Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site Newsletter

Volume 23. Issue 1.

Book Awards, Newbery, Caldecott and More

2018 Youth Media Awards and Avoiding Homeschool Stress

This issue marks the beginning of our 23rd year of publishing this email newsletter. Thank you for letting us onto your screens and into your lives. It is an honor we take seriously. I (Rebecca) love having a direct way to reach out to the visitors to our site.

There are two articles in this newsletter. The first article is a celebration of the February 12th winners of Youth Media Awards, the Academy Awards of the US children's book world. The second is a guest article by our long-time advertiser Time4Learning. It's filled with time management ideas for homeschoolers with a focus on reducing stress.

2018 Youth Media Awards from the American Library Association

At eight in the morning on February 12th, people from around the US were waiting on the edge of their seats as the announcements were made. This is the Academy Awards for those of us who love children's books. Dozens of books received awards. I was glued to the live stream as the announcements were made, gleeful as some of my favorites won prizes, surprised by the winners I didn't expect, and excited to dig into reading more books while writing about them for you.

Publishers send me hundreds of books, hoping I'll select them to review on the site. After sorting through them and reading some, I pass them on to others. In preparation for the awards, I surrounded myself with some of the contenders by ordering piles of books through the local library. Interlibrary loan is a wonderful thing! At the moment, I have 40 library books in piles around my reading spot and another 12 on order through the library. I also have about ten audio books borrowed on my tablet with more on order. It's an embarrassment of riches, and now I get to tell you about some of the winners.

So far I've written up complete teacher's guides for the Newbery winner and the Caldecott winner (you'll find links below) and will keep adding more guides, reviews and annotations over time, so watch this spot. Read the rest of this article.

Time Management Tips to Avoid Homeschool Stress

If you compare the amount of time classroom students spend studying and doing work with the amount that homeschooled children require, you may be pleasantly surprised. On average, homeschoolers in high school only require about four hours a day while younger children require as little as an hour a day. That's compared to the six to eight hours that classroom children spend at school every day.

With that in mind, if you focus on a few best practices to better manage your time, you will most certainly relieve some of the stress you may be feeling. Homeschooling parents like you feel a heavy obligation to provide the best educational experience for your children -- and that overwhelms you at times, especially during this time of year. But these tips will help reduce your burnout and make your homeschooling experience much more enjoyable. Read the rest of this article.

Time4Learning.com is an award-winning, comprehensive curriculum for PreK-12th that makes learning effective and engaging through animated lessons and activities. You will have access to the core subjects, math, language arts, science, social studies and more! The online program teaches and grades lessons, tracks and records progress, and keeps reports to help simplify homeschool portfolios.

For over a decade, Time4Learning has helped more than 500,000 homeschooling families with its flexible and engaging curriculum, homeschool resources, and more. Our team of homeschool moms, homeschool dads, and support staff have come together to create helpful homeschool insights on subjects such as family, education, fun, and more!

That's it for this issue.

Happy reading!

- Rebecca Otis

You can read back issues of this newsletter in our archives at:
http://www.carolhurst.com/newsletters/newsletters.html