August 2022 Monthly Newsletter
August 1, 2022
The following post will be a blog archive copy of Build Your Library’s August 2022 Monthly Newsletter. If you missed the email, you can subscribe to our mailing list here. [Scheduled to be sent 8/1/22 8:00 AM EST]
[August 1, 2022 ] – Welcome to our August Video Newsletter!
You should have gotten our regular monthly e-mail newsletter in your inbox if you are subscribed. But you can now watch the video highlights and read the full details below or watch the BYL August 2022 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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- Summer / Anniversary SALE!
- Happy Birthday Build Your Library!
- 10th Anniversary Giveaways!
- Announcing our Newest Product: Lit Bites
- Build Your Library Updates
- August Bookish Holidays
- Back to “Home” School Series (B2HS)
- History Book By Book!
- Homeschool Tidbits Blog and Video Series
- “Tea with Emily” Facebook Live Stream
- Build Your Library Support
Now that I have your attention, here are the details on those items and more.
“August rain: the best of the summer gone, and the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time.”
―
Monthly Newsletter
How is it already August? I feel like I missed out on July, I was so busy. I hope to soak in the August sunshine and hold tight to these last days of summer as long as I can. School is right around the corner, and while I’m excited for the upcoming year, I need a little more summer first. 😉
As far as the newsletter goes, we have some new information to share, as well as some reoccurring monthly reminders!
Summer / Back-to-School Sale!
It’s time for our Summer / Back-to-School / Anniversary SALE! We kicked off the savings just in time to get ready for the next school year! And because we’re celebrating our 10th anniversary of being in business, we’re having an extended month-long sale!
From August 1 – August 31, take 20% off your entire purchase using the code ANNIVERSARY at checkout. This code is only good for all products listed on our BuildYourLibrary.com website.
Happy Birthday Build Your Library!
Can you believe that Build Your Library will be the big 1 – 0 this month? We kicked off on August 22, 2012, with just two levels. Look how far we’ve come! Time does fly! I started Build Your Library because I was frustrated by the lack of a secular literature-based curriculum. I knew I wasn’t alone in this frustration, so in the late summer of 2012, I released Levels 1 and 5 with the hopes of writing more levels down the road.
Ten years later, I’ve written levels for K-12, 16 unit studies, 4 Lit Bites… it blows my mind! I have customers all over the world using BYL to teach their children, I wrote a book, created a huge database for history and historical fiction books at History Book by Book – I can honestly say I never even dreamed that Build Your Library would grow this much. Thank you all for sticking with me all these years. I can never express what it means to me.
10th Anniversary Giveaways
All this month, we will have 4 weekly giveaway contests and a Grand Prize drawing to celebrate 10 years of Build Your Library curriculum!
Each action gives you entries into this week’s drawing, with some allowing for daily clicks. Week One winner will receive a $10 BYL Gift Card and a signed copy of A Literary Education.
Prize packs get bigger each week of the Anniversary Giveaway, up to $200 worth of gift cards in the finale. (BYL and Amazon (US) gift cards are digital codes. A Literary Education book can be mailed to any address of your choosing (in case you already had a copy, and want it sent as a gift to someone else). Each book package will also include additional BYL bookmark swag.)
Check out the contest page for more details, and come back each week to place your entries!
Announcing our Newest Product: Lit Bites
Lit Bites are small literature unit studies, based on just one book. These bites contain everything you need to study a piece of literature with your child. They include vocabulary, discussion questions, and activities based on the story. We released four Lit Bites already, with more coming soon!
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 8 update has now been released! If you already purchased Level 8 and you want the update – it’s completely free to you! You can use your original download link to access it. If you need a new link, just send me an email to let me know and I’ll be happy to send you one. Level 9 is on deck – I have been collecting books, and I plan to start working on it later this month. I anticipate a late fall release.
I’m also hoping to get to the Darwin and Evolution unit soon. It should also be a pretty quick update as the majority of the books will be staying as is. I mostly need to update links in that unit study. There are also a few new Lit Bites in various stages of completion from concept to rough drafts. So hopefully we will get some more of those out in the not-too-distant future.
I am always brainstorming and collecting books for various unit studies too… lots of exciting new things in the works! I hope to be able to share more about those projects soon!
August Bookish Holidays
August has a few fun book-related holidays, like National Coloring Book Day (August 2) and National Book Lovers Day (August 9).
We have Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20) and Mary Shelley (August 30) for author birthdays.
Back to “Home” School Series (B2HS)
Every year we update and re-feature our Back to “Home” School series towards the end of August, right before we all get back to business. But just for something different, I decided that this month I would turn this series into Homeschool Tidbits! Same great information, some new updates, and new fun video package! So stay tuned each Friday for a Back to “Home” School inspired Tidbit later this month!
History Book by Book (HBBB)!
We have recently started to create some blog post articles on HBBB! You can check out our first couple on our HBBB Blog.
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
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 August 8th!
Most Recent Episodes:
- Episode 19: Homeschool Tidbits: Planner Shplanner – Staying Organized with Just a Notebook and a Pen (6/3/2022)
- Episode 20: Homeschool Tidbits: The Inevitability of Learning Gaps (6/17/2022)
- Episode 21: Homeschool Tidbits: Rabbit Trails and Side Quests (7/1/2022)
- Episode 22: Homeschool Tidbits: Teaching the Holocaust – 5 Book Recommendations (7/8/2022)
- Episode 23: Homeschool Tidbits: Talking to Homeschool Graduates (7/22/2022)
- Episode 24: Homeschool Tidbits: Preschooling, On Homeschooling Littles (7/29/2022)
“Tea with Emily” Facebook Live Streams
We hope you all enjoyed our last “Tea with Emily” Facebook Live Stream. If you missed our “How to Use Build Your Library Lesson Plans!“ in June, you can find a recording by scrolling through our Facebook or direct links on our past events page.
Our next Livestream will be on Friday, August 5 at 1pm (EST) where we will be talking about Getting Excited for the New Homeschool Year! During this live stream I’m going to hype you up for the new school year! Let’s share some encouragement and inspiration!
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!
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.
Or if you just want ideas for books to read (either for you or your children) you are sure to find something useful! 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 August! I can’t wait to see what this new month brings!
“August of another summer, and once again, I am drinking the sun, and the lilies again are spread across the water.”
– Mary Oliver.
If you are looking for some more inspiration, here are some articles you might find helpful:
- Turning Temporary “School at Home” into Permanent “Homeschooling”
- Homeschool Tips for Traditionally Non-Homeschooling Families
- “Are worms made out of metal?” And other great rabbit trails.
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:
