April 2023 Monthly Newsletter
April 3, 2023
The following post will be a blog archive copy of Build Your Library’s April 2023 Monthly Newsletter. If you missed the email, you can subscribe to our mailing list here. [Scheduled to be sent by 4/3/23 8:00 AM EST]
[April 3, 2023 ] – Welcome to our April Video Newsletter!
You should have gotten our regular monthly e-mail newsletter in your inbox if you subscribed. But you can now watch the video highlights and read the full details below or watch the BYL April 2023 Video Newsletter on Facebook.
Hey everybody, it’s Emily from Build Your Library! If you are just going to skim the beginning, here are the main topics in this month’s newsletter:
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- Build Your Library Updates
- April Contest
- Spring Sale Extended!
- April Bookish Holidays
- BYL Online Used Book Super Store Coming Soon?
- 2023 Build Your Library Reading Challenge Check in
- History Book By Book!
- Homeschool Tidbits Blog and Video Series
- “Tea with Emily” Instagram Live Stream
- Build Your Library Support
Now that I have your attention, here are the details on those items and more.
Monthly Newsletter
“April hath put a spirit of youth in everything. (Sonnet XCVIII)”
― Shakespeare’s Sonnets
Welcome, April! The sun is peeking out and beginning to stir up warmer winds. I’m excited to be able to spend more time out of doors and relish the new flowers and budding leaves. I hope you are having a lovely spring!
As far as the newsletter goes, we have some new information to share, as well as some reoccurring monthly reminders!
Build Your Library Updates
In an attempt to answer when the next level update will be ready, we have compiled our projected schedule into a post for easy reference. We will periodically update the chart when we make progress or have any changes to our tentative schedule.
The Level 9 update is now completed and ready to download! I’m so thrilled to have this finished and available for you. I put a lot of love and work into this update and I hope that you enjoy the changes!
I took a bit of a break over most of March, but I just started working on the Level 10 update. I have some ideas to freshen it up, as well as update the science and World Religions and Mythology course, and make other corrections, edits, and such. I am excited to see how it all comes together!
I’m also still on the lookout for a new atlas for Level 0 – a surprisingly challenging undertaking. There are also always few new Lit Bites in various stages of completion from concept to rough drafts. So we will be getting some more of those out in the not-too-distant future.
I am always brainstorming and collecting books for various unit studies too. I have lots of exciting new things in the works! Hopefully, I will be able to share more about those projects soon!
April Giveaway
Congratulations to our winner of last month’s Giveaway!
This month we will be giving away a signed copy of my book: A Literary Education: Adapting Charlotte Mason for Modern Secular Homeschooling!
Each action gives you entries into this month’s drawing, with some allowing for daily clicks. Odds of winning depend on the number of entries received.
Check out the contest page for more details, and come back each month for new opportunities!
Spring Sale Extended!
Originally we were going to run the Spring Sale through March 31, but we decided to extend it another week! So you haven’t missed it yet, but only have through April 9th to save 20% OFF all of our secular, literature-based homeschool products! Just use the code: Spring2023 at checkout.
April Bookish Holidays
April might be the busiest bookish month of them all! The entire month is designated both National Poetry Month and D.E.A.R. Drop Everything And Read Month. The second week of April is National Library Week, which includes National Library Workers Day on Tuesday and National Bookmobile Day on Wednesday of that week.
Then we have Children’s Book Day (Apr. 2), National School Librarian Day (Apr. 4), National Read A Roadmap Day (Apr. 5), Encourage a Young Writer Day (Apr. 10), D.E.A.R. Drop Everything And Read Day (Apr. 12), National Scrabble Day (Apr. 13), National Librarian Day (Apr. 16), National Haiku Poetry Day (Apr. 17), National Columnists’ Day (Apr. 18), National Talk Like Shakespeare Day (Apr. 23), National Tell A Story Day (Apr. 27), and National Great Poetry Reading Day (Apr. 28), Last Saturday in April is Independent Bookstore Day (Apr. 29),.
As far as birthdays go, William Shakespeare (Apr 23, 1564 – hence National Talk Like Shakespeare Day), Beverly Cleary (Apr. 12, 1916), Terry Pratchett (Apr. 28, 1948), and Harper Lee (Apr. 28, 1926) all celebrate this month.
BYL Online Used Book Super Store Coming Soon?
I have wanted to open an independent bookstore my whole life. A cute, cozy Hobbit hole of a bookstore with new books, used books, maybe tea… After many delays and setbacks, a brick-and-mortar store isn’t currently in the cards.
However, we have decided to try to set up the BYL Online Used Book Super Store! We will have more details available when we are closer to actually opening it to the public, but we are too excited not to let you all know what we are planning! But please feel free to check out the blog post above with some more info.
2023 Build Your Library Reading Challenge Check In
It’s time for our first quarterly check-in! How are your reading challenge checklists looking so far this year? For 2023, we created a new list of 40 reading prompts to help you and your children stretch your reading muscles. This year’s theme is Adventures in Science and Nature! It’s going to be an amazing reading year filled with fun challenges and lots of science and nature-themed reading! Head over to our blog and download your checklist today!
I’ve already checked off 18 out of the 40 prompts, I feel like this will be my year – I’m finally going to complete the whole challenge!
History Book by Book (HBBB)!
History Book By Book is our database collection of engaging, entertaining, and educational books about various historical topics. Whenever possible, we have cross-referenced topics, internally linked additional suggestions based on like subjects, and created useful categorized lists for you to search and browse. Hopefully, you will be able to glean a vast amount of information and find as many history-related books as you would ever want to find. We discussed it in depth during a recent Tea With Emily Livestream on Facebook, you can view the recording here.
As a long time homeschooling parent, and the author of literature-based homeschool curriculum, we designed HBBB to help:
(1) homeschooling parents looking for additional resources to read to their children,
(2) homeschooling parents looking for more historical based books to give their children to read themselves,
(3) any teen or adult looking for categorized historical reading material for their own enjoyment and knowledge.
Reading your way through history… one book at a time.
History Book By Book Main page
We have recently started to create some blog post articles on HBBB! You can check out our first couple on our HBBB Blog.
Homeschool Tidbits Blog and Video Series
We have an ongoing series on both our blog and YouTube channel called Homeschool Tidbits!
In this weekly video series, I will briefly discuss a homeschooling-related topic and will share some of my knowledge and expertise as a long-time homeschooling mother of 4 children, Three of whom have graduated high school, and one is also a brand-new college graduate!
This series will consist of an approximately 10-minute “quick-bit” YouTube video and a corresponding blog post article.
Our next Homeschool Tidbit will be up on April 14!
Most Recent Episodes:
- Episode 43: How I Approach Music Appreciation (2/3/2023)
- Episode 44: What to Do Instead of Book Reports (3/3/2023)
- Episode 45: 5 Books to Read During Women’s History Month (3/10/2023)
- Episode 46: Tips for Building Independence (3/17/2023)
- Episode 47: Benefits of Short Lessons (3/31/2023)
“Tea with Emily” Instagram Live Stream
Our next Tea with Emily Livestream will be Friday, April 7th at 1pm EST! This month we’ll be meeting on my Build Your Library Instagram! I wanted to change things up a bit, and I feel that it will be easier for everyone to tune in via Instagram. We’re going to be discussing the topic “Am I Doing Enough?” I know that for me, Springtime means reflecting on our school year and inevitably wondering if we’re doing enough. So let’s chat about how to turn those negative thoughts into positive ones! I hope you’ll tune in and chat with me!
We will post a reminder warning message to direct traffic from Facebook to * Instagram * on the 7th!
We hope you all enjoyed our last “Tea with Emily” Facebook Live Stream. If you missed our “How to Get the Most from your Read Alouds“ discussion in February, you can find a recording by scrolling our Facebook or direct links on our past events page.
Every other month, I host a 30-60 minute Build Your Library homeschooling chat. You can ask questions about homeschooling, using Build Your Library curriculum, book recommendations, etc. We will announce the date ahead of time, and you will be able to submit questions you would like to cover. Additionally, you can also ask questions during the interactive live stream. Grab a mug of tea (or coffee) and cozy up with our virtual hangout!
Build Your Library Support
For a comprehensive, everything you ever wanted to know about homeschooling with Build Your Library, check out our “Build Your Library University (for Parents).” We have collected the definitive list of articles, videos, and books about Build Your Library, Charlotte Mason, and general homeschooling, all categorized in a logical order for you to peruse.
BYL Social Media Shout Out
We always have our Social Media “chicklets” at the bottom of our newsletters and web page, but we wanted to ensure you follow us on our other platforms. The Build Your Library Facebook is our go-to social media site, and we post there frequently with cool Amazon products and book recommendations we think you would like, as well as all of our Read Aloud Book Club announcements, blog posts, full-year and unit study product releases and updates, and more.
Our Build Your Library Instagram page regularly posts pictures and insider info about projects I’m currently working on or what I’m doing with my kids.
We also have a BYL Twitter feed where I share links and information about BYL and homeschooling. Or you can stay subscribed to our email list and browse our monthly newsletters.
Wrap Up
I hope you have a wonderful April! I can’t wait to see what this new month brings!
“A gush of bird-song, a patter of dew, A cloud, and a rainbow’s warning, Suddenly sunshine and perfect blue—An April day in the morning.” – Harriet Prescott Spofford, “April”
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If you are looking for some more inspiration, here are some articles you might find helpful:
- Tips for Homeschooling with Chronic Illness
- On Mother Culture, or How to Homeschool Yourself
- Project: Googly Eyes on Book Covers
We have well over 100 blog posts on various homeschooling and book-related topics if you want to browse for more.
I think that is about all for this month. Again, please follow us on whatever social media you frequent, there will be periodic updates posted there as well, but we will try to keep everyone in the know wherever you are surfing!
Thanks and Happy Reading! Emily
See Also:
