This year, My 11-year-old daughter Ava, was part of a wonderful book club that explored so many fantastic novels about life’s hardships and resilience. The last book of her book club series was, Same Sun Here, an inspiring novel that explores resilience, resistance, having a voice, shared humanity and the joys of friendship. An Indian girl who has emigrated to New York City and a coal miner’s son from Kentucky find they are kindred spirits through their friendship as pen pals. Both are facing hard times, fathers working away from home, a close bond with their grandmothers, and an interest in social action. Through the kids correspondence with each other, the story captures how two people that live far apart are fundamentally the same despite racial and cultural differences. Their friendship inspires each of them to have courage and make their voices heard.
So many art projects and different topics sprung from Ava’s reading this novel. Which are great examples of where you can go with homeschooling and reading a book.
- Creating Change. Empowering Kids. Ava was very inspired after reading this novel about taking action to create the change she would like to see in this world. We had a lot of conversations about the environment and climate change and what actions she can take to create change right now.
- Deforestation. In the book, the character is dealing with the effects of deforestation in his community and with courage learns how to make his voice heard. We further researched deforestation in our country and in the Amazon and Africa. We looked at both sides of the story as to why land is being cleared and an argument for both sides. We also looked at how these actions relate to climate change and what other actions could be taken to meet the needs of those clearing the land and those concerned about the harmful effects to the environment.
- Write Poetry. Ava has always been interested in poetry, but after reading this book, I saw her interest in free writing poetry spark a little more. A favorite place to write is out in nature, taking in the beauty of her surroundings and penning them on paper.
- Nature Art. Ava’s book club continued to meet throughout the year on zoom. The kids always have some lively discussions and do some creative crafts. For this book, the kids made mountain collages out of scraps of colorful paper inspired by the book’s message about the mountains and deforestation.
- Pen pals. Another wonderful activity from book club inspired by the novel was to pen pal with each other. Ava has had two very close pen pals that she has been corresponding with since she learned to read and write. They are friendships that she cherishes. She is so excited to have some more pen pals that are close girl friends from her book club! There is something very classic and precious about writing a letter and sending it in the mail. It is an art that hopefully won’t disappear completely with modern technology. All of my children have pen pals and they also write letters back and forth with their grandparents. During this time of social distancing, letter writing with pen pals is a great way to continue socializing with those you love, to practice spelling and grammar with your children and to brighten someones day who might be feeling alone.
*You could also contact nursing homes in your community or across the states to see if there are seniors who would like to letter write with your children. Since those in nursing facilities are so closed off from family and friends, it is a great way to be a friend, to spread some love and to maybe make a new friend of your own!
Be The Route 