What We're Reading in November 2022

Last month at my book club, I was handed a title that I knew nothing about. Since I'm not in charge of choosing our monthly selections, I'm usually ignorant about the novels until cracking them open. 

While I was not familiar with that particular book, I did recognize the name of the author. She had written a middle-grade fiction a few years ago that had garnered multiple awards from the ALA (red flag #1--I don't let my kids read most modern award winners.) Her second title was also a middle grade and one that I had decided against when vetting it for my other book club, a tween/teen group I lead for my son and his friends. If memory serves, it included inappropriate language and lots of cultural name-dropping (red flag #2).

What We're Reading in September 2022

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We're one month in and we're just starting to get back to a regular school day rhythm. The death of my sister at the beginning of August and the launch of my new book Holy Hygge: Creating a Place for People to Gather and the Gospel to Grow at the beginning of September weighed heavy on every part of our lives, including our reading efforts. 

While we may not be flying through books just yet, we've finally returned to our much-loved habit of reading each and every day and are turning pages, albeit rather slowly.

What We're Reading in June 2022

Reading is important. In the schedule of our daily homeschool, it's second only to our Morning Time when we open God's Word and grow in our knowledge of Him. 

That said, in the summer months, reading is still important, but it often takes a back-burner to outdoorsy activities.

What We're Reading in May 2022

We're heading into our summer schedule. In the next few days, we'll set aside our formal academics and take a looser approach to learning. But while we'll ignore the math sheets and grammar pages, we'll still make time for reading. 

We'll keep our regular weekly visits to the library. We'll stay up late reading under covers. And we'll continue to enjoy a chapter or two from a read-aloud after lunch. 

What We're Reading in March 2022

A few months ago, I put in several Requests to Purchase at my local library.* I had heard about many soon-to-hit-shelves books that were coming out from interesting authors and I wanted to read them all. So, I hopped onto my library website, filled out their short RTP form for each title, and waited.

March arrived and so did all the books I had requested. All of them. At the same time. Needless to say, I have a giant stack of just-released books stacked up on my nightstand and spilling over onto the floor.

What We're Reading in February 2022

Confession time: I experience an embarrassing amount of satisfaction when one of my kids is reluctant to read a book that I've suggested only to admit later that I was right--that the book was indeed as great as I said it would be. 

I never "I told you so" them to death, mind you. But I'm always secretly doing a touchdown-style celebration dance in my mind, knowing that because of this one successful selection they'll be more apt to heed my recommendations in the future. 

What We're Reading in January 2022

We're only three weeks into the new year and I've already bought four new books. I might have a book buying addiction. Then again, since only one of them is for me, it could be argued that I'm more of a  book dealer than a book addict. 

Either way, January has been a month of books in the Erickson household. We've cracked into several new-to-us titles, have revisited a beloved classic, and have been pleasantly pleased by our book club picks. 

Favorite Read Alouds from 2021

At the close of every calendar year, usually on some cold December afternoon, I pull out my running list of "Books We've Read Together" and invite my kids to have a lengthy and impassioned discussion about which books from the past twelve months we liked the most. 

We take an official vote to determine our top five to ten titles. Since we are a living book-style homeschool, we read dozens and dozens of books each year for our content subjects like Bible, science, and history. But, I don't include any of those titles in our vote. Our poll is limited to read alouds--books I read to them every afternoon for fun, for family connection, for literary adventure. 

What We're Reading in October 2021

Libby has been a kind companion to me this past month. Even during a rather busy season, I've been able to slam through a handful of titles that I've been wanting to vet for the tween/teen book club I host for my son and his friends. Listening to these middle grades on the free library audiobook app has allowed me to save my focused reading time for print books of my own choosing.

What We're Reading in September 2021

This past Thursday, I hosted the first meeting of the year for my son's tween/teen book club. Since there are six new members, we used quite a bit of our time to get to know one another. It was an hour of introductions, kid-lit trivia, and general chatter among bookish people. We had not yet voted on a book for the month, so after selecting one, we focused our discussion on how best to give a book recommendation and how to know if a recommended book is right for our own personal reading lives.

What We're Reading in August 2021

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All month, I've been sorting through and vetting titles for the tween/teen book club I host. I was especially focused on one title, A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban. It was a new-to-me book from a new-to-me author. But I'd heard good things and wanted to give it a quick once-over to see if it might make a good selection for our group. 

What We're Reading in July 2021

July is a month on the go for my family. In the next few weeks, some or all of us will go from Minnesota to Arizona to Pennsylvania to Washington D.C., and back again. Many days on planes and in the car will add up to hours upon hours of reading, reading, and more reading.

In related news, I've joined a book club. As a work-at-home, homeschooling mom, my life can feel rather insular. I have to be extra intentional about the Biblical command to "go into all the world" in order to build relationships and spread the Good News.

What We're Reading in June 2021

Late spring was no friend to my reading life. While I was busy trying to wrap up the school year--speak at my last homeschool conference of the season, close out co-op with a flourish, host one final tween book club, organize an end-of-the-year field trip for my kids and a few of our homeschooling friends, and celebrate my first homeschool graduate--I was also juggling some summer activities that were already getting underway--baseball practice, softball games, and driver's ed. It was a collision of seasonal activities and the fallout was not pretty. 

What We're Reading in March 2021

Since the moment I was old enough to stumble my way through the one-vowel words of a Dick and Jane classic, I've been told never to judge a book by its cover. This month, I learned how very wise that readerly advice truly is.

After scouring the Libby app for an audiobook to take with me to the first Teach Them Diligently Convention of the year, I settled on one by a new-to-me author that came highly recommended by a few moms during our Storied Mom Reading Challenge. The cover was lackluster, to say the least--girl in a sweeping Civil War-era dress, standing wistfully by a window with light streaming around her, giving her an angelic glow. It had all the classic markings of a fluffy, romance novel.

It delivered romance, yes. But it also contained some very rich and timely themes. More on that later...

Here's a peek at what we've been reading this month.

What We're Reading in February 2021

This past weekend while speaking at the annual North Dakota Homeschool Association conference, I received a lovely card from Wendy, a long-time blog follower, thanking me for creating this little community on the web. At the end of the note, she mentioned that these monthly What We're Reading posts are her favorites to read. 

I hear that a lot. 

Turns out, people who like to read, like to read about what others are reading.

What We're Reading in January 2021

We're now deep into the first month of the new year and while my kids and I have started many books these past few weeks, we haven't really gotten to read very few pages from any of them. I blame The Great British Baking Show.

We discovered the show just after Christmas. Apparently, we were the only people on the planet who hadn't seen a single episode during quarantine. Since then, we've spent way too much time watching Season 1 in the evenings instead of reading. But, these are wonky times. And sometimes, weird days demand a change of scenery...or media consumption, as it were. 

Favorite Read Alouds from 2020

Our read-aloud time in 2020 was bittersweet. We read so many great books and made so many literary memories together, but we made most of them without my daughter. As a high school senior working at a local ice cream shop and taking dual enrollment credits from an area Christian university, she was rarely ever available to join us during the school day. 

With or without her, we carried on. And as always, we read some really great stories. Here's a list of our top 10 favorites from this past year. 

What We're Reading in December 2020

I've hit the reading lottery this month! At the end of November, I chose to start two books written by new-to-me authors--one fiction and one non-fiction. 

I knew that my selections were quite a risk considering I just came off a month of reading so-so titles. 

But since both books came highly recommended by my Instagram community, I decided to be brave and hope for the best. 

I'm so glad I did. They each have been fantastic! Admittedly, I haven't been able to chip away at either one quite as much as I'd like to in these past few weeks because of necessary Christmas prep, but I've kept them close at hand, reading as much as possible in the nooks and crannies of my days.

What We're Reading in October 2020

The other day, my youngest three sons asked if they could have a later bedtime in order that they could stay up to read.

Of course, I let them. Since we homeschool and are never at the mercy of someone else's arbitrary start time, my husband and I are pretty flexible with both bedtimes and wake up calls, especially when books are involved.

Trouble was, while the older of the two boys already had books in hand and were ready to hunker down under the covers to enjoy one literary adventure or another, their younger brother couldn't seem to find a book that looked interesting. 

What We're Reading in September 2020

All good things must come to an end. Or at least that's what I've been told. After 16 years of sitting by my side for our daily read alouds, my daughter has officially opted out and will not be joining us for our afternoon tradition anymore. Her work schedule is very unpredictable, making it difficult for her to commit to anything other than her college classes and our family Morning Time on any given school day.