Fall Library Book Haul...

Evening friends!! I hope you all had an amazing Christmas weekend! We had such a fun, relaxing Christmas at home. We ate yummy food and spent a lot of time enjoying the holiday as a family. I have lots of pictures and a full day of vlogging to share with you all. I am hoping to get it edited this  week, so I can share it soon. My parents are waiting for this vlog in particular, since they couldn't make it to Arizona for the holiday. They are missing their grand babies and we are definitely missing them too.

Tonight though I am sharing a video the kids and I made back in November. We filmed it after one of our trips to the library. We had gotten a huge haul of fall themed books for the kids to read and a few chapter books for them as well. We decided to film our haul to share with you all. Keagan and Libby even get in front of the camera and share about their own hauls. Libby is super comfortable in front of the camera, while Keagan gets a tad nervous. He's getting better though. I love his little shy face. He always make me smile.

Below is the list of books we snagged at the library. I've included Amazon links to make it easier to find the books, but check out your local library. I'm sure most of these books can be found there. Plus getting them from the library is free. That's my favorite!

Mom's Picks

The Great Thanksgiving Escape by Mark Fearing


The Crayon Book of Numbers by Drew Daywalt


I Prayed For You by Jean Fisher


Can You Say it Too? Quack Quack by Sebastian Braun


Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems


Knuffle Bunny Free by Mo Willems


Thanksgiving Counting by Barbara Barbieri McGrath 


Ladybug Girl Gives Thanks by Jackie Davis


Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Connor 


Pug Meets Pig by Sue Lowell Gallion


Me and My Dragon by  David Biedrzycki

Cuckoo! by Fiona Roberton 


Scaredy Cat Splat! by Rob Scotton

A Tiger Called Thomas by by Charlotte Zolotow

Keagan's Picks

Spy School by Stuart Gibbs


Spy Ski School by Stuart Gibbs


Wolf Keepers by Elise Broach 


Nightmares! by Jason Segell

Libby's Picks

Genie in a Bottle by Sarah Mlynowski


The Enchanted Files: Hatched  by Bruce Coville


The Secret Horses of Briar Hill by Megan Shepherd



Tell Me by Joan Baur

Our Current Family Read Alouds


Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty


Flush by Carl Hiaasen

Enjoy!

XO Danielle 

Math is hard and an epic mom fail...

I need to take a minute and shout it from the roof tops that math is hard. It was never a subject I enjoyed in school. In fact I may have hated it ::I say in a whisper::

But here I am homeschooling and math is an important part of our curriculum. It has to be taught. I try really hard to keep it simple and non stressful. I want my kids to understand it and to enjoy it. I never want my "experience" with math or my "feelings" towards math to shape their opinion of math....so I try to keep it light.

Today though was hard. We're using Interactive Notebooks for math from Carson-dellusa. This year we're starting with grade 5 and will end with grade 6. Today's lesson was on exponents. I started the lesson, but 5 minutes in I realized I was explaining it all wrong. Gaw! It was a total mom fail. 

I had to explain to the kids I had steered us in the wrong direction. We decided to take a break, while I fed Tallia. We watched an episode of Once Upon a Time and then got back at it.

I found an exponent calculator online to check our work. We started the lesson over, with Mom now remembering the correct way to solve exponents.

And guess what? We figured it out. We worked hard and started getting the answers right. It felt good to see it click.

On a side note: 

How cute is that baby above?

 Throughout our math lesson time, she laid on my lap. 

That cute little smile just melted my heart. 

Why do I share this today?

We'll I want you to know that I have days of epic fails. Being a homeschooler is not about perfection. It's about trying your hardest and when you get knocked down, it's about how you get back up. Today was a perfect opportunity to try out our word for this school year....

Perseverance

Don't stop just cause it's hard. Keeping working at it.

I make a lot of mistakes and that's ok. I don't have to be exceptional at all academics to teach my kids. I only need a desire to give them the best I can. Sometimes that means admitting I was wrong, recuperating, and starting over. I'm learning and relearning right a long with them.

XO Danielle