A few years back I wrote this Age by Age Gift Guide, back when our kids were all eight years old and under... I thought it would be an evergreen post, and it is for the most part! But... Older kids can be hard to shop for, especially if you don't want to just buy them the latest, greatest electronics. 

Our kids have intense interests, often pretty quirky ones. It can be tricky to find new and exciting gifts that aren't just extensions of what they already like and own, but I've crowd-sourced and found some really amazing ideas below! You'll be able to view based on different interests, but a lot of these gifts will span a wide range of interests for sure.

Our Most-Loved Books of 2020

2020 has been a year for the books, literally! With more time at home than ever before, we've been reading even more than we already did (and we were already big readers!!).

Back in February I did a large-scale reorganization and purge of all our books, which has *mostly* been keeping things organized, and has helped the kids know exactly where the books they love most are at any time. And it's given me a better idea of what is getting read and what we could stand to get rid of to make room for MORE books.

In the event that you're still looking for ideas to stock your shelves, here's a list of each child's favorite and most-read books!

Wisdom Wonder Review: A Gentle Kindergarten Program for Every Child

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

I haven't done much of anything formal for my kindergartners over the years, but it was pretty clear from the first week of school this year that Peter (6 in November) needed something separate from the work I'm doing with the older children. He's not quite ready for their level of reading, and he's such a hands-on kid, always eager to listen to stories, that when I saw the Wisdom Wonder Project and their Little Wonders (Preschool-Kindergarten) collection, I knew it would be the perfect fun, gentle, wholesome approach for him. Wisdom Wonder Project has multiple levels within their Little Wonders collection, so I could have chosen anything from Preschool, Junior K, or Kindergarten, all of which are slightly different and are really tailored to that developmental level. I decided to focus on Kindergarten and let my preschooler come along for the ride, and she really enjoyed what we worked on, as well! As you can see below, the older kids couldn't help but join in for some activities... It really became a family-focused experience!

Carole P. Roman Review: Picture Books That Bring History to Life

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.



We are BIG history lovers in our family, and I'm always on the lookout for more books to keep on our shelves that will correspond with different historical periods we study. Lucky for us, Carole P. Roman has a whole series of colorfully illustrated reference books that appealed to all the children in our family!

Albert Whitman & Company Review: The Boxcar Children Early Reader Set

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.



We have been fans of the Boxcar Children books for years. Both my husband and I read them as children, and I was excited to introduce our children to the original chapter books once they started reading fluently! So I jumped at the chance to review The Boxcar Children Early Reader Set from Albert Whitman & Company. 

January Reads

I'm going to blatantly copy Hannah and do a summary of the books I read in January, because I never did get around to a 2019 summary—too many books, and too many from so many months earlier that I can't remember much about them!!

Here's what I read in January:

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Whose Body? ⭐⭐⭐ I've seen Sayers recommended time and again, so I thought I'd give her a try.

Get Your Girls Praying: Be Yourself Journal

My friend Amy wrote a really sweet book a couple years ago. I was so excited by the concept, but knew my oldest daughter wasn't quite old enough for it, since she was 6 and also hated writing (the book was a journal, but there's way more than just writing activities in it). Gradually Cecilia got older and I decided to give the journal a try - she loved it! At 6, she was definitely too young. At 8, she was just right! And lo and behold, seeing her use the journal made her younger sisters get a little jealous, wishing for their own copies!

Our 2019 Advent Books {Book Stacks + Giveaway}

 

This year is one of those years when Advent begins on December 1 and syncs up with the secular Christmas countdown, and I kind of love it! Last year I put together a calendar of our Christmas and Advent books and coordinating activities, so feel free to use that as a basic guide for yourself this year. I couldn't help adding a few more to our list, though - here are some we're adding to our collection this year:

Leave the Searching to the Experts: LitWits Review {A Homeschool Review Crew Review}

We are BIG readers around here. But there are some classic books that I wish we could dive a little deeper into... I read a ton as a child, but don't always have time to re-read what the kids are reading, so it's hard to remember much from the books I recommend to the kids! Enter LitWit Kits from LitWits! They do all the work for you, from suggestions & tutorials for related activities, to background information and vetted sites for further learning, to academic handouts.

Mattie Richardson's Horses of History: A Homeschool Review Crew Post

Cecilia went through a phase last year where she read a couple horse books and desperately wanted to read more written from the horse's point of view. But... There just aren't that many out there. Most are (obviously) written about people and their horses just figure prominently. So when I saw Mattie Richardson's Horses in History Series from Author Mattie Richardson/Appaloosy Books, I knew it would be right up her alley!

Gift Guides, Planners, and Memento Mori {7QT}

Oh hiiiiii the baby has been up since before 6 and nobody else is waking any time soon so... Might as well get some blogging in (apparently I'm publishing one million posts this week, sorry?).

Our Book-A-Day Advent Calendar

Every Advent we set aside quite a few of our school books and replace them with books that will help us prepare for the Incarnation. It makes things beautifully low-key, and I love what a wonderful tradition it has become! In an attempt to actually plan things out this year (instead of the usual fly by the seat of my pants that I do), I'm listing our plans here. Maybe you need ideas? I hope this inspires you! These are some of our absolute favorite books! And while I can pretty much guarantee we won't get to every single thing on this list, I think we can manage most of it.

Book Day: My Favorite Accidental Christmas Tradition

Every year starting in, oh, about February, I start acquiring used books to give to the kids for birthdays & Christmas. This can end up being rather a ridiculous number of books, because, well there are just a lot of good books that I find at used book sales, used book stores, or from recommendations. Suddenly I've got a large box of books that I've been hoarding, but all the birthday & Christmas presents have already been bought and I still have all these books!!!

Book Stacks: Volume 2 (with giveaways!)

You know what? I do these book posts infrequently enough, it might be fun to do a giveaway with each one! And this week I have not one, but TWO books to give away—one for adults, one for kids.

So, what have we been reading these past few months? Well, you'll have to check out my Goodreads to see everything, because it's been 40+ books for me... That's what happens when I get pregnant & have insomnia, thus spending lots of time in bed reading on my Kindle. I'm not going to list them all here, just some highlights! Read Volume 1 here.

Here's some of what I've read!

Ten on Tuesday {Volume 2}

This post brought to you by phone blogging, since morning sickness still hasn't disappeared, so I'm doing lots of lying in bed...

Friday Night Musings {7QT}

Well, the kids are in bed, Andrew and John Paul are at a baseball game, and I've done all the gardening I can manage for the night... How about some quick takes?

Book Stacks: Volume 1

Goodreads just emailed me congratulating me on my progress towards my 2018 reading goal, and I was surprised to see I had read 15 books already this year! Then I realized that I was about to finish two more, and that two others hadn't gotten counted... So 19 books so far! I figured we're a third of the way through the year, so it might be worth sharing what I've read (and what the kids have read) and enjoyed so far, because doing just one big summary at the end of the year means I won't remember anything I read at the beginning...

We'll see how frequent these "Book Stacks" posts become, but I think it'll be a good way to organize what we're reading! So without further adieu... Here's what we've read!

Lent and Easter Books Your Family Will Love

I love to read, and our kids love to read as well, so obviously one of our favorite ways to prepare for Easter is by reading beautiful books! 

What We Read in 2017

I read decent amount of books in 2017, and I'm glad that I have my Goodreads account to keep track of most of them! I definitely wouldn't remember which ones fell in which year otherwise... I won't dwell too much on the books that I thought were fairly "meh," but there's ONE book that I gave a one star rating, so I'll let you know which one that was! Opinions differ, obviously. But if you're looking for book recommendations for 2018, here are some that I liked and some that the kids liked.

Week by Week, 19/52: Make the World More Beautiful