homeschooling moon children

It’s that time of the year where as homeschoolers we are celebrating the end of a busy school year. Just like the start of school where I make my girls a “Back to School Kit” (you can find those posts in the search bar) I also make them an “End of the Year Basket”! I know “excessive“, but I want to celebrate them and our start of summer. But this year I put a twist on these baskets. It’s not filled with sunblock, bathing suits and airplane tickets. Although I almost stuffed it with all the nature must haves we will use as summer comes. I decided to make this a “Summer Reading Basket”

I know some of you are like wait “Summer Reading”!! Every year we take on the Summer Reading challenges all around locally from libraries to businesses encouraging reading.

So some back story to this I really have since the girls were little tried to make everything based around books. I buy books more than toys, we always walked the bookstore. Sure why not visit the library and we did but let me tell you some people just gross me out so I opt to buy the books. And not just any book but books with purpose like living Books, books filled with fables and fairytales. I tried to keep the “twaddle” out of our library as I wanted to immerse them in nature and life around us. As the years have gone on I know I need to let them find their interests and books that bring them joy. But I didn’t want this to be the only thing they were comfortable as the school books aren’t always the best engaging books but have purpose within their curriculum. As the years have gone by I’ve watched them pick up books from genres I myself dived into at their age. And it has come full circle for me to watch them find the joy in the books and authors I did. Or books I didn’t like and I hear they like it, it’s like I’m like “Ohh do I need to reread this as an adult?”

So with this as you know and have seen me mention numerous times on IG my “Book Journals” which I will post about soon! Promise! And a giveaway for a Book Journal to come!!!

I started sourcing all the things for my girls End of Year Baskets and at some point I was like okay you need to relax. They don’t need all this but I wanted the baskets to be inspiring for all our book challenges to come. So let’s dive into these baskets that the girls were so over the moon over. I’m so excited for you to grab your kids or maybe even yourselves! If you have any questions drop a comment or send me a dm.

End of Summer Basket Contents!

– Book Person Ban.dō zip bag: I put my Kindle in a little canvas bag and toss it in my bag. The girls have been asking for one, so when I found this, I knew it was a total must.
– Some Hardcover Books: The girls have had their eye on “Skandar” and “The Puppets of Spelhorst,” so I went ahead and picked them up at BN and added them to the kit!
– Read All Day Kindle Cover: So, I love a good Kindle cover, but struggle to find some prints that can be used for my kids and don’t have “Smut” all over them. RAD has the best shipping I have ever experienced, and my girls loved the little cleaning cloth.
– Mr. Pen Highlighters: The colors are muted and so pretty! My girls have always loved mine, so it was time I got them a set to highlight in their journals and books!
– Oh My Glitter! Retractable Gel Pens – Set of 4 from Ooly. What little girl doesn’t love a glitter pen? (I mean so do I)
– HP Sprocket 2×3″: Okay, hear me out, this was vital to the girls’ book journaling. I already formatted a tiny little print for book covers so they could add them to their journals! This is going to be the best yet! (Just wait for it)
– HP Sprocket Premium Sticky Photo Paper: I opted for the 50 pack, but something tells me I need to order more ASAP.
– Legami Erasable Gel Pen: These assorted animal pens are literally the cutest! We first came across these at BN, and I since found them on Amazon. But I must say BN has the cutest little Safari Pack.
– Custom Bookmarks: I made the girls bookmarks tailored to their interests and also a bunch that are a few posts back. I laminated them and added a tassel because no bookmark is complete without one!
– Book Journal Refills: As you know, I made the girls journals and they needed some refills. So I went ahead and printed more, cut them down, and added them to the bunch!

As you can see, this is literally book-focused, and I feel it’s such an inspiring basket to encourage reading. To show my girls now that school is over, they can dive into their Book Worlds and document it along the way! I hope this encourages not only you but your kids to read, and if you have any questions at all, please reach out! I love to chat books, not only for kids but adults too!!

So my question for you is: Do you have an end of the year tradition? Do you make summer baskets? Let me know below!

xx,
Rosemary

Note: links in this blog post are affiliate links. And if you use my links, I make a small commission which allows me to keep this blog running!!!