Here are my top 10 Valentine’s Day picture books. These are books about friendship, love, and kindness, which are all themes for Valentine’s Day. The one above is my absolutely favorite because it shows a whole family celebrating Valentine’s Day together in their cozy home. So far, it’s the only picture book I’ve found that features such a thing.
This one is super cute, but it doesn’t tell a story like the first one. Each page shows an image from a Little Golden Book with a pithy saying that goes with the image. If you especially love vintage art from old-fashioned LGBs you will love this! I found it thrifting, which made me giddy! It’s more for adults than young kiddos, since it’s not a story. If I read it to under 8s I will skip over some of the pages and words and focus on the more hilarious illustrations.
This book is such a delight! It shows the power of how one simple anonymous gift and note can change someone’s life. Read it then encourage your children to write kind anonymous notes to others.
Sugar Cookies is all about how to define some words relating to love in terms of cookies. So cute!!! Once I read this aloud to some of my friends at a couple’s Valentine’s game night, then we played the game I made based on it. See my game over here that I made to go with it. I originally made it go with the author’s Christmas cookies book, but you could play it with this book too.
This book is a story that links celebrating Valentine’s Day with forgiveness, set in a historical setting of 1960s Alabama. A beautiful story.
Here’s my favorite picture book about love between a mom and dad. The fact that the mom and dad are bears waking up from hibernation during winter makes it extra interesting for children. It can give you different themes to talk about after reading it aloud to your kiddos.
Sylvester is not a Valentine’s Day-theme book but I am putting it here because it’s all about being grateful for your family and the love you share. I feel happy every time I read it! It reminds me to appreciate my family, not take them for granted, and to cultivate the love and time we have together while we do.
This is the only one on the list from my childhood. It’s a sweet story about friendship between classmates and Valentine’s Day.
I love all the illustrations and graphics in this book that gives a basic history of Valentine’s Day.
I just love the Cranberry books. They take me back to my 70s childhood. The books just make me happy.
Want more Valentine’s Day books?
Go here to get my free ebook full of lots more titles about love, friendship, kindness and Valentine’s.
I’ve enjoyed thinking about Nephi’s shipbuilding and voyage across the sea as I did my “Come Follow Christ” study in the Book of Mormon this past week. (It was 1 Nephi 16-22)
I love how Nephi was so full of the love of Jesus that when his brothers tied him to the mast on the ship, he was able to sing praises to the Lord all day long. I’m not on that spiritual level yet. I complain at the smallest irritations. It’s wonderful to have this vision to look to. I know amazing things happen when we can stay grateful and praise Jesus instead of complaining, even when we it seems we have every “right” to complain. I encourage you all to read a book about that. It’s called Prison to Praise by Merlin Carothers. A few years ago, one of my girlfriends gave a bunch of my girlfriends each a copy of it and we all gobbled it up. It’s so good!
Anyway, I’m thinking of all the hard things I’m facing right now. When I think of Nephi doing hard things, and succeeding, that gives me hope! The Lord asked him to build a ship, which he had never done before. He didn’t complain and went right to work. He prayed and asked for help to learn what to do. What a great example!
I love that some modern-day people have shown that it is possible to build a ship, without power tools, like Nephi did, and sail from the Middle East to North America, like Nephi did. This was the ship Phoenicia, in 2009. See more about that here. This could be a similar path that Nephi could have taken. The video below tells a lot about it, with Boyd Tuttle, one of the crew members. See photo above for possible route that Nephi took, similar to what the Phoenicia took, thousands of years later. It’s fun to think about all of this! Then the bottom video has Boyd Tuttle talking about the trip that the Mulekites too, and how the Phoenicia route relates to that.
I snapped this photo from the front porch of my home in southern AZ years ago. Yes, it does snow in AZ! Isn’t it dreamy?
It’s time to celebrate the magic of ordinary winter days with picture books! Do you want to find some fun winter picture books to spark some interest and wonder in snow, winter, cold season activities, and ways to make winter more hygge? (Go here if you want to learn more about hygge.)
Then check out my Hygge Winter Picture Book List! Just go here to get it!
In my group of homeschool moms that meets once a week, we have a “Moms’ Class.” In this class we learn how to be better mother mentors for our children. I am loving the class this year as we are reading one book a month and discussing it the last week of the month. So far, we have read Anne of Green Gables, My Louisiana Sky, and Little Women. All wonderful, principled, and charming books!
This month we are reading the book shown above. My first impression was, “Oh OK. I’m off the hook. I’ve already read that book. I’ve watched the Sound of Music (the movie about Maria Von Trapp’s life) a gazillion times (when I was a kid, in the ancient pre-streaming days, it was shown only once a year around Easter, I think on NBC, and my sisters and I would always watch it). I’ve also read another book about her, shown below. This was years ago, when I had four little children, and I went on a Maria Von Trapp learning jag.
I decided I wanted to revisit her story anyway. I’m glad I did! I’m learning so many things I don’t even remember reading the first time. More on that later. Her book has so many principles for mothers to embrace. She had such a hygge life! We modern-day moms can learn a lot from her.
When I was a young mom, I found a copy of a recording of her speech she gave at BYU, at my local public library. The one thing I remember from that speech is that she said, “The most important thing in life is to find the will of God and do it.”
Now that I’m reading the above book, I am finding she wrote that more than once in the book.
The above book is one of my many thrifting treasures. I found it for only $2.49 at Saver’s last fall and snatched it up. I couldn’t remember if I already had it, as I did buy the New Testament version last year. The years have run together and I can’t remember when I started buying the Come Follow Christ Don’t Miss This books by Emily Belle Freeman and David Butler. I was excited to find this one as it meant I didn’t have to go try to dig up the old one if I had bought it four years ago.
Anyway, each page has a specific scripture that goes with the Come Follow Christ scriptures for the week, then a little essay by Emily or David about that scripture. At the very bottom of the page it has a question. You can use these questions for discussions in your family scripture study. I like to use them as journal writing prompts for our family’s 5-minute journal writing time. When we gather for scripture study in the morning, we do the Come Follow Christ study, after we have individually silently read anywhere in the scriptures that we choose, for 5 minutes, and then write about what we read for 5 minutes. Not every day, but two or three times a week I will read a page from this book and ask the question at the bottom for journal writing time. I don’t require my children to write using this question but I always use it for myself.
Today’s question related to the scripture from 1 Nephi 6:4:
“For the fulness of mine intent is that I may persuade men to come unto the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and be saved.”
Emily explains that the God of Abraham is a god who promises. (See the Abrahamic Covenant.) The God of Isaac is the same God, and to Isaac, He is a God who delivers, as He delivered Isaac from the knife of Abraham at the last second. (See Genesis 22.) The God of Jacob is a God who gives second chances. That’s because He gave grace to Jacob when Jacob used his trickery and deception. Jacob sought forgiveness and changed to become the mighty patriarch, Israel. (See Jacob’s stories indexed here.) Then the question at the bottom of the page is something like, “What specific kind of God is God for you?”
So this morning as I thought about this, I realized that God is many things for me. He is all those things I just mentioned. He is Jehovah, the God of the Old Testament. He is also all the names of the names of Christ from my Immanuel Wreath. Lately, though, He is specifically a God of Tender Mercies, as I blogged about last week. The tender mercies continue!
Here are two more:
1. My favorite white with polka dot shirt got slightly ruined when it got washed with some red clothes. Now it is a pale pink and black polka dot shirt, LOL. The very afternoon after I told my family about this, I found a replacement top at a thrift store for only $2.50! It’s even cuter than the original one!
2. Last week we found out that our landlord wants to sell the home we have been renting for a little over 3 years. I’m so grateful that he decided to do this after my husband got a new job, which gives us about a 30% increase in income. Ever since we moved into this home, I knew it wasn’t what we wanted to ultimately buy and settle into as the Home for the Rest of Our Lives. It’s too small to be a large family home and the basement leaks. So now as we look for a new home, we have more in our budget to work with for what will most likely be increase in rent, or a mortgage should by a miracle we are able to buy a home. The God of Tender Mercies strikes again!
I’m so grateful that this God I believe in is a God of Love, Light, Life, Perfection, Promises, Deliverance, Second Chances, Tender Mercies, and so much more! He is even Jesus Christ, and I am so grateful for His all-encompassing roles in my life.
I had an amazing experience two Fridays ago as I gathered my Veggie Gal girlfriends for a post-Christmas party. We had a potluck dinner and used book gift exchange. Oh my, it was so wonderful to laugh out loud so hard with some of my dearest, closest friends and eat yummy food to boot!
On the way over there I had the privilege to ride with my friend Michelle. I reminded her that I had heard a bit about her mother’s story a long time ago. Her mother, Julie, escaped Communist Bulgaria as a teenager in 1963. In a bygone era, LOL, I got to hear Julie speak at a family fireside because my sister-in-law is a neighbor with Julie. I have forgotten everything Julie shared that night, LOL, in part because I was a young sleep-deprived mama of many young children. I was probably out of the room most of the time keeping the kiddos quiet in the 1960s-bright-red-carpet-and-dark-wood-paneling basement dungeon, err, playroom, of my in-laws’ Brady Bunch style home. So, I was excited to hear a lot of the story that I had missed that night over two decades ago.
You, dear reader, are blessed to hear the whole story, by watching the video below. It is so full of miracles! One of the biggest one was what Michelle told me in the car, which is the story of Michelle’s grandfather casting lots to see who in his dental technician’s office in Bulgaria would be chosen to emigrate to Algeria. Her grandfather picked the lot to go 7 out of 7 times! Amazing!
I thought of this story this past week as I read about Nephi and his brothers in the Book of Mormon, how they cast lots to decide who would go get the plates of Laban. See 1 Nephi 3 and 4. I’ve often wondered if God is ever controlling how a die is rolled or lots are picked. Maybe Laman got the first turn to go get the plates and Nephi the second turn for some reason in God’s all-knowing wisdom? I don’t know.
It seems He was definitely controlling the lot to go to Michelle’s grandfather so he could go to Algeria and ultimately America with his family. Listen to the video above to hear the story. What are the odds that he would pick the paper that said “yes,” seven out of seven times? I believe God was directing that! It truly was a miracle!
It makes me think of miracles in my life lately. The biggest one I’ve seen is that my husband got a new job!! This is so amazing!!! It seems SO too good to be true! When we moved from AZ in August of 2020, he had a job that was an hour commute from our home. He ended up losing the job, last month. He had not been liking the job for over a year, so when he lost it recently, just after Christmas, I was rejoicing! This job had been such a grind! This was an opportunity for a new start! He had laid the groundwork before he lost the job with some interviews lined up for a new job. The first interview was two days after this past Christmas. A week later, he got the word that he got the job!
Happy dance!!!! This job is a lot more money, shorter commute (20 minutes one way), and on top of that, his new office shuts down every Friday afternoon at noon! This is such a HUGE change from his old job, after working 12+ hour days, missing family dinner every night, plus a two-hour commute for the old job! I have had a bunch of disappointments and frustrations the past year. This job blessing is a huge reprieve after all of that. I’m feeling soooo blessed by this tender mercy! I have prayed on and off for him to get a new job for over a year. Then with this interview I prayed even more fervently that he would get this job. I asked my extended family and closest friends to pray for him to get it. I know God doesn’t always answer our prayers the way we want him to. So even if He had answered this prayer with a NO, I would still believe in Him. Just like in Michelle’s mother’s story. She was in a class of kindergarteners. The teacher told them to pray to God and ask for candy. No candy appeared so she told them God isn’t real. Does a “no” answer mean God isn’t real? No! Just like an earthly parent says “no” sometimes our Heavenly Parents say “no.”
I do know that God loves me, I know that He has a plan for me, and He has granted me many miracles. I look forward to seeing all the other miracles He has in store for me. I know He loves you, He has a plan for you, and He has given you miracles and has many more miracles in store for you! It’s so exciting to think about and look forward to!
If you want more of Julie Caswell’s story you can go here.
With the cold snowy weather upon us forcing us indoors, it’s the perfect time of year to enjoy board games! It’s also the perfect time of year to cultivate hygge! If you don’t know what hygge is, go here.
Go grab some herbal tea or cocoa, get your family and/or friends, and have fun with these games!
The Hygge Game- this is not really a game, it’s basically conversation starters on cards. I keep it by my dining room table to spark yummy dinnertime conversation. Now, if you want some real games that have hygge aspects (inspiring cozy togetherness), read on.
Credit of Photos of Just One and All Others Below (except for Moods) goes to boardgamegeekforum.com
2. Just One- so easy to learn, and so fun if you like word association games.
3. So Clover- also so easy to learn! Both it and #2 are cooperative, and they are both for people who love word association games. This is a really fun game to climb inside some one’s mind and learn how they think. You have to disentangle word pairs given one word clues. It’s so clever and so fun!
4. Imaginiff- a great getting-to-know-you game to see if you can match how people think. It’s fun if you have some friends who you know somewhat so you can predict what they will guess. Only play if you have people who will be kind and good sports if someone is inadvertently not kind. See what I mean in the sample question below.
“The game is played in rounds. Each round, one of the players is chosen as the “subject” of a question. The question has 6 multiple choice answers. The question is read aloud and players vote on the answer they think is correct. Points are awarded to the players that chose the most popular answer.
“An example of a question:
“Imaginiff _______ were a flying object. Which would he/she be? 1) Blimp 2) Biplane 3) Glider 4) Frisbee 5) Lear jet 6) Brick” (quote from boardgamegeekforum.com)
So yeah, only play if people won’t mind being compared to a blimp!
5. Loaded Questions- a great getting-to-know-you as long as I already know a bit about you, like #4
6. Moods- this is fun only with people who are willing to dust off, or try on for the first time, their acting skills. It is not fun if you play with inhibited people. Find it at thrift stores or eBay, it’s a gem!
7. Truth Be Told-same as #4.
8. Disney Dixit. The best version of Dixit ever because the images are cute instead of creepy! The Dixit possibilities are endless! I’m thinking of making a family history version where you play with family photos or a Christmas version where you play with Christmas cards.
9. Letter Jam- a fun spelling and guessing game that is co-operative. It’s only fun if you are good at spelling. You are given a secret word that you have to guess, while helping your teammates guess their secret word. The clues you are given to help you guess change every round. The heavy numbered chips are so pretty, they make me want to eat fruit and jam every time I play!
10. Disney Animated- this brings back all the nostalgic Disney vibes. It’s cooperative. You work as a team to finish classic Disney animated movies before the deadline.
11. Reverse Charades- this one can bring a lot of laughs. Instead of classic charades where one person gives clues to the rest of the group, in this game, a group of people give clues to one person. I love playing this with a big group. I like to play where one person sits on the couch , the others act, and you just rotate who sits on the couch as the guesser. Give the card to the guesser if he/he gets it right, the person with the most cards at the end of the game wins. I often see this one at thrift stores. If you see it there, snatch it up. It’s totally worth the few bucks you’ll spend!
12. Likewise- word association to see if you can match other people’s guesses. So unlike Boggle, you want to have answers that other people have.
13. The Game of Things. This is basically draw a card with a question prompt, write an answer, then see if you can guess who said what. I like to play this with the conversation starters I got from Jennifer Flanders, linked over here.
14. Say Anything, a slight twist on the Game of Things.
The following can be hygge-ish, depending on the crowd. If you are playing with people who are super cut-throat competitive then the answer is no. I have two expert Boggle players in my nuclear family I grew up with so if I want a hygge night with them I will avoid Boggle. Maybe I’m a sore loser, but it’s just not fun to have to scratch off every single word you come up with. Scrabble can be hygge-ish if you play with people who aren’t super competitive and don’t take forever to take a turn. More hygge Scrabble versions are Gardening Scrabble and Cooking Scrabble, as they give you special powers so the game isn’t so tedious. Look for them at thrift stores and grab them. I found Gardening Scrabble at the Provo D.I. and feel infinitely blessed for it. Scrabble will never be the same for me! Trivial Pursuit could be hygge-ish if you play with people who enjoy trivia on your level, especially if they have any stories to tell about the different trivia questions. Half Truth is a better trivia game because everyone plays on every turn. It’s hygge-ish if you play, again, with people who aren’t super competitive and are OK with skipping cards when no one knows any of the terms.
Boggle
Scrabble
Trivial Pursuit
Half Truth
The following are not hygge, even though they are co-operative:
Pandemic- what could be cozy about eliminating a pandemic? It is a good game though and allows you to see people’s leadership styles.
Scotland Yard- a real anxiety inducer. So definitely not hygge.
Do you know any hygge tabletop games? Please share in the comments below.
This is such a fabulous presentation by Merrilee Boyack about preparing for temporal and spiritual refuge. She quotes Elder Bednar and President Nelson. It is all so inspiring!
I listened to this video (see it by scrolling below) last week as I worked on turning some of my thrifted pullover sweaters into cardigans (one of my hygge activities to make winter enjoyable). (This was such a fun thing to do and look forward to doing after our Christmas and New Year’s festivities wound down.) This video is so good! It features Sister Neill F. Marriott, former second counselor of the General Young Women’s Presidency.
In this video, Sister Marriott (photo credit of her above: churchofjesuschrist.org) shares her story of how reading the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ has given and continues to give her peace, comfort, and answers. It all started when she read the Book of Mormon while working as a secretary in an office of the philosophy department at Harvard. She grew up in the Methodist faith, and had had a few experiences with the Holy Spirit as she followed that faith tradition. Yet she yearned for something more that would last longer. While she was a secretary at Harvard, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had been coming with the missionaries of the Church to teach her the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. On what was to be the last visit with her roommates and her, the member asked her “Neill, have you read the Book of Mormon?” Neill said “Yes.” Then the member (David Marriott, who would later become her husband), said, “Do you believe it is true?” She said, “I think it might be true.” Then he asked, “What are you going to do about it?
That was the just the question she needed to hear! She prayed to God and got a witness that the book is true. She then felt convicted of the truth that the next step was to be baptized a member of The Church, so she was. Thus began her lifelong journey on the covenant path, following the precepts of the Book of Mormon, experiencing overall peace and joy to help with the trials of life.
In the video she shares how The Book of Mormon helped her husband, David Marriott, and her nurture their family in the Lord. They took seriously the admonition from Elder Marion G. Romney as shown below:
In the video, she shares that they struggled as a family to read the Book of Mormon every day when her children were younger. They finally did it by putting it on a lazy Susan in the center of their dining room table. Every day, as they ate breakfast together, they would read from it. It took them seven years, but they did it! The Book of Mormon got covered with drips of syrup and other food, but at the same time, the truths of it entered their hearts. Now she says that reading the Book of Mormon daily is a regular practice in her life and it gives her answers, comfort, and peace. In fact, she felt challenged to step up her game in reading the Book of Mormon. She used to read it once a year. Then when she was serving as wife to a mission president in Brazil she heard Elder Richard G. Scott say that his wife, before she passed away, read the Book of Mormon twice a year. So that motivated Sister Marriott to step up her game. She now reads it once between each General Conference, to equal twice a year.
This is the Book of Mormon the Marriott family read from. Photo Credit: Weldon Anderson, courtesy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as shown here.
The prophecy given by Elder Romney was fulfilled in her family’s life and she is so grateful for it. She says that one time she was pregnant with one of the later ones of her 11 children. It was the summer, and they had no air conditioning, so she was so hot. She remembers lying down, opening the Book of Mormon, and putting it on her pregnant tummy. That simple act gave her immediate relief. She says that opening the Book of Mormon is an act we show to God that we want help. It can give us comfort, even physical comfort, as well as spiritual comfort. She says that the Book of Mormon is also a portal to revelation.
I know this is true! I have seen the prophecy from Elder Romney come true in my life as well. I have seen one of my children make mistakes and then be drawn back to correction because of the seeds of faith in the Book of Mormon that I have planted in this child’s heart in his early years. I have experienced the Book of Mormon being a portal as well. Many times, I have had questions on directions for my life. I have prayed and asked a question of what to do. Sometimes I even write the question down. I open the Book of Mormon and read it. Sometimes I have received glimmers of answers, and sometimes I have received a huge download of an answer. Whatever answer it is, I write it down and then act on it (usually 🙂 ). I am so grateful. I encourage you to do this for yourself. Get the Book of Mormon in app form here. Then read it after you have prayerfully asked a question of God. Then write down your answer. Keep praying, keep reading, keep writing, keep following the answers you get, keep praying and asking for forgiveness of your failures to follow the answers, and ask for more help, and you will be amazed at the results! I promise that this works.
Want more goodness from Sister Marriott? Go here for a summary of a presentation she gave with some of her daughters at BYU Women’s Conference.
My Jolabokaflod party this past Christmas was a success! Here I am with my husband and two grandsons at the party, reading a classic Christmas poem from his childhood, Richard Scarry’s Grandfather Monkey from the Animals Christmas Book.
It’s that time of year where it can be easy to fall into the winter doldrums, especially for stay-at-home moms. The rush of holiday excitement is over. Now what?
January is the perfect time to discover, cultivate, and celebrate reading aloud as the chief source of family entertainment! The cold outdoor weather forces us indoors which is prime space for reading aloud. We can’t garden easily and are mostly relieved of yard duties and other warm-weather activities, so we can spend our extra time reading (and playing board games…future post about that coming)!
Here are some helps for that!
1. Read the “Bible” of reading-books-aloud-as-entertainment, shown above, for a TON of motivation. My homeschooling mom friend Shauna Bird Dunn does this every January. I love that idea! Here’s a podcast with Sarah Mackenzie and Cyndi Giorgis, who edited and revised the current edition.
2. Do Morning Basket time with your children. Here’s my blog about that. I love easing into my homeschool day every morning with picture books! Call it Breakfast and Books, or Cocoa and Books, and do it at the table, or right after breakfast and clean-up, in the living room, cuddled up with blankets. So yummy! This is where I read aloud books to my youngest child based on the current season and/or month. Find monthly lists here after you click on a season link on my new site.
3. Have activities that you only allow your children to participate in while you are reading aloud to them. Some ideas are here. This idea goes well with #2 above.
4. Set aside a time at least once a week where you as a family read silently and then share what you are reading every 15-30 minutes or so, along the lines of Jim Trelease’s phrase from one of his other books, “Hey listen to this…” I call these, “Reading-in Nights.” Use twinkle lights, yummy snacks/charcuterie board/and/or easy dinner (pizza!), space heater nearby or fire in the fireplace, blankets, and soft music to make it so inviting!
5. During mealtime with your family, do book “commercials” where you promote books you want your children to read.
6. Limit screen time so your children are naturally driven to discover and read the books lying around your home. I love Jennifer Flanders’ ideas for limiting screen time here, especially her idea here for linking reading time to screen time, where her kids may earn screen time by reading.
7. Read this article, by a mom of 4 boys, published in 1973, but which is totally still relevant today, called, “I Threw Our TV Away.” It’s by Elaine S. McKay. I love her ideas! We have always had the rule that our children have to ask permission for turning the TV on, similar to her situation of having the TV behind closed doors inside a shelving unit. So it’s not just “there” to be turned on at whim. I want to take her ideas further by using them to motivate me to host a monthly meeting for my children and their friends for an hour where they gather to read and eat, then spend the next hour sharing what they have learned.
8. Strew books around your home, as described here in a blog and here in a video. Then this blog over here has lots of book suggestions with companion kits/games/activities.
9. Listen to the Read Aloud Revival Podcast by Sarah Mackenzie and use her ideas. She has so many great episodes. My faves are: this one about the biggest mistake done when reading aloud, this one about the importance of moms reading for fun, and this one about kids’ reading and screen time.
10. Encourage your children to complete reading challenges, like the one from Jennifer Flanders here, with a predetermined reward you will give them for finishing the challenge. That page I just linked to also has great book suggestions!
11. Go to the public library regularly, like once a month, every other week, or once a week, and let your children get books they are interested in. We go about twice a week, because we live so close to our public library. Paradise!
12. Read aloud to your children while they do chores. This is how we got through Holly Claus with two of my older children one bleak January. Such fond memories!
13. Give your children book lights and space by their beds to keep books (nightstand, box, or basket) to encourage reading in bed. There’s nothing like falling asleep peacefully after family prayer and hug, individual prayer, and a good (not scary) book!
14. Give books and book-themed gifts for Christmas, birthdays, or just for fun! Over the years, for most birthdays, I have given a book to my children in addition to a bigger present that they usually ask for. Even if I have to buy it from a thrift store, I get a book (usually– I have forgotten a few times). Ideas for book-themed gifts are here. As they get older, your children will probably appreciate a bookshelf as a gift for a Christmas or birthday. Then they can leave home with a bookcase full of beloved books.
15. Get a reading journal for yourself, pictured above, and inspire your children to want one for children, as pictured below.
16. Create an account in goodreads.com with shelves dedicated to books you read aloud to your children and books they read to themselves. As you and they finish reading books, let them review the books in goodreads. If they are young, they can narrate a review that you type in, and as they get older you can let them type up the review themselves.
17. Help your children host a book club that meets monthly where the children take turns picking the book, within certain parameters. Then you meet to discuss the book with meaningful discussion questions. If you feel ambitious, include a snack and or activity related to the theme of the book.
18. Host a board game night with book-themed games. Here are some ideas here and here.
Bring Your Own Book is a simple game. You can find a free print and play version here, which can be used with any books.
Liebrary is like Balderdash but for the first lines of books. I absolutely love that the pawns for the game look like little books! Rules for a DIY version of Liebrary Jr. are in my ebook about gameschooling, which you can get here.
Tree of Life Mothering 