Are you getting your youngster ready for a school year?  These are a number of books that are about school that my kids have fallen in love with.  This year we will have one semi-kindergartner, two preschoolers and a rolly-polly infant.  They have all missed our daily blog fodder “school time” each morning and are looking forward to the fall.  In two of these books, they discuss the first day of school, all the newness and silliness of a strange routine and new place!  Thank you to Abrams Books for sending us these, and a few other books, for us to enjoy!  Check them out for more fun reading!

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The first book is, Dotty, by Erica S. Perl.  It is about a gal who brings “Dotty” her invisible horned friend with her to school.  My daughter has imaginary friends (and actually an imaginary house where she claims to live part-time) so she can really relate with Ida, the girl in the story.  I love how this book talks about reality and imagination, encourages children to apologize for wrong actions, and celebrates creativity and active imaginations.  This book is great for those pre-school jitters, I love how warm Ida’s teacher, Ms. Raymond, is in this story!

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My son loves the second book we got to review today!  He loves facts and vivid pictures (and could do without story plot most of the time).   The book, The Exceptionally, Extraordinarily Ordinary First Day of School, by Albert Lorenz, is hilarious – it definitely speaks to little boys.  It features wild creatures that welcome, John (the main character), to the school bus where they drive to the “castle” (aka school), he carries a lizard and steps on frogs in science class, gets to meet several historical characters, eats insects for lunch in the cafeteria, and more.  Quirky Kiddo Z loved all the detail (and trying to find the kid hiding on each page picking his nose).  I loved the facts in the sidebar.  This book was one of the more educational and yet incredibly silly stories we have read in some time!

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The final book we got to review was about Sam, a mouse who lives in a library.  The book, Library Mouse: A World to Explore, by Daniel Kirk, is really cute.  My hubby used to be a librarian (sexy, I know!) and we love our local library and the trove of information you can find browsing books.  Sam and his friend Sarah share their love of books with the readers, and explain how they research with books to learn new things, like how to fly airplanes or to pretend they were Egyptian pharaohs.  They get to “see the world” through the books they are reading.

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Want one of these books?  Leave a comment telling me what items are on your school shopping list and become a follower of QM!  Winner will be chosen randomly next Monday.

There are five things that have made my life so much easier welcoming our latest bundle into the home.  Juggling a newborn with three feisty preschoolers can be a bit daunting, maybe these ideas will help you adjust to life with a newborn (and older kids).
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New Toys: Keep your preschoolers entertained in those early baby days.

I’d like to say I thought of this one myself, but I didn’t.  The kind souls at B.You Toys were super generous and sent us a big box of Stackadoos bristle blocks.  To say that …

Want a craft project that reminds you of cooler days?  We are pretty warm right now in Texas, and I was thrilled to discover a fun “wintery” science experiment.  Pam of Troop Petrie created some fun and whimsical snowflakes with her kids using borax (which is a staple in homemade cleaners) and pipe cleaners.  As borax is a chemical and not edible this would definitely need to be a “well-supervised” experiment.  Here are Pam’s snowflakes and directions.  Thanks Pam for submitting a guest post today!
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We made borax snowflakes, it was …

Germs, I don’t like them but I am usually not on a “death to germs campaign” but right before our latest Quirky bundle arrived (she’s a whole 9 days old! Boy, time flies!) we were battling rotavirus with the older kids. Anybody who has struggled with rota doing its rounds through youngsters would totally appreciate this new nifty germ-killer we got in the mail. Thank you, Patricia and Purely Products for having compassion on our family and sending us our very own “germ-killer” light to review! …

Julie from Roots of Simplicity has created an awesome list of over 60 activities that your kids can do outside.  Here is part 2, be sure to check out our first 30 Outdoor Activity Ideas.  What are some of the things that your kids love doing outdoors?  Leave a comment and I’ll add your idea to our collection!

Visit a zoo.
Go on a canoe or paddleboat ride on a nearby lake, pond, or river.
Get a fishing rod and spend a day fishing. If you don’t have a place to fish …

I love lists of preschooler activity ideas.  I hope my kids aren’t the only ones who cry “boredom” sometimes!  This list is great!  And if I could only convince the Texas sun to keep temps out of the hundreds we’d begin implementing many of the ideas that Julia of Roots of Simplicity uses to keep her kids occupied, active and outdoors!  To make it easy for her kids to decide what to do, her family decorated a jar and added lots of sticks.  On each stick is a different activity.  …

We are looking forward to the fall and beginning to homeschool our oldest. I love the sounds of this meme, stART. Michelle is a former elementary school teacher who created weekly activities for her kids mixing literature (stories) and art projects. They look like a ton of fun! Here was one of the projects that she did with her daughters this past spring. Hopefully, you’ll be inspired from her collection of book-based crafts. Thanks Michelle, of A Mommy’s Adventures for joining us today.
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This week …