At the end of last Summer, my large Wild+Free nature group started a monthly book club with the kids, inspired by the Wild + Free Book Club book. It was SO much fun and really something we looked forward to. The large group I was running had to take a break over the holidays because it was a bit too much for me with a new baby. Plus, there was some things with the larger group that I didn’t love. So a few of us that were closer friends decided to just get together more casually after the holidays, a couple times a month. We go to each other’s homes as well as local nature areas. We wanted to continue doing book club, however, because the kids and mamas just love it. Our group is small, but really a great size for me to lead and for the kids to get closer and the mamas closer as well. If you haven’t heard of Wild+Free, I highly recommend reading the book The Call of the Wild and Free: Reclaiming the Wonder in Your Child’s Education by Ainsley Arment, the creator of the Wild+Free organization. And check out their website to see if there is already a Wild+Free group near you. So here are some tips and ideas on how to start your own homeschool kids book club…
How to find members for your book club
If you already have a homeschool co-op regularly meeting like we had, adding in an additional day to meet each month is easy enough. We chose the last Friday of every month to do our book club. If you do not already have a co-op, nature group, or other regularly meeting group of homeschool friends, that’s okay! You can most definitely still start your own group. You can ask some friends if they’re interested in starting one, or if you are new to the area like I was, head to a local Facebook homeschool group (they are ALL over the world) and share a post on what you have in mind to see if anyone would be interested. My guess is, you will get a really positive response.
Communication
You can create a private Facebook group for your club to communicate, a group chat/text, or we use an app called BAND. It’s free and really great for groups like this. Within the app, you can create events on a calendar just like on Facebook, and chat in a messenger, post polls, etc. but there are also other features like “sign-up” which is great for those online sign-up sheets you may want to use. If you use another way to communicate and still want to create a sign-up sheet for members to bring things, you can use signupgenius.com.
Choosing a date
So once you have some other family’s interested in starting your book club, you’ll have to decide on a day that meets every month. We pick a book at the end of the month so that at the beginning of the month, the families can start reading the chosen book right away. Then the last Friday of the month, we have our book club celebration.
Choosing a location
We meet at a different location for each book club. We try to find a good spot that can relate to the book. For several of the books, one same spot actually worked perfectly. There is a beach, which was great for Treasure Island and Island Of The Blue Dolphins. There is a forest, which was great for My Side of The Mountain, and for Hatchet. For Anne of Green Gables, we are going to probably chose a nice garden to have a picnic/ tea party at. You can meet at each other’s homes, a park, a nature preserve, even a library.
Choosing a book
We choose books that are good read-alouds that the whole family can enjoy. Since we are a nature group, our books have been more nature-inspired. We started with The Adventure of Tom Sawyer, then Treasure Island, My Side Of The Mountain, Hatchet, Island of The Blue Dolphins, and now we are in the middle of Anne Of Green Gables. Which is a nice change from the three survivalist-themed books we read in a row. We have a whole list of books that we are going to work our way through this year. We also like to pick a book that can kind of follow the seasons. It is currently Spring, so we thought Anne of Green Gables would be fun. We plan to read Charlotte’s Web in the Fall, and we have a couple books for Winter.
We started out by voting on which book we were to read each month, but the last couple books, no one could decide because they were all so good! So me and another mama are just choosing the book each month and just letting the group know what we are reading. To see some classic book ideas, scroll to the bottom of this post.
What to do at your book club
So you have eager new book club members, you chose a book, a date, and a location… now what? Of course, you make your book club however you want it. But here is what we have been doing, and it’s an absolute blast! A week before the date of book club, I will create a sign-up sheet for what we need, so that the other moms can sign up for what they want to bring. This includes food, supplies, decor etc. We are a small group now, so we come together and share ideas on what we can do for the party. Everyone pitches in. We always have themed food, an activity or two, and encourage costumes. I am the only mom who ever dresses up, but that’s ok. The kids do get into it.
Food
If there is any food mentioned in the book, we try to have that for the party. For example, we had goldfish for “fish” at the Hatchet book club, seaweed and real octopus and at the Island of the blue dolphins book club, sarsaparilla root tea over a fire and fresh berries for the My Side of the Mountain Book Club, … it’s always my favorite part to see the whole table come together. This can be as simple or elaborate as you’d like. For the Treasure Island book club, I went all out and made pirate-themed food labels.
Decorations
I don’t crazy with the decorations because we always meet outside. I usually just bring a few things to add to the food table to make it fun. Pinterest is my go-to when I am feeling stuck on decor or food ideas. Treat the book club like you’re planning a kids birthday party- there is plenty of inspiration on Pinterest.
Activities
Each book is going to have it’s own activities. As I read through the book, I make a note in my phone of any ideas I have for crafts for the kids. For Treasure Island, we had eye patches for the kids, temporary pirate tattoos, a prate nature treasure hunt, a “what’s your pirate name” game, and they decorated cardboard paper towel tubes to be “spyglasses”. For My Side of The Mountain, the kids made no-sew tinder pouches, had a campfire, and did an animal tracks matching game. For Island of the Blue Dolphins book club, the kids made necklaces out of shells and bright beads, and painted large white clam shells. Again, these activities can be as simple or elaborate as you’d like.
Book discussion
Each book club party, I always have the kids sit in a circle and chat about the book. Who is their favorite character? What was their favorite part of the book? What was your least favorite? How would you rate the book? This always gets good conversation going about the book and I love hearing what the kids thought about it. For older kids, I think it would be wonderful if they did a kind of book report to share with the group- maybe a drawing of the main character or their favorite part of the book.
Costumes
Like I mentioned earlier, we have always encourage the children to dress up like characters from the book. Some books, this was easier than others. We want to Peter Pan or Robinhood this Summer, so I know that one will be really fun to dress up. You definitely don’t need to have costumes, but it really does bring the book to life and make it more magical.
So there you have it! If you are thinking this sounds like a good idea, go for it mama! The kids and the mothers will get so much out of it. You don’t have to overthink it, it can be simple.
I have always tried to bring books to life for my kids. I want them to love reading and get immersed in these novels like I did when I was a kid. Book club is a celebration of shared stories and friendship. I hope this inspires you to start your own club!
Kids Book Club Book Ideas:
- Charlotte’s Web
- Robinhood
- Little House series
- Heidi
- My Side of The Mountain
- Hatchet
- Tom Sawyer
- Anne of Green Gables
- The Sign of the Beaver
- The Boxcar Children
- Where The Red Fern Grows
- Trumpet of the Swan
- Island of the Blue Dolphins
- The Secret Garden
- The Borrowers
- Winnie the Pooh
- Black Beauty
- Peter Pan
- The Sword in the Stone
- A Wrinkle in Time
- Alice in Wonderland
- Wizard of Oz
- Beatrix Potter series
- Mr. Poppers Penguins
- Tuck Everlasting
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