A Daily Picture Book is Born ~ Part 1

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Why a daily picture book, you ask? And what is a daily picture book? Well, it is the result of a homeschooling adventure, of having lost my way and found it again.

Back some 12 years ago, I had 3 curious little girls and an adventurous little boy, all eager to learn and discover anything and everything. One homeschooling day, in the depth of the February blues, surrounded by my 4 kiddos under 8 years old, I felt very discouraged by what we were doing.

A problem

I was bored and, worst of all, they were bored! Their curiosity and excitement were slowly fading away. None of us were clicking with what we were learning. And it was exhausting for me. Each child was in her or his own grade and as appealing as the curriculums were, it was SO MUCH work for me! Because once I was done with one child I had to start all over again with the next one, and the next one… I could not possibly have enough hours in my day for all of it. There had to be another way to do this. A way to renew my excitement of home educating my children and to reignite their wonder.

We had loved our Five in A Row curriculum, we had loved reading these wonderful picture books together and learning all the things there were to learn from them, together. But we had finished them… so we had started with another curriculum but it was, well… boring… and  we were no longer learning together. Two important things were missing. The obvious one was that we were no longer learning together. It took me a little while to figure out what the other one was. We were missing the connectors. 

Connecting

What are the connectors? They are those people and events that connect us to history, geography, and the world outside our door. They are the things that help us click with what we are learning about. Connectors are the things that ignite our curiosity, trigger our imagination and finally make these people and events a part of our culture and of who we are. It’s the tangible, relatable elements. It’s what we were loving with Five In A Row, it was beautiful text, charming illustrations and something or someone we could relate to.

So I started looking around and while some curriculums integrated some picture books, very few did, but we all wanted MORE picture books.  We were quickly discovering that we were allergic to textbooks and to grade compartmentalization. We wanted wonder and excitement, beauty and togetherness. I decided to take the leap and to disregard curriculums. We just started to learn as we went, together, through picture books. It was a daring, unprecedented idea! Could I do it?

Could I do it?

The next question was, how do I integrate more picture books into my homeschool? Where do I even find picture books worthy of becoming our new connectors? How do I help my children fall in love with new people, be moved by historical events, want to visit new lands, explore new galaxies? Without adding hours of reading to our already full schedule…

Tired as I was of textbooks and biography snippets that did not help us create deep meaningful relationships, I did not know where to start. I wanted something new, exciting, beautiful, true and, let’s be honest, short. I wanted what we had found in Five in a Row but broader and bigger.

Picture books everywhere!

I knew picture books were the answer. Picture books are all that! They are usually beautiful, not only visually but in the written form as well. Some are true, some are long, but many are short and all are exciting. They are also magical, from them you can learn without realizing it and they have an inviting format, they are an excuse to cuddle and are loved by all ages. 

As I looked around my home library, my very small home library, the city library being our main source of books, my eyes fell on Bach’s Big Adventure By Sallie Ketcham that we had just read that morning for our composer’s study. It was a library book, we had truly enjoyed it, the illustrations by Timothy Bush had captivated us. And now, it was the source of a new epiphany!

Birthdays and picture books!

Bach had a birthday! Actually all composers have a birthday! And artists! And cooks! Birthdays were the answer! If I could find someone’s birthday or the anniversary of an event for each day of the year… Could it possibly work? Could I find connectors through birthdays and anniversaries celebrated through picture books?

Which kid does not love a birthday? Birthdays meant that these people and events we were reading about were real! They were people just like us, that had lives, loves, adventures. People who had struggled, often failed at their endeavor, but then succeeded. They were relatable, memorable and so were the events they were attached to. But most of all we could be friends with them, we could create deep, meaningful relationships, we could wonder and grow excited, we could be thrilled while learning.

Yes, it could work, it could be our next adventure! And that’s how a daily picture book started. This adventure sprung from a desire to unite my family in our learning endeavors and to maintain curiosity, wonder and excitement, no matter our ages. It is daily helping us to discover a new world, a new friend, a new place in time and space where we belong.  It is an exploration, an investigation and truly a treasure hunt that I have pursued for over 12 years and that I am still pursuing.

Please come with me…

And I want to share what I have found out with you. I want to walk this path with you in uniting your family, no matter the age gaps and interests, and embark in a journey of discovery of the world, its inhabitants, past and present, its wonders and its marvels. 

Please come with me, let’s have an adventure!