Reading is my favorite thing to do in our homeschool, so if I can incorporate books into a lesson, I know it’ll be a better lesson than me just trying to explain a concept to my daughter. Storytime lessons give kids a sense of connection to the material and are usually fun and engaging in a way that straight teaching can’t compare.

Think about it. Have you ever found yourself lost in a book? You read and read and start picturing the scenes and characters and storylines playing out like a movie. When that happens to me, I find it difficult to put the book down and will often keep reading until I finish it. I’ve been this way for as long as I remember, so much so that when my mom and I discovered the Harry Potter series, we usually purchased one copy on release night and I binged reading it to finish within a day or two so she could read it next. It didn’t matter how long the book was, I was enamored by the story and didn’t want to stop reading until it was done.

Storytime Lessons

Not long into homeschooling, I discovered Kelly Warner who writes the blog Hope in the Chaos. She was in an email group that shared products (made free with a coupon code) to each other’s newsletters. I believe I got a copy of her Storytime Lessons: Frog and Toad are Friends Edition then, but she also provided me with a free copy of her Storytime Lessons Bundle in exchange for a review. I was intrigued by the idea of her lesson plan and how she’d incorporate learning for a range of ages effectively into one lesson plan.

Each Storytime Lesson is created for kids ages 4-8. Although 4 years doesn’t sound like a big gap, it is when it comes to kids, so I expected several lessons to fit each of the different ages within the range. Instead, the workbook had 10 lessons created with all kids in mind. Kelly’s introductory letter explains how to use the lesson plan effectively based on your child’s ability instead of focusing on their age. There are tips for readers and non-readers, writers and non-writers.

The Focus of Storytime Lessons

Storytime Lessons focuses primarily on language arts, which makes sense for children’s literature. There are lessons on the parts of a book, nouns, verbs, and punctuation. There is copywork, reading comprehension, and review. But Kelly also includes a lesson on the seasons which fits the subject matter of Frog and Toad Are Friends, as well as one on being a good friend.

I was surprised to discover a frog for coloring, a maze, and counting practice added (see what I did there…) to the lessons. Although they fall outside of language arts, it was a nice reminder to incorporate a little bit of everything into your lessons. As homeschoolers, we don’t need to pick a subject and only teach it (such as strictly teaching language arts and only language arts). We can incorporate visual arts, math, and more in order to create interesting lessons for our kids. 

(Grab the Book, then) Print and Go

One of the nice things about this set of lessons is that you don’t need to buy a lot of supplies in order to use it. Frog and Toad are Friends is the primary focus, so you should buy a copy or borrow it from the library, but that’s it. You likely have anything else you need on hand – pencils and crayons or colored pencils.

The lessons are also at a level that an answer key is neither provided nor needed (note: you don’t need an answer key as long as you’re reading the book with your child. If they’re reading independently and you’re just doing the lessons in the workbook with them, you may need to look up the answers in the book). Once you print the pages, you can immediately get started. 

My Thoughts and Experiences

When we first started using Storytime Lessons, my daughter wasn’t interested in the book. For some reason, Frog and Toad are Friends just didn’t appeal to her. But that soon changed. Each lesson says to read from the book. Although I feel like it would’ve been helpful to note which chapter to read each day, I’m guessing not specifying is better for new readers who are reading the book independently. They can read as much or as little as they can, whereas parents or more experienced readers would more likely read a chapter each day. By not specifying what to read, Kelly makes the workbook more easily used by a variety of ages. Since there are 5 chapters, over the course of the 10 lessons, we chose to read one chapter per lesson. By reading the book twice, the repeated exposure added to my daughter’s interest in the book.

The lessons in the workbook were short and to the point, and they were shared in a way that young kids could easily understand the words and terms. I feel like several of the lessons were too advanced for my 4 year old at the time that we did them. It’s actually been a few months since we finished these lessons, yet my daughter recently asked to do more Frog and Toad homework, so I reprinted the workbook so we can go through each of the lessons again. I think she will understand them better when we go through the workbook again.

Although several lessons were too advanced, there were a bunch that my daughter really enjoyed, especially the first one! She was excited to write her own story (The Giraffe) and become an author. Since she was still learning how to write her letters at the time, she wrote the title and her name, then shared her story for me to transcribe. 

I wonder what she’ll write about when we do this lesson again!

Overall Thoughts

I really enjoyed Storytime Lessons: Frog and Toad are Friends Edition from Hope in the Chaos. The book was fun and the lessons built from one to the next. For example, the first lesson is on authors and titles. The next lesson reflects back and also asks for authors and titles of the student’s favorite books. This, along with two separate lessons that are specifically for reviewing what they’ve been learning, reinforces the lessons. Of course, if you don’t continue to review occasionally, your kid could easily forget these lessons, but I feel like it’s more of an introduction to concepts and I really like that they’re reinforced for the two-ish weeks you do the workbook.

There are 10 lessons that can easily be done over the course of two weeks, these lessons are each 15-20 minutes long and can be combined into longer lessons if you prefer, or can be broken down and done over 2 or more days to extend the time. For example, my daughter had trouble grasping the nuances of punctuation, so we worked on each type of punctuation on a different day.

If you’re looking for ideas for incorporating books into your lessons, I definitely recommend checking out Storytime Lessons: Frog and Toad are Friends Edition. Not only will your kids learn a bunch of concepts, but it may give you some ideas for creating lesson plans around other books!

Interview with Kelly Warner

Hi Kelly! Can you share a little about yourself for my readers?

I’m a homeschooling mama living in Maine with my husband of more than 20 years and our four children, two of whom are homeschool graduates, along with our five pets. I’m a veteran homeschooler who is passionate about helping the homeschool community simplify their homeschool, find their authentic learning style, and embrace the chaos that often comes with raising a family.

What inspired you to create your Storytime Lessons series of products?

I wanted to create something that was fun, easy for parents & children, and kept books at the center.

How did you choose the books you used and the specific daily lessons?

Choosing the books has been simple so far (I have a list a mile long for future titles). The lessons tend to write themselves as I look for topics and lessons the books can cover in a natural way.

Do you have more Storytime Lessons on the way?

So many! I am hoping to have additional Storytime Lessons available by the end of the year.

How can my readers connect with you online?

Offering homeschool help, hope & humor, you can follow me online at Hope In The Chaos as well as on various social media platforms: Facebook | Facebook Group| Instagram | Pinterest

Thank you so much for your time! And thanks for joining us In Our Homeschool!