Book Reviews – Homeschool Realm

May 7, 2018

Book of the week: I Wonder What’s Under There?

[amazon_link asins=’0152766529′ template=’CopyOf-ProductAd’ store=’homeschoolrealm-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’6805635b-4b15-11e8-9732-ff839c00b33f’] I love this book! I think I got it years ago…long before children…from the bargain section of Borders Books (I miss them!) when I was working there. It was so intriguing, I couldn’t resist! The idea of underwear throughout history!! It’s a cute little lift the flap sort of popup style picture book that […]

April 30, 2018

Book of the Week: Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World

[amazon_link asins=’1607749769′ template=’CopyOf-ProductAd’ store=’homeschoolrealm-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’26428744-4a85-11e8-b048-39b59b19d3ae’] This is an awesome book! My daughter got this as a gift on her 16th birthday from a family member and we are in love with it! It is a collection of short stories about female scientists…most of whom we’ve never heard of! Each one has only one page about them, but the info […]

April 16, 2018

Book of the Week: Poetry Speaks to Children

[amazon_link asins=’B00BP0N7CW’ template=’CopyOf-ProductAd’ store=’homeschoolrealm-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’be234ff0-3214-11e8-bf5d-e39bd828ec97′] I’ve had this book for years…I believe it was given to me to review on another website of mine, but I’ve since forgotten. I never got into it because I’m just not really a poetry person. But I’ve recently gotten all about Julie Bogart’s “Brave Writer Lifestyle“, and along with that comes “Poetry Teatime.” […]

April 9, 2018

Book of the Week: Amy’s Light

[amazon_link asins=’1584691298′ template=’CopyOf-ProductAd’ store=’homeschoolrealm-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’e6ae34da-320d-11e8-b33b-d3f2c4917e5b’] This is a lovely little story of a little girl bringing fireflies into her room, to chase away the darkness. Told in rhyming verse with absolutely GORGEOUS pictures, this enchanting tale would be especially wonderful for those of you that actually live in areas that have fireflies. Sadly, we don’t have them where I […]

April 2, 2018

Book of the week: The Garden

This book is called “The Garden” in the UK, and “Under the Moon” in the US. Same book. The one I have is called “Under the Moon”. I noticed on Amazon it’s harder to find under that title…but you can look for that title as well… [amazon_link asins=’B01FEP3084′ template=’CopyOf-ProductAd’ store=’homeschoolrealm-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’6e10ed5f-2d65-11e8-b7c2-83558b422c6f’] I discovered this book because I have another […]

March 26, 2018

Book of the Week: My Painted House, My Friendly Chicken, And Me

This book is a little young for my kids, but I just adore it. It’s by Maya Angelou! [amazon_link asins=’0375825673′ template=’CopyOf-ProductAd’ store=’homeschoolrealm-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’c5333281-2ca6-11e8-bf4d-554abbf6a804′] It’s super cute…full of bright, colorful photographs. The story takes place in a village in South Africa, with a little 8 year old girl named Thandi, whose best friend is a chicken. It’s told in the […]

March 15, 2018

My son reviews the Foxcraft series

[amazon_link asins=’054569082X,0545690854,0545690870′ template=’CopyOf-ProductCarousel’ store=’homeschoolrealm-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’468f8463-2877-11e8-a7f1-c53476eabf95′] My 12 year old son just finished this trilogy and is RAVING about it. So I asked him if he’d write a review about them, to share here…and this is what he had to say… PLEASE NOTE: The book links are Amazon affiliate links, and I do receive a small percentage of purchases made through […]

February 9, 2018

Book of the Week: The Rainbow Bridge

This week I read an old favorite of mine to my kids, The Rainbow Bridge By Audrey Wood. [amazon_link asins=’015202106X’ template=’CopyOf-ProductAd’ store=’fresnofamilyc-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’da9c9749-0de4-11e8-9d61-7bbec421cdb4′] This book is an adapted version of the creation story of the Chumash tribe (Native American) of the Central Coast of CA. The story is beautiful, the images are gorgeous….I love reading this story aloud. It tells […]

February 2, 2018

Book of the Week: Grandad’s Prayers of the Earth

I don’t recall how I found this book, years ago…but I’m sure I stumbled upon it as I perused the picture book aisles of a book store, as I always do whenever I visit. I just adore picture books. Even now that I have big kids (12 and 17). I can’t get away from them, and my roots, preschool…my first […]

January 16, 2018

Book of the Week!

So I need to get my butt in gear and finish publishing my 12 part Homeschooling Early Childhood series…It’s all written and I just have some tweaks to do on the final posts…but, sadly, my ADHD is kicking in and I’ve gotten off track. I promise, I WILL get back to it and finish it…I promise! And in the meantime, […]

December 11, 2014

BOOK REVIEW: Three Cups of Tea: Young Reader’s Edition

[amazon_link asins=’0142414123′ template=’CopyOf-ProductAd’ store=’fresnofamilyc-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’b18b80ad-e383-11e7-9280-050600f6c943′] Three Cups of Tea: Young Reader’s Edition by Greg Mortenson My rating: 4 of 5 stars My kids and I (age 9 boy, 14 girl) really enjoyed this book. I know there’s a lot of controversy around it and the lies the author has told and mismanagement of funds…but it doesn’t detract from what […]

December 11, 2014

BOOK REVIEW: Dear Dr. Bell…Your Friend, Helen Keller

[amazon_link asins=’0590486780′ template=’CopyOf-ProductAd’ store=’fresnofamilyc-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’d01a1df0-e384-11e7-b0d3-1bc94e105388′] Dear Dr. Bell…Your Friend, Helen Keller by Judith St. George My rating: 4 of 5 stars Wow. This is a fascinating book! I had NO idea Alexander Graham Bell and Helen Keller were such good friends…or friends at all! And everyone I’ve talked to about this book was surprised as well! My kids and […]

October 23, 2014

BOOK REVIEW: Who Was Amelia Earhart?

[amazon_link asins=’0448428563′ template=’CopyOf-ProductAd’ store=’fresnofamilyc-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’8968606e-e3a4-11e7-b9d9-1b179a6f03f1′] Who Was Amelia Earhart? by Kate Boehm Jerome My rating: 4 of 5 stars This was an excellent intro to Amelia Earhart! It made us (myself and my 14 and 9yr old) fascinated by this young woman’s life! Now I need to find a good documentary to supplement this book! This book was well […]

May 12, 2014

BOOK REVIEW: Mr. Revere and I: Being an Account of certain Episodes in the Career of Paul Revere,Esq. as Revealed by his Horse

[amazon_link asins=’0316517291′ template=’CopyOf-ProductAd’ store=’fresnofamilyc-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’685fe174-e3b1-11e7-acd9-bd9ee1a58806′] Mr. Revere and I: Being an Account of certain Episodes in the Career of Paul Revere,Esq. as Revealed by his Horse by Robert Lawson My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is a really neat historical fiction book written from the perspective of Paul Revere’s horse! He even gets to know things you wouldn’t […]

April 8, 2014

BOOK REVIEW: Lives of the Scientists

[amazon_link asins=’0544810872′ template=’CopyOf-ProductAd’ store=’fresnofamilyc-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’4ef21b38-e3b3-11e7-9192-79c83aaf7e60′] This is an excellent children’s nonfiction book that shares short info on the lives of a selection of scientists throughout history. It is sort of a picture book, in the sense that it has a picture on nearly every page, but much more words that you’d normally see in a picture book. The scientists […]

May 22, 2013

My Voracious Reader & BOOK REVIEWS!

Do you have a voracious reader in your home? Is he a boy around age 7/8yrs old? My nearly 8yr old son is just devouring books lately! The problem is finding books that are high enough quality for him, on a topic that interests him. He does enjoy the [amazon_textlink asin=’0375849912′ text=’Magic Tree House Series’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’homeschoolrealm-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’81e90f1d-3171-11e8-bb8d-8d6b6288e9f9′] , […]

October 15, 2012

BOOK SERIES REVIEW: Great world cultures book series: A Child’s Day

[amazon_link asins=’1847801994′ template=’CopyOf-ProductAd’ store=’fresnofamilyc-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’ec895c55-e3b5-11e7-ac3a-1739a47a9fd5′]Found this book at the library while researching books on China to use with this idea of Homeschooling with The Amazing Race, as discussed in our podcast episode #19. This series is full of beautifully done photo picture books depicting a child from a foreign (as in, non-American) city/village. Each book is a different […]

September 11, 2012

BOOK REVIEW: Blast Off to Earth!: A Look at Geography

This book was so cute and fun! A class of kid robots from space visit the Earth on a field trip. A robot guide narrates info about the planet, including going through each continent and describing the uniqueness of each. I highly recommend reading in a robot voice to your kids! We had so much fun taking turns reading different […]

March 4, 2012

BOOK REVIEW: Who’s That Stepping on Plymouth Rock

This is a really cute, quick read about the infamous Plymouth Rock. It talks about the real story of that rock in a fun way. From 1620 to current times, the story of Plymouth Rock was really interesting for even me! I read this aloud to my kids in probably under 30min, and they weren’t interested in it when I […]

February 9, 2012

BOOK REVIEW: Many Creatures, A Song about Animal Classifications

This is a cute little picture book that details all the animal classifications: mammals, amphibians, fish, birds, reptiles, and insects…to the tune of “Clementine.” There’s even a website that you can download the song for free off of: www.capstonekids.com/sciencesongs (among others). Cute pics, cute song, cute book! Check it out!