Julia’s House Goes Home is the third book in the Julia’s House series written and illustrated by Ben Hatke. This trilogy should be read sequentially in order to truly understand and enjoy the plot.
Summary: Julia’s house is coming in for a landing! After its adventure at sea, the house is ready to settle down but can Julia and the creatures find the perfect spot?
My Thoughts: I loved this book. The entire series is delightful. There are fabulously whimsical creatures (mermaid riding a unicorn anyone?), and each and every page has so many tiny details that I see something new every time I read these books.
I love Julia’s heart and how she is always looking out for the creatures. I love that she learns how to keep going-even when her plans fall apart. And, there is a beautifully sweet ending to the series that will make your child (or you) sigh, and pick up the series to start over from book one.
This book is fun for kids and grown-ups alike, and would make a great addition to any library.
I would like to thank First Second Books for providing me with a free digital copy of this book in exchange for my review. Thank you!!!
*Please note: this book will release on September 28, 2021.
We recently received a one-year online family membership to Reading Eggs and Mathseeds by Reading Eggs. This membership includes access for up to four students to such popular programs as Reading Eggs Junior (for ages 2-4), Reading Eggs (for ages 3-7), Reading Eggspress (for ages 7-13), Mathseeds (ages 3-9), and Fast Phonics (ages 5-10.)
These programs include colorful graphics, fun learning games, and books to read. Students are able to design their own personalized avatars to be used throughout the activities. They can also earn eggs that can be spent on furnishings for their digital houses, accessories for their avatars and pets, and play video games in an arcade. In one of the newer features, there is even a monthly theme in which items specific to that month can be purchased with eggs.
There are also placement tests students can take designed to place them at the correct lesson starting point, and parents can easily set up accounts for individual users and view them all from a central family dashboard.
From the dashboard, it is very easy for each user to click the tab with their name on it, and the start button where they can pick up right where they left off.
Parents can also click on their student’s tab and view stats on their progress. In Reading Eggs, this includes the student’s current reading age, and the number of phonics skills and sight words the student has mastered. It also shows recently completed activities and quizzes (including the percentage correct), and how many fiction and non-fiction books read.
It’s a very detailed dashboard, and a great snapshot where progress can easily be viewed.
In Reading Eggspress, this is taken a step further. Parents can view quizzes taken and books read, with a further breakdown into progress in Literal, Inferential, Vocabulary and Usage, and Text Analysis and Critical Literacy categories.
Parents also get emails when levels are completed. I like this, because even when I am not sitting at the computer with my son, I can still give him praise for his accomplishments when I see the emails.
While all of these programs can definitely be used as a supplement to Language Arts and Math programs, there are also plenty of bonus materials available to extend learning opportunities.
You can find Homeschool Worksheets, Color Activity Pages, Spelling practice, and additional Spelling, Grammar, Vocabulary, and Usage Olympic-style games.
In Fast Phonics, students climb mountain peaks with their yeti friend and fur balls by watching fun videos, completing activities, and reading books while practicing their Phonics skills. In this adorable world, kids practice letter sounds, letter and word recognition, and reading.
And finally, there is Math Seeds, where students watch fun cartoon-style videos, and complete exercises going over basic math skills.
As you can see, there are tons of fun and educational activities within the Reading Eggs and Mathseeds programs.
For us this year, The Little Guy moved up from Reading Eggs to Reading Eggspress, which focuses more on reading comprehension.
This was perfect for us, because it complements his English program this year which focuses primarily on writing. Together, they make a wonderfully well-rounded curriculum that is engaging and fun.
For me, I really like how easy it is to track his progress. I also love that Reading Eggs makes reading comprehension fun! If I handed out worksheets, you would hear the groans for miles, but package it in fun graphics and video-game styled activities, and it’s a whole new world!
Overall, these programs are a fun and easy way to practice reading and math skills. I would add one caveat-as this is a secular program, do please be aware that some of the reading comprehension books include secular references-i.e. dinosaurs lived millions of years ago, etc.
Slow Down, Enjoy, and Create 