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A Place to Belong
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A Preview of the Year Ahead

A self-paced literature and language year for middle school families. Read the story, hear your child tell it back, talk together, and let the handout hold the writing.

Two living books, one wartime world, and a question underneath it all: what makes a place to belong?

The Shape of the Year
Two terms, taken together
Begin whenever you are ready and move through the books at your family’s pace.
Term 1 · A Place to Hang the Moon
Term 1 · Weeks 1–15 · Attention & Expression
A Place to Hang the Moon
Kate Albus · with Aesop, Polacco & Edward Thomas

Begin with a fable, a poem, and a picture book. Then follow three siblings into the English countryside in A Place to Hang the Moon. Art, Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending, and occasional nature and history connections help the story’s world become more tangible.

Term 2 · Number the Stars
Term 2 · Weeks 16–30 · Reflection & Wonder
Number the Stars
Lois Lowry · with Walter de la Mare

In Number the Stars, Annemarie and Ellen live with danger on familiar Copenhagen streets. The children look closely at courage, then follow a true historical thread into the spring research project.

How a week feels
A small, steady rhythm
The website guides the grown-up; the handout gives the child a place to work.
Remember & read Recall where the story left off. Read the assigned chapters in your own rhythm.
Narrate & talk Let each child tell back aloud before you open a question for discussion.
Write & keep Use the handout for language, dictation, one written response, and One Keep.
Go further Return to a painting, listen to the term’s music, or follow a connection when it fits.

Oral narration comes first. The weekly written response rotates among narration, a few questions, and one connection. Go Further is there when you want it.

Before you decide
Look inside a real week
See what the parent reads online and what the student prints. These examples come from the actual course.
Week 1 · Term 1

The Lion and the Mouse

Aesop · Fable
“Little friends may prove great friends.”

Language Study A sentence is one complete thought — a capital to an end mark.

Open the Week 1 handout · PDF
Week 7 · Term 1

A Place to Hang the Moon · Ch. 3–5

Kate Albus · Novel
The Hay Wain by John Constable
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” — Charles Dickens

Language Study A compound sentence joins two thoughts with a comma and a joining word.

Open the Week 7 handout · PDF See Week 7 through the parent’s eyes →
Week 8 · Term 1

A Place to Hang the Moon · Ch. 6–8

A visit to Mrs. Müller’s library

A small relations study connects the children’s library to a welcoming place your own child knows. It can feed the connection already on the handout.

Open the Week 8 handout · PDF See the Week 8 reading companion →

Weeks 7 and 8 are open examples. Sign in with your course access to open the full year and each week’s guidance and answer check.

Access
Read at your family’s pace
A guided literature and language course for middle school families.
Self-paced · with a guide beside you
  • A reading guide with questions you can discuss together
  • Printable handouts with a clear weekly rhythm
  • Answer checks, dictation help, art, and music on the website
  • Written work that stays in your family’s course portfolio
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