Age 5-8
National Parks for Kids Mega Booklist and More
Biographies, picture books, chapter books, trail guides, games, and activities…. wow! The National Parks are such a rich source of inspiration. Since we’re planning our first National Park visit, I’m flooding our world with books and games before we set…
Berry Picking Picture Books
Reading books about berries and berry picking has been an annual tradition in the late spring each year. As my kids have grown, I’ve expanded our booklist to books with a bit more meat to them (no pun intended). My…
Homeschool Kindergarten {Curriculum Choices}
In many ways, my current kindergartener had an “old fashioned kindergarten.” Although he wasn’t forced to take a nap on a mat, he did spend endless hours in open ended, imaginative play, listening to picture books, and painting. I’m proud…
How We Study Geography
For early/mid elementary school, my goals for geography are to introduce my kids to the beautiful variety of cultures around the world, and familiarize them with regions. Here’s how we’ve been accomplishing that: After spending over a year studying the…
Homeschooling Without a Homeschool Room {Organization}
When I look at photos of beautiful homeschool rooms with wall to wall book shelves, gorgeous nature posters hanging in on-trend frames, and closets full of shelving, I do feel jealous. We just don’t have that kind of space. We…
Family Read Alouds {Age 6 and 8, Winter 2021}
These long, dreary, wet, cold days have been GREAT for read aloud time! We’ve enjoyed every one of these books so much! A mix of older and new, these characters and adventures have a special place in our hearts now!…
Dash Into Reading {Curriculum Review}
My experience teaching kids to read has been exciting, frustrating, humbling, and amazing… all wrapped into one. After using and loving the All About Reading program all the way through with my first, I assumed I would always use that…
Celebrating Seasons {Booklist & Calendar of Firsts}
As our calendars were cleared of virtually everything else this past year, we have thoroughly enjoyed observing the changing of seasons. I love the gentleness and predictability, and my kids enjoy the anticipation of what each new season will bring.…
Phenology Wheel Basics for Nature Study
Phenology wheels: maybe a niche topic, but a beautiful one! Phenology is the study of seasons and the cycles of nature. An phenology wheel is a visual representation of that study, using a segmented circle to represent periods of time.…
Book Lovers’ Free Printable Bookmarks {for Valentine’s Day}
Happy Valentine’s Day, book lovers! My kids enjoyed creating handmade valentines for our homeschool v-day exchange, and it got my creative juices flowing. I designed bookmarks to include with our valentines, and I think they turned out so cute! I’m…
Valentine’s Day Rabbit Trails {Handicrafts & Books About Mail}
Ah, rabbit trails! I love them when it comes to following the spark of your child’s interests and imagination… I’m not talking about urban dictionary’s idea of rabbit trails here: “the veering off subject or of the point of the…
Backyard Bird Count and Bird Book Roundup
We are so excited to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count! The event’s tagline is “connect to birds, to nature, and with each other” which sounds perfect for my crew! How cute that this takes place near Valentine’s Day…
Valentine’s Day Books and Traditions
I haven’t always been a fan of Valentine’s Day… too many lonely Valentine’s Days probably scarred me. But when I became a SAHM with two little ones and was attempting to survive long cold winters, a mid-winter celebration full of…
Poetry Teatime Tips
My kids and I have enjoyed hundreds of poetry teatimes together. I first heard of this beautiful idea when my oldest was 3 (he will be 8 in a few weeks!). Quite frankly when I first learned about it, the…
Cozy Winter Picture Books
Last winter we officially had 0.4″ of snow, according to a google search. In my kids’ memory, it was 4 snowflakes total. What a bummer! In my area, we don’t typically get a lot of snow, but we can usually…
