Calling all homeschooling mamas, especially if you feel burned out!!! (Anyone else can read this too of course. :-)) It’s that time of year when homeschooling can feel really hard.

At least in a lot of North America, the skies are gray, the ground is brown, gray, yellow, and cold. Cabin fever can set in. That’s why I looooove the topic of the recent Read Aloud Revival Podcast/YouTube video, hosted by the delightful Sarah Mackenzie, pictured above.

She explains how books, both picture books and chapter books, are such great ways to “take us to lands away.” This totally helps us get those oxytocin dumps, along with gameschooling, which you can read about here and here. #abookandgameaday. This simple routine has helped me keep sane and happy while homeschooling, year in and year out, for many years! (My oldest is 31, my youngest is 15.) Plus relying on my philosophy of the organic seasons of learning, read about that here.

Winter/homeschooling/mothering in general can all make it impossible/hard to travel in person, but that doesn’t mean we can’t travel to fun places in our minds, with books!

One, two or more picture books a day can keep the winter blues away! With a library card, you don’t even have to buy these books. (Go here to see how a library card can help with your homeschooling in general.)

Watch below, then scroll down to see some of the books recommended by Sarah and me, to travel with!

My son and I just finished the above book together! We got to go to Manhattan last August (see here about our grand adventure with my two little grandsons), so that made reading the book extra meaningful. I just wish we had found it before we traveled. Such an interesting, fun book!

If you want to get Sarah’s list of recommended books for the Northeastern U.S., go here. So fun! It sounds like she will be preparing more lists for other regions. I can’t wait to see them! You can see other lists here. Bon voyage!

I love just reading picture books and talking about them, that’s always been enough for me and my seven children for the early years. When they showed interest in reading and writing, I added Mathusee math work and handwriting. Those who wanted to get into college, went and graduated, without doing worksheets about books or crafts, along with their scholar classes at our commonwealth. My post here explains what our homeschooling journey looks like.

If you have the energy, however, and desire to want some writing, crafts, and food to go with geography studies, then watch the video of Marcie Holladay/Single Mom on a Farm below and get her curriculum for the United States. This all looks so fun!