May 2024 Monthly Newsletter

May 1, 2024

The following post will be a blog archive copy of Build Your Library’s May 2024 Monthly Newsletter. If you missed the email, subscribe to our mailing list here. [Scheduled to be sent by 5/1/24 8:30 AM EST]

[May 1, 2024 ] – Welcome to our May 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 May 2024 Video Newsletter on Facebook.

Hey everybody, it’s Emily from Build Your Library! If you are going to skim the beginning, here are the main topics in this month’s newsletter:

Now that I have your attention, I have the details on those items and more for you.

Monthly Newsletter

“At last came the golden month of the wild folk– honey-sweet May, when the 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., Wild Folk

Hello May, I’ve been looking forward to you! The warmer weather, the blooming flowers and trees, new leaves sprouting on bare branches – sigh. It’s my second favorite time of year (first of course, being autumn!). Not only that, but our daughter Robbie is graduating from college later this month! There’s a lot to celebrate!

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.

I’m in the thick of the Level 11 update – at this moment, I’m about 22 weeks into the update, and I’m making good progress. I’m hoping to share more about the finalized updated booklist soon – there are just a few new titles in this update, but I’m delighted with how it is all coming together! I am still on track to have it finished by the end of Spring.

I also have a new Lit Bite available for Wildoak by C.C. Harrington!

Set in Cornwall, England in the 1960s, Maggie is sent to spend a few weeks with a grandfather she barely knows as a last resort before her parents take stronger measures to “fix” her. That’s where she finds herself in an ancient forest called Wildoak where she meets a lost and injured snow leopard cub. Maggie and the leopard seem to understand each other. Can she help him and save the forest? Told through dual perspectives of Maggie and the cub Rumpus, this story is full of topics to discuss – from learning to use your voice, to conservation, forest animals, and how we are all interconnected!

This Bite will take 3 weeks to complete as written, and it is best for elementary level, or ages 8 – 12

And of course, I’m still working on a secret project. I promise I’ll share more soon! But I can tell you now, you are going to love it!

Build Your Library Reviews and Testimonials

We have always needed to improve at keeping up with trying to compile reviews and testimonials. Over the past 11-plus years, we have gotten a few here and there, but we really should get on top of them. We would love to hear about your experience with Build Your Library! Your review could be as short as a few sentences or as long as you’d like.

Google reviews make up a significant component of the SEO algorithms. We are told it is as significant as ~1/3 of the equation. With that said… We would really appreciate it if you clicked the link below and showed your support by leaving us a Google review, Facebook Review, or testimonial for our website. Our growth has been focused on customer interactions and building long-standing relationships. Thank you all for everything and for making it so easy to love what we do.

May Giveaway

Congratulations to our winner of last month’s Giveaway!

good-luck

This month, we’re giving away a free Lit Bite of your choice! We now have 15 Lit Bites to choose from and there is something for every reader!

Each action gives you entries into this month’s drawing, with some allowing for daily clicks. The 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!

Collab with Soul Sparklettes Glitterbombers!

I’m excited to announce that we are collaborating with Soul Sparklettes Art! They have many fantastic art projects that blend incredibly well with Build Your Library. You can sign up for Glitterbombers membership through our affiliate link. Check the downloads on the Purchase Pages for Levels 0 – 5 to see what projects align!

The membership includes hundreds of art projects, videos, and resources designed for homeschoolers and art teachers BY a homeschooler and art teacher team. There are three completely DONE-FOR-YOU curriculums: Global Art Hop, Elements & Principles (PEP), and a USA Curriculum. Everything is included when you join – there are no surprises and no waiting.

There’s a reason kids love these projects – Glitterbombers is the only curriculum out there that is 100% kid-tested, kid-approved, and developed with kid input. All projects are cross-curricular, match with other homeschool curriculums, and offer standards and differentiation. It’s a full art experience for kids – so they can learn THEIR way.

Sign Up for Glitterbombers Here!

May Bookish Holidays

May is full of book-related holidays too, most notably Free Comic Book Day: First Saturday (May 4, 2024) and the second week of May for Reading Is Fun Week (May 6-12, 2024). 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, Richard Adams (May 9, 1920), Gary Paulsen (May 17, 1939), and Mary Pope Osborne (May 20, 1949) celebrate this month.

“A Literary Education” Book Bookiversary!

Can you believe my book is going to be 7 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.

You can purchase a copy on Amazon, but if you buy through our store, you’ll get a signed copy!

BYL Online Used Book Super Store

We are pleased to announce our newest, most requested feature: an Author or Title SEARCH! We have also incorporated the bookstore into our regular website and consolidated shopping carts so you can purchase both used books and homeschool curriculum in the same place!

https://buildyourlibrary.com/usedbookshop

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 is currently out of the cards.

However, since I have a storage unit (and house) full of books I’ve been collecting for a store, we have decided to try to set up the BYL Online Used Book Super Store! We are so excited to announce that we are open for business! So yay! Happy book shopping!

We are adding new books almost daily, so keep checking back. We have something for every reader!

2024 Build Your Library Reading Challenge

Are you looking for a fun reading challenge for the whole family? Well, look no further! We had so much fun with challenges the past four years, so we’re continuing the tradition! For 2024, we created a new list of 40 reading prompts to help you and your children stretch your reading muscles. This year’s theme is Reading Through History! It’s no secret that I love reading about history and historical fiction is one of my favorite genres. So this year I’ve created 40 prompts to help you dig into history! Need ideas for the prompts – I’ve got you! Just head over to History Book by Book!

It’s going to be an amazing reading year filled with fun challenges and lots of historical reading! Head over to our blog and download your checklist today!

As of now, I have completed 22 out of 40 prompts! I’m more than halfway through! How is your reading challenge going?

History Book by Book (HBBB)!

History Book By Book is our database 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 helpful, 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 historically 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. I will share some of my knowledge and expertise as a long-time homeschooling mother of four children, three of whom have graduated high school and one who is a college graduate!

This series will include an approximately 10-minute “quick-bit” YouTube video and a corresponding blog post article.

Most Recent Episodes:

“Tea with Emily” Instagram Live Stream

We hope you all enjoyed our last “Tea with Emily” Instagram Live Stream. If you missed our “The Benefits of Family Style Learning” last month in April, you can find a recording by scrolling through our Instagram feed.

Our next Livestream will be tentatively on Friday, June 14th at 1 pm EST.

I host a 30-60-minute Build Your Library homeschooling chat every other month. You can ask questions about homeschooling using the Build Your Library curriculum, book recommendations, etc. We will announce the date beforehand, and you can submit questions you want to cover. Additionally, you can also ask questions during the interactive Livestream. Grab a mug of tea (or coffee) and cozy up with our virtual hangout!

Build Your Library Support

Are you looking for help or advice on your homeschooling journey? We have compiled our helpful resources into one blog post for you. From the many BYL-related Facebook groups to my book A Literary Education, there is a treasure trove of information and helpful parents to help guide you along your homeschooling adventure. If you have any questions, ask!

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 logically 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 excellent 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.

Although not 100% exclusively Build Your Library related, our Arrrgh Schooling YouTube channel has videos about books and homeschooling, but let’s be honest, it’s mostly books. If you want to see what I’m reading, join my Arrrgh Booked Book Club. This year is especially exciting because I have a new co-host – Tanya from Project Happy Home! This month we’re reading Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys!

You can also 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!

“In May, anything seemed possible. If only I could learn to harness time itself. To make every month like May! Or, perhaps, to live backward in time, so that whenever the end of the month arrived, I could turn May right around and live it all over again.”
― T.A. Barron, The Lost Years

If you are looking for some more inspiration, here are some articles you might find helpful:

We have well over 100 blog posts on various homeschooling and book-related topics if you want to browse for more.

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

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May 2024 Monthly Newsletter