Favorite books in our suburban homeschool...

It's another busy year with homeschooling.  My kids also have the pleasure of going to a part-time hybrid public school program where we get the best of both worlds.  They are mostly homeschooled, but they can take classes and test into college and go for free at the community college while still in high school.  Plus, I no longer have to teach high school math to them, hallelujah!!! My younger ones go to a one-day enrichment program every week as well so we are all over the place!!!

I would love to share some books I love and couldn't live without.  I also have some new favorites.  If I posted every book I loved, the internet wouldn't be big enough, LOL!!!  So I will highlight just a few of my faves.

 
These books are written by William J. Bennett.  The Educated Child is an excellent resource to see what your child should be accomplishing per grade level.  He has lots of great advice and things to look for in the education of your child.  I cannot speak highly enough about The Book of Virtues.  It is a great compilation of stories that every child should grow up with.  There are famous speeches and everything in the book deals with character issues!  We find ourselves picking this up and reading from it every now and then because it's chock full of good stuff.  I love it so much I've got a copy for each of my children!

This is another gem I turn to when I need a refreshing.  It is called A Charlotte Mason Companion.  It was written by Karen Andreola who revolutionized and brought to the forefront the teaching methods of Charlotte Mason.  I don't follow everything in the book, but it makes me sigh with relief and know that life is indeed sweet.  It is an essential for homeschoolers and educators!

We read a lot of good children's literature in my house.  I happened upon this series at the thrift store after seeing a preview for the movie they were releasing (September 24th, by the way).  I figured I would read it to see if it was worth our time.  It's fantastic!  I'm in Book 8.  We're doing this as a read aloud and finished Book 1.  It is action-packed and you will learn so much about owls.  In fact, with my two youngest, we are doing lapbooks on owls because of these books.  There isn't a bunch of hocus-pocus in this.  The only objectionable thing I could think of is that in the later books, there are owl ghosts who have unfinished business on earth called "scrooms."  They aren't evil, but I guess they aren't entirely necessary.  Also, the owl God is called Glaux...his name is used in vain just as people use the Lord's name in vain.  Other than those two points, it really is a beautifully written series and the aforementioned offenses can be discussed with your children if you find it objectionable.  The owls are noble and true and possess very good character traits.  I highly recommend this series!!!  We can't wait to see the movie which I believe is based on the first four books.

Lastly is a new edition to our homeschool routine.  This is a tall book...it's the Timechart History of the World.  It opens up and the history of the world literally unfolds before your eyes!!!  We use it with our history curriculum and hunk of burning love (my hubby, hee hee) uses it for biblical history.  It's fascinating to see how everything lines up and it gives everyone a good idea what was going on in the world at the same time!!!

I have many more books I would love to share with you.  I'll do many more posts of other books and projects we're working on.  Have a great weekend and may a story take you far away!!!  Happy reading!