September 2023 Monthly Newsletter
September 1, 2023
The following post will be a blog archive copy of Build Your Library’s September 2023 Monthly Newsletter. If you missed the email, subscribe to our mailing list here. [Scheduled to be sent by 9/1/23 8:30 AM EST]
[September 1, 2023 ] – Welcome to our September Video Newsletter!
If you subscribed, you should have gotten our regular monthly e-mail newsletter in your inbox. But you can now watch the video highlights and read the full details below or watch the BYL September 2023 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:
- Build Your Library Updates
- Build Your Library Reviews and Testimonials
- September Contest
- Collab with Soul Sparklettes Glitterbombers!
- September Bookish Holidays
- BYL Online Used Book Super Store (UPDATED)
- 2023 Build Your Library Reading Challenge
- Back to “Home” School Series (B2HS)
- 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, I have the details on those items and more for you.
Monthly Newsletter
“The grass in the back field was almost waist high, and now there was goldenrod, that late-summer gossip which comes to tattle on autumn every year. But there was no autumn in the air today; the sun was still all August, although calendar August was almost two weeks gone.”
― Pet Sematary
I blinked and somehow it’s September! Summer is creeping into the rearview and hopefully soon we’ll notice a slight chill in the air to let us know that Autumn is just around the corner. We are just about to start our homeschool year – my youngest daughter’s 9th-grade year and my 21st year of homeschooling! I hope you’re homeschool year is off to a great start!
As far as the newsletter goes, we have some new information to share and some reoccurring monthly reminders!
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.
Last month I completed the Level 10 update. It was a huge undertaking, so I gave myself a few weeks to just rest my brain before jumping into a new school year and more projects!
Two months ago, I completed a minor update for Level 0 – I replaced the atlas with the DK Smithsonian Children’s Illustrated Atlas and the sticker book with the Gold Star World Atlas for Kids: Fact and Activity Book. It was a minor update, but it will work much better for everyone now!
So what am I working on next?
I have plans to do an update of the Darwin and Evolution unit (just a small one to update links) and write a few Lit Bites. I also have a few unit studies and other projects that I hope to start!
I am always brainstorming and collecting books for various unit studies and projects, too. I have lots of exciting new things in the works! I hope to share more about those projects soon!
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.
September Giveaway
Congratulations to our winner of last month’s Giveaway!
This we’ll be giving away a $25 gift code for anything in our store!
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 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!
Sign Up for Glitterbombers Here!
September Bookish Holidays
September has a bunch of fun book-related holidays. We have National Library Card Signup Month, Be Kind to Editors and Writers Month, National Read A Book Day (Sept. 6 – shouldn’t this be every day?), International Literacy Day (Sept. 8), National Punctuation Day (Sept. 24), National Comic Book Day (Sept 25) and the last week of September is Banned Books Week.
For author birthdays, we have Tomie dePaola (Sept. 15), George R. R. Martin (Sept. 20), Stephen King (Sept. 21), and Shel Silverstein (Sept. 25). There is also a Lord of the Rings birthday or Hobbit Day (Sep. 22 – Bilbo and Frodo Baggins Birthday) (perfect timing for The Hobbit Unit Study)!
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!
2023 Build Your Library Reading Challenge Check In
We are over halfway through our reading challenge this year. 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 will be a fantastic 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 36 out of the 40 prompts; I am SO going to finish this year’s whole challenge!
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. Last year, we turned this series into Homeschool Tidbits! Same great information, some new updates, and a new fun video package! We’re a little behind this year, but that’s ok! It’s still the beginning of a new homeschool year! So stay tuned on Fridays for the rest of the Back to “Home” School-inspired Tidbits this month!
- (1) Homeschool Tidbit: Advice to the New Homeschooling Mother (B2HS)
- (2) Homeschool Tidbit: Getting Organized for the New School Year (B2HS)
- (3) Homeschool Tidbit: Tips for a Great First Day (B2HS)
- (4) Homeschool Tidbit: Tips for Avoiding Homeschooling Burn Out (B2HS)
- (5) Homeschool Tidbit: Build Your Own Timeline 101 (B2HS)
I also just finished up my annual series of videos detailing what we’ll be doing this school year. If you want to see what my 9th-grade daughter will be studying this year, you should go check those out!
- 2023-2024 Homeschool Plans | 9th Grade History and Science
- 2023-2024 Homeschool Plans | 9th Grade Algebra and English
- 2023-2024 Homeschool Plans | 9th Grade Read Alouds
- 2023-2024 Homeschool Plans | Electives and What’s In Our Morning Basket?
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 4 children, Three of whom have graduated high school, and one is also a brand-new college graduate!
This series will include an approximately 10-minute “quick-bit” YouTube video and a corresponding blog post article.
Most Recent Episodes:
- Episode 53: Homeschool Tidbits: Parenting Your Adult Children (6/2/23)
- Episode 54: Homeschool Tidbits: Big Picture Planning for High School (7/7/23)
- Episode 55: Homeschool Tidbits: How I Plan Our Homeschool Year (8/18/23)
- Episode 56: Homeschool Tidbits: Tour My Homeschool Planner (8/25/23)
“Tea with Emily” Instagram Live Stream
We hope you enjoyed our last “Tea with Emily” Instagram Live Stream. If you missed our “Build Your Library/Back to Homes School Q&A“ last month in June, you can find a recording by scrolling through our Instagram, or direct links on our past events page.
Our next Livestream will be on Friday, October 13th at 1pm (EST), on our Instagram page. More details as we get closer to the event. Friday, October 13th, it might have to be something spooky… 🙂
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 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 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.
You can also stay subscribed to our email list and browse our monthly newsletters.
Wrap Up
I hope you have a wonderful September! I can’t wait to see what this new month brings!
“The summer ended. Day by day, and taking its time, the summer ended. The noises in the street began to change, diminish, voices became fewer, the music sparse. Daily, blocks and blocks of children were spirited away. Grownups retreated from the streets, into the houses. Adolescents moved from the sidewalk to the stoop to the hallway to the stairs, and rooftops were abandoned. Such trees as there were allowed their leaves to fall – they fell unnoticed – seeming to promise, not without bitterness, to endure another year. At night, from a distance, the parks and playgrounds seemed inhabited by fireflies, and the night came sooner, inched in closer, fell with a greater weight. The sound of the alarm clock conquered the sound of the tambourine, the houses put on their winter faces. The houses stared down a bitter landscape, seeming, not without bitterness, to have resolved to endure another year.”
― Just Above My Head
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
See Also:
