Has your family been enjoying plenty of books, video clips, food, and fun during launch week of our Read the World Summer Book Club? I hope so!
It’s been tremendous to watch you all enjoying this book baby of mine (so much that it SOLD OUT on Amazon–but don’t worry, more copies on the way!). My heart has felt as though it will burst with joy at times as I see all you’ve been up to.
As Sarah and I planned the book club, we wanted a way for all of you following along to get to know what it’s really like growing up in various parts of the world.
So we came up with a weekly blog series to add to our global adventures–and wanna know the best part? Your family is invited to contribute to it, too!
Check it out:
Each Friday, starting next week, we’re going to introduce you and yours to a family living in the part of the world we’re learning about that week.
South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, the Philippines–these are just a few of the spots we’ll be visiting, thanks to a handful of new friends who have invited us to peek into their lives!
Each family will answer these questions:
– Tell us about your family.
– Tell us about where you live and how long you’ve lived there.
– What do you think is unique and special about living where you do?
– What languages are spoken there? If it’s different from English, can you help us learn a few common phrases?
– What are some traditional foods there?
– Tell us about the climate where you live.
– What does school look like for the majority of kids where you live?
– What does school look like for your family?
– Are there any special festivals or traditions you’d like to tell us about related to where you live?
– If you ever had to move away from where you live, what do you think you’d miss most?
– Do you have a favorite book that takes place in your region/country?
Gather your kids around the laptop each Friday and check out these posts together. Each week we’ll also include a few fun facts for you to share with your children about the countries we highlight – think of it as a global unit study!
And here’s where you come in:
To celebrate the end of the summer book club, we want to host a huge WORLDWIDE link up right here on Monday, August 22nd!
Sometime between now and then, sit down with your kids and answer the same questions above about what it’s like growing up in your neck of the woods! Post it to your own blog or just save your responses.
Then on August 22nd, come back here and link up to share your post (or if you don’t have a blog, you can share your answers in the comments.)
Afterwards, take as long as you want to globally “hop” from one post to another and travel the world, meeting real families around the planet!
Doesn’t that sound like such a fun (& cheap) way to travel and end the summer? Can’t wait!
Adios, arrivederci, sayonara and totsiens for now, but we’ll see you right back here on Monday, when we head to our next Read the World Summer Book Club destination together!
Can you and yours join in and link up with us on August 22nd?
How lifelong learning has changed our homeschool
What a super idea! This is going to be so much fun. I can’t wait to explore all the answers with my girls, and to answer them ourselves! (In fact, it’s a great way to appreciate where we’re at now.)
Faith Hough’s latest post: Read the World Summer Book Club: Multicultural Week!
So glad you’ll join in, Faith!
This sounds like so much fun! I can’t wait to read the posts at the end of the week and everyone’s post they will be linking up! We live in the US but have lived in five different states in the past six years, they were all so different. It will be fun writing about it with my kiddos. Thanks for doing all of this for us!
Yes, every state has its own vibe as well for sure!
That sounds like so much fun. I’m bookmarking this post right now!
Shelly’s latest post: A Tale of Ten Homeschoolers- Giving Our Children the World
Doesn’t it, Shelly? It’s been tough keeping this under wraps!!
Bought the Kindle version the day you mentioned it, requested books from library that night, now we are taking our fingers the table just awaiting our books and our adventure! I have been poking up ideas to extend the learning and the fun. Can’t wait to see and hear from everyone else. Actually feels like a real life trip from the patio as we connect to other like minded families from all around the world. Thank you!
You’re welcome, Kimberlee! It’s been so fun to pull it all together.
What a wonderful idea! I look forward to learning about other families and cultures along with my kiddos. And I’ll mark my calendar for the August linkup! Thanks for all you are doing!
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This Sunday I am hosting a Summer Global Reading Book Club kick-off, for friends and neighbors, using and promoting your book (and your website of course!) All of the bonus features on Monday were amazing, fun and educational even for me! We also subscribe to Little Passports and are looking forward to the next 3 years of diving deep into your book and the books you suggest. Thank you for guiding us through the process!
Awesome! This is going to be such fun!
Do you still need contributors from around the world? We live in China with 3 kids and it would be fun to write this up if needed 🙂
Not for our official series, Charissa, but I hope you’ll participate in the link up as it would be incredible to have the chance to hear about your life in China!!
This is going to be amazing !! We can’t wait. We are from New Zealand but having just returned from 2 yrs in Canada ( with trips through the beautiful USA and Mexico), I am so much more aware of our own culture than before I left. We are loving being home again but all have itchy feet to get going again. This could be the perfect solution while we save our pennies again.
We have been traveling a bit the past few weeks, but we’ve still been keeping up with at least a book per week for this, and it’s been fun.
We live in Nepal and will write up a post to share for the link-up next month!
Wonderful, Rachel! I can’t wait to read it!
This is such a great idea! Writing up our post right now.
Hi! I am from Indonesia. I’ve been so excited to join this and start my own blog, using this topic as my first blog. But time went pass and still it isn’t coming true. How do I link up or post my answers?
The link up will be tomorrow, Lucia, just come back then!
I’m done with the blog!
Come and visit http://www.gardenerandlight.com
Just in case I couldn’t join the global link up.
Newbie in the blog world ^_^
We are loving this! Thank you for doing this summer reading club and for writing this great book.
Hi, we have enjoyed all the book lists and had a lot of fun learning about all the different places! Thanks for making this so much fun!
1. We have 3 kids ages 5, 3, 2
2. We live in Millersburg, Oh
3. We think Ohio is special because we can enjoy the 4 seasons and that it is the home of the World’s largest Amish community.
4. We speak English though many in our area can speak Dutch
5. Home cooked Amish meals. Largely casseroles and pies
6. We can experience sunshine, rain, snow in one day. We enjoy 4 seasons.
7. School for most around here are public schools, some with almost entirely Amish Children.
8. We homeschool as a family.
9. We have a Johnny Appleseed Festival close by.
10. Kierra 5, says her bedroom.
11. We do not have any favorite books right now about Ohio.
This is such a fun way to connect. Thanks for setting this up. My family is currently living in South Korea and posted tried to link in our blog, but didn’t see the link anymore. Maybe we missed it. Anyways thanks. Here is our blog post.
http://www.justbringithome.com/#!Reading-to-Love-the-Nations/colb/57bbe9a00cf2530cede83fab
We LOVED doing this for our summer studies! We hope you will do it again next year! Thank you for all of your hard work. It was very appreciated.
Growing Up Around the World: A Summer Series Answers
1. Tell us about your family. We are a family of four: mama, daddy, Sweet Girl (7.5) and Love Bug (5). We also have two Betta fish named Mama Fish and Daddy Fish.
2. Tell us about where you live and how long you’ve lived there. We live in Northern Virginia in a house and have been here for seven years.
3. What do you think is unique and special about living where you do? We are very close to Washington, DC and a lot of historical sites like Mount Vernon, Civil War battlefields and parks with historical buildings.
4. What languages are spoken there? If it is different from English, can you help us learn a few common phrases? English
5. What are some traditional foods there? Beef, chicken, turkey, potatoes, sweet potatoes, ham, apples, peanuts, oysters and crabs
6. Tell us about the climate where you live? We have the four seasons where we live. We get snow every winter, but some years we get more than others.
7. What does school look like for the majority of kids where you live? Most go to public school.
8. What does school look like for your family? We homeschool. We go on field trips with other homeschool families. We also have science club and book club with our friends. We spend a lot of time outside and at the library.
9. Are there any special festivals or traditions you’d like to tell us about related to where you live? There is an Oyster Festival in November. More locally, we have a Train Festival and a number of parades like for St. Patrick’s Day, Veteran’s Day and Christmas.
10. If you ever had to move away from where you live, what do you think you’d miss most? Sweet Girl and Love Bug said they would miss everything!
11. Do you have a favorite book that takes place in your region/country? A book called Virginia by Gina de Angelis.
– Tell us about your family.
We are a homeschooling, church planting family of five – Dad, Mom, daughters N & K, and son J. Dad grew up on a farm about 15 minutes from Monroe, and Mom grew up in the Western suburbs of Chicago. Dad is a carpenter and mom teaches piano lessons.
– Tell us about where you live and how long you’ve lived there.
We have lived in Monroe, WI for eight years. Monroe is a small town, surrounded by farmland, and very proud of its Norwegian and Swiss heritage.
– What do you think is unique and special about living where you do?
Cheese! The Cheese industry is huge in our county. There are many local cheese factories, and one in particular won the world championship last year.
– What languages are spoken there? If it’s different from English, can you help us learn a few common phrases?
English is the main language here. If you know the right people, you can still hear some old, Swiss accents.
– What are some traditional foods there?
Cheese! Especially cheese curds – deep fried at the fair are a special treat
– Tell us about the climate where you live.
We have fairly midwestern seasons. Spring is full of rain and generally fairly cool. Summer warms up and towards the end gets very humid. Fall cools off, the leaves on the trees change color and then fall to the ground. Winters very in harshness, but generally are cold and snowy.
– What does school look like for the majority of kids where you live?
Most kids go to public school from about 8AM-3PM, 5 days a week. They start around age 4 and continue through 18. After high school, some go on to college, but many find local jobs or go to a technical or vocational school.
– What does school look like for your family?
We homeschool and love the flexibility for our family. We start around 9AM and go until about 3PM four days a week. We also do many special trips and are involved in a local homeschool group. There are a growing number of families in Monroe that homeschool, so there are more classes like art, soccer, swimming, gymnastics, horseback riding, etc for homeschoolers.
– Are there any special festivals or traditions you’d like to tell us about related to where you live?
Cheese Days! It’s every other year in September and is a celebration of Swiss heritage and Cheese. Our favorite part is the cheese tasting tent where you can sample all sorts of different cheese from a large variety of cheesemakers.
– If you ever had to move away from where you live, what do you think you’d miss most?
Monroe is very communal. The people here try hard to come together to provide good opportunities for our youth. I’d miss that were we to move.
– Do you have a favorite book that takes place in your region/country?
Not from Monroe, but we love Little House in the Big Woods that take place in Wisconsin.
Thanks so much for this! We’ve had so much fun with it!