Day 2: Sentimentality and the Picture Book

Welcome to Day 2 of our 5 day blog hop!  First off, please forgive me for not getting my post up this morning! I've never scheduled a post before and somehow I messed it up royally!  But it's up now so be sure to go check it out- it's got some great resources to help you find quality literature for your children.

For those of you who read yesterday's post- you should appreciate this.... I went to a used curriculum sale yesterday afternoon.  It was held by a co-op that is dissolving this year.  This illustrates my point in yesterday's blog beautifully... they had a like new Apologia Exploring Creation With Astronomy for $5!

  At other local co-op sales the same book is $18-$25!!! CHA-CHING!

OK, so now I've given you some resources on finding quality literature for your darlings and told you where to acquire them affordably.  Now I thought I would share a few of our favorite picture books. (Tomorrow may cover favorite chapter books!)  Oh my goodness, where to start?  There are a ton!  And how did I find these jewels?  Most of them came by way of four little letters...F.I.A.R.

Five in a Row.  It is a literature based curriculum that is phenomenal.  Now, I realize this isn't "5 Days of FIAR"- but oh it soooo could be!  FIAR picks award winning children's books and provides unit studies for each covering art, math, history, geography, social studies, language arts, and science.  FIAR played a huge part in our family falling in love with tasty morsels of quality literature.  I purchased FIAR to use with my daughter our first year of homeschooling and she loved it from the very beginning.  Even if you don't use it as your main curriculum (I supplemented with Phonics Museum and Math-U-See), simply using it over the summer to stimulate summer reading and creative thought is a plus!  There is a wealth of awesome learning activities to go with each story.  A majority of the stories that I list below were put in front of us by FIAR.

Another way I began finding such beautiful books to delight my children with were through the advice of dear friends.  Two in particular, these ladies know their books!  Stephanie was my daughter's teacher for first and second grade, and Parke heads up the co-op we attend.  Stephanie always had the most beautiful bookshelves.  Sometimes I would drop Abby off and think, "I wonder if she would notice if I fixed myself a cup of tea and sat down in the floor for a while?  Just a minute.......that's all I need to make lists of these amazing books!" Parke is the "go-to" person in the homeschooling community of Birmingham for book suggestions.  This woman exudes Charlotte Mason from every pore, and finds the best books to cover every subject you could think of! Parke doesn't know this, but one day I'm going to make a card catalog of her bookshelves at home....just for my personal shopping list!

Children are NEVER too old for picture books.  Let me say that again.....

Children are NEVER too old for picture books.  I'm not saying their whole book diet should be picture books if they're in fifth grade!  I'm saying there is beauty in picture books that everyone enjoys beholding- and a sentimentality that should not be left to dry up, wither, and blow away.  Books sometimes capture our hearts, transport us, and often illustrators, coupled with a lovely story, should be thanked for that.

So without further adieu, here is a list, complete with links to Amazon so you can check them out, of a few of our favorite picture books:

Let's Go Home: Rylant, Cynthia
When I Was Young in the Mountains: Rylant, Cynthia
The Old Woman Who Named Things: Rylant, Cynthia
Miss Rumphius: Cooney, Barbara
The Bee Tree: Polacco, Patricia
Amber on the Mountain: Johnston, Tony
The Dutchess Bakes a Cake: Kahl, Virginia
The Gardener: Stewart, Sarah
The Journey: Stewart, Sarah
The Hoppameleon: Garaghty, Paul
How Will We Get to the Beach?: Luciani, Brigitte

And ALL Mo Willems books....cuz he's just plain FUN!

Are some of these your favorites as well?  Some of these hold great places in our hearts- such as Let's Go Home because we read it when our house was severely damaged by tornadoes last year and we were staying in a small duplex.  Also When I was Young in the Mountains is special because I am from West Virginia and my children like to hear stories of what it was like for Momma or Nonny growing up. I hope you share YOUR stories with your babies.

See you tomorrow!