The other posts in the How We Homeschool Series Are:
Each term (a term for us is 5-6 weeks with a week break in between), I fill a basket full of books for our next term. The basket sits out in our family room for free reading (and some assigned reading) for the family. I choose books for the term based on what we are studying in history and science, as well as where we are in the liturgical year. I also choose a selection of books based on where we are in our reading lists for "Preschool".
It used to be that I would plan to read that day's saint book aloud. Since the children have grown older (and more numerous) I find it very hard to keep up with that. So I began to put all those books, along with other living books in a term book basket and it makes it much easier for me to implement, and takes away any guilt I might have for not getting to a certain book on a certain day. If it gets read during the term (either aloud by me or independently by them), I'm happy.
Preschool Books
I use several book lists organized by theme to pull a selection of books from our shelves for the term book basket for the preschoolers (although many a big kid can be found reading these books as well). Little Saints Catholic Preschool is one of them, as well as A Year of Tales. This term we are talking about colors. Even if I never get to any crafts (and that's pretty likely) we will get to read many wonderful books!
We are currently enjoying Mother Goose as well as Arnold Lobel's Fables. And we are continuing to enjoy our Treasure Box Books. These tie in with the liturgical year as well, since St. Therese's feast day is coming up, as well as the Feast of the Guardian Angels.
Science
We are studying the human body this year, and this term we will be looking at muscles, the digestive system, and the respiratory system. I shopped our shelves and pulled these out:
History
This term in history we will be studying Peoples of the Levant, The God of Israel, The Kingdom of David, The Bearded Kings of the North, The Splendor of Babylon, and The Rise of Persia (chapters 6-11 in The Story of Civilization). I plan to read aloud King David and His Songs. The rest of these books will be assigned to various children.
