December marks the end of the holiday season for the year. We’ve been enjoying our favorite fall, winter, Halloween and Thanksgiving books for the last two months. It’s time to break out the Christmas books! I normally don’t do themed Morning Baskets. I add in a few of our favorite seasonal books and a few new ones that may become new favorites. However, I also keep a separate collection of seasonal books that the kids read on their own. Here’s our Morning Basket book list for December.
History and Read Aloud Books
Johnny Tremain – We’re continuing on in American History with Storyteller and we’re finally getting to the American Revolution. We were supposed to start this in November so I put it in last month’s morning basket but we took a bit of time off so we’re just getting to this now. This is a book that shows up in many homeschool history book lists so we’re excited to have it as a read aloud. We use Brave Writer for language arts and we’ll be using the Arrow for copywork and dictation that goes along with this book.
Out of Darkness: The Story of Louis Braille – We really enjoyed this when I read it to Storyteller and now it’s Comedian’s turn. I love stories about children and young adults who face huge obstacles and overcome them. This definitely fits into that category!
A Grain of Rice – This is a tale similar to others that we read last year in Stories From Around the World but now we get to dive a bit deeper in a chapter book. Comedian really likes stories about clever people who out smart others so this will be a great fit for her.
Capyboppy – This is one of the books from Sonlight’s level A that isn’t in our Bookshark level K. I had to add this in because it’s about a capybara. On a recent field trip with our homeschool group, we got to pet a couple of capybaras and my girls have been talking about them ever since. They’ll be so excited to see this book!
Science, Math and Nature Study Books
Among the Forest People – I absolutely love this book! It’s a collection of beautiful short stories about forest animals. It teaches about the habits and characteristics of the animals. There’s also a lesson, or moral, to each story. If you like this book, be sure to check out Among the Pond People and Among the Meadow People. We’ll be using all three this year in our nature studies.
Bedtime Math: A Fun Excuse to Stay up Late – We’ve had this book for a good year or two but my kids haven’t been happy when I bring it out at night. We’re going to reverse it and include it in our Morning Basket instead. My youngest is in 1st grade now and math has come really easy for her so far so I think she’ll like this book. My oldest, however, is a different story. She does well in math but she doesn’t like it. I’m trying to incorporate fun math books and games for her.
Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the Worlds – This is a collection of short essays about women pioneers in the science. We’ve been reading about many scientists this year and this is our next book that we’ll be diving into during our Morning Basket time.
Related Post – Morning Basket Tips to Get Started
Music and Art Books
‘Tis the season for the Nutcracker so this month’s music and art is going to focus on that. We’ll be reading the Nutcracker books below, listening to the music and watching a few different versions of the ballet. It’s sounds like overkill to watch different versions but that’s a great way to show kids that every live production in ballet and theater is different. I’ve always been a huge Mikhail Baryshnikov fan so we always watch the televised version with him and Gelsey Kirkland. Nutcracker purists may turn up their noses at the “made for T.V.” edits and choreography changes. However, it’s still Baryshnikov and Kirkland who are just magical to watch! Just a heads up though…It was filmed back in 1977 so the clarity isn’t what we’re used to now days. However, the dancing is beautiful!
Poetry and Nursery Rhyme Books
A Child’s Introduction to Poetry – Poetry geared toward Storyteller’s age (4th grade). This comes with Bookshark’s level 3 and will be used throughout the year. We’ve really been enjoying this book and especially the CD! It starts with the different styles of poetry and then moves on to highlighting different poets. It includes not only a poem (or three) from famous poets but also a short biography for each poet.
The Llama Who Had No Pajama – Poetry geared toward Comedian’s age (1st grade). This comes with Bookshark’s level K and will be also used throughout the year. This book is a well known and well loved children’s poetry book. Comedian remembers it well from when we read it three years ago but she is still enjoying it a second time.
Julie Andrews’ Treasury for All Seasons: Poems and Songs to Celebrate the Year – We include this book at every change of the seasons in our Morning Basket or our Poetry Tea Times.
Poetry for Kids: Robert Frost – This was in our November Morning Basket but we didn’t get to it. That’s ok! We take a fairly laid back approach to Morning Basket time. It worked out well because I also found Papa is a Poet: A Story About Robert Frost at the library so we’ll be add that in too. There’s also short video on Amazon Prime.
Christmas Books
The Nutcracker by Susan Jeffers and The Nutcracker by Alison Jay are my two favorite traditional Nutcracker picture books for younger kids. We share these books every Christmas during our Morning Basket time.
Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite by Anna Harwell Celenza is the story of Duke Ellington’s jazz version of the Nutcracker music. A CD of the music is included with this picture book. This pairs perfectly with The Nutcracker in Harlem by T.E. McMorrow which is a retelling of the Nutcracker set in New York City during the Harlem Renaissance.
Jan Brett’s Christmas Treasury is a collection of her Christmas and winter themed books. It includes The Night Before Christmas, Trouble with Trolls, Christmas Trolls, The Mitten, The Hat, The Twelve Days of Christmas, and The Wild Christmas Reindeer. I was thrilled to find this collection that includes all our favorites.
The Christmas Wish by Lori Evert is a Nordic tale of a little girl who heads out on an adventure to become one of Santa’s elves. Her encounters with many helpers on the way are shown in beautiful photographs.
The Night Before Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Miracle on 34th Street (picture book) are a few of the classic Christmas stories that we’ll be reading this season.
What books are you sharing with your kids this month?
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