Read-Aloud Revival ®

Two weeks ago I shared the first 5 of 10 mistakes I’ve made in my homeschool -- believe me, I’ve made many, many more than that! But I’m highlighting 10 that stick out most prominently to me.So in the last “Best of Read-Aloud Revival” episode, I shared the first 5 and today I’m sharing the next 5. Hopefully, hearing these will keep you from making the mistakes I have. Homeschooling is a joy and a gift and it’s hard and wonderful and messy and effective -- it’s all of those things at once. I can promise you won’t get it perfect, and I can also promise that you don’t NEED to get it perfect. In this episode, you’ll hear: Two big mistakes new homeschool parents often makeWhy you have to avoid the comparison trap in your homeschoolWhy more isn’t better when it comes to your homeschoolOne of the hardest lessons I’ve learned in my years of homeschoolingFind the rest of the show notes at: https://readaloudrevival.com/5-more-homeschool-mistakes/

The podcast discusses common homeschooling mistakes and provides insights for new homeschooling moms. Topics include curriculum choices, overplanning, and feeling overwhelmed. The importance of reading aloud, combining kids and subjects, and fostering a love of lifelong learning are also explored.

Why do we make things mean more than they actually mean?We all do it. We realize a kid doesn’t know how to tie their shoes at age 12, and we tell ourselves we’re forgetting to teach SO MANY IMPORTANT THINGS. We feed our kids frozen pizza for dinner twice in a week and think it means we don’t care about their health. We sleep late and tell ourselves we’re lazy. We have a late reader and think it means we’re not good at this “teaching reading” thing. We make things mean what they don’t mean ALL THE TIME.And today? Today we’re gonna talk about it.I’m sharing something we’ve been talking about in Circle with Sarah, which is our homeschool coaching program in RAR Premium. Recently I did a couple of episodes on why we need to keep data in its place in our homeschool and not make things mean what they don’t mean. I wanted you to hear it, so I’m sharing those two episodes in one RAR Podcast for you here. In this episode, you’ll hear: Why you have to learn to separate the data from your self-worth and value How to make use of what the data is actually telling youJournal prompts to help you suss out what the data is telling you and what you’re making it meanLearn more about Sarah Mackenzie:Read Aloud RevivalWaxwing BooksSubscribe to the NewsletterFind the rest of the show notes at: https://readaloudrevival.com/its-just-data/

Today, I’m sharing a conversation with my friend and colleague, Cindy West.Cindy teaches at No Sweat Nature Study, a homeschool nature study program that takes the guesswork out of nature study by teaching your kids directly. Cindy is also the host of the No Sweat Nature Study podcast, which features short episodes about nature. (My kids absolutely love it!)Cindy and I recently had a conversation for her community about how to use picture books to teach nature study and today, I wanted to share it with you.Because nature study kind of has a name for itself in the homeschooling world. We've sort of built it up as the supreme science activity and it can be wonderful - getting out in nature, observing and learning about the world around us …But we also tend to put a lot of pressure on ourselves about it. There are just times in life when getting out in nature is harder than others – maybe you have a new baby, maybe someone has allergies, maybe the weather is just plain terrible. There are plenty of reasons why you might need or want to do some of your nature study from the couch or the kitchen table.And that’s why on today’s episode of the Read-Aloud Revival Podcast, Cindy and I are talking about teaching nature study through books.In this episode, you’ll hear: How “living literature” helps you kids make connections between books and the world around themHow making connections through picture books can relieve some of the pressure around nature studyWhy picture book biographies are great launching points for all agesFind the rest of the show notes at: https://readaloudrevival.com/cozy-couch-nature-study/

I have a theory that if I were to ask a hundred of today’s children’s book authors and illustrators to name a book that had a profound impact on them, I bet an unusually large number of those authors and illustrators would mention the work of E.B. White.I cannot count the number of times I’ve heard authors say that E.B. White’s books have made such a huge difference in their lives and writing.I’m a big E.B. White fan myself, and while I love Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little, my absolute favorite is The Trumpet of the Swan.And that’s what we’re reading this spring in RAR Premium for our Family Book Club. Plus, we’re going to look closely at first-lines (E.B. White was a master of this) for a WOW: Writer’s on Writing Event.It’s going to be quite the fabulous E.B. White spring here at RAR!  So today, we’re revisiting an episode from 2017 with children’s book illustrator Melissa Sweet discussing her children’s biography of E.B. White, called Some Writer.In this episode, you’ll hear: How each story informs Melissa’s process of creating mixed media illustrationsHow a family of crafters and makers inspired Melissa to become an artistHow Melissa’s research into E.B. White’s work led to the visuals for Some Writer Learn more about Sarah Mackenzie:Read Aloud RevivalWaxwing BooksSubscribe to the NewsletterMentioned in This Episode:RAR #202: For Kids Who Don't Like Sad StoriesBooks Mentioned in This Episode:Charlotte’s WebStuart Little The Trumpet of the SwanSome WriterA Boy, A Mouse, and a SpiderThe Baby Bear SeriesThe Pinky and Rex SeriesThe Boy Who Drew BirdsBrave GirlBalloons Over BroadwayA Splash of RedYou Nest Here with MeThe Right WordA River of Words

Every year, the Read-Aloud Revival team watches the American Library Association’s Youth Media Awards together. This is the award show where the medals that are considered the most prestigious in children’s publishing are given.Today I’m joined by Kortney Garrison, our Community Director, Kara Anderson, our Creative Director, and Harmony Harkema, or brand new Managing Editor at both Read-Aloud Revival and Waxwing Books.We are going to talk about the winners that were announced on January 30, 2023. We’ll talk about the books we were delighted to see honored, as well as some books that we think should have been honored. And you know we have opinions about that. ;)In this episode, you’ll hear: The impact the awards can have for authors and illustratorsThe announcements that made us cheerThe book gems that didn’t make the list and why we love themLearn more about Sarah Mackenzie:Read Aloud RevivalWaxwing BooksSubscribe to the NewsletterFind the rest of the show notes at: https://readaloudrevival.com/books-that-won/

Oh boy, do we have a treat for you today!Our team here at Read-Aloud Revival has been hard at work on a brand new booklist for you and I’ve invited Kortney Garrison and Kara Anderson from the RAR team back to this side of the podcast to tell you all about it.Nature study can be an intimidating subject that carries a lot of expectations in the homeschooling world. It’s something we want to do, but it can get pushed to the side because we don’t always have the energy to tramp around the woods with a watercolor set.So this project started with our team asking, how can we simplify nature study and make it more likely to happen? Could it really be as simple as reading a book and doing an activity?We think so! And that’s where our brand new booklist and activity guide comes in.In this episode, you’ll hear: Why we chose 12 books per season, and why you don’t have to read them allHow we paired books and activities to make them as accessible as we couldHow the guide brings know, do, and love to nature studyLearn more about Sarah Mackenzie:Read Aloud RevivalWaxwing BooksSubscribe to the NewsletterFind the rest of the show notes at: https://readaloudrevival.com/simple-homeschool-nature-study/

What do you do if you notice that your child isn’t finishing books?How can you get your kids to widen their reading taste outside of a single genre?How can you describe what you do for literature on a high school transcript when you take a more relaxed Read-Aloud Revival approach to the subject?And what can you do to help boost your child’s emotional intelligence and reading comprehension while reading? Today, I’m answering listeners’ questions about their kids’ reading habits, from bouncing from book to book to getting stuck in a genre rut, and more.In this episode, you’ll hear: Is it okay if your child is reading from rather than through?How can we expand our child’s reading repertoire (without assigning them books)?How to describe literature on a high school transcriptHow picture books can help a child having difficulty with social and emotional cuesLearn more about Sarah Mackenzie:Read Aloud RevivalWaxwing BooksSubscribe to the NewsletterFind the rest of the show notes at: https://readaloudrevival.com/when-your-child-doesnt-finish-books/

I want to help you think about what’s most essential in your homeschool. I’ve invited Kortney Garrison and Kara Anderson from the RAR team to chat with me about a favorite book when it comes to essentializing.We've been talking and thinking about the book Essentialism by Greg McKeown a lot here at Read Aloud Revival, especially as it relates to homeschooling. We're reading the book in our Mama Book Club in RAR Premium in January and I will tell you this book is easily one of the books I can say has changed my life.That is not an exaggeration. I think Read Aloud Revival itself has been built on the principles in Essentialism. I've probably reread it a dozen times.This book has changed the way I've thought about my own life and maybe this is due to me being a mother to half a dozen kids but this idea of less but better really appeals to me. Today, Kortney, Kara, and I are going to dig into just the first chapter and how it relates to our homeschools.In this episode, you’ll hear: Defining Essentialism and why the concept is so needed for homeschool parentsHow doing less, but better can help us set priorities in our homeschools and avoid decision fatigueHow comparing your kids’ progress to the baseline, not the ideal, can give you a better perspective on your successesFind the rest of the show notes at: https://readaloudrevival.com/essentialism-for-homeschoolers/

The Long Winter is the sixth book in the Little House on the Prairie series. It was first published in 1940, and is an autobiographical novel. Laura Ingalls Wilder based the series on her actual life as a child, settling the west. This particular story, The Long Winter, was set in the southwestern Dakota Territory during the severe winter of 1880-1881 when Laura was 14 years old. Even if you haven’t read the rest of the Little House books, I think you want to read this one. You can read any of the Little House books as stand-alones, but I’m betting that if you give your kids a taste of any of them, they’ll want to keep reading more stories from Laura.And truly, it’s no wonder why. Laura Ingalls Wilder is, to my mind, unparalleled as one of the finest novelists in children’s literature, ever alive.In this episode, you’ll hear: How Ingalls Wilder creates an immersive experience with deceptively simple writingWhy re-reading can be the best kind of reading, for us and for our kidsHow to handle troubling or problematic content in books with your kids, and why I believe we need to have those discussionsBut there is an elephant in the room with the Little House on the Prairie books and we need to talk about it. Today, we’re talking about what makes The Long Winter so gripping and so beloved, as well as how we handle problematic texts with our kids and why I believe that scenes and language we may find troubling aren’t reasons to leave great books on the shelf.Find the rest of the show notes at: https://readaloudrevival.com/219/