Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Wholesome Chapter Books That Grow With Your Child

I have blogged many times about the benefit of reading and am SUCH an advocate of teaching your kids to read even if you don't do anything else. We had the opportunity to review two new books by Kregel Publications and Susan K. Marlow from their Circle C Stepping Stones Book Series called Andi Saddles Up and Andi Under the Big Top!

The Circle C Book Series are following the life of a young girl/woman named Andi. She lives on a horse ranch with her mother and siblings (her father passed away). These books are geared to "grow with your child" as each "level" of books is targeted at a different age range. Each level is progressively advancing as your child advances in their reading comprehension, endurance, fluency and vocabulary. Each book also introduces new vocabulary words in the beginning of the book giving the reader tools to connect with as they explore the life of Andi!




There are 4 "levels" of books series for girls and one set of books for boys. Click here for more information. 


The girls book sets breakdown like this:

(1) Circle C Beginnings which targets kids ages 6-9
(2) Circle C Stepping Stones for ages 7-10, which are the books I am going to be reviewing
(3) Circle C Adventures for ages 9-13
(4) Circle C Milestones for ages 11 +



I love how these books take you into the life, mind and heart of a girl the same age of your children. Your kids get to experience how Andi thinks and reacts to events that happen in her life. They get to experience her conversing with God about the things that trouble her heart or bring joy to her life. They get to learn from her interactions with her family and friends. And Andi is perfect for your kids to relate to since she goes through situations that are similar to what your kids are going through at that age. 




The pictures in the book are SO CUTE and SO WELL DONE!


We had a BLAST reading through these books and discussing topics such as telling the truth, obedience, peer pressure, temptation, repentance, thankfulness, and responsibility to name a few. There are activity books, coloring pages, and lap booking curriculum also available to go along side these chapter books.



One thing we want to do after finishing these books are book projects where the girls each pick a character trait they saw in Andi and make a board explaining how this character trait was built in her, what trail she faced that allowed the Lord to work it in her, and then how this character trait helped her in the end. 

These books can be used as a reading curriculum in your homeschool or they can just be a fun series that your children get to dive into during their daily free reading time!





We loved these books and the girls fight over who gets to read them during our daily reading hour. 




I hope to order each set of these chapter books as my kids get older so they can grow with this series. 











1 comment:

  1. Hi Cassie,
    Thanks so much for your enthusiastic review of the new Stepping Stones books. I LOVE that you posted pictures. Your kids are ADORABLE!!! I'm so glad they enjoyed the books, and so happy that you find them positive influences for your kids' spiritual and character growth. I wish I'd had these kinds of books when I was homeschooling back "in the day." But at least my grandkids can benefit from the literature and activity pages (my DD has 8 and homeschools too).
    Happy reading!
    Susan

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