I am SO EXCITED to make a special announcement today:

The Library Gems Collection is live on Etsy!

You may have seen me mention this idea before, if you are a newsletter subscriber, or if you read about my children’s-book-frustrations in this post from last month.

Here is the gist: I wanted to create a collection of Exquisite Picture Book Studies, for homeschool families who love high-quality literature.

These picture book studies are perfect for you and your family, if you:

• Love treasuring the same stories over and over again with your kids
• Hope to build tradition & family culture in your homeschool & home
• Desire to teach your children to slow down and savor beauty
• Reflect on your family goals, values, and traditions as your children age
• Value older things, or relics of the past: whether that be older literature, art, old fashioned past-times, or any other analog activities
• Enjoy Charlotte-Mason style homeschooling (art, writing/narration, nature, cooking, and fine literature)

A Heartfelt Home: How It Started

Alright, so let’s back up. Library Gems Collection…Heartfelt Home…what are all of these new terms?! Here is a bit of a breakdown:

Library Gems Collection is the name of my new Etsy shop, where all of my book studies will be housed.

In the coming months, I will be releasing several exquisite book studies for homeschool families! Today, I am launching the first book study, in the first collection, which is called Heartfelt Home.

The first book featured in Heartfelt Home is this title: Let’s Go Home, by Cynthia Rylant. Some things that the book study focuses on:

• What makes a house a home?
• What makes our home unique and special?
• What goals do we have to make our home welcoming to others?
• What traditions do we have, or want to create, to savor our home?
• How are homes different around the world?
• How has home design changed over time, and why does it matter?

Heartfelt Home: Future Book Studies

Along with the very first book study, for Let’s Go Home, I will be writing four additional book studies under the Heartfelt Home theme. Here are some of the themes those book studies will cover:

• Geography: where is our home? Why is it important to know our neighborhood, city/town, state, country, continent, and world?
• Map skills, vocabulary, games & practice
• Themes like contentment, jealousy, and comparison, and how we can talk about those with our young kids
• Compelling creative projects, copywork, cooking adventures, portfolio pages, scavenger hunts & other activities for kids aged toddler to 5th grade

What Makes Library Gems Collection Book Studies Different?

Probably the biggest factors that make Library Gems Collection book studies unique and different, are the expansive, in-depth nature of the studies (Let’s Go Home Book Study is a 39-page PDF!) as well as the inclusivity for kids of multiple ages.

My own kids span in age from 2, to 10, so it is often difficult to find things that everyone enjoys within our homeschool day! This is natural, of course, because an eight-year-difference is quite a range. Each of my kids has their own curriculum for various subjects, which has to be completed for them to grow and develop. However, one of the main reasons we homeschool is for family connectivity, culture and relationships. I really wanted to have a few integral homeschool activities that would still involved all four of my kids. So, I created a series of picture book studies that would do just that!

The Let’s Go Home Book Study includes activities like:

• Read aloud (all four kids)
• Baking (all four kids)
• Writing (oldest three)
• Brainstorming (all four kids)
• Guessing game & personalized Scavenger Hunt (youngest three)
• Family Goals (oldest three)
• Storybook Corner Portfolio page (middle two)
• Extension Projects for upper elementary (older two, or maybe just my oldest!)
  • These are what makes this book study most unique. Within each book study, there are supplemental materials for older kids. My son, 5th grade this year, will be tackling a research project + essay about how homes have changed over time. Within the book study there are prompts, links to articles & posts to consider, and suggested templates for a compare/contrast essay based on these topics.

The beauty of the extension projects is that your older elementary students can still enjoy the read aloud, while completing work and projects that are more rigorous, at their academic level. These supplements are part of what makes this collection unique!

The Library Gems Collection is Authentic

I hope this goes without saying–but the Library Gems Collection book studies are also written by me, a real person–and illustrated & designed by my friend Amy, also a real person! Amy is an artist and designer, and I am a former teacher. Both of us are now homeschool moms!

Sadly, we are entering a time in history when human-made products are being sidelined by AI-generated products. 🙁 I can assure you that our products will always be 100% us. I hope the pendulum can swing back soon, so that we can continue to treasure authentic human ingenuity and creativity.

I hope you have a chance to browse the preview here, and see if it’s a good fit for your family! If you’re a homeschool parent, and you’ve noticed the decline in children’s literature the past ten years or so, you may appreciate this post: From Allegory to Meager Story.

Next on the blog: an in-depth sneak peek at some of the special projects included in the Let’s Go Home Book Study. Stay tuned! 🙂

With love,

Cait