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June 2020 Reading Recap

Reading as escape is a real thing, isn’t it?

There are many days in the past month where I’ve truly felt that reading a good book was the perfect way to salvage the day - or to just see some good in the world that sometimes is difficult to see (especially if you turn on the news!).

In last month’s recap, I talked to you about reading widely and well. I’m always striving for that… I hope you see some of that this month.

This month’s selections were fueled by a need for fun summer reading, some research for the SQUILT music curriculum, reading aloud to my 15-year-old, and also a need to know about some personal and family stories I’d been hearing about.

June 2020 Reading Recap @ Homegrown Learners

June 2020 Books

Each book this month received a 4 or 5-star rating from me.

There was one book I put into the DNF stack this month - The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennet. It just wasn’t for me, and I could tell that after approximately 75 pages. I have learned that life is too short to hold out to see if books I don’t initially like will get better - so I am feeling less and less guilt about just setting them aside.

Highlights from the month:

  • Evening in the Palace of Reason: Bach Meets Frederick the Great in the Age of Enlightenment: I read this because we are studying J.S. Bach in July in SQUILT LIVE!. I couldn’t have asked for a better biography about Bach and his contemporary (and total opposite!) Frederick the Great.

    This pulled together a lot of history and gave me a true picture of how Bach influenced the ENTIRE course of Western music. VERY interesting!

  • Lovely War: I had no idea this was a YA book until after I had finished it and was watching the author, Julie Berry, on an author chat with Modern Mrs. Darcy. This book was just READABLE - it even incorporated some mythology (which doesn’t usually interest me) and I loved it! It is a work of historical fiction taking place during WWI.

    I ordered The Passion of Dolssa (another book by Berry) when I finished this one. These are great books for your high school girls!

  • Hidden Valley Road: This is the true story of a family from Colorado. Twelve children are born into the family, and when it is all said and done SIX of them are diagnosed with Schizophrenia. If you are easily triggered by mental illness, suicide, physical and sexual abuse, or abuse at the hands of a Catholic priest, you might want to steer away from this one.

    I found it a fascinating look at mental illness and the strides we have made in treating and diagnosing schizophrenia in particular. I found myself at many points wondering how in the world this mother survived life with 6 Schizophrenic sons. Truly astounding.

  • Nory Ryan’s Song: We read this one aloud - and promptly got the other two books that will round out the series. Set during the “Great Hunger” (potato famine) in Ireland, it is the story of Nory Ryan, a determined, tenacious young girl who gives us insight into what true hunger, suffering, and triumph are. I can’t recommend this one enough!

    This book goes beautifully with our study of Irish music in July in SQUILT LIVE!

Tweet Cute, Love Lettering, and 28 Summers were all fun (fluffier) reads.

This Must be the Place was one that has been on my TBR for ages, and I very much enjoyed the writing of Maggie O’Farrell - I will be reading more by her in the future!

A.W. Tozer was also new to me - The Dangers of a Shallow Faith was a wake-up call. My husband is listening to it now and getting a lot from it as well. It is packed full of practical Christian wisdom - which rings just as true now as it did in Tozer’s lifetime over 50 years ago.

Finally, while I’m not a big fan of Trevor Noah now, I had heard that Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood was a must-read. I agree. It was laugh out loud funny, but also gravely serious in many parts. The insight into Apartheid - as told by someone now living in America who enjoys great celebrity, was very interesting. I was thinking of giving this to my son to read, but there was way too much cursing. I haven’t read the young reader’s edition - but I imagine it would be good for your kids to read especially now.

Did you have a favorite book you read in June?

Let me know about it in the comments below!

June 2020 Reading Recap @ Homegrown Learners

5 Good Things: Encouraging Words

We all need encouragement.

It is important to feed our own souls, and then to pour into others through encouraging actions and words.

Homeschooling is HARD work, and we need support. Today’s post is designed to give you a little shot in the arm of that encouragement and beauty that we all need. In fact, I believe it’s the most important investment we can make as homeschooling parents - investing in our own education and mental and spiritual health.

5 Good #Homeschool Things: Encouraging Words

My husband and I took some this week to be very intentional about mental health - and adding some joy to our lives.

These past few months have been difficult. In addition to the quarantine and all that comes with it, I’ve also been trying to help my dad, who lives in an Assisted Living and has been in and out of the hospital twice since Covid hit. He’s doing much better now, but I feel very helpless being 8 hours away from him - and even if I lived around the corner I wouldn’t even be able to get in and visit him.

The music appreciation membership at SQUILT Music has grown exponentially in the past few months, too. What a blessing this is - but I’ve had to adjust my time and offload some household duties to other people around here (which probably needed to happen anyway!).

Back to the intentionality and joy - we got together with some dear homeschool friends and enjoyed an evening of fellowship, laughter, wisdom, and just good friendship. It was balm for our souls.

My husband and I always get our picture taken on our front porch - it’s fun to see the same backdrop - with the couple getting a little older (and hopefully wiser) each year. We’ll be celebrating our 23rd anniversary very soon - we never ever imagined we would homeschool our children, but we both agree it was the best parenting decision we ever made.

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So take heart: the work unfinished at end of day, the lists unchecked, the dreams unrealized, may be the measure of your love.

  • The Gift of People’s Presence

    Such a beautiful post written by Ashlee Eiland - talking about the simple gift of our presence. Homeschooling is the perfect way to simply be PRESENT for our children, isn’t it?

  • “Summer Moods”

    This is a lovely podcast with poetry read aloud - from the Circe Institute. Listening to beautiful things encourages me. Even if you don’t share this with your children, take a few minutes to sit outside and just listen to this poem. Beautiful.

  • 5 Ways to Encourage a Fellow Homeschool Mom

    I wrote this post a year ago - and I anticipate that in the next year there will be so many homeschooling parents that need our support! I hope this post gives you simple ways to do just that.

  • Walk With the Wise: Choose Well Who Influences Your Decisions

    Sally Clarkson is a wise source of information. This post will bless you.

And - in case you’re wondering - the favorite book I’ve read in the past couple of weeks is Love Lettering. It’s sweet, endearing, and unputdownable (yes, that’s really a word!). If you want to keep up with my reads, follow me on Instagram @Homegrown Book Picks.

Is there something in particular that encourages you?

Brings you joy? Radiates beauty?

Let me know in the comments below!

5 Good #Homeschool Things: Encouraging Words