In an effort to get my boys (ages 13 and 11) to branch out of their literary ruts, I created this Summer Reading BINGO for Older Kids that includes several different genres to choose from. I have one child who only wants to read sports biographies during his independent reading time and another child who just reads the same book over and over. We normally do some type of summer reading ...
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Ivy Kids vs. Kiwi Crate: Which one is best?
Disclosure: I received a sample from Ivy Kids in exchange for this review. If you have ever been interested in a subscription activity box for your child, one name has surely come up time and again due to their broad marketing reach. We have both purchased and been gifted Kiwi Crate subscription boxes and have done MANY reviews on Ivy Kids subscription boxes as well. Let's ...
Phonological Awareness Activities for Preschoolers Printable
These phonological awareness activities for preschoolers are perfect for helping set your child up for future reading success! With no materials required beyond these printable cards, this is perfect for doing with your child on-the-go! The more we learn about how our brains learn to read, the more apparent it is that phonological and phonemic awareness play a HUGE part in that ...
The Tale of Despereaux Book Club Ideas
Looking for activities to go along with the book? We've got you covered with these hands-on ideas to bring your next The Tale of Despereaux book club to life! We recently organized a Zoom book club for my first grade daughter and a few of her friends. Obviously with our girls being only first graders, the moms read the book aloud to each of our daughters throughout the week. We chose ...
Sunflower Batik Art Project for Kids
This Sunflower Batik Art project is perfect for kids of all ages! The final product is a unique and aged look to a beautiful sunflower print. Each child's artwork will be unique and different! "Home, home on the range! Where the deer and the antelope play..." Our state turned 160 years old yesterday on January 29th! The Kansas state flower is the Sunflower, so we decided to ...
Beast Academy Review: Why We Switched from Singapore Math to Beast Academy
Beast Academy is a comprehensive math curriculum for grades 3-6 that focuses on problem solving and critical thinking. Below you will find my Beast Academy Review and why we switched to this program! When I first made the decision to homeschool our three children this year, I knew that one of the major predictors of our success as homeschoolers was choosing high-quality ...
September 11th Remembrance Art Collage
As we are homeschooling this year, I wanted to take the time on September 11th to remember and honor those who died in the 9/11 attacks. Most of us Americans (who are old enough) can remember exactly where we were and what we were doing when we first learned of the September 11th attacks. We vowed we would never forget...and part of that is sharing this tragic part of our past with our ...
Homeschool Lesson Plan Printable
Once we made the decision to homeschool this year, I knew I wanted to make a super simple at-a-glance lesson plan. I was already overwhelmed with choosing curriculum and I wanted to be able to look at ONE page for all THREE of my children, rather than having different lessons plans for each child. I searched online and couldn't seem to find one that fit my needs nor did I want to pay ...
Morning Checklist Printable
One of my big fears about homeschooling this year is that we will all be unmotivated and still in our pajamas at noon. While that might work for some families, we simply don't function well without some structure (as the last five months can attest to). I am not a morning person, so getting up and going in the mornings is a challenge for me. Thankfully, my kids are more "morning ...
Our Homeschooling Curriculum Choices for 2020-2021
I shared in Instagram stories recently about our decision to homeschool this year. This is our first year to ever homeschool! My children have attended our local public school since kindergarten and we have always felt confident in this decision. This year, however, we made the decision to homeschool in light of the pandemic and all of the uncertainty it brings. When I shared on ...
