Even if you skip ahead from here, I recommend doing this first month. We all have a favorite book (though some of us might struggle in narrowing it down…) and we likely feel pretty comfortable discussing it. Also, the activities include picking a name for your group and personalizing your packet folders, so it’s a good way to get everyone involved.
For our own meeting, I posed this question: What do these three things have in common?
- Marmalade
- Biplanes
- Wolves
The answer: my favorite books across various stages of my life! As a young child, I loved Paddington, by Michael Bond, while as a teenager I was so taken by Richard Bach’s books, such as Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, that I actually went to ground school to work on my pilot’s license. As I’ve aged, I’ve switched to nonfiction, and the very best book – albeit a different kind of favorite – that I’ve read in recent years is American Wolf, by Nate Blakeslee, as it put me through every major emotion and left an impact.
Interestingly, Bach is the only author of those that I have read more of – and yet I tried reading Illusions again recently when I found a copy in a Little Free Library, and I honestly couldn’t get into it at all. Favorite books, for me at any rate, don’t necessarily equate to favorite authors, and the right book has to be in my hands at the right moment for it to leave a lasting impression.
How about for you? Think across your life and try to pick a few books that have stood out. Did they inspire anything in you at the time? When was the last time you picked them up?
These kinds of talking points are suggested in the Month One Outline below, as well as a list of materials, activity suggestions, and then a look ahead to your second get-together.
Happy reading!
Extraschooling 