May 2022 Monthly Newsletter
May 2, 2022
The following post will be a blog archive copy of Build Your Library’s April 2022 Monthly Newsletter. If you missed the email, you can subscribe to our mailing list here. [Scheduled to be sent 5/2/22 8:45 AM EST]
[May 1, 2022 ] – Welcome to our May 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 May 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:
Now that I have your attention, here are the details on those items and more.
“May, more than any other month of the year, wants us to feel alive.”
~ Fennel Hudson
Monthly Newsletter
It’s May! This is one of my favorite months of the year – I get so excited when the weather begins to warm up and we can open our windows and let the fresh air waft through our home. I crave the warm weather after a long winter.
The school year is winding down for those who follow a traditional school schedule and we are beginning to look towards the next year of homeschooling. It is the season of planning and I love it!
May is an especially exciting month for us this year because our oldest daughter Sarah is graduating from college! We have family coming into town to celebrate. She’s graduating with a degree in creative writing and we couldn’t be prouder!
As far as the newsletter goes, we have some new information to share, as well as some reoccurring monthly reminders!
Announcing our Newest Product: Lit Bites
I’m excited to bring you a brand new 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 are releasing three Lit Bites with our announcement 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 4 update was completed last month! Now we’re down to the last few! I’m currently working on the Level 8 update, which honestly isn’t changing too much. I’m replacing out-of-print titles and sprucing up timeline figures and activity pages. There will be a new history spine, a new science encyclopedia (the Kingfisher encyclopedia appears to be out-of-print), a new living math spine, and new poetry, but otherwise, everything else will be staying the same.
I’m hoping to also 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.
May Bookish Holidays
May is full of book-related holidays too, most notably Free Comic Book Day: First Saturday (May 7, 2022) and the second week of May for Reading Is Fun Week (May 8-14, 2022). The entire month of May is dedicated to National Get Caught Reading Month and National Family Reading Month! While most of you do not need any extra encouragement to pick up some additional reading material – we have plenty of excuses for you here!
As far as birthdays go, Mary Pope Osborne (May 20, 1949) celebrates this month.
“A Literary Education” Book Bookiversary!
Can you believe my book is going to be 5 years old? We published “A Literary Education: Adapting Charlotte Mason for Modern Secular Homeschooling” on May 27, 2017. I’m so proud of this little book. It’s essentially the story of our homeschool and gives a great view of what a Charlotte Mason education can look like in the 21st century.
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’ve started a new 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!
This series will consist of an approximately 10-minute “quick-bit” YouTube video and a corresponding blog post article.
Most Recent Episodes:
Episode 8: Homeschool Tidbits: Dictation – The Language Arts Powerhouse (3/4/2022)
Episode 9: Homeschool Tidbits: Picture Study – How to Look at Art With Children (3/11/2022)
Episode 10: Homeschool Tidbits: Teaching Vocabulary Painlessly (3/18/2022)
Episode 11: Homeschool Tidbits: Morning Baskets, or the Best Way to Start Your Homeschool Day! (3/25/2022)
Episode 12: Homeschool Tidbits: Morning Baskets Part II – Recommended Resources (4/1/2022)
Episode 13: Homeschool Tidbits: On Feeling Behind (4/15/2022)
Episode 14: Homeschool Tidbits: What I Wish I’d Known as a New Homeschooling Mother (4/22/2022)
Episode 15: Homeschool Tidbits: How to Raise a Reader (4/29/2022)
“Tea with Emily” Facebook Live Streams
We hope you all enjoyed our last “Tea with Emily” Facebook Live Stream. If you missed our “Homeschooling When Life Gets Busy” last month in April, you can find a recording by scrolling our Facebook or direct links on our past events page.
Our next Livestream will be on Friday, June 10th at 1 pm EST.
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 webpage, but we wanted to make sure you are following 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 May! I can’t wait to see what this new month brings!
“At last came the golden month of the wild folk – honey-sweet May, whent he birds come back, and the flowers come out, and the air is full of the sunrise scents and songs of the dawning year.”
~ Samuel Scoville Jr.
If you are looking for some more inspiration, here are some articles you might find helpful:
- Why the Student Should Become the Teacher
- What Level Should I Choose?
- How to Source Books for Build Your Library
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:
