Welcome to my blog. This blog pretty much reflects me, and I am one eclectic person. I have restaurant reviews, shop reviews, posts about human trafficking, poems (written by me or just appreciated by me), reflections from sermons, events, old mission trip newsletters – and much more. There’s a whole category of posts on the wedding planning and I am now homeschooling our two kiddos, so there’s a smattering of info about that as well.
If you are lost, don’t feel bad. I’m still glad you’re here.
You can easily navigate the blog by scrolling down and checking out the topics on the right hand side. I also have links to some fab other blogs and sites which I love. I hope you’ll share the love and go see them as well. You can subscribe here (also on the right-hand side) or just push through.
Allen Say is one of my favorite illustrators that I’ve discovered since homeschooling. I love the detail and the sentiment he puts in his drawings. This book was a lovely case study in Home and Homesickness. I was able to share my own experience of living in Japan and how homesickness made me want home and how now I want Japan too now that I’m home.
Social Studies
This book was quite a surprise, but also contains the weighty history of war – so read only if you feel it is appropriate for your child. I didn’t know that the Japanese were able to bomb mainland US during WWII. It goes to show you that you are never too old to learn new things and it’s one part of homeschooling that I love so much! I think this book does a great job explaining atonement as asking for forgiveness – something for which I think we all need a good example.
Art
These Sesame Street Science books have been an excellent resource during our time with Five in a Row. Depending on your child’s dexterity, origami is a fun way to make shapes and designs – it also teaches self-control and following instructions. Drawing from Memory is going to be an older read, a biographical graphic novel set during WWII.
Science
Japan and California share some interesting geographic features – mountainous highlands, densely-populated ocean coasts, and temperamental location on the Pacific Ring of Fire. Finding similarities and differences through pictures is a great study for little ones.
Japan also has an amazing recycling program set up – when I lived there, each type of waste (glass, plastic, food or burnables, paper, etc) had their own colored bag, and each had a specific day to be picked up. Each day! In the city, there were also large rope nets that were laid over-top the bags to prevent blowing away or crows from getting into them.
Other books
I had to reel us in on extra books this week – we just didn’t have enough time to look through all of them and there were some great ones! I kept the books on hand for another couple weeks for the kids to look through at their curiosity. Japanese artists, WWII, birds, life in Japan – so many great options!
Disclaimer:This site uses some affiliate links. This costs you nothing, but helps supplement our homeschooling costs.
Complete Booklist:
Find the full list on or .
“Grandfather’s Journey” by Allen Say
“Thirty Minutes Over Oregon” by Marc Tyler Nobleman
“Color: A Sesame Street Science Book” by Susan B Katz
“Drawing From Memory” by Allen Say
“Easy Origami” by Mary Meinking
“Japan” by A. M. Buckley
“California: The Golden State” by Emily Schnobrich
“Save the Planet” by Lorenzo Liberto
“Curious About Birds” by Jill Sherman
“Yukie’s Island” by Yukie Kimura
“Silent Days, Silent Dreams” by Allen Say
“A Life Made by Hand: The Story of Ruth Asawa” by Andrea D’Aquino
“It Began with a Page: How Gyo Fujikawa Drew the Way” by Kyo Maclear
Part of my family has strong Italian heritage and I’m always happy to find ways to connect the kids back to that part of my ancestry. While we are not Catholic, this was a sweet book about an orphan in Italy, gifted a skill with the question of will he remember the one who gifted that skill to him or spend it all for his own glory?
Tomie is a favorite storyteller and illustrator for us, especially his Italian-themed books like Strega Nona. We have read several of his other books too, depicting predominantly Catholic folk stories from other cultures – these we take with a grain of salt as he is stepping out of his cultural heritage to tell those stories. When that happens, I try my best to find another telling of the story by someone from that culture – it may sound daunting but there are so many children’s books these days with such a diversity of culture and writers!
Social Studies
These are all the books we used to address the variety of topics under the Social Studies category – language, geography, the Renaissance, orphans, and occupations. At this point, the kids want to be an electrician and a babysitter. The Renaissance and Meet Samantha were over my kids’ abilities, but they would be excellent reads for older kids.
Art
There is such artistry in designing and building bridges! This book was a good intro to bridge engineering and we even tried building our own with blocks and lincoln logs.
I also found a video on YouTube for kids to learn to juggle. We discovered that we are not coordinated enough (but maybe just at this time).
Science (Aging)
I will gladly create a list of picture books we’ve come across which deal with aging loved ones and grief. It is such a delicate subject for children and they can come up with some difficult questions. Tomie wrote this book based on his own grandmothers. We’ve even stumbled on books dealing with the death of a pet.
Disclaimer:This site uses some affiliate links. This costs you nothing, but helps supplement our homeschooling costs.
This book is a sweet lesson in judging others and community. We timed this right before Thanksgiving so we were well in the mindset of gratitude and inclusion and extending kindness to others. The kids loved the character of Mr. Whiskers – isn’t that just the way with kids? They often gravitate to those who adults might write-off and can see a bit of goodness in them when others just see bristle.
I found a great video on YouTube, showing how cranberries are grown and harvested these days. We talk a lot about how different foods we eat grow – things that grow in the dirt, on top the grown (leaves and stems), from shrubs or bushes, and from trees. But cranberries defy all these! The plants need to be waterlogged and that definitely makes it easier to harvest because these plants naturally grow by boggy waterways where the berries can fall off the plant and float downstream to find new places to take root and grow. The way seeds spread is so fascinating!
Social Studies
This book was handy to learn more about the state of Massachusetts. When we get into the United States part of our historical studies, I plan to go through each state in order of admission. Years ago, I invested in a series of activity books Highlights published of each US state and I’ve managed to keep them pristine up to this point. I’m just as surprised as you are.
There are many options for picture books on Thanksgiving and some day I will create a list of books I recommend for children. This one seemed to match up well with the main picture book. I include some others in the full list below.
Math
Baking is an excellent way to learn about volume and measurements. My kiddos were still too young to be much help, but as an introductory lesson, this book was enough.
Science
We see their shells and have collected our share when at the beach, but the creatures that build and live inside them are fascinating! I also found some YouTube videos of clamdiggers. One by Saltyhead right at 19 minutes. And another by The Fisherman Magazine, just over 7 minutes long. It’s neat to see the specialized tools made for certain tasks and jobs.
Other Books
Disclaimer:This site uses some affiliate links. This costs you nothing, but helps supplement our homeschooling costs.
Xapa to the World 