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.
When I told my mom we were reading a book about a dancing bear, she asked if it took place in Russia. Some traditions and heritage just ring true. I wonder how many dancing bears are in Russia nowadays? Hopefully none, as I understand there was some abuse with it, but this picture book has none of that and all the sweetness of it! How encouraging the friend is and how determined the bear to learn!
Social Studies
I had no idea about much of St Petersburg except for the Onion Domes, which was pretty fun to try and duplicate on our own on paper. We talked a lot about bridges and jobs – including what jobs we might want when we grow up. I think when I grow up, I’d like to work in a library! The littles want to be an electrician and a babysitter.
I also like to teach the kids about immigrants – they are descended from immigrants after all! And we learn so much about the challenges of moving to a new place, but also how peoples’ lives can look similar and different on either side of immigration. Nathan’s Song was a good book for that.
Art
These Sesame Street Science books are excellent introductions to science and art. I highly recommend them! We also looked at architecture and unique buildings in Russia.
Science
States of Matter is a fun thing to explore, especially with something as simple as ice. We took ice cubes from the freezer, watched them melt, and then boiled the same water on the stove. We also captured some of the steam and watched it turn into liquid water again.
While I don’t have a samovar in our house, I frequently drink tea and we enjoyed some of my sweeter/fruity types together.
Other books
These books were awesome accompaniments to our lessons! I have two lefties in our house (me and dad are both right-handed so it’s fun!) Anya imagines a secret society where left-handed artists gather together. But when she comes to the US, she doesn’t feel she needs to hide it as much. My husband’s grandmother was a lefty and was forced to only write with her right hand. I’m glad my kids don’t have to go through anything like that.
Poem: Bear by unknown
Big bear, big bear, Hunting near the trees. Feasting on the honeycomb Made by busy bees. Bzzz, bzzzz, bzzzz
Big bear, big bear, Wading in the lake. Fish is your favourite dish: Which one will you take? Swish, swish, swish
Big bear, big bear, Resting in your den. Sleeping through the winter Before you’re out again. Zzz, zzz, zzz
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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.
Xapa to the World 