Welcome to The Learning Link! Your weekly dose of homeschooling tips, tools, and inspiration to make teaching easier and more joyful. If you were forwarded this email, you can sign up for your own copy here.

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Enjoy 822 words of homeschool inspiration below. ⬇

We sat down at the kitchen table a little on the later side. Monday was the first day of school in our house, and my kids were at least resigned if not excited. But as I pulled out a brand new book, James Herriot's Treasury for Children,* I expected a little more interest. Instead, I got a few groans from my boys. Unperturbed, I plunged into the first story from this adorable and beautifully illustrated collection. By the end of that story, my kids were all enthralled; and as we finished the second story on Tuesday, they begged me to keep reading. I guess my kids learned that you can't judge a book by its cover! ;-)

Here’s what's new this week...

📝 Fresh Picks

​James Herriot's Treasury for Children* - This is the book I purchased and that we've been reading this week. Amazon says it's for preschool to first grade. I would disagree. It easily held the attention of my 3rd and 5th grade boys, and I found out today my oldest snuck the book and read ahead on his own!!

​Logic of English* - This year I'm trying LOE Essentials because I needed something for my third grader that will continue his phonics and spelling skills but feel "older" than what his little sister is doing in All About Reading. He also wasn't as interested in the games in AAR anymore. From doing just a few pages so far, he seems to like it pretty well. I was a bit surprised, because it is a bit dry. However, this very systematic, logical kid of mine doesn't seem to mind that. And the lessons go faster than they look like they would from the text-heavy teacher's guide. But I'm also not reading every last word. It's a tool, not my master. (More on this curriculum as we move along.)

​Rhythm of Handwriting - Cursive* - I'm working on a letter or two a week with my kids all together. My first grade daughter loves handwriting and her brothers both needed to learn or improve their cursive. So, it's a family morning subject - and it's been fun! I bought the PDF download and printed and spiral-bound the lowercase section for each kid. (I'll copy and bind the uppercase later in the year when we're ready.) My kids each have an LOE whiteboard* and have loved practicing their cursive letters on them. I like the physical tactile cards* but don't think they are necessary unless your kid is struggling. We have used the online supplement* but I do not find it necessary. My kids said they don't like the videos, so I don't know if we will keep using them or not.

🧰 Teaching Tools

​Catch-all Notebook*- I like to keep a notebook for jotting down ideas, to-do's or brainstorming, especially one with multiple sections. This way I can use one notebook for school, home, my business, etc. I love this one because of the hard cover, pretty design, removable tabs (LOVE THIS!), and medium to smallish sized lines.

​Dry-Erase Crayons* - THESE WERE A FLOP - I was so excited to try these with my kids because I assumed they would keep their cursive handwriting practice letters from smearing easily. However, we tried them out and my kids hated them. They barely wrote on the whiteboards. If any of you has tried them and loved them, please let me know what I did wrong!!! So, we are sticking with these dry erase markers we love.

📚 On My Bookshelf

​The Thief Lord* by Cornelia Funke- WARNING... My fifth grader absolutely LOVED this book BUT I feel compelled to share a caveat - he said that they used a little bit of choice vocabulary in it. Specifically he mentioned "h*ll" and "what the heck" as well as "oh my god." I don't think they were frequent in the book, but they are present. Nevertheless, he was a huge fan and requested that I find more by this author. Because of the infrequency of the words and his age I am not opposed, but I definitely wanted to share that possible concern with you. (I cannot remember where I saw this book recommended, but I know it was from a "trusted" site...so just like anything, we all have our own idea of what is appropriate for each age.)

​Raconteur Press - A friend of mine shared this website with me as a "safe" place to find agenda-free adventure books for boys in particular. They seem to focus on sci-fi. Definitely do your own research, but you may find some gems here. I have yet to try any of them for my guys.

💰 Deals and Steals

​All About Learning Press* - monthly GIVEAWAY signup

​The Tuttle Twins* - save up to 70% on back-to-school

Happy Homeschooling!

Emily

​TeacherTutorMom.com​

P.S. Don’t miss my latest posts on TeacherTutorMom.com for encouragement, strategies, reviews, and more.

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