The Book Basket - How to encourage Reading in your Home

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I'm participating in a Summer Camp this week in which each day has a different theme. We have what I would like to call an extensive homeschool library. We collected at used book stores, garage sales, the goodwill, friends, and even Amazon quite often when I needed something specific.

Whenever we studied a particular topic, I put the books we had surrounding the topic in the "Book Basket" so they were readily available for the kids to explore. The picture shows a time we were studying scientists.

I had books in my stash for just about every day this week. It brought back so many memories of teaching the same topics to my kids.

Some favorites:

How to tell a Turtle from a Tortoise

We laughed and learned so much from this book. Even as the adults! It was a great edition to our Nature Studies.

Sound Make it Work


This one was when Lauren studied Sound for hr Science fair project. I had a very hard time finding books! I'm so glad I will get more use out of it!

Ed Emberly's Complete Funprint Drawing Book


This book got USED! over and over. Colored stamp pads, finger paint - you name it. We did so many fun projects with fingerprint art! I highly Recommend this and the other books in the series. We have SEVERAL!

Magic School Bus Get's Baked in a Cake


I never passed up a Magic School Bus book! They are just as funny as the show. I'm sure today's kids would like the show "better", however - my kids were not allowed TV, so the book basket with MSB books was always a hit!

Each evening we spend time where the only purpose was to read - everyone was doing it...Mom, Dad and kids. We picked something from the book basked and read individually. This enhanced our topics and gave us plenty to talk about!

How do you encourage reading in your home/school? Leave a comment or send me an email to share!

More Free Lapbook Templates!

Lapbooking is very popular in Homeschooling. Actually, I even used it in my classroom as a way to organize information! Lapbooks give kids something to show off. It is a way to create a project that is a work of art when finished.

One thing I have discovered over the years is there really is no right or wrong way of lapbooking. Make them your own. You can find many, many resources out there to help you. I hope you enjoy the patterns I create as much as I enjoy making them for you!

Grammar Land

Last night I overheard a conversation between Megan and Douglas. They were talking about past lessons. Remember when Mom had us do that weird Grammar stuff, about going to jail...

They were discussing the classic book GRAMMAR LAND (this is the Free PDF version, but it is also available in print) by M.L. Nesbitt.

Another homeschooler took the time to create worksheets to go along with the book and you can find those here: GRAMMAR LAND WORKSHEETS

Here is the summary from Amazon about the book:

Before the days of Schoolhouse Rock’s jingles like “Conjunction Junction,” and silly English class acronyms like the “Fan Boys,” there was the playful primer Grammar-Land, which has been teaching children (and adults in need of a refresher) the basic rules of English grammar since its first publication in the 1870s.

            In the allegorical world of Grammar-Land, the nine parts of speech—rich Mr. Noun, his useful friend Pronoun, little ragged Article, talkative Adjective, busy Dr. Verb and Adverb, perky Preposition, convenient Conjunction, and irksome Interjection—are brought to trial by Judge Grammar to settle disputes over the rules of language. Each part of speech is called in turn to take the stand, where they are questioned by Doctor Syntax and Sergeant Parsing. In the course of the amusing trial, the reader, perhaps without even realizing it, is exposed to the most important rules of grammar.

            This charming facsimile edition once again brings the characters of Grammar-Land to life for the entertainment and edification of a new generation of adults and children alike.

It was really neat to hear the kids reminisce about old homeschool lessons. You never know what is going to stick with them.