This week we started full day of school and we hired our last instructor (reading and writing tutor in addition to piano and speech) so everything is in place for the next few months at least, yay! In the first week there was only one meltdown with tears and I think I finally have a way to deal with it that should lessen the occurrence (hopefully). Being better organized has helped immensely.
We also went to the drive in for the first time in forever. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Three Rings and Free Guy was the double feature and Gage was thrilled to be out past midnight, lol.
Here was my earlier update and here’s what I’ve read since…
I listened to the Bill Clinton/James Patterson collaboration The President is Missing while I puzzled. It’s been a long while since I’ve read Patterson. I thought this was a fun, fast-paced read especially if you like political thrillers. A President only has a small amount of time to stop a terrorist attack, but the opposing party is slowing him down. And he has to trust the very people who put the attack in motion. Nothing groundbreaking, but still entertaining.
He was there on Omaha Beach working as a stevedore to get cargo from ship to Allied forces. His home was a foxhole he dug himself on the beach.
This hero is 98 and about to receive the Maine in America Award for outstanding contribution to Maine’s role in American Art.
It’s a story of war, hope, prejudice, and perseverance. If your child needs a firsthand account of someone in WWII or of racial inequality in the war this is a must read. It’s laid out so beautifully it’s sure to hold their attention. And, as an adult, I fell in love with it myself 😍
The Night Has Ears, African Proverbs was a selection of very short proverbs, each attributed to a tribe, and a beautiful illustration taking up most of the page. A few we choose for our daily quotes…
“There is no one-way friendship.” Maasai
“No One knows the story of tomorrow’s dawn.” Ashanti
Sail Away poems by Langston Hughes and illustrations by Ashley Bryan was a nice, small poetry collection for kids, bite-sized really. I’m not a poetry person 🤷🏻♀️ but I do keep sharing it with Gage hoping he’ll pick it up better than I ever have. The jury’s still out.
The Perfect Girl is a thriller about 17 year old music prodigy Zoe, who was hiding from her earlier big mistake. She and her mother tried to escape what Zoe had done, but the past finally caught up to their new life.
This was told from multiple viewpoints, also going back and forth between then and now. This was a solid thriller with an ending that satisfied. I didn’t find any of the characters likable enough to care too much, but it works as a domestic character study with a twist.
Stacy's Books 
It sounds like you’re doing well with on the homeschooling front. Glad he only had one meltdown. My daughter used to have several when we attempted to help her with her 5th grade math. 😉
That puzzle looks like it could be fun, but with similar colors I can see how it would be a challenge.
The Night Has Ears looks like a good book for children and adults. If I ever get back to my library, I’ll look for it and the one by Ashley Bryan. I’ve spent the past year and half reading mostly from my shelves and it’s been nice to get to some of those books that I’ve owned for over a decade (or two!).
Have a good week, Stacy!
I definitely need to read more from my shelves, but since I’m at the library so often and use it judiciously for homeschool materials I can’t seem to help myself!
This meltdown was math! And mah is a preferred subject, he was just having a rough morning.
I couldn’t even tell you the last time I went to a drive-in! I don’t there there are even any around us. Gage must have loved it. That puzzle looks hard with so many similar colors. Bet it took forever to complete. I’ve tried a couple of smaller (300 piece) puzzles on the rainy days last week. (They were in the house we rented.) Think I’m going to start doing puzzles again when we get back home… it was a lot of fun. Glad homeschooling is going well. All that organization is paying off!
The organization has paid off, but it has meant no time for blogging. Now that I have things moving with a tutor 6 hours a week I should have a bit more free time for it 🙂
And I loved being able to go to the movies again!
That puzzle does look hard. I haven’t worked on a puzzle in a long time. I still have a few in their unopened boxes.
Our local drive-in is playing Shang-Chi & Free Guy.
It was a fun double feature and one that Gage could handle 🙂
The last puzzle I tried putting together was hard, and I ended up putting all the pieces back into the box without completing it. And that has put me off puzzles…I need to give that one away, and order a new, easier puzzle so I can get back on track.
Infinite Hope sounds like a wonderful book. Ashley Bryan is an author/illustrator who often comes to conferences, and I’ve met him a couple of times.
Good luck with school this year. You are off to a great start.
How fun to get to go to the drive-in! Glad Gage enjoyed it and after midnight – I’d have never made it! Ha!
I read The Perfect Girl a few years ago and remember liking it well enough. I’ve read other books by the same author.
Good luck with all the school things. So happy you guys are working school in a way that suits all of you best!