book club for kids: my side of the mountain.

One of the most memorable parts of our school year is always the books we enjoy together. Actually, you could say that a big reason I decided to homeschool my kids is so that we could read lots and lots of great books. We’ve logged many hours reading and listening together in the last four and a half years, and they’ve become wonderful memories we share.

At the top of the list of favorite books are those we read and celebrate with our homeschool group. In the fall you may remember that we had a Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe book club. On Friday, we gathered at a hiking trail to discuss and celebrate the novel, My Side of the Mountain, by Jean Craighead George.

This book is special for me personally, because it’s the first chapter book that my six-year-old, Gabe, really engaged with and enjoyed listening to. I see his ability to pay attention, remember, and verbalize what he learns blossoming as he jumped in and talked about the characters and the plot with us, and it made my heart so thankful.

We listened to the audio version and here’s one more little side note: if you’re a mom reading to your kids and the book is from a male perspective, may I suggest listening to the audiobook instead of reading it aloud? I’ve learned that hearing the story read by a man  allows us all to get inside the characters’ head in a unique way.

We loved this book, and were sad when it ended!

Back to book club.

Half of the moms took the littles right to the playground. Then, we spread out blankets in the woods and our friend Kristin led the kids in discussing the book.

My Side of the Mountain is a story about Sam, a 12-year-old boy who decides to flee city life and live off the land in the Catskill Mountains of New York. I enjoyed learning more about the kids (and grown ups!) who are part of our group as we discussed the book and learned which of the us would jump at the chance to do something like that, and which would say “no thanks!”

Even if you’re not apart of a kids’ book club, there are several ways to make special memories around the books you read. You don’t have to do this with every single book, of course, but sometimes you can try the following:

– Light candles, make tea or hot chocolate and have a “book discussion” together.
– Ask your kids to draw pictures of a favorite scene or character (like Asher and Jude so masterfully did for our book club)
– Eat food that is part of the story
– Study any animals mentioned
– Study the setting of the story — or travel to it, if you’re able!

There are three main animals in My Side of the Mountain: Frightful the falcon, the Baron Weasel, and Jesse C. James, the racoon. The kids and I made a list of three columns, and recorded anything we learned about each of these animals as we listened (we often listen in the car and just make observations later).

If I had been more ambitious we would’ve gone to the library and got some books about the specific animals, but even just taking time to list what we learned from the story itself allowed us to reflect and remember details about these animals we hadn’t known before.

After the book discussion, we tasted beef and turkey jerky, which reminded us of the venison the main character, Sam, prepared.

We then split into two groups, one took a short nature walk to look for animal tracks, while the others practiced assembling logs for a fire.

I’m pretty sure we inadvertently covered up any animals tracks with our own shoes, but it was fun searching!

If you’re reading this post and feeling intimidated by the thought of a kids’ book club, I hope to show you that it can be very simple. Yes, it takes some thought and work, but none of us would say our book club gatherings are Pinterest-perfect, and we’re okay with that! The main point is to celebrate what we read as a group, and have a few hands-on activities.

We met up with the younger part of our group and gathered at the picnic shelter for smoked trout, herbs, arugula, and “wild strawberries.” Some of us couldn’t believe all the roots and greens Sam ate that year!

The moms each brought their kids a picnic to round out the lunch, then everyone ran off to play before we all packed up and headed home.

I feel so grateful to be able to learn with this group of friends.