Stuff We Like :: 2.3.17

Around the Web 

Guys, I’m having a difficult relationship with the internet right now. It’s important to me to stay connected and engaged with what’s happening—but it’s also important for me to stay upright and to hang out with my kids on occasion, instead of crawling under the bedcovers for the next four years or so, which is what I feel like doing every time I fire up Facebook or Twitter. Even my favorite non-political pop culture sites have almost daily WHAT THE @%*& IS HAPPENING posts, which I appreciate because we’re all in this together, but which makes it difficult to surf on those days when I just can’t handle another newsflash. So the web pickings are a bit slim this week, but I’m hoping that if we all share strategies and support each other, we can figure out how to stay engaged AND stay sane. Comment if you have suggestions! 

Here’s a great list of children’s and young adult books on refugees and what the refugee experience is like. I’ll be adding some of these to our bookshelf. (We also have a big list of immigration books, which includes books about the refugee experience, in the winter issue.)

If you’re in the middle of a comfort re-read of Harry Potter (and isn’t it always a good time for a comfort re-read of Harry Potter?), be sure to check out Sarah Gailey’s Women of Harry Potter series which is WONDERFUL and inspirational and may possibly make you cry a little bit (looking at you, Molly Weasley) but in a good way, I promise.

Thanks to the Boy Scouts of America for giving us some good news to celebrate this week! 

at home/school/life

on the blog: Obviously you're going to want to add all of Suzanne's Hamilton fan reading recommendations to your library list. Because you never know when you might get stuck in a library with Lin-Manuel Miranda.

one year ago: We kicked off Black History month with a great high school unit study on the Harlem Renaissance.

two years ago: Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda: Better Homeschooling After the Fact

three years ago: Quick ways to cut the stress on hard homeschool days

Reading List

I’m currently teaching a Hamilton History class (aka U.S. History 1765 - 1800), so I’m brushing up on my Revolutionary reading. I’m only a short way into Janice Hadlow’s A Royal Experiment: The Private Life of King George III, but it’s fascinating so far. 

In honor of the new Shirley Jackson biography ( Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin), I’m reading/re-reading my way through Jackson’s works. My favorite “discoveries” so far: the recently published collection Let Me Tell You: New Stories, Essays, and Other Writings, and her novel The Sundial, which I’m totally adding to my Apocalypse Lit curriculum. 

I’ve mentioned before that I’m a big fan of Lyndsay Faye’s Jane Steele (a Jane Eyre homage), and now I’ve moved on to her Timothy Wilde series, set in 1845 New York City—the first book, The Gods of Gotham, was excellent!—and have just begun her Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper novel, Dust and Shadow. 

 

At Home 

I know I talk about The Good Place every time, but the season finale was AWESOME and I’m now rewatching all the episodes on Hulu and you should watch them too because if it isn’t renewed for a second season it will be a small tragedy.

Big weekend coming up: Daughter #2 turns 14, Husband #1 turns 48, and the Falcons are in the Superbowl! I predict a lot of chips and dip and birthday cake in my immediate future. 

So, my Christmas tree is still up. Is that bad? Between “I just don’t have the energy for this” and “the twinkly lights are so soothing and friendly” we haven’t managed to dismantle it. (Family of asthmatics = artificial tree, so at least it isn’t a fire hazard.) I’m sure we’ll have it down by Valentine’s Day. Probably. Maybe.

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