If You Were Me and Lived in…..a Schoolhouse Homeschool Review

The Sweet Peanut and I sat down to read a set of books called If You We're Me and Lived in…. books for a review we're doing with The Schoolhouse Review Crew for  Carole P. Roman with Away We Go Media.

Carole P. Roman has written 4 books giving children ages Pre-K to age 8 a look at what life is like in various countries around the world. 

The titles are…

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Each of the books is less than $9 on Amazon right now.

(As of this posting the Kindle form for each book is much less right now on Amazon.)

About the Books

Each of the If You Were Me… books is a small paperback book detailing the daily life of a child in another culture. There is not really a character for each book but there is a girl and a boy featured in each book. They tell you a little bit about their country. The capital city. What a typical name for a boy and girl would be in their country. The names they would call their mother and father. What a typical breakfast would look like. Some of the games they would play. An important celebration or holiday in their culture and the name they would call their school in their language.

Each book features a glossary at the back so you can practice pronouncing the words in the correct way.

How did we use them?

I wish I could say I have a favorite but these books were all great starting points for conversations between me and my little girl. We actually sat down and read them all in one read. We took turns reading to each other and discussed the culture of each book.  Read on to find out my favorite…

If You Were Me and Lived in…Mexico : Since we are attempting to lean Spanish as a family and part of my daughter's background is Mexico this was great addition to our family. We've been having a lot of “Where did I come from?” discussions lately and knowing a bit more about her roots is important. Also we can practice our Spanish accents and some of the words we've learned.

If You Were Me and Lived in…South Korea : I was blessed to grow up with many friends who's parents were Korean born. I had fun learning to say things like ‘hello', ‘how are you' and ‘thank you' in Korean. How to spot the language in written form. And tasty new foods.

If You Were Me and Lived in…France : Ah! France and French has a special place in my family's heart. In my family my love of French soap and perfume is already well known. Now my daughter knows a little bit more about the City of Light and we hope to take her there some day.

If You Were Me and Lived in …Norway: Almost the best book of all for us because several of our family friends trace their heritage back to Norway. I guess my constant use of “Uff da” can be explained now. This one was extra special because Peanut's favorite friend is of Norwegian decent and we could talk about some of the things she has shared with us.

I think these books would make a great homeschool resource for several reasons. First they are an excellent jumping off point for talking about life in other cultures. You could do a study on each culture. They are easy readers for young and early readers. Of course kids will need a help with the foreign words but that is a good study also. Learning to say specific things in each language is always fun and if you get the accent right people will be impressed!

I'm anxious to see what other titles are coming along. Carole hasn't done Africa yet but I'm hoping when she does she will pick a country or two rather than trying to lump the whole continent together.

Good job!