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Children's Literature for May

Are you anxiously anticipating the upcoming end of the school year? Are you looking at the calendar wondering how in the world May could already be upon us? For me, it never fails. I always get to this point in our school year and wonder if we did enough schoolwork. Did we accomplish enough, did we learn enough? Yikes! Did we really do enough?! Enough already!

I'm so thankful Mary published her post about Why Foundations Memory Work is Enough several years ago. I reference it when I get lost in those thoughts that it might not be enough. Now that Classical Conversations has ended for us this year, I can look back and see all the beautiful children's literature we read alongside the memory work.

I can see how much truth, goodness, and beauty we added to our homeschool this year through the memory work and plenty of good children's books. 

We are still finishing up some books related to our Classical Conversations memory work this month. In addition, we will focus some of our reading time on books related to holidays in May - Star Wars Day, Cinco de Mayo, Mother's Day, and Memorial Day.

I love using good children's literature to help my children learn about the world around them. 

Children's Literature for May - Star Wars Day

My son is a huge Star Wars fan. Barely a week goes by that he isn't checking out a Star Wars book from the library. In fact, he has me checking our account at the library daily this week to see if the latest Star Wars book he has requested is available. 

Star Wars Day is "May the 4th Be With You." Just say it out loud and you'll hear why it's called Star Wars Day. It has become a day when Star Wars fans worldwide celebrate. I have found some Star Wars books that my son hasn't read yet that I'm adding to our list. I like to take advantage of fun "holidays" like this when they come along to encourage my children to engage with books and their own creativity. The Star Wars Origami and Folded Flyers books look really intriguing. I know he will love those in addition to the other books he'll pour over and read. If you have a young Star Wars fan in your family, you may want to add some Star Wars books to your book list for May also.

Children's Literature for May - Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo gives us an opportunity to learn a little more about the Mexican culture. I've added some picture books specifically about Cinco de Mayo to the Children's Literature for May list. If you would like to dig a little deeper into the Mexican culture, pick up a copy of Give Your Child the World: Raising Globally Minded Kids One Book at a Time. This is a great resource to have on hand to help you locate books to open your children's eyes to cultures of the world. 

Another easy idea to celebrate Cinco de Mayo is to make your own pinatas. We have made pinatas for my children's birthdays the last couple of years. They are really simple to make and so much cheaper than the pre-made ones you can find at the store. We usually make them out of cereal boxes or other boxes we have on hand. But I found this super simple tutorial for making mini-pinatas for Cinco de Mayo. You probably have all you need at home already to make these.

And of course, a yummy Mexican meal is a great way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo! 

Children's Literature for May - Mother's Day

So I know I'm not the only homeschool mom who longs for handmade cards for Mother's Day - the ones children make without mom prompting them! You know, the kind the kiddos would make if they were in a traditional school? It's such a small thing, but such a big thing to many moms. Maybe if I strew some books about mothers around the house, my kiddos will be inspired to make me some handmade gifts for Mother's Day. It's worth a try!

I saw this cute fill in the blank book about moms, and I think it would be such fun to fill out for my own mother. I am blessed to have her in my life and I hope she knows how much she means to our family. 

Children's Literature for May - Memorial Day

My children are still trying to figure out what it really means when we celebrate each 'holiday.' My littlest is still trying to make sense of the fact that some holidays we exchange gifts and other holidays we don't. So I like to use children's literature that helps them understand what days like Memorial Day are all about. 

We have participated in placing flags on the graves of soldiers at our local cemeteries on Memorial Day weekend. It is a sobering experience but one that I hope helps my children grow in their patriotism and respect for our soldiers. If you have a chance to do this in your community, I encourage you to participate with your children. Our local VFW organizes the event. 

Summary of Children's Literature for May

This list of children's literature for May includes books on the following topics:

  • Star Wars Day - May the 4th (be with you)

  • Cinco de Mayo - May 5th 

  • Mother's Day - May 14th

  • Memorial Day - May 29th

Other books we are reading this month include:

  • Horrible Histories - - Mary recommended these on Facebook and I purchased them for my son. He is thoroughly enjoying them. I love being able to give him interesting history books that he wants to read in his free time.

  • Pinkalicious - my daughter's favorite story books right now are the Pinkalicious books. She has checked out the Pinkalicious Cupcake Cookbook so many times from the library that her grandparents gave her her own copy for Christmas. She made cupcakes based on the ideas in the book for one of her Classical Conversations presentations at the end of the year. Needless to say, that presentation was a huge hit with her classmates.

  • Books related to our Classical Conversations memory work that we are still finishing up from the April children's literature list.

 

I hope you enjoy this list of books for May. Please leave me a comment below of anything else you would add to the list. Enjoy!