There Goes September

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October looms large and what have we learned? Lots. For one, we love middle school. Our children are in 8th grade and 6th grade respectively. Maybe they are more mature or maybe I am more relaxed, but things are going smoothly.

Grotto Falls

Hiking the Grotto Falls trail

With the pandemic, nobody is living their Plan A, and we are no exception. We wish we could do orchestra again, but alas, they require masks. My children cannot play violin for one minute with a mask on, let alone one hour. This is our second year of not doing orchestra and we miss it dearly. Continue reading »


More Book Ideas

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We borrowed more books from our library, to continue our quest to finish the Great Words, Great Works book list put together by the National Spelling Bee. Anna Porter Public Library in Gatlinburg, TN may be small, but it is mighty. When they do not have a title, they will get it for us through ILL.

Selections from Great Words, Great Works

Selections from Great Words, Great Works

I have learned to send about five title requests, especially if we are talking chapter books. Picture books require 20 minutes to read. A chapter book written for a third grader can have 188 pages. They may be small pages with seven pages of illustrations total, for instance, but it will still take about three or four hours to read out loud. If you have to take these books back in 14 days with no renewal possible, then you have to really hurry up. Continue reading »


Great Words, Great Works

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Great Words, Great Works represent a list of books, compiled by the National Spelling Bee organizers. These books contain the 450 words which make up the School Level Word List. The organizers have picked these books for their literary value, engaging plots, and vocabulary.

Spelling Bee Titles

Three titles from the list put together by the National Spelling Bee

The book list, just like the word list, changes every year. This year, they released the list earlier, due to the quarantine. Proactive parents would do well to get these books for their kids as soon as possible.

One thing stays the same: the books are organized by grade and even the first grade books present challenging words. The point is, read them all. Even if you have children in 5th grade and 7th grade, like I will have next school year, you should read them all. Continue reading »