Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
The past few weeks, we’ve been reading through many of Patricia Polacco’s books. I know as an adult, I get fixated on one or two authors (Paullina Simons–The Bronze Horsemen series, Jodi Picoult, Philippa Gregory, Rick Riordan). And LD has his favorite series too reading through all the Magic Tree House books, Beast Quest series (he’s on number 36), Andrew Lost and the A-to-Z Mysteries. We have all really enjoyed...
There’s a giveaway over at Living Montessori Now. She is giving away a complete Montessori (3-6) training course by Karen Tyler! I’ve heard about Karen’s courses for years now and everyone absolutely raves about them. Check out the details by clicking here.
I saw these ten-dot cards over at Oceans of First Grade Fun and thought I’d give them a try for DD. The object is to flash the card quickly, put it away and have them mentally figure out how many dots there were (2+2 or 4+4). It’s just another way of helping kids to become automatic with their number sense and basic addition facts. DD actually likes these and we...
What inspired me to train again: My kids are such an inspiration. They have boundless energy. I have been amazed and proud at how much they have grown this year as individuals. LD has such amazing strength — I find it astonishing for a seven year old. (That’s LD at the top of the rope. He went zipping up really fast! He has more arm strength than I have ever...
We loved this book! It was about a farmer who winds up running a long race from Melbourne to Sydney. Wonderful pictures. Below are two other Australian books we really love. Both books below highlight a lot of the native Australian animals.
DD has been working a lot with coins and counting change recently. Coin Toss and Change Counting There’s nothing wildly original about his idea, but boy did the kids like this activity! I just took a big handful of coins (the same for each of the kids). They took turns throwing the coins into the heart cups and then had to count their change when they had tossed all of...
The kids decided Dad should have a dragon-themed party (in honor of Ferno from LD’s Beast Quest books). I’m no cake-maker (my friend M is amazing!!!), but the kids were happy with the results! The kids enjoyed Dad’s scavenger hunt — it took them around the house, out to the tire swing in the woods, up our rope ladder and back all around the house!
I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that we started using First Language Lessons. DD really, really loves the memory work. So much so, that we’ve added in some other poems from this poetry book to the left. It has cute, short poems just perfect in length and in subject matter for DD. She really likes the Ladybug by Joan Walsh Anglund and memorized it within a day or so:...
Well, I finished my first official training week. I’m planning to run a half-marathon in September. I feel great and my “long run” which was just 6 miles was a breeze. I’m watching the movie, Running the Sahara, for a bit of inspiration. Three men set off to run across the Sahara Desert in 2007. They often ran the equivalent of two marathons a day for over 100 days. What...
We are using the Five in a Row book list and some recommended children’s authors to add some spice to our children’s literature readings. WOW! Have we had a wonderful time so far on this adventure! Here is our children’s literature book list, a collection of authors and titles we are making our way through (though I liberally add in my own books/findings as you see!). These books have a...
We’re enjoying lots of playdates and time with friends this summer. What a beautiful park! On another note, I think I’m going to train for a half-marathon in September. I’m excited to have a big goal — just for ME! 🙂 It has been years since I last trained for anything. My last marathon was on the Sydney Olympic marathon coarse… and I finished in the Sydney Olympic stadium with...
Someone mentioned this math website on one of the blogs I frequent now and then. I decided to check it out and wanted to mention it for those with kids in 5th or 6th grade. I think even LD will learn something from these short math videos. I watched two of them. They were easy to follow (from my perspective, though haven’t shown LD to get his opinion). The ones...
We had this ever-growing yellow-jacket’s nest on our front porch. Dad sprayed this nest twice without luck, so we finally called in exterminators. But in the meantime, we did some reading about wasps from a free download by Homeschool Bits. We learned that wasps are extremely beneficial. Nearly every pest insect on Earth is preyed upon by a wasp species. Unfortunately, this nest was right next to our front door...
If your child is learning his or her times tables, there’s a wonderful video game you can download for them to practice. The graphics are great. Timez Attack — There’s a free version or you can purchase a version that has more levels. You should check it out if you haven’t already!
Do you believe education can be exciting, inspiring, and full of joy? We do too!
I love the quote by William Butler Yeats, "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." It's about getting the kids involved, engaged, and fired up about learning (while juggling the rest of life too!)
A bit about me: I have my Master's from Brown University. I have more than 20 years of teaching experience. I was a high school teacher for many years both in the U.S. and internationally and also taught for the University of Maryland before leaving to homeschool my 3 wonderful kids.
To read more about us CLICK HERE.
Click on the image to find out more about the units and packets we have available.
This post has links to dozens of posts and resources both for new and veteran homeschoolers for everything from finding homeschool curriculum to general homeschool advice and encouragement.
Click on the image above to see the History Units we covered in our homeschool.
What science topics could I teach my 5-7 year old - Homeschool Science Curriculum
Click on the image above to see the Science Units we covered in our homeschool from elementary through middle school (and beyond!).
A list of the books we've used most in history, science, math, language arts, etc.
Click the image to check out our packets on Earth Science, Rocks and Minerals, the Atmosphere, Weather, Energy and More!
Units are also sold separately.
This is one of our most popular units. It covers the Layers of the Earth, Plate Tectonics, Earthquakes, Volcanoes and More! It is included in the Earth Science Bundle (see the picture/link above).
Click the image to see our Biology Units on Animal and Plant Cells; the Biology Unit on Biomes, Food Chains, Symbiosis; Scientific Classification & Taxonomy (Domain/Kingdom/Phylum/Class, etc.); Botany - Plant Kingdom and Oceans and Oceanography.
Click on the image to see our Animal Bundle - including the Animal Unit, Life Cycles, the Rainforest, Winter (Polar Animals) & Hibernation, Chameleons, Wolves, Cicadas and more!
The Human Body Systems, Skeletal, Digestive, Circulatory, Muscular, Nervous, Endocrine Systems and More (with lots of hands-on activity ideas)! We usually study a different body system each year.
Click on the image to see our units on the States of matter, Properties of Matter, Electricity & Circuits, and the Chemistry Unit (Get to know the Periodic Table in a fun way!)
This is a free checklist I put together of the various science units I hope to cover in the elementary and middle school years.
Do your kids know the 4 largest countries? Which countries have the most people? The longest river? This packet covers basic world and U.S. facts and also covers geographic features and land forms.
Click on the image to check out our 100-page unit on World War I.
We have used AAS for 6 years! AAS is an affiliate link.
Dozens of posts about how to create a homeschool writing workshop.
Click on the image to check out all of our fun K-2 Math Packets.
This is one of the best values we have... more than 20 PDFs with games, activities and worksheets to learn/practice the multiplication facts ($7.00).
Click on the image to discover some of the pages, posts and homeschool resources within our blog that might be the most useful for you including a long list of our freebies!
Click on the image to check out our 100+page Rocks and Minerals Unit.
This is a fun, hands-on unit for early elementary students!
How the body is organized from cells to tissues... organs to body systems
Click on the image to check out some of the Spanish worksheet bundles we have available!
Click on the image above to check out our German worksheets.
Click on the image to find out more about our units and packets.
