book with wrapping paper so that the kids can unwrap one each morning of Advent. … [Read more...]
