I’ll never forget the first time I heard about D.E.A.R. time (Drop Everything and Read). I was a kid, reading what became one of my favorite books- Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary. Ramona’s teacher allows her class to have D.E.A.R. time. For a book-loving, always-reading kid like me, D.E.A.R. was a dream come true. I tried to read all the time anyway, and the idea of being allowed to just sit and read at school was awesome.
Since then, I’ve passed on to my kids the concept of D.E.A.R. time. There are days when homeschooling just doesn’t seem to be happening. People don’t feel good. We’re tired from a stressful week. We’ve been running crazy, and it’s the first day home in forever. And we just need to take a D.E.A.R. day – or part of a day. I read aloud, or we all read independently. There’s nothing so relaxing as curling up with a good book.
I was really thrilled the first time I discovered that there was actually an official D.E.A.R. Day. It’s on April 12, the birthday of author Beverly Cleary. If you’ve never taken time for D.E.A.R. in your homeschool, it’s a great time to start. This site has all kinds of information about it and about Beverly Cleary. It’s also got lots of printable resources that you can use on D.E.A.R. Day.
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Of course, I’m in favor of observing a D.E.A.R. time anytime- not just on April 12. In this post, I’m sharing a HUGE round up of reading and literature ideas and activities from my blog and others. I hope that this inspires you to take a D.E.A.R. Day or even part of a day. I can promise you’ll have fun. It’s a great way to change up what you’re doing when you just need a homeschooling break. And it’s a good way to get kids who don’t typically choose to read reading.
Literature-Based Unit Studies and Activities
Get thirty-one free literature unit studies with my original 31 Days of Literature Unit Studies Ebook.
Homeschool Share is an excellent resource that has literature-based unit studies and lapbooks. You can search for them by name or by grade/age level.
High School students can read Ernest Hemingway and learn more about him with this literature study from Eva Varga.
Royal Baloo has some fun ideas for the little ones that go with Harold and the Purple Crayon.
Embracing Destiny has a great collection of snow books and activities.
Make fun cupcakes to go with Alice in Wonderland with these instructions from Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus.
Our Journey Westward has some fun science activities to use with Cranberry Thanksgiving and Cranberry Christmas.
Learn Morse Code with this fun activity that goes along with Cheaper by the Dozen from Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus.
Look! We’re Learning has some fun ladybug math activities to go along with The Grouchy Ladybug.
Find a great unit study about the Iditarod Trail based on the book Balto here at Starts at Eight.
Love notebooking? My Charlotte’s Web Literature Notebooking Unit Study is a great way to study Charlotte’s Web.
Tomie dePaola is one of my favorite children’s authors. Read his books and learn more about him with this unit study.
World for Learning has a great Make a Terrarium activity to go along with The Secret Garden.
The Frugal Homeschooling Mom has a free unit study for The Giver by Lois Lowry.
Free and Frugal Books
Find links to classics that you can read for free in this post.
You can get free and frugal Christmas reads here.
This post has fifty free and frugal lapbooks for favorite read alouds.
Many classic books can be read for free at the Library of Congress site.
Read Any Book has classic and more modern books that you can read for free online. Some can be downloaded in different formats.
The International Children’s Digital Library has kids’ picture books in all different languages that you can read for free online.
Watch the reading of great kids’ picture books for free at Storyline Online.
Literature and Reading Printables
Embark on the Journey has some activities and free printables for The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash.
Kids can log their reading with these free printables from The Kennedy Adventures.
Walking by the Way has free printable copywork based on The Hobbit.
Find great free printables to go with Andrew Lang’s Fairy books at Walking by the Way.
You can find some cute, free printables for Brown Bear, Brown Bear here.
Notebooking goes great with great literature. We love Notebooking Pages.com. You can get a huge free sampler of their pages here.
You can get free sequencing cards for Goodnight Moon at Homeschool Creations.
Lesson Plan of Happiness has lots of great printables that are Harry-Potter themed.
Rock Your Homeschool has some cute free printables for One Fish Two Fish.
Find fun activities and free printables for The Snowy Day at Mama Jenn.
Booklists
This is a great list of living books for winter at Our Journey Westward.
You can find lots of great living books in my free living books catalog.
The Homeschool Post has a great classics list, organized by grade level, that you can print.
You can find animal-themed read alouds and activities here.
Find classics for every grade level in my Five Days of Great Kids’ Reads series.
Simply Kinder has a great list of books about colors for little ones.
Lit Mama has a great list of poetry books for kids.
Love strawberries? Homeschool Preschool has a fun list of strawberry-themed books.
Read and laugh with this collection of funny books for kids from No Time for Flashcards.
In the Playroom has a great list of books kids should read before the age of sixteen.
Early readers can enjoy the chapter book series in this list from Intentional Homeschooling.
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