The Lighted Rose Homeschool

Our carefully curated June playlist introduces topics in a gentle, intentional sequence. Pop it on in the background during morning time, car rides, or sensory play:

• Welcome to Summer: Celebrating sunny days, June as a month of the year, and honoring Father’s Day
• Splash into Summer: Playful songs about swimming
• Ocean Lore & Sea Life: Discovering the mystery of mermaids, pirates, fish, and ocean invertebrates
• Waves & Aquatic Biomes: Exploring the power of waves, underwater ecosystems, and the open oceans
• World Geography Exploration: Traveling through music to Australia & Oceania, Hawaii, and Central America
• Geology & Earth Science: Investigating volcanoes, mountains, rocks, and the changing crust of the Earth
• Prehistoric Worlds: Stepping back in time with songs about dinosaurs, fossils, and evolution
• Rest & Reset: Winding down with mindful shell, whale, island, beach, underwater, volcano, dinosaur, and mountain meditations

🔗 Ready to listen? [Find June’s Amazon Music Playlist here.]

These books have been such a joy for us. I’ve included links if you’d like to add them to your home collection, which is a lovely way to keep them ready for when these themes come back around each year. Of course, I also encourage you to check your local library—it’s a wonderful place to let your children browse, explore, and find their own quiet treasures.

📖 Family Read-Alouds (Chapter Books)

Perfect for gathering around to share a longer, immersive story.

• Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
• Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
• Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott Odell
• The Tempest by William Shakespeare
• A Midsummer Night’s Dream

📖 Illustrated Picture Books

A mix of illustrated stories for all ages covering our June themes: The Beach & Bodies of Water, Dinosaurs, and Geology.

• Summer by Gerda Muller (Summer, Freshwater Biomes)
  • Complete year-round set found here.
• I Wish You More by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld (Summer, Water)
• Amos & Boris by William Steig (Ocean & Beach)
• Never Touch a Shark by Rosie Greening (Ocean Life)
• The Seashore Book by Charlotte Zolotow (Ocean & Beach)
• Fletcher & The Rock Pool by Julia Rawlinson and Tiphanie Beeke (Ocean Tides, Intertidal Organisms)
• Down to the Beach by Mary Garelick (Ocean & Beach, Sand Dunes)
• Shark Swimathon by Stuart J. Murphy (Ocean Life, Math)
• Somewhere in the Ocean by Jennifer Ward (Ocean, Math)
• Elizabeth and Larry by Marilyn Sadler (Florida & Alligators)
• Pele Finds a Home by Gabrielle Ahuli’i (Hawaii)
• Shave Ice in Hawaii by Mariko Merritt and Jane Gillespie (Hawaii)
• The Forgetful Bears Meet Mr. Memory by Larry Weinberg (Hawaii)
• The Strange and Terrible Adventures of Popoki the Hawaiian Cat by Diana C. Gleasner (Hawaii)
• Theodore Down Under by Ashlee and Trent Harding (Australia/Oceania)
• Tortillas by Margarita Gonzalez-Jensen (Mexico)
• Earth’s Landforms and Bodies of Water by Natalie Hyde (Landforms, Bodies of Water)
• Geysers, Volcanoes, and More by Kris Hirschmann (Pressure, Rock, Volcanoes)
• Dave’s Down-to-Earth Rock Shop by Stuart J. Murphy (Rock Types, Classification)
• Dinosaur Deals by Stuart J. Murphy (Dinosaurs, Trading)
• Little Grunt and the Big Egg by Tomie DePaola (Dinosaurs, Volcanos, Prehistoric Times)
• I Can Cooperate by David Parker
  • Complete set found here. Utilized throughout the year.

Grab some blankets and cozy snacks! These fun watches pair perfectly with your lessons this month:

• Oceans, Islands & Aquatic Adventures: Lilo & Stitch, The Little Mermaid, Finding Nemo, Moana, Treasure Island, Treasure Planet, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Ring of Endless Light, Johnny Tsunami, Rip Girls, and Atlantis: The Lost Empire
• Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Fun: The Land Before Time, We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story, Jurassic Park, and Barney
• Geology, Museums & Earth Science: Night at the Museum and Bill Nye the Science Guy
• The Ultimate Theme Tie-Ins: The Magic School Bus (The Busasaurus / Rocks and Rolls / Blows Its Top / Shows and Tells / Goes to Mussel Beach / Takes a Dive / Goes Upstream)

Bring your learning to life out in the real world with these seasonal excursions:

• Beach, Pools & Water Adventures: Visiting a local beach, cooling off at a water park or local pools, going swimming, or enjoying an afternoon of paddle boating, kayaking, canoeing, or boating
• Nature Walks & Wildlife: Heading out to local bodies of water like ponds and lakes, planning a fishing trip, or visiting a pet store or aquarium to observe different fish and study their habitats
• Geology & History Exploration: Exploring deep underground caverns, visiting a natural history museum to see dinosaur fossils, or taking an educational trip to an archaeological site (like the Grave Creek Mound or other historic locations in WV)

If you want to add rigorous, free textbooks to our hands-on resources, we highly recommend matching this month’s activities with these specific units:

🧪 Core Knowledge Science

• 2Unit 3: Exploring Land and Water
• 4Unit 2: Investigating Waves
• 4Unit 4: Process That Shape Earth
• 5Unit 3: Modeling Earth’s Systems
• 6Unit 4: Plate Tectonics and Rock Cycling

🌍 Core Knowledge History & Geography

• 2Unit 5: Geography of the Americas
• 4Unit 1: Using Maps
• 4Unit 2: World Mountains
• 5Unit 9: The Geography of the United States

✏️ Core Knowledge Language Arts Units

• 1Domain 7: The History of the Earth
• 4Unit 5: Geology
• Gulliver’s Travels
• Robinson Crusoe
• The Tempest

💡 Teacher’s Note: For the absolute best learning flow, we recommend reviewing any Science or History & Geography units marked with asterisks before you jump into the paired Language Arts unit!