Books Read in 2021

In 2021 I exceeded by goal of reading 52 books for the year, coming in at 56. If I count all of the children's books I have read to my kids as a part of school, this list would be a lot longer. But I try to keep this particular goal to chapter books that are typically close to 200 pages. Outliers do exist in this list as I read Gooney Girl Greene and it was only 88 pages. I think I more than made up for it though by reading Atlas Shrugged which was over 1,000 pages! The favorite series that my kids and I listened to was about the Melendy Family – a series of 5 books, closely followed by My Side of the Mountain, The Willoughbys, and The Biography of Santa Claus. As for adult books, my favorite were We Stood Upon Stars, Adventuring Together, and Electric City. Though I really enjoyed most of the books I read this year.

Books read in 2021:

1. The Good Earth (Book 1) by Pearl S. Buck
2. The Birchbark House (Book 1) by Louise Erdrich (read aloud to kids)
3. The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes (read aloud to kids)
4. You're Not Enough and That's Ok by Allie Beth Stuckey
5. The Terrible Two (Book 1) by Mac Barnett (read aloud to kids)
6. Get Out of Your Head by Jennie Allen
7. The Horse and His Boy (Chronicles of Narnia Book 5) by C.S. Lewis (read aloud to kids)
8. Ember's End (The Green Ember Book 4) by S.D. Smith (audio book with kids)
9. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
10. Prince Caspian (Chronicles of Narnia Book 2) by C.S. Lewis (read aloud to kids)
11. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
12. We Stood Upon Stars by Roger W. Thompson (audio book with kids)

 

13. Adventuring Together by Greta Eskridge (audio book)

14. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Chronicles of Narnia Book 3) by C.S. Lewis (read aloud to kids)

15. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

16. United States of Socialism by Dinesh D'Souza

17. Greenglass House (Book 1) by Kate Milford (read aloud to kids)

18. My Side of the Mountain (Book 1) by Jean Craighead George (read aloud to kids)

19. Gooney Bird Greene by Lois Lowry (read aloud to kids)

20. The Four-Story Mistake (Melendy Family Book 2) by Elizabeth Enright (audio book with kids)

21. Reclaiming Conversation by Sherry Turkle

22. The Tragic Tale of Narcissa Whitman by Chery Harness (read aloud to kids)

23. 1789 by Marc Aronson (editor)

24. Chasing God by Angie Smith

25. On the Far Side of the Mountain (Book 2) by Jean Craighead George (read aloud to kids)

26. Adventures with Waffles by Maria Parr (read aloud to kids)

27. Awakening Wonder by Sally Clarkson

28. Then There Were Five (Melendy Family Book 3) by Elizabeth Enright (audio book with kids)

29. Economic Facts and Fallacies by Thomas Sowell

30. Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology by Adam Alter

31. The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

32. Liberty by Kirby Larson (audio book with kids)

33. Math with Bad Drawings by Ben Orlin

34. Draw the Circle: The 40 Day Prayer Challenge by Mark Batterson

35. How am I Smart? by Kathy Koch

36. Uprooted by Grace Olmstead

 

37. Spiderweb for Two (Book 4) by Elizabeth Enright

38. Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe

39. The Stormkeeper's Island (Book 1) by Catherine Doyle

40. The Saturdays (Melendy Family Book 1) by Elizabeth Enright (audiobook with kids)

41. Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge

42. The Willoughbys (Book 1) by Lois Lowry (read aloud to kids)
43. Gone Away Lake (Book 1) by Elizabeth Enright (audio book with kids)

44. The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee

45. Casting the Gods Adrift by Geraldine McCaughrean (read aloud to kids)

46. Return to Gone-Away (Book 2) Elizabeth Enright (audio book with kids)

47. Pie by Sarah Weeks (read aloud to kids)

48. The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

49. The Willoughbys Return (Book 2) by Lois Lowry

 

50. Tales from the Odyssey Part 1 by Mary Pope Osborn (read aloud to kids)

51. Marilla of Green Gables by Sarah McCoy

52. Electric City by Thomas Hager

53. Kingdom's Dawn (Book 1) Chuck Black (read aloud to kids)

54. The Enigma Game by Elizabeth Wein

55. The Bible Recap by Tara-Leigh Cobble

56. The Autobiography of Santa Claus by Jeff Guinn (audio book with kids)

Books I've read over the years:
2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020

Books Read in 2020

Between reading for fun, reading to learn, reading for book club, and reading to my kids, I read 69 books last year. This does not include all of the picture books or books I read to the kids as a part of teaching homeschool (though it does include the read alouds chapter books I read with the kids).

I actually became really unmotivated to read when the pandemic started. I was doing the bare minimum with the kids for schooling, and reading for myself just kind of hit pause. My book club continued to read and meet via zoom, and eventually back in person outside. Book club helped me to gain my bearings again and to keep reading even if I didn't want to.

That being said, I still read a ton, and it is my current goal to get the kids to love reading as much as I do. They still prefer me to read to them. And I love the reading culture we have created, just need to help them make the jump to doing it on their own (because they enjoy it) as well.

 

Books read in 2020:

1. The Chemist by Stephenie Meyer

2.  The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell

3. Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris (book club)

4. Ember Falls (The Green Ember, #2) by S.D. Smith (audio book with kids)

5. A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic, #1) by V.E. Schwab 

6. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides (book club)

7. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier 

8. Happier at Home by Rubin, Gretchen 

9. The Call of the Wild and Free by Ainsley Arment  

 

10. Ember Rising (The Green Ember, #3) by S.D. Smith (audio book with kids)

11. Henry Huggins (Henry Huggins, #1) by Beverly Cleary (audio book with kids)

12. A Gathering of Shadows (Shades of Magic, #2) by V.E. Schwab

13. Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

14. The Flight Attendant by Chris Bohjalian (book club)

15. Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys by Dan Kindlon

16. Dr. Colbert's Keto Zone Diet by Don Colbert

17. The Magician's Nephew (Chronicles of Narnia, #6) by C.S. Lewis (read aloud to kids)

18. Revival Starts Here by Dave Clayton (read with my church)

 

19.  Love in a Time of Homeschooling by Laura Brodie 

20. Farmer Boy (Little House, #2) by Laura Ingalls Wilder (read aloud to kids)

21. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr 

22. The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes (book club)

23. Jesus Next Door by Dave Clayton (read with my church)

24. A Conjuring of Light (Shades of Magic, #3) by V.E. Schwab 

25. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson (book club)

26. The Story of Dr. Dolittle by Hugh Lofting (read aloud to kids)

27. Stuck in the Stone Age by Geoff Rodkey (audio book with kids)

28. Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan 

29. Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow (Nevermoor #2) by Jessica Townsend (read aloud to Jack)

30. Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Callahan 

31. The Radium Girls by Kate Moore (book club)

32. Educating Esmé by Esmé Raji Codell 

33. The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle (Doctor Dolittle, #2) by Hugh Lofting (read aloud to kids)

34. The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel 

35. Indescribable: 100 Devotions for Kids About God and Science by Louie Giglio (read aloud to kids)

36. Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

37. Inkheart (Inkworld, #1) by Cornelia Funke

38. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman 

39. The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer (book club)

40. Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance 

41. A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum 

42.  Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman 

43.  Pippi Longstocking (Pippi Långstrump, #1) by Astrid Lindgren (read aloud to kids)

44. The BFG by Roald Dahl (read aloud to kids)

45. The Unseen Guest (The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, #3) by Maryrose Wood (audio book with kids)

46. Loving Our Kids on Purpose by Danny Silk

47. 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You by Tony Reinke 

48. Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

49. The Kidnapped Prince by Olaudah Equiano (read aloud to kids)

50. The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic by Jennifer Trafton (read aloud to kids)

51. Homeschool Bravely by Jamie Erickson 

52. The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré

53. Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell (book club)

54.Tidelands (Fairmile #1) by Philippa Gregory (book club)

55. Bright Line Eating by Susan Peirce Thompson 

56. Coraline by Neil Gaiman (audio book with kids)

57. The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald (read aloud to kids)

58. The Orphan Collector by Ellen Marie Wiseman (book club)

59. Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate 

60. Echo by Pam Muñoz Ryan (audio book with kids)

61. Better Together: by Pam Barnhill

62. Live Not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents by Rod Dreher

63. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson (audio book with kids)

64. Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman (audio book with kids)

65. The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis

66. 1984 by George Orwell

67. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

68. Jack Frost: The End Becomes the Beginning (The Guardians, #5) by William Joyce (read aloud to kids)

69. God's Smuggler by Brother Andrew 

 

Books I am almost done with, but still reading include: Reclaiming Conversation, Between the World and Me, How am I Smart?,  Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God, Get Out of Your Head, Naked Communism, How to be a Happier Parent, The Good Earth, and The Birchbark House.

Books I've read over the years: 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019

CVSD: Day 70 (Second Grade Highlights)

Of all our years homeschooling (this is year three), second grade has been my favorite so far. There are a couple of reasons for this. One, we have found our groove and both Jack and I know what the expectations are. Two, we joined a Classical Conversations co-op this year, which meant we had a guaranteed weekly meetup with friends. And three, we were studying the Middle Ages, which is just plain fun. Fun for me because I love history, and fun for Jack because knights and castles and dragons.

As I said, our co-op was studying the Middle Ages. We actually combined Classical Conversations with Ambleside Online Year Two (a Charlotte Mason approach), and the two curriculums lined up perfectly. Both Jack and Isaac learned the timeline of the world (from ancient civilizations to the 2000s) and also memorized 24 history sentences.

I can't tell you how exciting it has been for me to see them connect discussions or stories we are reading to the history they learned. For instance, we were talking about Gutenberg one evening over supper. Daniel (who was out of context for the conversation) asked what Gutenberg was. And Jack immediately said something to the effect, "Don't you know? He invented the printing press!" Isaac goes around singing about the Absolute Monarchs and Ghengis Khan and all sorts of random things. I absolutely love it!

In addition to the strong history emphasis, Classical Conversations has also given my boys a good grasp of the geography of the world. As they get older they will begin drawing maps of countries of the world, but for now they are getting great familiarity with geography, and can easily find countries on a map.

As part of our Charlotte Mason approach to our year, we read an amazing array of books that related to the Middle Ages. Each week we read 5-8 living books about history, science, and other subjects we were learning that week.

In addition to those books, we also read 19 novels aloud. I adore that my boys are developing a love for good stories (Jack read an additional 12 chapter books on his own). Here are the books we read aloud or listened to over the course of this school year:
The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Hidden Gallery (Book 2)
Nevoremoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow (Book 1)
The Wild Robot Escapes (Book 2)
The Door in the Wall
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow (Book 2)
Where do you think you're going, Christopher Columbus?
The Bronze Bow
The Green Ember (Book 1)
Little House on the Prairie: Farmer Boy (Book 2) 
Ember Falls (Book 2)
Ember Rising (Book 3)
Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician's Nephew (Book 1)
Henry Huggins (Book 1)
Stuck in the Stone Age
The Story of Dr. Dolittle 
The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle
The Call of the Wild
Ember's End (Book 4)

In addition to all of this classroom learning, we always take advantage of as many outings and field trips as possible. We visited the LST-325 when it was docked in Chattanooga, as well as the Nina and Pinta. We visited farms, went on hayrides, rode horses, and learned how maple syrup was made. We made time for regular hikes (weekly when possible).

We camped and the boys learned how to fish. Jack participated in Cub Scouts and flag football. We heard Abraham Lincoln give an amazing speech. We visited parks and saw three plays at the Children's Theater (including The Lion King Jr., Mary Poppins, and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe).

We tried to do science experiences as often as possible throughout the year. We failed at making rock candy, but our family all had surviving eggs in an egg drop challenge. We made rockets with baking soda and vinegar, and used a lemon to power a battery, and we can't forget that Daniel taught Jack how to weld!

Thanks to social distancing orders, our last two months of school were vastly different from our normal, but we carried on with weekly Zoom co-op meetups, and were grateful to have a large collection of books already checked out from the library to keep us going.

Since the isolation started our boys have become really adept with their bike skills (they will be ready to hit harder mountain bike trails soon), they learned how to rappel in our back yard, and they built a platform treehouse in our backyard with materials we had on hand.

Today we celebrated the end of the school year by driving to Dunkin Donuts and Sonic. It was the first time for the kids to ride in a car in some time. Jack observed that his head felt funny and it seemed like we were going too fast in the car.

We have no idea what summer holds for us. I am hoping to start doing regular hikes as the trails open up. There will be bike rides to take and creeks to explore, hopefully with friends at an approved social distance. In the fall we will pick up where we left off, beginning third grade (hopefully our co-op will be able to meet).

Isaac will be joining our homeschool this fall for kindergarten (thankfully he already has a sense of our rhythm and how we learn). While the isolation of the pandemic has been hard, I am so grateful that how we do school was not affected drastically.

Books I Read in 2019

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A post shared by Cheree Moore (@mo_haus) on Feb 22, 2019 at 9:50am PST

I finished 60 books in 2019 (not including all of the non-chapter books I read with my kids, which I’m sure numbered well over 100 in their own right).

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A post shared by Cheree Moore (@mo_haus) on Mar 29, 2019 at 8:11am PDT

I also joined a book club this year which had me reading more fiction than in previous years. I listened to several audio books but I think I will always prefer paper books to digital and audio. Books I read in 2019:

1. When Children Love to Learn by Elaine Cooper
2. I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
3. The Assassins Blade (Throne of Glass) by Sarah J. Maas
4. Throne of Glass, Book 1 (Throne of Glass) by Sarah J. Maas
5. Crown of Midnight, Book 2 (Throne of Glass) by Sarah J. Maas
6. Heir of Fire, Book 3 (Throne of Glass) by Sarah J. Maas
7. The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary
8. The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
9. Queen of Shadows, Book 4 (Throne of Glass) by Sarah J. Maas
10. Empire of Storms, Book 5 (Throne of Glass) by Sarah J. Maas
11. Peter Pan by JM Barrie
12. The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street by Karina Yan Glaser

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A post shared by Cheree Moore (@mo_haus) on May 31, 2019 at 7:27am PDT

13. Brave Learner by Julie Bogart
14. Tower of Dawn, Book 6 (Throne of Glass) by Sarah J. Maas
15. Kingdom of Ash, Book 7 (Throne of Glass) by Sarah J. Maas
16. The Wild Robot, Book 1 by Peter Brown
17. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
18. Mary Poppins by PL Travers
19. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillio
20. Teaching from Rest by Sarah Mackenzie
21. Know and Tell, the Art of Narration by Karen Glass
22. Mary Poppins Comes Back by PL Travers
23. Wonder Woman, Warbringer by Sarah J. Maas
24. The Hidden Gallery, Book 2 (The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place) by Mary Rosewood
25. Peak, Book 1 (Peak) by Roland Smith
26. The Edge, Book 2 (Peak) by Roland Smith
27. The Trials of Morrigan Crow, Book 1 (Nevermoor) by Jessica Townsend
28. The Meaning of Marriage by Timothy Keller
29. Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes
30. Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham
31. A Jane Austen Education by William Deresiewicz
32. The Read Aloud Family by Sarah Mackenzie
33. What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
34. Unplanned by Abby Johnson
35. Starting Out in the Afternoon by Jill Frayne

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36. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
37. When Books Went War by Molly Guptil Manning
38. Unoffendable by Brant Hansen
39. The Core by Leigh A. Bortins
40. The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller
41. The Wild Robot Escapes, Book 2 by Peter Brown
42. The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni
43. The Door in the Wall by Margeurite de Angeli
44. The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
45. The Sacred Enneagram by Christopher L. Heuertz

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46. Oryx and Crake, Book 1 (MaddAddam) by Margaret Atwood
47. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
48. The Liturgy of the Ordinary by Tish Harrison Warren
49. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
50. The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare
51. The Lost History of Dreams by Kris Waldherr
52. The Year of the Flood, Book 2 (MaddAddam) by Margaret Atwood
53. MaddAddam, Book 3 (MaddAddam) by Margaret Atwood
54. The Grimm Legacy, Book 1 by Polly Shulman
55. The World According to Narnia by Jonathan Rogers
56. The Green Ember, Book 1 by SD Smith
57. Recursion by Blake Crouch
58. Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty
59. At Home in the World by Tsh Oxenreidse
60. The Wondering Years by Knox McCoy

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If I had to narrow down my faves, I enjoyed the Throne of Glass series (but each book is almost 1000 pages!), so if you start it it’s a big commitment.

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Finished this book this morning. It was food for my soul. So many good thoughts and practices in the pages of this little book. #liturgyoftheordinary #booksofinstagram #whativebeenreading #mohaus2019

A post shared by Cheree Moore (@mo_haus) on Nov 3, 2019 at 5:53am PST

  
Overall I really enjoyed: The Liturgy of an Ordinary Day, Teaching from Rest, Brave Learner, At Home in the World, The Prodigal God, What Alice Forgot, and The Wondering Years

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A post shared by Cheree Moore (@mo_haus) on Jan 18, 2019 at 8:38am PST

  
On the kids front, I really enjoyed these series with my kids: The Green Ember (we are listening to book 2 now), The Wild Robot (both books), and the Nevermoor series (we are currently on book 2) were my favorites to read with my kids.

Books I've read over the years: 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018