June was a better reading month for me, as we downshifted from school around the 15th and fully entered into 'school lite' along with more downtime for me (yay!) and less driving (double yay!). I've taken my summer quite seriously so far this year and fully intend to really reap a lot of rest into my lax calendar.
The pandemic didn't really slow down our kids' activities, and my responsibilities as a homeschool parent, and this was our busiest year yet, surprisingly. I'm tired. I just want to read and sleep! I'm currently doing just that, and I love it. I read a surprising amount of poetry this past month and only have 1-2 books of poetry left on my To Be Read list for the next little while. One is on order from the library still, and another is one I have at home. Here are the books:
Nebraska by Kwame Dawes - I just have to be honest, I had our library buy this so I could read a book of poetry about my home state's weather. Dawes is a Caribbean transplant to a *very* cold state, and he infuses his poems with local weather along with places and images I recognize, and that just felt like comfort food to me.
The pandemic didn't really slow down our kids' activities, and my responsibilities as a homeschool parent, and this was our busiest year yet, surprisingly. I'm tired. I just want to read and sleep! I'm currently doing just that, and I love it. I read a surprising amount of poetry this past month and only have 1-2 books of poetry left on my To Be Read list for the next little while. One is on order from the library still, and another is one I have at home. Here are the books:
Nebraska by Kwame Dawes - I just have to be honest, I had our library buy this so I could read a book of poetry about my home state's weather. Dawes is a Caribbean transplant to a *very* cold state, and he infuses his poems with local weather along with places and images I recognize, and that just felt like comfort food to me.
Waterbaby by Nikki Wallschlaeger - This book of poetry was sassy, funny, uneasy, and fluid (see what I did there?), though the topics are hard and heavy in nature. I related most to her poems on motherhood and exhaustion, and found her biting humor to be laugh out loud funny at times. I've ordered her previous book of poetry, July, for our local library's collection as well, and it should be in soon.
The Call of the Wild + Free by Ainsley Arment - This was the only non-poetry book I finished this month and it was one I'd been reading on and off from the library for a few months. It's like an intro into hipster homeschooling. Hah! It was actually really good. It was very thorough, the design, photos, and illustrations are lovely, and even though Arment is typically an entrepreneur, podcaster, and speaker, her book translated well as opposed to bloggers who get published because they have a huge following.
I'd recommend this book to someone who is interested or curious about homeschooling, to anyone who needs a refreshing dose of encouragement along the journey.
An American Sunrise by Joy Harjo - I liked this book of Harjo's better than last month's because I could understand the poems more. They were a bit more concrete and accessible. There is so much imagery to the land of Harjo's tribe that is bittersweet and beautiful. It's haunting because she is returning to her family's tribal lands after being forcibly removed generations prior, and so while there is a deep connection, there is also a lost rift that can never be mended from lost time.
I'd recommend this book to someone who is interested or curious about homeschooling, to anyone who needs a refreshing dose of encouragement along the journey.
An American Sunrise by Joy Harjo - I liked this book of Harjo's better than last month's because I could understand the poems more. They were a bit more concrete and accessible. There is so much imagery to the land of Harjo's tribe that is bittersweet and beautiful. It's haunting because she is returning to her family's tribal lands after being forcibly removed generations prior, and so while there is a deep connection, there is also a lost rift that can never be mended from lost time.
Read Aloud to Kids
The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare - This novel from our Socials literature spine happened to be my kids' favorite novel of the year for school, and it should be! It won a Newberry Award for outstanding children's literature in 1962. You'd never know it was almost 60 years old, because it's set in Ancient Israel, at the time of the Roman occupation. It's a story of Daniel and his sister, and how he decides to proceed with his life and how he reconciles his past (as of a zealot looking to take over the Romans with violence) with his life of new responsibilities.
The White Isle by Caroline Dale Snedeker - This book was our final Socials literature study, on the early Roman inhabiting of what is now Great Britain. It describes what ancient travel looked like for the wealthy and the poor, along with who was living among these early Britons: not only tribes of [present day Scotland], but also the early Christian movement, too, and how so many landmarks and cities (Hadrian's Wall, the Roman Baths in Bath, England) came to be with a nod to the Holy Grail. It's a bit of a love story for older teens, and although my kids rolled their eyes quite a bit, it did keep their interest....!
The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare - This novel from our Socials literature spine happened to be my kids' favorite novel of the year for school, and it should be! It won a Newberry Award for outstanding children's literature in 1962. You'd never know it was almost 60 years old, because it's set in Ancient Israel, at the time of the Roman occupation. It's a story of Daniel and his sister, and how he decides to proceed with his life and how he reconciles his past (as of a zealot looking to take over the Romans with violence) with his life of new responsibilities.
The White Isle by Caroline Dale Snedeker - This book was our final Socials literature study, on the early Roman inhabiting of what is now Great Britain. It describes what ancient travel looked like for the wealthy and the poor, along with who was living among these early Britons: not only tribes of [present day Scotland], but also the early Christian movement, too, and how so many landmarks and cities (Hadrian's Wall, the Roman Baths in Bath, England) came to be with a nod to the Holy Grail. It's a bit of a love story for older teens, and although my kids rolled their eyes quite a bit, it did keep their interest....!
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