Stuff We Like :: 1.3.20
I hope you are all having as lovely a break as I am!
what’s happening at home/school/life
in the magazine: Look for the winter issue in your inbox this weekend!
on the podcast: Suzanne and I are talking about the things we’ve learned over two decades of homeschooling, our mutual obsession with Stardew Valley, and our favorite new comfort books. (This should be up on Patreon today and for everyone after next week.)
on the blog: It’s our 2020 Reading Challenge!
on patreon: This month’s free curriculum is our Gulliver’s Travels reading guide.
on instagram: We’re on vacation, and it feels so good.
from the archives: The power of thinking it through out loud; New Year’s resolutions for your homeschool; and an Ellis Island unit study
links we liked
Are memes the new formalism? “The formalists on Twitter have gotten better than the formalists of the classroom in reminding themselves how fun reading can be.”
Here’s a look at some of the book trends of the 2010s. (This is interesting whether you're on Team New Decade or not.)
The literary canon is so white we don’t even see its whiteness.
I never do those predictive text things that pop up on Facebook, but I was fascinated by this peek into how they actually work (your phone wants you to look good!).
Most of us rely on Common Sense Media to prescreen some of the stuff we watch with our kids, so I bet you’ll find this behind-the-scenes look as interesting as I did.
I think I should feel personally attacked, but I’m laughing too hard.
People are always teasing me because I like to put my hands over my ears and hum over the author’s backstory, but this illustrates the problem with idolizing writers: What do you do when they exhibit behavior that’s problematic or just plain jerky?
what i’m reading
Since our Library Chicken podcast is on hiatus, I figured I’d round up my current reading here:
The Secret Commonwealth (I miss Will)
Save Me the Plums (I was so disappointed with this one!)
The Hunting Party (I had high hopes for this one, but it was pretty meh)
The Pale Horse (I’d forgotten almost everything about this book, but it’s a solid Christie)
Mapp and Lucia (a reliable comfort read)
what’s making me happy
peppermint Joe-Joes
my dog in his pajamas
literature-planning lunch with Suzanne
finishing the winter issue on time!
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)
AMY SHARONY is the founder and editor-in-chief of home | school | life magazine. She's a pretty nice person until someone starts pluralizing things with apostrophes, but then all bets are off.