Homeschool Coffee Break Reading List - March 2023

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A long time ago I did an occasional round-up of articles, resources, and just fun things around the web and called it the Coffee Break Reading List, because this blog is the Homeschool Coffee Break, so of course! It included things unrelated to homeschooling too, as it was essentially a collection of the different things I was reading. As I finished the journey through homeschooling my own kids, I did continue tutoring and mentoring homeschool families, and was involved in the homeschool community, but I did this round-up less often, until eventually I left off doing it altogether. After a recent move, I started a new blog and it's now the home of the Coffee Break Reading List, but I thought I should still do something similar here occasionally because I still care deeply about homeschooling. I think it needs a new name though. I'll have to think about that. For now, here are just a few things I've found during recent coffee breaks that you may find interesting as well.

The homeschool reading corner:

• This article at Intellectual Takeout was published in 2021, when the vast majority of American schools were closed or limited because of the pandemic, and American schoolchildren were at home and doing some kind of virtual school. In Homeschooling Just Crossed the Tipping Point, Annie Holmquist looks at the statistics showing that home education grew to just over 11% of families at that time in light of a study showing that when just 10% of a population holds an unshakeable belief, that belief will be adopted by the rest of society. Do you think homeschooling became more mainstream after the school closures? 
• Lockdowns in other parts of the world sent students to virtual and home education as well. My life as Exeter home-schooled teen and why I'll never go back to class is about a student in UK that excelled when allowed to learn at home, at her own pace.
• School vouchers are often a topic of debate among homeschoolers. That would promote school choice, wouldn't it? There's more to the topic than meets the eye. Nicki Truesdell explains in Understanding School Choice.
• Florida and Ohio are among states considering changes to school funding, including school vouchers. Arkansas just enacted a new education bill that may impact homeschooling. Visit the HSLDA campaigns page to check on legislation affecting homeschooling in your state and the HSLDA recommendations on those bills.

Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and diligence. ~Abigail Adams

Resource Spotlight:

One of the resources we often used is one I still promote and recommend―SchoolhouseTeachers.com. They happen to be focusing on Science this month, so I will highlight some science resources as well. This article― From the High School Lesson Book - A Resource Collection for Science―showcases the resources we used along with some info about each of them, so it's a good place to start if you're thinking about science curriculum for next year.

If you're a member of SchoolhouseTeachers.com, I hope you already know about the Hey, Mama! Bright Spot Chat series. Each month there's a members only Hey Mama! Bright Spot Chat designed to encourage you and equip you with fresh, practical ideas your homeschool. Let's Talk Science is the next chat, so plan to join in at 4 p.m. (Eastern) on Tuesday, March 21, 2023. You can register from the Events tab of your Member Dashboard.

Do you homeschool and wish your kid could participate in a Science Fair? A lot of co-ops and homeschool groups do these, but if you are still looking, SchoolhouseTeachers.com has got you covered with their Virtual Science Fair. Homeschool science can be so much fun because you can study whatever branch of science your kids are interested in! From biology to anatomy to botany and astronomy, the ski is the limit. Your students can share what they've learned this year and see what other homeschoolers have learned as well. SchoolhouseTeachers.com is now accepting entries for the PreK―12 Virtual Science Fair. Submit photos and videos of your child's science projects or exhibits. Award certificates will be presented for first, second, and third places in each category. Find all the details in the Activity Calendar section of the Member Dashboard. You have until the end of the day April 7th to submit your entries.

There are lots of Science courses for all grade levels offered at SchoolhouseTeachers.com. Here are just a few of the high school level courses:

My personal coffee break reading: 

In The Shelter Of Hollythorne House by Sarah E. Ladd

A Perilous Perspective by Anna Lee Huber

This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession by Daniel J. Levitin

After the Boxes Are Unpacked: Moving On After Moving In by Susan Miller

   

   

Find out more at my book blog Just A Second.

Found anything interesting on the web lately? Read any good books? Leave a comment and let me know!

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 ©2006-2023 HS Coffee Break. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://kympossibleblog.blogspot.com/ 

 We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

The Great Backyard Bird Count - Can You Name Each Tiny Bird?

This post contains affiliate links - using affiliate links from HS Coffee Break helps fuel this blog. 

This weekend is the Great Backyard Bird Count. If I was at my previous home, I'm quite sure I'd be eagerly participating, keeping track of the birds that visit the feeders. Here it's not quite as easy, because I'd probably have to go to a park or other space where I could actually see and hear the birds.

How to Participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count

Merlin Bird ID is a free app that makes it much easier to identify the birds you see and hear.

Check out the Audubon Guide to North American Birds. There's also a free Audubon Bird Guide App.

Birds are so interesting - all the colors and varieties and different songs. Even learning how to tell one species of sparrow or finch from another can be a challenge, because the differences in their markings or songs can be tiny. In North America alone there are over 2000 species of birds, and at least 40 different species of sparrows! Take a look at this article, Learn How to ID These 5 Confusing Streaked Sparrows, to get an idea of the subtle differences between sparrows and then imagine trying to identify which sparrow is at a feeder from several yards away!

Yet Jesus says that not one sparrow can fall without God the Father knowing about it. Since the Bible tells us that God calls the stars by name, He probably calls each bird by name too, don't you think?

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father's care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

~Matthew 10:29-31~

See the rest of  this post, which is part of the Write 28 Days Blogging Challenge, at A Fresh Cup of Coffee.  Find all my posts for the 2023 challenge here: Write Something Somewhere

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 ©2006-2023 HS Coffee Break. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://kympossibleblog.blogspot.com/ 

 We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Online Book Club - June Theme: Beach

This post contains affiliate links - using affiliate links from Homeschool Coffee Break helps fuel this blog. 

 

I've been joining some blogging friends in an online book club, and all our readers are invited to join in as well. Here's how it works:

At the beginning of the month Amanda at Hopkins Homeschool will share a book theme with us. It will be a theme instead of any specific title, so that anyone can participate - moms, dads, teens, kids, or the whole family. During the month, we will read books that go with the theme, and at the end of the month we'll share about what we read. Homeschool families may want to do unit studies or activities that go with the books they read, and they can tell us all about what they did and learned. Adults and teens may just want to share book reviews. 

Visit Hopkins Homeschool to find out more about what she has planned!

I started out with no good ideas for this theme. Oh sure, there are lots of 'beach reads' but I don't have plans to visit the beach and I don't think I've ever read while at the beach anyway. And don't 'beach reads' tend to be contemporary chick lit? I could be wrong about that. But in any case, I didn't think searching for a beach read would be the way to go. 

I searched different beach terms, just hoping for an idea and did run across The Beachcomber's Companion: An Illustrated Guide to Collecting and Identifying Beach Treasures by Anna Marlis Burgard at my library. It looked interesting so I requested it, but at the same time . . . if I'm not going to visit the beach and hunt for shells any time soon, I'm not sure how useful it will be.

But a little more searching turned up something I thought might prove a bit more suitable. Hike Maryland: A Guide to the Scenic Trails of the Free State by Bryan MacKay and Easy Weekend Getaways from Washington, DC: Short Breaks in Delaware, Virginia, and Maryland by Jess Moss. We're looking for vacation ideas and weekend adventure ideas close to home, so this works. Whether or not we actually walk on the beach trails or stay at a beach for a weekend - at least this summer - I'm up for finding out more about the close-to-home possibilities. We might visit non-beach spots mentioned this summer but keep the beach ideas in reserve for another time.

   

Just for fun, I did reserve one novel that popped up on my search list and looked like it might appeal to me. The Shell Collector: A Novel by Nancy Naigle probably qualifies as a beach read, and it's a little outside of what I usually choose. I'm not sure where I'll find time to read it, but I'll place it on my stack with optimism and good intentions!

What are you reading? Do you have any favorite beach reads or beach themed books? Leave a comment and let me know!

Visit all the participating bloggers sometime during the month to find out their reading plans:

Hopkins Homeschool
At Home: Where Life Happens
A Net In Time

Every Bed of Roses
Homeschool Coffee Break 

 Don't miss a coffee break! Subscribe to Homeschool Coffee Break by Email! 

 ©2006-2021 Homeschool Coffee Break. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://kympossibleblog.blogspot.com/ 

 We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

  

Online Book Club: - Wrapping Up April: Migration

This post contains affiliate links - using affiliate links from Homeschool Coffee Break helps fuel this blog. 

I've joined in with some blogging friends for an online book club, and we are wrapping up this week. By the way, all our readers are invited to join in as well. Each month we'll have a theme to build our book picks around, and our April theme was Migration. 

I've been trying to pay more attention to the kinds of birds that frequent our yard, and since birds are now migrating back north, that was direction I headed with my book choice. I found this large field guide at my library and I'm actually rather tempted to purchase a copy to keep! Feed the Birds: Attract and Identify 196 Common North American Birds by Chris Earley is divided into two main parts - Attracting and Feeding Birds, and Identifying Birds.

Earley introduces his book with some anecdotes, info about why to feed birds, suggestions for getting kids of different ages involved, and some organizations, resources, and projects to check out (such as the Great Backyard Bird Count). Even photography tips! And the photographs throughout the book are amazing.

I hope that the following pages inspire you to not only set up your own feeders but also really watch the birds in your yard to see just how amazingly adapted they are to their environment.

There's a lot of excellent and detailed information on what to put in feeders, which foods and feeder types are suited to different types of birds, and more. We've had hummingbird feeders for a few years, but other than that we've mostly used tube feeders and the occasional seed bell. After getting ideas from this book, I'm hoping to add a couple different types of feeders around our yard over this season, and see if we can attract a few more bird species. 

Ruby-Throated Hummingbird

Another section is dedicated to making backyards wildlife friendly. Many practical ideas for what kind of habitats to provide, how to make sure there's adequate shelter to attract birds, and what kind of nesting boxes and materials birds will use. The only part of this I thought impractical was the focus on keeping cats indoors or in cat patios and that sort of thing. My cats are indoor cats. But I don't have any control over the feral cats in our area. Other than making it difficult for these cats to sneak up on my bird feeders, there's not a lot I can do. Squirrels are a plague for many people's bird feeders, and there are some suggestions for dealing with them as well. Bonus: some plans to build your own feeder boxes and platforms!

I really enjoyed the details on bird behaviors. The text itself was fairly brief, but there were excellent photos showing the different behaviors. This section led nicely into the second half of the book, Bird Identification.

The birds in this book were chosen by exploring information on the Project Feederwatch website and seeing what species have been recorded during backyard feeder surveys. So, most of these birds can be attracted to a feeder.

Earley starts off this section with general information and definitions, and then provides a photo-rich identification guide by bird type. Sparrows, Blackbirds, Woodpeckers, Jays, Pigeons and Doves, Finches, and the list goes on. Lots of photos, a summary of information about each species, and some interesting little stories and tidbits sprinkled throughout.

Mockingbird

White-throated Sparrow

This is a very practical and attractive book. It's larger than the pocket field guides, so it's probably not the bird identification guide you want to take on a hike, but it's perfect for a reference as you watch birds through your kitchen window. I would strongly recommend it for homeschoolers wanting to add some well-informed birdwatching to their educational pursuits!

Cardinal and Dark-eyed Junco

Visit Hopkins Homeschool to find out more about the online book club, and visit all the participating bloggers to see what they've read as part of this theme!

Hopkins Homeschool
At Home: Where Life Happens
The Life We Build
A Net In Time
Homeschool Coffee Break 

 Don't miss a coffee break! Subscribe to Homeschool Coffee Break by Email! 

 ©2006-2021 Homeschool Coffee Break. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://kympossibleblog.blogspot.com/ 

 We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Online Book club - April Theme: Migration

This post contains affiliate links - using affiliate links from Homeschool Coffee Break helps fuel this blog.

I've been joining some blogging friends in an online book club, and all our readers are invited to join in as well. Here's how it works:

At the beginning of the month Amanda at Hopkins Homeschool will share a book theme with us. It will be a theme instead of any specific title, so that anyone can participate - moms, dads, teens, kids, or the whole family. During the month, we will read books that go with the theme, and at the end of the month we'll share about what we read. Homeschool families may want to do unit studies or activities that go with the books they read, and they can tell us all about what they did and learned. Adults and teens may just want to share book reviews. 

Visit Hopkins Homeschool to find out more about what she has planned!

It's springtime here, with trees budding and flowers blooming - and migratory birds returning! I expect that's what inspired the April theme of Migration. We may think of birds migrating south for the winter and returning north in the spring, but other animals have seasonal migration patterns as well. And yes, even people migrate. I wasn't sure which direction I wanted to go with my reading, and didn't have anything in particular in mind, so I went to my library and another bookish website and just took a chance on what would come up when I searched the keyword 'migration'. I migrated along several different paths myself before finding a very simple book that appealed to me. My original thought about the theme - migrating birds - led me to order this one from my library: Feed the Birds: Attract and Identify 196 Common North American Birds by Chris Earley. Since I was a kid, I've been interested in watching and identifying birds, even though I've never really taken it seriously. We've been dabbling in adding bird feeders around our property and trying to pay attention to what kinds of birds we see in the area, so I think this will be practical at my beginner/hobby level of birdwatching. Plus it's the kind of book I can browse through rather than read cover to cover, which is a big plus during this very busy time of year!

Being a reader of fiction, I also couldn't pass up an excuse to add a novel to my Kindle collection. Paper Wife: A Novel by Laila Ibrahim is about a Chinese woman immigrating (migrating) to the USA. Will I have time to read it this month? It's hard to say, but I'll at least get started. I am pretty sure I won't have the time to finish, but we'll see. I'll include the blurb so you can see if it looks interesting to you.

 

Southern China, 1923. Desperate to secure her future, Mei Ling's parents arrange a marriage to a widower in California. To enter the country, she must pretend to be her husband's first wife - a paper wife.

On the perilous voyage, Mei Ling takes an orphan girl named Siew under her wing. Dreams of a better life in America give Mei Ling the strength to endure the treacherous journey and detainment on Angel Island. But when she finally reaches San Francisco, she's met with a surprise. Her husband, Chinn Kai Li, is a houseboy, not the successful merchant he led her to believe.

Mei Ling is penniless, pregnant, and bound to a man she doesn't know. Her fragile marriage is tested further when she discovers that Siew will likely be forced into prostitution. Desperate to rescue Siew, she must convince her husband that an orphan's life is worth fighting for. Can Mei Ling find a way to make a real family - even if it's built on a paper foundation?

Visit all the participating bloggers sometime during the month to find out their reading plans:

Hopkins Homeschool
At Home: Where Life Happens
The Life We Build
A Net In Time
Homeschool Coffee Break 

And be sure to check back near the end of the month to see what I learned about identifying birds, and what success we've had in attracting them to our yard!

 Don't miss a coffee break! Subscribe to Homeschool Coffee Break by Email! 

 ©2006-2021 Homeschool Coffee Break. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://kympossibleblog.blogspot.com/ 

 We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.