November 2025 Monthly Newsletter

November 3, 2025

The following post will be a blog archive copy of Build Your Library’s November 2025 Monthly Newsletter. If you missed the email, subscribe to our mailing list here. [Scheduled to be sent by 11/3/25 8:30 AM EST]

[November 3, 2025 ] – Welcome to this month’s Video Newsletter!

If you subscribed, you should have gotten our regular monthly e-mail newsletter in your inbox. However, you can now watch the video highlights and read the full details below, or view the BYL November 2025 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.

Monthly Newsletter

“But there is always a November space after the leaves have fallen when she felt it was almost indecent to intrude on the woods…for their glory terrestrial had departed and their glory celestial of spirit and purity and whiteness had not yet come upon them.”
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Windy Poplars

“In November, the smell of food is different. It is an orange smell. A squash and pumpkin smell. It tastes like cinnamon and can fill up a house in the morning, can pull everyone from bed in a fog. Food is better in November than any other time of the year.”
― Cynthia Rylant, In November

Hello November! You fully snuck up on me, but I’m ready to burrow under blankets, light lots of candles, read all the books, and eat soup and stew! Happy Hygge Holiday season to everyone!

Shop Our “Black November” Holiday Sale!

To kick off the 2025 holiday season (perhaps a bit early, but who doesn’t need a little cheer just now?), we’re having a sale you won’t want to miss!

No lines, No waiting at BuildYourLibrary.com! All from the comfort of your couch or cozy chair!

You can take 20% off of all our products during our “Black November” month-long Holiday Sale. Our sale runs from November 3rd through December 3rd, encompassing Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the entire month of November. This includes all of our digital full-year programs, unit studies, Lit Bites and more!

Build Your Library Updates and New Products

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 this section when we make progress or have any changes to our tentative schedule.

Currently, I am working on a unit study on how to spot propaganda for middle school-aged students. I also hope to squeeze in a few Lit Bites before the end of the year. I have another Morbid Curiosities unit in the works (aiming for an early 2026 release!)…You can learn all about what I have in the works in my recent YouTube Video!

It’s here! Our newest unit – Self-Education World Cultures, Part 2 just dropped!

Because parent culture is such an important part of the Charlotte Mason philosophy, and I wholeheartedly believe in continuing our own educations outside of school, I have created Self-Education units that you can use to guide you through a topic of study.

In each of our Self-Education units, you will have a bite-sized way to learn alongside your children. Each of our units will tie into a full-year level or unit study to give you a way to deepen your studies!

In Self-Education: World Cultures, Part 2, you will become a world traveler and explore the cultures and countries of Oceania and Europe! If your child is studying either Levels 0 or 7, this is a great way to incorporate your own learning right alongside theirs!

I’ve included a handful of well-chosen books to enhance your cultural studies, along with poetry, articles, videos, recipes, and movies. To help you really dig into the reading, I’ve also included copywork, things to think about, and journaling prompts. There are a variety of resources and activities to help you fully immerse yourself in your studies!

I hope you’ll check out our Self-Education unit studies and continue your education with Build Your Library!

Build Your Library Reviews and Testimonials

We have always needed to improve at keeping up with compiling 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.

November Giveaway

Congratulations to our winner of last month’s Giveaway!

good-luck

This month, we are giving away a free Lit Bite of your choice! It’s the perfect way to test out Build Your Library to see if it is a good fit for your family!

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!

November Bookish Holidays

November is another huge month for bookish holidays, most notably National Novel Writing Month. Both National Authors Day and National Family Literacy Day are on November 1st. The first Saturday of the month (Nov 1) is Book Lovers Day. We also have National Nonfiction Day (Nov 6), I Love to Write Day (Nov 15), High Five a Librarian Day (Nov 18), and the third full week of November is National Young Readers Week and National Book Award Week. It’s also Non-fiction November all month long!

As far as literary birthdays go, there are a whole bunch in November! We have M.T. Anderson on (November 4, 1968), Bram Stoker (Nov 8, 1847), Neal Shusterman (November 12, 1962), Robert Louis Stevenson (Nov 13, 1850), Margaret Atwood (November 18, 1939), Ruta Sepetys (November 19, 1967), C.S. Lewis (November 29, 1898), Louisa May Alcott (November 29, 1832), and Madeleine L’Engle Camp (Nov 29, 1918).

History of Thanksgiving Unit Study

We’ve all heard the story – the Pilgrims sailed to America on the Mayflower and landed on Plymouth Rock. After a rough start, they were saved by the Indigenous people who then celebrated with a Thanksgiving feast… But how accurate is that tale? With this unit study, you and your child will explore the history surrounding Thanksgiving. Who were these pilgrims sailing to a new country? Did the Native Americans really save them? Why were they coming to America anyway? This unit will answer those questions with a major focus on the Indigenous people and their experiences during this time!

We also have a “Thanksgiving-themed” – Can You Teach Creativity? article from a few years back. This was a fun and interesting twist on an old holiday decoration project.

Is it time for NaNoWriMo again?

National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo for short) is a yearly write-a-thon that challenges aspiring writers from all over the world to write a complete 50,000-word manuscript in just 30 days. It is not for the faint of heart, and even some of the most gifted of writers still find themselves unable to complete the full 50k. But it’s a challenge that few writers can pass up.

For younger writers, I recommend checking out https://ywp.nanowrimo.org for their Young Writers program! It’s basically the same thing as the main event, but the final word count and stress level are lower. Additional resources are also provided, like workbooks for story planning and daily writing prompts to keep the story going if you get stuck!

I always try to participate, but this year I’ll be sitting it out. Perhaps next year will be my year to finally write that novel bouncing around in my head! Are you going to participate in NaNoWriMo this year?

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 curricula: Global Art Hop, Elements & Principles (PEP), and a USA Curriculum. Everything is included when you join – there are no surprises and no waiting.

Glitterbombers HIGH is a brand new art membership for grades 7 – 12. If you’re looking for art for your teen or tween, the new Glitterbombers HIGH might just be the answer. From sketching to Procreate, Sculpey to watercolor painting, Glitterbombers HIGH is an all-video-based subscription where your teen or tween can explore different mediums and topics and develop their own art style. There’s even a monthly art technique class with a challenge and opportunity to earn prizes! Usually closed to new members, I have a special link for you where you can sign up right now and still get in at the introductory price. Have younger kids? You’ll love Glitterbombers, designed for PreK-7th!

And in honor of our newest release: Morbid Curiosities, Part 1 – Cannibalism, the team at Giltterbombers has offered a free project!

Free Download: Medical Illustration Skull-GB-Soul Sparklettes Art

This pen and pencil project is perfect for your preteens and teens. Combine art and science as you learn to sketch a skull like a medical illustrator!

If you enjoyed that project, why not consider signing up for a subscription? You can choose between a monthly, 6-month, or full-year subscription!

Sign Up for a Glitterbombers Subscription Here!

New Printing Partnership with Watson Family Press!

I’m excited to announce that we are partnering with Watson Family Press! If you are looking for a place to get your lesson plans printed, they have you covered! They are offering our customers a 10% discount using the code BYL at checkout!

I love supporting small businesses, especially fellow secular homeschool family-run businesses! I hope you will check them out!

2025 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 six years, so we’re continuing the tradition!

This year, we are Reading Banned Books! With this set of prompts, we challenge you to read from a variety of diverse perspectives, with emphasis on books that have been banned or challenged in libraries over the years. Let’s fight back against censorship in 2025!

We are nearly to the finish line, just two months to go! How is everyone doing? I’ve completed 35/40 prompts! I’ve only got 5 prompts to go! I can definitely finish the challenge by the end of the year!

I’ve been working on next year’s reading challenge, and I’m really excited about it! Stay tuned for another great year of reading!

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.

After 70+ episodes, I stalled out and took some time off to spend some time brainstorming, but hopefully will have some more soon! Do you have a topic you want to hear more about? Send me a message, and I’ll add it to my list!

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 “Parent Culture or the Importance of Self-Education“ in October, you can find a recording by scrolling through our Instagram.

Our next Instagram livestream will be on Friday, December 12th, at 1 p.m. (EST). And you definitely don’t want to miss it!

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. Book club has wrapped for 2025, but we’ll be back in January! Be sure to watch my channel in early December to hear what we’ll be reading the first 3 months of 2026! This upcoming year is especially exciting because Tanya from Project Happy Home and I have a second new co-host joining us—Ashley from This House of Walls. It’s going to be an amazing reading year!

You can also subscribe to our email list and browse our monthly newsletters.

Wrap Up

I hope you have a wonderful November! I can’t wait to see what this new month brings!

NOVEMBER

Now chill & grey November
Come slowly o’er the plain,
Drearily the winter wind
Sings songs of future pain.

Wrapped closely in deep grey,
She scarcely will let pass
A little ray of sun
To cheer the sodden grass.

She scatters with her hand
The leaves dried up and brown,
The few that yet remain
From gay October’s crown.

Her eyes and dark and sad,
Sad for the dying year,
And often in the mist
There falls a silent tear.

Beneath a cheerless sky
The trees are standing bare,
The fog has risen thick
And she is no more there.”
― Beatrice Crane

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

- - Tips for Budding Writers from a College Creative Writing Student
  - Ah, critiques. Oh how I fear thee… (from our Tips for Young Writers series)
  - Favorite Fall Reads

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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November 2025 Monthly Newsletter