Skip to content
Instagram
Books and Willows

Books and Willows

  • ShopExpand
    • Explore the Shop
    • World Habitats Adventure Society
    • Quill and Compass Literary Society
    • Nature Study
    • Early Learning
    • History-Ink Adventures
    • Art Elements with the Masters
    • Planners
  • Free HomeschoolingExpand
    • Quill and Compass Literary Society
    • Read the Blog
      Farmakeio-Thessaloniki.com
    • Free Downloads
  • Our Story
  • Contact
Books and Willows
Books and Willows
Shopping Cart
welcome!

Welcome to a year of stories, seasons, and discovery. Inspired by the beloved Heartwood Hotel series by Kallie George, these seasonal literature guides are designed to provide a literature-led approach to nature study and language arts throughout the year.

As you journey through the books, you’ll explore the changing seasons alongside Mona and her friends while building language arts skills through discussion questions, vocabulary studies, copywork, narration, creative writing, and literary activities. Each guide also extends learning beyond the pages with nature study, hands-on projects, crafts, recipes, and seasonal explorations inspired by the characters, settings, and events of the story.

We believe that great books can be a gateway to both learning and wonder. By connecting literature with the natural world, children are invited to slow down, observe closely, ask questions, and develop a deeper appreciation for the world around them.

Whether you read one chapter at a time or linger over each activity, we hope these guides help your family create cherished memories, foster a love of reading and writing, and celebrate the beauty of each season together.

So settle into a cozy nook, open the pages of Heartwood Hotel, and begin your adventure.

Seasonal Literature Guides

  • Heartwood Hotel: Home Again Summer Literature Guide
    Heartwood Hotel: Home Again Summer Literature Guide
    $16.00
  • Heartwood Hotel: Better Together Spring Literature Guide
    Heartwood Hotel: Better Together Spring Literature Guide
    $16.50
  • Heartwood Hotel: The Greatest Gift Winter Literature Guide
    Heartwood Hotel: The Greatest Gift Winter Literature Guide
    $16.50
  • Heartwood Hotel: A True Home Autumn Literature Guide
    Heartwood Hotel: A True Home Autumn Literature Guide
    $16.00

Heartwood Hotel 4 Season Literature Guide Bundle

Bundle and save with the complete Heartwood Hotel Seasonal Literature Guide Bundle! This collection includes all four seasonal guides inspired by the Heartwood Hotel series by Kallie George, combining literature, nature study, and language arts for a full year of meaningful learning. Enjoy discussion questions, vocabulary activities, creative prompts, hands-on projects, crafts, recipes, and seasonal nature explorations inspired by each story.

shop
Join our Community

Sign up for our newsletter to receive emails about our latest free learning resources, shop news, and activities!

Frequently asked questions

This is a digital resource. You’ll receive printable PDF files that you can use at home or take to your local print shop. Print only what you need, when you need it, and feel free to reprint for your family as you revisit the material.

Yes. These guides are designed to be used alongside the Heartwood Hotel series by Kallie George. The books are not included with this purchase.

The guides are best suited for elementary-aged learners, approximately ages 6 – 10, but can easily be adapted for younger or older siblings learning together.

Each guide combines language arts and nature study through discussion questions, vocabulary activities, creative writing prompts, nature observations, crafts, recipes, and hands-on projects.

The guides are divided into 9-10 sections and are designed to be flexible and family-paced. Most families work through a guide over the course of the season, choosing the activities that best fit their schedule and interests each week.

Not at all. The guides are meant to be adaptable, allowing you to pick and choose the activities that work best for your homeschool.

Our units do not include religious or faith-based instruction and are designed to be welcoming to families from a wide range of backgrounds and belief systems. The content is presented from an educational, research-based perspective, and families are always free to supplement or expand the learning with their own beliefs and traditions if they choose.

let's connect

ON INSTAGRAM

@booksandwillows

booksandwillows

🌳 Literature & Nature Studies
📖 Curriculum Writer
🍁 Canadian Homeschooling Mama

🍎🍏 Apple Fest Sale 🍏🍎 Yesterday we took a walk th 🍎🍏 Apple Fest Sale 🍏🍎

Yesterday we took a walk through an abandoned apple orchard.🍎 There were old trees to wander beneath, apples beginning to fall (which narrowly missed my youngest’s head), and that familiar feeling that summer is slowly giving way to autumn. We live in Ontario’s apple capital, where the surrounding orchards and farms have become such a natural part of the rhythm of our lives. 
 
It’s the inspiration behind one of our favourite fall nature studies. Our Apple Looking Glass study was created to encourage children to slow down, look closely, and discover the world of apples through beautiful stories, science, art, nature study, and hands-on activities. 
 
With a new season of learning just around the corner, it feels like the perfect time to begin with something growing right outside our door. Apple Looking Glass Nature Study is 20% OFF through September 12th.

 What’s included:
✨ Nature Tales – Begin with Johnny Appleseed by Reeve Lindbergh and connect through storytelling.
🔍 Discover – Explore apple anatomy, life cycles, and enjoy vintage watercolor posters.
🧪 Investigate – Try dissection, measure with bushels and pecks, experiment with apple browning, and explore apple nutrition.
🎨 Poetry & Arts – Study poetry, art, music, and apple folklore.
🍯 Create – Make an apple-stamped banner, apple butter, and apple loaf.
🌳 On the Trail – Go on an Apple Orchard Scavenger Hunt, learn about apple varieties, and host your own Apple Tasting.

Visit my bio or comment APPLE for the link.
🐭📚 Our current read-aloud: Redwall! 🏰🌿 We’re trav 🐭📚 Our current read-aloud: Redwall! 🏰🌿

We’re traveling back to medieval times with our new read aloud, Redwall by Brian Jacques. With its woodland creatures, epic battles, feasts, castles, abbeys, and journeys, there is plenty to explore beyond the pages of the story.

As we read, we’ll be following some of the historical threads woven throughout the book:

🏰 Medieval castles & fortifications — learning how castles were designed for protection, including walls, towers, gates, battlements, and moats.

⚔️ Medieval weapons & armour — exploring the different weapons, shields, armour, and fighting techniques used during the Middle Ages.

🏡 Life in a medieval abbey — learning about monasteries and abbeys, the daily lives of monks, illuminated manuscripts, gardens, kitchens, and the important role these communities played in medieval society.

🍞 Medieval food & feasting — discovering what people actually ate during the Middle Ages, how food was prepared, and how feasts differed between social classes.

🧵 Medieval clothing & crafts — looking at the clothing, textiles, tools, and everyday crafts of medieval communities.

🗺️ Medieval maps & travel — exploring how people traveled, navigated, and mapped the world before modern transportation and technology.

👑 Kings, kingdoms & leadership — discussing medieval systems of government, loyalty, alliances, warfare, and the responsibilities of leaders.

This is one of my favourite things about literature-rich homeschooling: one good book can become the doorway to so many different subjects. We start with a story…and then follow wherever our curiosity leads.

For more current read alouds, check out #sundaybookclub

@darbyhawley
@littlehomeschoolontheprairies
@two.kids.and.a.homeschool
@growing.greenbeans 
@heymamahomeschool

#kidsbookswelove #readaloud #charlottemasonhomeschool #kidsbookshelf
We couldn’t choose just one winner! 💕 The support We couldn’t choose just one winner! 💕 The support for this giveaway was so overwhelming that each of us girls took a turn spinning the wheel… and we have THREE winners! 🎉✨

Congratulations to:
@emilymichellecribb 
@ohheyitssarahmay 
@mollythomp27 

on winning our Heartwood Hotel Seasonal Literature Guide Giveaway! Thank you SO much to everyone who entered, shared, and supported this giveaway. We loved reading all your comments! Stay tuned for more monthly giveaways this Autumn.

CLOSED
———————-🌿 GIVEAWAY: A Year at Heartwood Hotel 🌿

Bring the cozy world of Heartwood Hotel to life all year long with the Heartwood Hotel Seasonal Literature Guides!

I’m giving away the complete set of four digital seasonal guides, designed to accompany the first four Heartwood Hotel books.

Each guide combines:
🍁 Literature-inspired nature study
📖 Gentle language arts
🌿 Seasonal nature walks & observations
✏️ Story extensions and creative activities
🐿️ Discussion questions and vocabulary

Together, the four guides create a gentle, year-long literature and nature study. One that invites children to slow down, notice the changing seasons, and step a little deeper into the world of Heartwood Hotel.

Perfect for homeschool families who love living books, nature study, gentle learning, and cozy read-alouds. 

TO ENTER:

1. Follow @booksandwillows
2. Like this post
3. Comment below and tell me what you’re most excited about this homeschool year! 🌿
4. ✨ BONUS ENTRY: Share this giveaway to your stories and tag me so I can see it!

The winner will be announced on this post Thursday, August 27th. 

Good luck, friends! May your year be filled with good books, woodland adventures, and plenty of time beneath the willows.

This giveaway is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Instagram.
📚✨ 8th Grade Reading Stack for 2026–2027! This ye 📚✨ 8th Grade Reading Stack for 2026–2027!

This year’s stack marks a bit of a shift in our language arts journey. Alongside a few additional novels, we’re working through several @bravewriterofficial Boomerangs, which are a wonderful way to slow down and pay attention to the choices authors make on the page.

She’ll be looking at things like sentence structure, imagery, characterization, point of view, theme, and the ways an author creates meaning. We’ll take those observations and use them as springboards for her own writing, experimenting with the techniques she discovers in the books she’s reading.

I’m especially excited about this stage because she’s becoming old enough to look beneath the surface of a story and begin thinking like both a reader and a writer.

📖If you are new to Brave Writer and would like to give one of their products a try, comment GUIDE for a $10 coupon code.

And stay tuned for our Mama-Daughter Book Club picks! We’ll be choosing books that lean a little older, with richer characters, more complex questions, and plenty to talk about together. I’m looking forward to using these reads to explore bigger themes, difficult choices, relationships, courage, identity, and the many shades of growing up… all while enjoying some special reading time together. ☕️💗
Our Books Read Jars are getting a little fuller! 📚 Our Books Read Jars are getting a little fuller! 📚

Every time one of the girls finishes a book, it gets added to her jar.  It’s a little visual record of the stories that shaped them, and all the new worlds, discoveries, and memories tucked between the pages.

And this year, there’s a third jar joining the collection… our Sister Book Club jar. 💕📖 The girls each have their own independent reading, but the books they read together get their very own place too.

There’s something so satisfying about seeing the year’s reading take shape like this: one story, one conversation, one book at a time. 🌿📖
📚✨ 5th Grade Reading Stack for 2026–2027! This ye 📚✨ 5th Grade Reading Stack for 2026–2027!

This year, I’ve filled her basket with several Brave Writer Arrows and Darts, along with a few other sweet stories I think she’ll love. The Brave Writer selections are such a beautiful fit for this stage because they give us wonderful literature to read while gently weaving in copywork, dictation, literary elements, grammar, and discussion. The goal is to build strong language arts skills without ever losing the joy of a good story.

I’ve also added a few Classic Starts, abridged versions of beloved classics that make them more accessible for young readers.

The fun part? Her sister will be reading the unabridged originals, so they’ll have their own sister book club chats as they read! 📖💛 I love the idea of them experiencing the same stories at different levels and then comparing notes along the way.

If you are new to Brave Writer and would like to try one of their literature guides this year, follow the link in my bio for a $10 discount.

Here’s to a year of good stories, cozy reading time, and plenty of tea-and-book conversations ahead. ☕️📚
📜 NEW Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Quill & Lin 📜 NEW Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Quill & Lines Copywork Study

We're adding to our Quill & Lines catalogue, a copywork series inspired by timeless classics..... and lovingly chosen by my girls, who have been having the best time picking their favourites. 

Next up is Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll! Within these pages, you’ll find 25 curated excerpts where falling down rabbit holes leads to unexpected discoveries and tea parties stretch time itself. 

This series grew out of a desire to keep language learning simple, beautiful, and connected to real literature. Instead of worksheets or drills, Quill & Lines invites us to slow down, notice the words, and enjoy them together.

Inside this study, you'll find:

• 25 curated copywork passages from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
• Gentle vocabulary exploration woven into each selection
• Print letter practice and review
• Short biography of Lewis Carroll

We hope these pages become a steady, peaceful rhythm in your days, and that the words of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland bring a sense of curiosity, quiet wonder, and playful reflection to your learning together.

Available in CURSIVE or PRINT. Find them in our Quill & Compass Literary Society. Or, comment WONDER for the links.
🌳❤️ Heartwood Hotel Seasonal Literature Guide Bund 🌳❤️ Heartwood Hotel Seasonal Literature Guide Bundle

Welcome to a year of stories, seasons, and discovery. Inspired by the beloved Heartwood Hotel series by Kallie George, these seasonal literature guides are designed to provide a literature-led approach to nature study and language arts throughout the year.

As you journey through the books, you’ll explore the changing seasons alongside Mona and her friends while building language arts skills through discussion questions, vocabulary studies, copywork, narration, creative writing, and literary activities. Each guide also extends learning beyond the pages with nature study, hands-on projects, crafts, recipes, and seasonal explorations inspired by the characters, settings, and events of the story.

We believe that great books can be a gateway to both learning and wonder. By connecting literature with the natural world, children are invited to slow down, observe closely, ask questions, and develop a deeper appreciation for the world around them.

Whether you read one chapter at a time or linger over each activity, we hope these guides help your family create cherished memories, foster a love of reading and writing, and celebrate the beauty of each season together.

So settle into a cozy nook, open the pages of Heartwood Hotel, and begin your adventure.

❤️ Comment HEART for the link or visit my bio for more information.
Follow on Instagram

Explore

  • Our Story
  • Blog
  • Free Nature Poetry and Copywork
  • Free Printables
  • Contact

Shop

  • Early Learning
  • Looking Glass Nature Study

Info

  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimers and Disclosures
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Cookie Policy
Do Not Sell My Personal Information

Keep up with us

Instagram
  • Disclosure

© 2026 Books and Willows · Theme by 17th Avenue

Review Cart

No products in the cart.

Popup Button
Scroll to top
  • Shop
    • Explore the Shop
    • World Habitats Adventure Society
    • Quill and Compass Literary Society
    • Nature Study
    • History-Ink Adventures
    • Early Learning
    • Art Elements with the Masters
    • Planners
  • Free Homeschooling
    • Quill and Compass Literary Society
    • Free Printables
    • Blog
  • Amazon Storefront
  • Our Story
  • Contact
Instagram
Shop
What are you looking for?
Search
We use cookies to provide you with a great user experience. By using our website, you accept our use of cookies.