Monthly Archive: June 2012

War of 1812 Bicentennial Celebrations and The Star Spangled Banner 0

War of 1812 Bicentennial Celebrations and The Star Spangled Banner

This June marks the bicentennial of the beginning of War of 1812. I saw there were some wonderful events this next week in Boston (I wish we could go!); I’ll share a few details about that below if you live in that area. Anyway, I’ve heard a few things about the War of 1812 on the radio lately and decided I should share some of that information with the kids...

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Garden Science

Who knew that our garden flowers could be so fascinating?! We have hydrangeas and only just now learned why they have different colors. They are affected by the pH of the soil and by the amount of sunlight they receive. A blue hydrangea means that there is aluminum in the soil. The flowers turn blue in highly acidic soil. A pink hydrangea means that the pH of the soil is...

Monster Math Tag 6

Monster Math Tag

If you have a break in the weather where you are, you might want to play Monster Math.  It’s just a racing version of freeze tag that I play with my kids. I came up with the fancy name for this game years ago.   They beg for me to get out and chase them down!   I take index cards and write down math problems. For ED (age 4)...

Summer Science Experiments – Tasty Lemon Soda 1

Summer Science Experiments – Tasty Lemon Soda

If you’re trying to find a way to keep the kids occupied this summer, why not turn to science?!! There are so many experiments you can do together with your kids. Or if you’re like me, you can hand them a book and they can do it on their own! LD (age 8) flipped through a science experiment book and was excited to make his own Lemon Soda! What to...

Gymnastics Awards 0

Gymnastics Awards

This is just a proud Mama moment. When we moved to the States from Australia, we noticed a gym fairly near where we live.  LD had enjoyed gymnastics overseas and it seemed like a good activity to have the kids in during the heat of summer and cold of winter. It helped fill the ‘phys ed’ part of our homeschool.  Now two years later, the kids all still love their...

Fun Geography Board Game 0

Fun Geography Board Game

A couple of years ago we bought a geography board game called 10 Days in Europe that has been a wonderful addition to our homeschool. It is so much fun, I really recommend it for anyone looking for a new game to add to your collection.   I play this game with my 6 and 8 year olds, though I would say it’s more suited to the 8+ crowd (wonderful even...

Homeschooling Through High School (a continuation of yesterday’s interview) 5

Homeschooling Through High School (a continuation of yesterday’s interview)

This is a continuation of yesterday’s interview, Homeschooling Through Spousal Deployments, a Destructive Flood and More.  Today I’m continuing that interview starting with some questions about homeschooling through high school.   Many people decide to put their kids into school for their high school years. What has made you decide to continue homeschooling them? First, the kids really don’t want to go to “regular school” – they like the freedom...

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Homeschooling Through Spousal Deployments, a Destructive Flood and More

In this series, I have had the privilege of interviewing other homeschoolers from across the country.  For today’s interview I’m turning to my sister, Cynthia, and brother-in-law, Tom who homeschool their three children.  Cynthia works full time at a university as a professor and associate provost and is a prolific writer; Tom is in the National Guard. They have weathered some pretty trying periods in their homeschooling life and I...

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Beginning Reader Worksheet Pack to Accompany the Bob Books

We are using the Bob Books to help ED learn to read. She is just learning to sound out CVC words. While my other two kids learned to read early (age 3) using the Bob Book series (and others), my third child has her own pace and style of learning.  She is excited about writing words, loves to color, and has amazing pencil skills.  I made these worksheets for her. These would never (never,...

Celebrating Father’s Day 0

Celebrating Father’s Day

We celebrated Father’s Day by going camping this weekend. It’s a bit of work getting everything ready, but once we’re out there the time away is so refreshing!  The highlight was a beautiful two-hour hike we did together.  I loved watching Dad teaching the kids to skip rocks.  I have fond memories of doing that with my Dad that as a kid! It was picturesque and peaceful and just a...

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The History of Chocolate from the Mayans and Aztecs… to Today!

Did you know that more than $90 billion a year is spent on chocolate around the world?  On Valentine’s American spend around $700 million on chocolate! These numbers are expected to grow as the population increases and the number of people in the developing world who can afford chocolate increases. Part of our study of the Mayans and Aztecs was to learn a bit more about the history of chocolate. ...

Rain Forest Plant Cards - Free Montessori 3-part Cards 5

Rain Forest Plants (Free Montessori 3-Part Cards)

On Tuesday I shared the biomes pin map that the kids and I used. We looked not only at where the desert, tundra and grassland regions were, but took note of the rain forest regions of the world.  Next I brought out the rain forest plant cards I had made several years ago.  Although our main goal was to look at a history of chocolate to go along with our...

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An Interview with a Radical Unschooling Family

 Today I have the privilege of introducing Dayna Martin. She is a well-known leader in the unschooling community. She has been interviewed in dozens of television and radio pieces about radical unschooling. She speaks nationally and internationally at unschooling conferences. Dayna is a pioneer who has been at the forefront of the conscious parenting and unschooling movement for the past decade. Author of Radical Unschooling: A Revolution Has Begun, and...

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World Biomes Pin Map

Are you asking yourself, “What in the world is a biomes pin map?”  It’s a map that shows where the rain forests, deserts, grasslands, forest and tundra regions are located. A pin map is when you stick straight pins into the labels so kids can pinpoint where things are located. There you go, sounds fancy, but really it’s not! 🙂   Before we really delved into our study of rain...