Blogger Kary Henry

Homeschool Book Club Activities

I offer two homeschool book clubs, both based on the Illinois Readers’ Choice Awards. The younger students read books from the Bluestem list, and the older students read from the Caudill list. Recently, I was struggling to create engaging and fun book-based activites that would work in a virtual setting. My niece, Amanda, came to the rescue! Amanda is a brand-new (and, proud aunt brag, fantastic!) elementary school teacher and had created a cool activity for her students. She graciously shared the idea with me. I’ve now adapted it into multiple versions. Each time my homeschool students have said things like, “This is the coolest thing ever!” and “Can we do this again next week?”

Blogger Kary Henry

Take a Smile! Leave a Smile!

When I was growing up, I remember that our local dime store (yes, that was a thing) had a little dish of pennies next to the (manual) cash register. The sign above the dish said, “Take a Penny! Leave a Penny!” As a child, I was fascinated by that little dish and its sign. My dad had to explain the concept of making change and how just one penny might make a difference, might make it easier for the cashier to make change. Given that we all might enjoy some uplifting content, I decided to tweak that old-fashioned sign for one of my own: “Take a Smile! Leave a Smile!” Sharing stories that bring smiles to each other is priceless. In that spirit, enjoy these stories…and then please leave one of your own!