10/07/2026
๐ Next up in our homeschool: Island of Spies! ๐ต๏ธโโ๏ธ
Waylen got to choose his next book unit, and this is the one he picked! We LOVE book units around here. Thereโs just something about taking a good book and letting it spill over into history, science, geography, writing, hands-on projects, and all the rabbit trails along the way.
And this one is going to be FUN.
Island of Spies by Sheila Turnage is set on Hatteras Island, North Carolina, during WWII, so we're turning his study into an entire Agent Waylen Case File. ๐๏ธ๐
Over the next several weeks, he'll be diving into:
๐ต๏ธ Reading comprehension through clues, evidence logs, suspects, predictions & theories
๐ Mapping Hatteras Island, the Outer Banks & Atlantic shipping routes
โ Learning about German U-boats off the American coast during WWII
๐บ๐ธ Exploring the American home front, blackouts, rationing & civilian life during the war
๐ฌ Experimenting with submarines, buoyancy & pressure
๐ Building his own periscope
๐ Learning Morse code & Caesar ciphers and creating secret messages
๐ฐ Writing a 1942 newspaper article & classified intelligence reports
๐ Building an ongoing spy dossier as he reads
And instead of ending with a traditional book report, he'll complete a Final Intelligence Briefing, where he'll use his case file to present what he discovered about the story AND the real history behind it.
This is one of my favorite things about homeschooling. A book doesn't have to stay a reading assignment. It can become the doorway into an entire world of learning.
Agent Waylen's next mission officially begins. ๐ต๏ธโโ๏ธ๐