Book Bums

08/11/2026

There is plenty you can do to help your kids have a great, anxiety-free start to the new school year.

1) Get backpacks, outfits, and lunches prepared the day before so there’s less stress for everyone in the morning. Remember to include after-school materials such as soccer bags and football uniforms.

2) Start your kids going to bed about 15 minutes earlier tonight, and then 15 minutes earlier than that the next night, until you get to a bedtime that allows for them to have at least 9 hours of sleep time.

3) Put into place a bedtime routine that everyone enjoys. Ensure that the routine includes things your kids will truly look forward to such as you reading books* to them (all elementary ages), using a new toothbrush and toothpaste or even new skincare products to promote a new beginning, talking about the plans for the next day, acknowledging any worries and praying a prayer together that addresses those worries.

4) Ensure your kids have no TVs, game consoles, or phones in their bedrooms at night. Don’t fall for the need for an alarm. You’ll want to be the one to wake them up or get them an old-fashioned alarm clock. There’s research indicating that kids sleep less well if they have a phone in their rooms—even if it’s turned off.

5) Talk positively about their school, the teachers, and the curriculum. Kids catch our enthusiasm (or lack of enthusiasm), so be optimistic.

*Here are a few great books that would be great for you to begin your back-to-school bedtime reading: Clementine, Shredderman, A Week in the Woods, Ranger in Time Rescue on the Oregon Trail,, Boxcar Children, Top Secret, Socks, Andrew Lost on the Dog, The Castle in the Attic

And I love this welcome home idea, shared by Simplistically Living.

08/10/2026

If you're a classroom teacher or a homeschooling parent, try using a Dynamic Dictionary to promote skilled reading and spelling. Watch this video to learn how it works. Dr. Christy will be sharing links and more information about how to promote phonemic awareness and phonics rules that govern our spelling in the coming days! Make this the year all your students become skilled readers AND writers.

Here's a podcast about the Dynamic Dictionary too.

https://www.spreaker.com/episode/oyw-dynamic-dictionary--65614921

Follow us on Facebook and check out our website where you'll find lots of Parent and Teacher Resources.

www.bookbums.com

How to promote phonemic awareness in Writers Workshop

08/10/2026

If your child struggles to read a word, simply telling them to “sound it out” may not be enough.

Children need to know which sounds the letters represent and how those sounds work together.

Until they are equipped to make the sounds for most every letter combination, there's nothing for kids to do but "guess" what the words say (using picture clues and/or context clues). We do not want our kids to "guess" what the words say.

A little explicit instruction can make a BIG difference!

If you live in the greater Cincinnati or Dayton area, click here:
www.bookbums.com/assessment/
to schedule a free assessment with Dr. Christina Williams to learn what your kids know about how words work and what they would benefit from learning next..

We help really smart kids learn to read and spell well--and we even make it FUN!

08/03/2026

It's not too late! We have a small class of students who'll be joining us for a handwriting workshop that runs Monday (TODAY)-Friday. That five days in a row is key for building muscle memory and stamina. We'll meet from 1:30-2:30 at our new Monroe location. I know it's not a convenient time for many, but if it works for you, you can bring your child today with no preregistration required. The fee for all five days is $85. As with all Book Bums programming, our aim is to make learning (even handwriting) fun for our students. Your child's new teacher will be oh so impressed!

The letter is an actual note written by a student to his handwriting teacher (my daughter-in-law)!

Monroe
675 South Main Street
Monroe, OH 45050

07/23/2026

Would you like your kids (between the ages of five and twelve) to begin this new school year with extra confidence?

Join us August 3rd-7th from 1:30-2:30 for Book Bums' FAMOUS Handwriting Workshop to be held at our Monroe location (675 South Main Street Monroe, Ohio).

We're just down the street from Wyandot Early Childhood School and around the corner from Monroe Primary School!

Your kids will . . .
use tidy, efficient letter formations,
minimize letter reversals,
and build writing stamina.

We'll transform messy handwriting into tidy, automatic, I-don't-even-have-to-think-about-it-anymore handwriting!

Cost: $85 per child

You're gonna feel oh so proud when you see your child’s work hanging in the hallway this year!

Maybe you won't believe it, but our students LOVE handwriting! Nothing's quite so exciting as seeing our own progress, and your kids will see tremendous progress--even on the first day!

07/09/2026

Our sign is up and on, and it feels like we're finally ready to open up to serve families who have beginning or struggling readers in and around Monroe, Ohio!

At Book Bums we help really smart kids (typically between the ages of five and ten) learn to read and spell well . . . And we even make it FUN!

If you'd like to schedule a free (quick and painless) assessment with Dr. Christy, email [email protected], and we'll get you scheduled as quickly as possible.

We'll help you make this your child's best school year yet!

06/03/2026

Thanks to YOU we have more than enough families to serve this summer on behalf of The Faith Alliance of West Chester and Liberty Township! If you emailed me, I'll be accepting students in the order I received your emails. Look for a permission form that I'll send you via email. Please fill that in and bring it with you on Tuesday (for kids in grades 1 & 2) and/or Wednesday (for kids in grades 3-6). I'll be reaching out today and tomorrow! Again, thank you so very much!

05/02/2026

Books at the park? We're THERE!

Mark your calendars for June 12 & July 10 as Storytime in the Park returns to Liberty Township! Join us beginning at 10 a.m. at Fort Liberty Playland (6845 Van Gorden Road) for a 30-minute storytime provided by MidPointe Library System. Come for the story, play on the playground afterwards! See you there!

04/28/2026

Thanks so much for the warm welcome to Monroe City Councilwoman Molly Cloyd ! We're excited to be opening soon in Monroe!

We'll be offering free assessments for parents who'd like to see what their kids already know about how words work and where we'd begin instruction to ensure their kids head back to school in the fall with confident smiles!

Well well well, look what I saw on my drive home! These signs just popped up at the commercial space with Cassano’s! Welcome to Monroe, Book Bums!

04/28/2026

At Book Bums, we work hard to provide excellent programming as we serve students beyond our three tutoring centers, but THESE PEOPLE who serve with The Faith Alliance of West Chester and Liberty Township really make it wonderful! We're so proud to serve our community alongside folks who care enough about kids to sit alongside them and invest their time into growing their reading skills and so much more. If you'd like to join us in serving kids this summer, email Dr. Christy at [email protected]. We'll need volunteers on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings from 10:45 until noon. It's an hour and fifteen minutes a week for ten weeks for you, but it's a lifetime of a difference for kids who are struggling to read and spell well. You can truly make a difference for good like these folks did. I hope you'll join us!