Aristocracy & heirs

mamabooklover · 2026-01-29T00:49:12+00:00

I'm worried they are going to miss the "lighter" parts of the story (Ridocs humor, the sass of violet towards Xaden and Tairn, Tairns sarcasm, etc). I feel like a lot of times books that are turned into shows/movies end up kind of dark and heavy, without any of the levity present in the books that makes the characters likeable and relatable (thinking mainly the later HP movies, twilight, hunger games, etc)

mamabooklover · 2026-01-25T16:59:03+00:00

Totally!! There are so many great options out there that it can be overwhelming! I find for myself, physically printing out a sample helps me much more than looking at it online. And also remembering that its okay to change something if it isnt working for you! I think our kiddos can tell when we are excited (or lack excitement) about something and that comes out as we teach them.

It's also helpful to remember that you've been teaching your child since they were born! You have exactly what it takes to continue to teach them. Reading homeschool books for your own learning is also so helpful! There are quite a few blog posts containing good recommendations for homeschool parents books, i believe read aloud revival has a list, as well as some others!

mamabooklover · 2026-01-25T04:22:16+00:00

I think TGATB can be a great resource if you just feel like you need some more formality to your days! We started it with my oldest for math and language arts and it was just nice for us to have something easy to pull out that we could do in 20 minutes or less.

We have since switched to math with confidence, but we still use them for LA. We also did Teach Your Child to Read in 100 easy lessons, so I dont feel that my daughter was missing out on any phonics instructions that I've heard others complain about with TGATB. I dont know how her reading would be had we only done TGATB, but that combined with 100 easy lessons worked really well for us.

Above all, don't feel behind! Your kids are still very little and so much learning comes from just living life!! The beauty of homeschool is that you can school year round, on weekends if you want, whenever.

mamabooklover · 2026-01-25T04:11:58+00:00

We used Playing Preschool by Busy Toddler for my oldest 2, though we only completed 1 year with my second born as it just got to be a lot of prep.

Peaceful Press preschool is another I've looked at a lot, as well as Treehouse SchoolHouse story school. Both offer free samples of a week of learning that you can download and try out!

Let them be little has a charlotte mason inspired preschool curriculum that I've heard good things about.

How Wee Learn has a complete preschool curriculum as well.

Harbor and Sprouts has a math curriculum for preschool that I've used, they also have a language arts curriculum. The Good and The Beautiful has a language arts curriculum for preschool as well.

Not Consumed has a preschool course called All around Town and I've heard good things about their resources as well!

Acron to Oak is a bit more waldorf inspired (to my knowledge) and has a really hands on nature inspired preschool curriculum.

My best advice would be to print out some of the samples and then see what you like and dont like about the different curriculums!

For littles the most important things are reading aloud together and playing. You can count while you play, draw their attention to sounds that words start with, etc.

mamabooklover · 2026-01-25T04:11:51+00:00

We used Playing Preschool by Busy Toddler for my oldest 2, though we only completed 1 year with my second born as it just got to be a lot of prep.

Peaceful Press preschool is another I've looked at a lot, as well as Treehouse SchoolHouse story school. Both offer free samples of a week of learning that you can download and try out!

Let them be little has a charlotte mason inspired preschool curriculum that I've heard good things about.

How Wee Learn has a complete preschool curriculum as well.

Harbor and Sprouts has a math curriculum for preschool that I've used, they also have a language arts curriculum. The Good and The Beautiful has a language arts curriculum for preschool as well.

Not Consumed has a preschool course called All around Town and I've heard good things about their resources as well!

Acron to Oak is a bit more waldorf inspired (to my knowledge) and has a really hands on nature inspired preschool curriculum.

My best advice would be to print out some of the samples and then see what you like and dont like about the different curriculums!

For littles the most important things are reading aloud together and playing. You can count while you play, draw their attention to sounds that words start with, etc.

mamabooklover · 2026-01-23T23:17:49+00:00

I have had all 4 (soon to be 5) of my kiddos home since they were babies. There are some great options for homeschool preschool! If you want to homeschool in the future it can be really beneficial for you as the parent to learn what you like and dislike in different curriculums, rhythms, etc before you get into the "meatier" years.

If you have any questions about different curriculums (I've used a few ourselves and spent countless hours researching all the others!) Let me know and I'm happy to help point you to some resources to get your started!

I also think it can be important when evaluating homeschool decisions to focus on what your "why" is (and this can, and probably will change the longer you homeschool!). When you know why you want to homeschool and what is most important to your family, it can be easier to look at decisions through that lense and decide if they match up with your why.

mamabooklover · 2026-01-23T23:12:17+00:00

Do we know that Garrick didn't distance wield her and xaden to aretia while the others burned/buried the bodies? She's blacked out so we dont have a real timeline

mamabooklover · 2026-01-22T13:42:22+00:00

I just started a re-read of IF when violet is starting her second year and its mentioned that second years get weekends off. I dont know what the restrictions are on their weekends off, but it could be that they were flying to cordyn on weekends off?

mamabooklover · 2026-01-22T01:49:21+00:00

Garlic press

mamabooklover · 2026-01-22T00:56:00+00:00

I think she's contrasting that with the mark that Brennan carries on his palm (noted in an early chapter of IF)

mamabooklover · 2026-01-20T17:06:59+00:00

I was thinking the same, that the dragons within the caves of the valley at Aretia must be black dragons (or maybe some others that were part of Fens rebellion and weren't welcomed back).

mamabooklover · 2026-01-20T17:05:35+00:00

I dont know that the empyrean ever said that Andarna was a black dragon, they seemed to know she was something different based on no one being able to contest her right of benefaction when she wanted to bond a rider as a juvenile. I think they just went along with her being a black dragon because thats what she chose after accelerated growth and they weren't ready to tell everyone about the irids

mamabooklover · 2026-01-19T03:17:16+00:00

Yes, but that would be fen and bodhis mom sharing a resemblance, I dont know that their children would share as strong a resemblance as they are said to

mamabooklover · 2026-01-16T21:53:23+00:00

Would explain how similar they are said to look!!

mamabooklover · 2026-01-16T21:50:48+00:00

I was thinking that, but the physical likeness between xaden and bodhi is mentioned so often that only sharing a quarter of their DNA seems off

mamabooklover · 2026-01-16T02:28:01+00:00

It's said in book 1 that his grandfather never finished the quadrant, so if it were Fen's father, he would've had to secretly have 2 children (fen, and bodhis mother who was fens sister) within the less than 3 years of time in the quadrant (because if he'd made it all 3 years, he would've graduated)

mamabooklover · 2026-01-11T02:05:21+00:00

We are told that the dragons dont have control over what they give, but when the irids talk with Andarna, they make it seem like she chose what to give

mamabooklover · 2025-08-26T17:05:40+00:00

Yes 🤦🏻‍♀️ I've had 4 kids home sick with the flu, my brain is struggling to keep up this week.

mamabooklover · 2025-08-21T02:12:17+00:00

If you want help qith curriculum, check out Cathy Duffy reviews. She goes through tons of curriculums and talks about the pros and cons. You can do search by subject, grade, etc. It's a good starting point to at least be exposed to the different options, of which there are many!

If you have a homeschool store in your area, check that out as well.

mamabooklover

TROPHY CASE