The Littlest Book Corner

Ok, this has to be the coolest Little Free Library I have ever seen 🪄
Way to go Montana 👏

So I know we are nowhere near Valentine’s Day, but my daughter picked this out at the library and absolutely loves it - we just finished our third reading - so I figured it deserved a share. Valensteins by Ethan Long is a really cute and really fun picture book about some little monsters who are trying to figure out what love is with a little help from their bunny friend on Valentines Day. Turns out it isn’t about being mushy, fluttering your eyes, cutting out paper hearts or kissing someone on the lips (Ewwwww), but rather, ‘It’s about something you feel in your real heart, even if it does feel a little funny sometimes.’ ❤️❤️

Love this reminder from ❤️

And don’t forget that simply reading to your little book worms brings them so many developmental benefits…

Helps them get to know sounds, words and language, and develop early literacy skills.

Teaches them to value books and stories.

Sparks their imagination and stimulates curiosity.

Helps to develop their brain, ability to focus, concentration, social skills and communication skills…

…all while spending some sweet quality time together 📚

Love these sweet illustrations by and such a good reminder of the importance of picture books 📚

We had to pick a 'classic picture book' for our reading challenge last week, and you can't get much more classic than Where the Wild Things Are. Somehow i'd never got around to reading this timeless classic with the kids and honestly couldn't quite recall the story myself - I guess it's been a while! But I figured they would love it and of course they did. I love how this book truly captures the imagination and transports it to a whole new world that's equally as terrifying as it is wonderous. I ended up pairing this book with the 'Nature Crowns' craft project from 's art book which worked really well. We went out for a walk and collected lots of twigs and flowers, came home to make our crowns. Once we were finished we put on our crowns and pretended to be kings of the wild things as we read the book and finished up with a good old stomp around. It was admittedly pretty fun, even for me 😆 I'm sure this is one of those books that we will end up checking out of the library on a regular basis 📚

One of the requirements for last week's book challenge was to read a biography, which is something we've never done together before so I was a little nervous about how it would go down. But then I discovered this really cute series called 'Ordinary People Change the World' and I loved how it was so brightly illustrated and a fun mix between a picture book and a comic which helped to keep my two little ones engaged. And to be fair, as far as biographies go you can't get much more fun for kids than Jane Goodall!! I found this copy in our local library and I'm so glad we have it a try. It went on a little longer than the books we are usually used to getting through which was a bit of a struggle for my three year old near the end, but my five year old lapped it up. They were both fascinated by the fact that it was a true story based on a real person. As a parent I also really appreciated the positive messages that came through - the idea of an ordinary person making such a difference in the world, the appreciation and care for animals and the environment, and working hard to achieve your dreams. The kids were so interested in learning more about chimpanzees and other African animals that we ended up making a trip to the zoo later in the week to really help bring the story to life. There's also a really amazing documentary on Jane Goodall's life on Disney Plus which the kids enjoyed watching too - they were excited to see the real lady from the book on our TV! I believe the documentary is called Jane. Now I'm excited to try more of the books from this series with my kiddos 📖

A beautiful rainbow to brighten up your day 🌈📚

Part of our homeschool curriculum includes a reading challenge which we were pretty excited to get our teeth stuck in to. The challenge is to basically read a book on a specific topic or theme to help little learners to read a broader variety of books and so books must be selected based on a specific topic or theme. You can pick the books yourself, but if you could use a little help there's a list of age-appropriate suggestions for each topic in the curriculum handbook which I'm choosing to use for the most part. The first topic was 'A book about being a Christian or about what the Bible teaches". I really liked the look of Jesus and the Very Big Surprise but I couldn't find this in the library (which is where I'm picking up most of the books from) so I did end up purchasing this one, but I'm glad that I did as we all really enjoyed going through it. It was a really fun way of explaining the gospel with really cool, quirky, bright illustrations. The kids especially loved joining in shouting 'surprise'. It looks as though there are more books in the series so we may end up checking out a few more in the future. A great book to kickstart our homeschool reading challenge 📖

I started this IG account along with The Littlest Book Corner's YouTube channel when these two little goof balls were a 1 year old and a baby. It was an amazing way to share our love of books and an amazing outlet for my post-partum self that in many ways really helped me to stay sane (for the most part 😆). As life went on and got busy I became less and less active on this account, as you can probably tell. But in this new season of homeschooling with a now three year old and five year old, I feel as though it's a good time to hop back on. Our Timberdoodle homeschool curriculum includes a reading challenge and I figured we could share the books we are getting through - from the looks of things it will be a very varied selection. So hello again friends, it's good to be back in this awesome community - let's all cheer each other on during these crazy times!!
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We had no idea when we made up the little book corner in our front room two and a half years ago that we would one day be utilizing it as a homeschool space, but here we are!! When we first made the decision to homeschool I knew straight off the bat that I wanted to make it special and something that the kids could get excited about so they didn't dwell too much on the disappointment of not going back to regular school. I can now safely say "mission accomplished" as they love their new learning space and can't wait to get started. And if I'm being honest, neither can I 🙊 Never thought I'd hear myself say that 😆

's beautiful illustrations bringing so much life, beauty and hope right now. If you aren't following his account yet then be sure to do so. Does anyone have his book? It's at the top of my wish list right now

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Does anyone else have rainbows up in their windows? I'd love to see them - tag me in your rainbow pics and I'll share them in my stories 📚
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