Taking a look at the Long Division Algorithm This is a sample membership post for The Beauty of Play’s membership subscription. It is opening in November. You can learn more about the subscriptions on the Membership page. Today I’m going to try to tackle the process of long division. This is a complex algorithm to learn…
Putting together a History Block
My Process when Composing a Waldorf-style History Block – hint, we use a lot of Charlotte Mason tools. This is a sample membership post for The Beauty of Play’s membership subscription. It is opening in November. You can learn more about the subscriptions on the Membership page. I knew from the beginning that I wanted…
Making a 100 Chart for Math
I adore Grimm’s Counting with Wooden Number Chart, but I couldn’t move past the $140 sticker price, though I think it’s well worth it. Still I really wanted a 100 chart like this, because we will be using the 100 chart a lot this coming school year for my youngest. I wanted something “whole brained”…
Subtraction Strategies
Exploring Simple Subtraction Strategies and How They Scale in Application in More Complex Numbers Af… Hello There! Welcome to The Beauty of Play. This post is for my subscription members. I currently have two subscriptions: One for all things homeschooling and another for all things math.You can learn more about them at https://thebeautyofplay.com/membership/ . If…
Change and Continuity Over Time
A Tool of Analysis to Help Us Process and Understand a Time Period in History If you’ve been followi… Hello There! Welcome to The Beauty of Play. This post is for my subscription members. I currently have two subscriptions: One for all things homeschooling and another for all things math.You can learn more about them…
Making Tea with your Kids
The weather has started to cool off here bringing with it fires, sweaters, and hot mugs of tea. Tea … Hello There! Welcome to The Beauty of Play. This post is for my subscription members. I currently have two subscriptions: One for all things homeschooling and another for all things math.You can learn more about…
Grade Eight Waldorf Geometry Block
Exploring the Platonic solids, their Duals, and Deriving Formulas for the Volume of Common Geometric Solids We are working on our Grade Eight Geometry Block, the highlight of which is the platonic solids. We’ve done some review work with constructions, angle proofs, and quadrilaterals, as well as the pentagon and golden ratio. As we move…
Playing Number Hive for Math
Number Hive is a game that allows users to understand the relationship of addition and subtraction o… Hello There! Welcome to The Beauty of Play. This post is for my subscription members. I currently have two subscriptions: One for all things homeschooling and another for all things math.You can learn more about them at https://thebeautyofplay.com/membership/…
Using Illustration as Tool for Teaching
A View through the Subjects Using this Tool Years ago, when my son was in middle school, we let go o… Hello There! Welcome to The Beauty of Play. This post is for my subscription members. I currently have two subscriptions: One for all things homeschooling and another for all things math.You can learn more…
Exploring Exponents
Using Cuisenaire Rods to Explore Patterns in the Powers There are a number of ways to explore exponents, but it will come to no surprise to you that using the…
An Overview of Multiplication
Looking at the Progression of Multiplication from Skip Counting in Quality of Number all the Way to Multiplying Expressions in Algebra. Introducing Multiplication When I started this post, I had…
Constructing a Logarithmic Spiral of Squares
Using Geometric Art to Practice Math Skills This construction of a logarithmic circle is a way to make art that is beautiful while also practice a lot of math. We…
Place Value Go Fish
Place Value Go Fish is a game that I first saw Denise Haskins, the author of the book, Let’s Play Math, play. In this game, players take turns asking each player…
Playing with Slopes
Exploring the Correlation between Slope and Speed This week we are going to play with slope. You probably know slopes from algebra with the ratio of rise over run or…
Healing Math Trauma
Including Non-Conventional Math Activities as Part or All of your Homeschooling Math Curriculum It happens easily enough. A concept is a little too challenging, there is one too many wrong…
A Year in Review
Looking Back at our Eighth Grade of Homeschooling We had our annual evaluation at the end of October this year. When I submitted our letter of intention to homeschool to…
Prime Factorization
Exploring Ways to Find and Use Prime Factors through Art, Cuisenaire Rods, and More This week we are looking at different ways to explore prime factoring. When teaching anything new,…
Division of Circles
A Place Where Math Meets Art This week I’m sharing a tutorial on division of circle for 3, 4, and 6. In Waldorf geometry, it dips back from the early…
Teaching Permutation and the Factorial
Cultivating Systematic Critical Thinking Permutations and combinations are part of probability and statistics. It shows us the number of possibilities available under a set conditions. Combinations allow you to change…
Winter Solstice Countdown Activity Calendar
Sharing My Family’s Favorite Tradition with You Some time ago when my children were much smaller, I saw a blog post about an activity advent calendar. I thought this was…
Keeping a Portfolio
A Sampling of our Homeschooling Portfolios through the Years: from Early Elementary through High School A portfolio is a book or journal that contains pieces of a child’s work throughout…
A Day in the Life
A Walkthrough of our Homeschool Schedule Now and in the Past Our schedule has changed over the course of the years and as my children grow. When they were younger,…
The Silly Sentence Game
My Favorite Way to Play with Grammar and Language in our Homeschooling I just want to say that I am silly-excited about making this game for you. I hope that…
Sewing a Pumpkin Patch
A Simple Hand Sewing Project for your Homeschool Read Alouds or Lessons Handcrafts have been a large part of our homeschooling. Not only do handcrafts provide fine motor skills used…
Rituals of Connection
Little Actions that Carry us in Connection in our Homeschooling “I want my homeschooling to feel like yours looks.” This was a comment that I received when I had posted…
Form Drawing
Experiencing the Movement of Patterns The beautiful forms of Waldorf are so memorizing. It’s easy to think I want to do this with my child. However, what is seen on…
A Logarithmic Spiral of Squares
The post discusses using a geometric construction to review angles, proportionality, and percent changes through the lens of logarithmic spirals. It highlights the concepts of arithmetic and geometric growth, the…
Teaching Science through Art
An Interdisciplinary Lesson; Making Connection and Aiding Retention Jump to Video In regards to atomic theory for our chemistry block, there were several aspects that I wanted to convey. That…
All the Ways to Use the 100-chart
From the Basics of Counting, to Addition and Subtractions, Multiples, Multiplication, and Even Prime Number Many year ago, I was inspired by Grimm’s 100-chart which is beautiful. I was not…
The Art of Tessellations
Playing with Repeating Symmetry and Patterns This week we are going to explore the world of Tessellations. There is so so much with tessellations that I cannot possibly cover all…
Chemistry Overview
How Waldorf Approaches Science and Chemistry Specifically; Materials and Resources We Are Using for our Homeschool Chemistry Block Earth, Air, Fire, and Water – The four Ancient Greek elements. This…
Hexagonal Thinking
An Analytical Tool that Encourages Critical Thinking, Collaboration, and Connective Thinking Hexagonal thinking is a tool used to facilitate critical thinking and to “make thinking visible.” It can be used…
Scientific Writing in Middle School
The Introduction of the Lab Report in our Homeschooling With our G7 Chemistry Block, we are introducing scientific writing through lab reports. Scientific writing is different than other academic writing…
Number Bonds for 10
Various Activities that Practice the Number Bonds for Ten Because our number system is base ten, the number bonds for ten are fairly important. Many addition and subtraction strategies are…
The Planning Pages for 25-26
And an inside look into my previous planners from 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade, and a look at our past Middle School/High School planner. The planning pages for 2025-26 are…
The Planning Pages for 25-26
And an inside look into my previous planners from 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade, and a look at our past Middle School/High School planner. The planning pages for 2025-26 are…
Addition Strategies
Looking at a Variety of Methods that Make Adding Easier Addition may seem simple at the first look. We just take two numbers and combine them to achieve a total.…
Classroom Observation Activities
Bringing a Little of the Outside Inside for Science Today we are going outside to bring some of nature inside. This week we’re chatting about several observational activities that can…
Handcrafts in Homeschooling
How the Pedagogies like Waldorf and Charlotte Mason Understood the Benefits to Mind, Hearts and Hand in using Handcrafts in Homeschooling I sat on the porch with my friend as…
Bringing Context to History
Various Tools We Can Use to Bring Meaning to our History Studies I knew something was missing in our history studies, but I wasn’t sure what it was. Growing up,…
Overview of Addition
From Adding Small Single-digits Numbers to Adding Multi-digit Numbers Addition – it’s likely the first process we learn after counting. It also stays with us for as long as our…
Window Stars from Rectangles
We’ve previously gone over Window Stars from Squares, and I thought this week would be a good week to play with window stars again, but this time from rectangles. I’m…
Prime Climb Strategies
Using the Game Prime Climb to Practice Math I have been wanting to share Prime Climb with you for some time. We have used a number of games to practice…
Teaching Science
An Overview on How I’ve Taught Science over the Years I don’t think it’s a secret, but science is my favorite. Both my husband and myself are scientists, and even…
Notice and Wonder
Cultivating the Observation of Patterns and Relationships “Notice and Wonder” may be the most valuable tool in education. The exercise of ‘notice and wonder’ helps us to observe, analyze, sometimes…
Charlotte Mason-style Nature Journaling
Nurturing a Relationship with Nature In the early years of our homeschooling, Charlotte Mason-style homeschooling was a big part of our days. Spending a good part of our days outside…
Daily Work
The Supporting Work in addition to our Main Lesson Blocks in our Homeschool Main Lesson Blocks are by far the star of the show. It is where the book of…
Reading Comprehension Part II
Note-taking, Summarization, and Inference A few posts ago, I started a post on shifting from learning to read to reading to learn or cultivating reading comprehension. We focused mostly on close…
Playing with Truchet Tiles
Truchet tiles are square tiles with two contrasting colors that can be arranged to make different patterns. When I think of them, I usually think of the contrasting colors dissecting…
Dying with Natural Plant Dyes
Our Egg-dying Process and How You Can Use those Same Dyes to Color Silk, Wool, or Cloth I love dying our eggs each year, especially the batik style eggs we…
Sorting and Comparing Fractions
Three Fraction Activities That Will Give a Number Sense for Fractions. This week I’m giving you a few excerpts of my Fractions guides. The first exercise, ‘Sorting and Comparing’ is…
Exploring Number Bases
While Practicing Exponents, Place Value, Division, Multiplication and Critical Thinking We had a very short block of one week on Number Bases. Number bases, in my opinion, is not a…
Reading Comprehension – Close Reading
How I Teach It Explicitly and Then Use the Process Integrated in What We Are Studying. Being able to read well means having several skills. These include language comprehension skills…
Using Eratosthenes Sieve to Explore Prime Numbers
Eratosthenes’ Sieve is a method of finding prime numbers by eliminating multiples of numbers in the 100-chart, leaving all the prime numbers from 1 to 100. It’s a great activity…
Reviewing Geometry through Symmetry Exploration
How I’m Using the Teaching Tools – Connections, Spacing, Memory Recall, and Vocabulary – from the Science of Learning I am currently using the exploration of symmetry through division of…
Charlotte Mason Style Art Study
One of the things that we use from the Charlotte Mason pedagogy, particularly paired with history, is Artist Study. I really love the concept of Artist Study from Charlotte Mason…
Vedic Multiplication
Recently I had someone ask me if Vedic Multiplication, that is taught with my guide in year 3 of Multiplication and Division, could be done with 3-digit numbers. The short…
Home Systems that Help Support Us in Homeschooling
Introduction When the house is in total disarray, I personally find it difficult to homeschool. I’m not the only one. I know that many wonder how to I keep the…
Using Game Points for Math
Who thought regular games could be used for math? Of course, I did. Some games point system for keeping score have wonderful opportunities to practice math strategies. Today, I’m going…
Copy Work
A Valuable Tool for Language Arts, Retention, Reading and Comprehension in our Homeschooling Toolbox As you know, I’m not a Charlotte Mason or Waldorf purest, but pull from both pedagogies…
Florida Snow Storm
This is hardly my usual post, but I wanted to share the lovely photos that my son, Jonah took of our recent snow storm. As you might now, an arctic…
A Little Weaving Project
Handcrafts are a wonderful way to express creativity, develop fine motor skills, and increase the capacity for active listening during lessons. There’s also a little pride and excitement in making…
Overview of Factoring
An Exploration to its Relationship to Multiplication and Division This week I’m touching on factoring. In math, I think it’s important to show children many different angles of a concept…
Beginner’s Knitting as Handwork
Finger Knitting and a Little Bunny Project I’ve talked about handwork being so useful in education for the whole child. It often has the task of giving something for our…
Gattegno’s Place Value
Making a Place in Homeschool Math for Place Value Gattegno’s chart is an intuitive way to look at place value. It shows every digit possible in every place value, allowing…
Middle School Geography Block
Scaling up a Elementary Block to Fit a Middle School Geography Curriculum We recently did a block for geography that I used a lot of the books and activities that…
Quarterly Reflection
Looking at homeschooling so far this year and setting goals for the future. One thing that I’m adding to my homeschool planning this year is monthly reflection and goal setting.…
Rooibos Rainbow Tea Activity
A Sensory Math Activity for Homeschooling. Not only is making tea a wonderful sensory activity for a child, but at the end of it, you get to make and drink…
Water Colors in Homeschooling
Exploring Waldorf water colors, especially wet-on-wet, through our Homeschooling Journey Let’s talk water colors! Waldorf is known for its beautiful water colors from wet-on-wet, to some main lesson pages, wet-on-dry…
Window Star Math
Playing with Shapes, Angles, and Symmetry When Making Sun Catchers A little while ago, I showed the homeschooling subscribers how to fold window stars. This week, we’re going to explore…
A Walk through Waldorf Math
With a Checklist for Math on this Path Math is beautiful. If you get past the calculations of math, the forms from models, the spirals, the patterns, the shapes that…
Rooibos Rainbow Tea Activity
A Sensory Math Activity for Homeschooling. Jump to the PDF Not only is making tea a wonderful sensory activity for a child, but at the end of it, you get…
Keeping a Math Journal
A Look inside our Math Journals from 4th-6th Grades Introduction Keeping a math journal can be a wonderful visual for your journey through math, but can also be very practical.…
Spiral of Theodorus
Using the Progression of Roots to Introduce Radical Numbers We’ve been working on our Grade 7 Waldorf Geometry block. When planning for the year, I tend to leave the best…
Memorizing the Multiplication Tables
Different Ways to Help our Children Memorize the Multiplication Tables One of the most common questions that I get is about multiplication. People want to know how to help their…
A Main Lesson Page
Where Everything that You Work on in your Homeschooling Comes Together I’ve heard a lot of people describe main lesson page as a child making their own textbook. However, I…
Playful Math Carnival #175
Bringing in Autumn with Spread of Math Delicacies Welcome to the 175’s edition of Playful Math Carnival, and if it’s your first visit to my site, welcome to the Beauty…
Overview of How I Approach Math
What Math Concepts that I Teach When and Why Math is probably the subject that brings most homeschool parents dread and possibly even influences their decisions to homeschool. Many of…
Wet Felting an Autumn Garland
I am over here dreaming about Autumn though it is the hottest part of summer here in North Florida in August and early September. That tends to happen for me…
Putting together a History Block
My Process when Composing a Waldorf-style History Block – hint, we use a lot of Charlotte Mason tools. I knew from the beginning that I wanted the experience of learning…
Modeling with Beeswax
Some Tips, Tricks, and Techniques in Using Beeswax Modeling in your Homeschool Beeswax modeling is one of the many things that we use to keep our hands busy and have…
Language Arts Overview
An Overview of our Language Arts through the years of our Homeschooling Journey There is so much contained in language arts that I feel I couldn’t possibly show everything that…
Thinking about Time in our Homeschooling
How to Establish a Rhythm and Schedule for our Homeschool This week we are talking about rhythm and schedule for our homeschooling. Many people coming to me aren’t sure how…
Making Soap
Our Process of Soap Making and How it Can Be Used for a Chemistry Lesson I’ve been making soap for a number of years for our family and to give…
A Look at Division
From Introducing Division, to Long Division, to the Fractions and Factoring This week we are looking at an overview of division. Division is integral in many higher level math concepts…
Using Narration as a Teaching Tool
Our Journey from Early Elementary through High School and into Essay Work I cannot believe that we’ve gotten this far along in our journey together, and we haven’t talked about…
Using Monopoly for Math
The Different Ways that You Can Use the Game Monopoly to Get in a Little Math Practice in your Homeschooling. Introduction I’m pretty community and collaborative-oriented, so the idea that…
Planning Pages for 24-25 Academic Year
And a Look at Some of my Previous Planners I’ve finished the planning pages for this coming academic year, and I’m excited to be sharing them with you. I’ve made…
Doubling and Halving
How Using Doubles and Halves Can Help Us in Simplifying Math Doubling and halving are such integral ideas within our world, that we almost don’t even think about them. They…
A Review of our Seventh Grade Year
Looking Back at All That Was Accomplished This year was my daughter’s seventh grade year and my son’s first official year of community college. I say first official year because…
Exploring Long Division
Taking a look at the Long Division Algorithm Today I’m going to try to tackle the process of long division. This is a complex algorithm to learn and often is…
Math Circles
How the Waldorf Pedagogy uses Circles in their Math Waldorf uses circles throughout their years in math, from an exploration of them in Year 1 with the Quality of Numbers…
Gerrymandering Exercise
An Activity from our US Constitution Block As part of our US history this year, we did a short block on the US Constitution. Listening to the book that I…
Teaching Foreign Language
What we’ve used and what it looked like for us over the years When I talked about finding your baseline in Thinking about Time in your Homeschool, one of our…
Conventional Math Check List
Here is the checklist for math for conventional math education based on the book Home Learning Year by Year. I’ve added a couple of things that I felt were missing, but…
Window Stars from Squares
A Wonderful Way to Brighten your Waldor-ish Homeschool Space There is something about window star transparencies that bring me such joy. One of the moments of peace for me when…
Spring Chalkboard Drawing
And a Few Things I’ve Learned about Art in our Waldorf-inspired Homeschooling Journey A couple of years ago when we did our Botany block, I did a chalk drawing that…
Truchet Blocks
Making Blocks to Play Math I am an affiliate of WoodPeckers Crafts. How did this happen? Early in my blogging days sharing about our homeschool journey, I wrote a post…
Teaching Stats and Graphs
Using Nature Study to Teach Math I don’t think it will come as a surprise to you, but Nature Study is one of my favorite ways to teach basic stats,…
Nesting Shapes
We have used these nesting shapes at different times during the years. With Quality of Numbers, each shape corresponds with a number which happens to be the number of sides that…
Decomposition and Recomposition of Numbers
How Strengthening Number Bonds Helps Strengthen our Math Skills Decomposition and recomposition may be the most important aspect of elementary level math. It is the ability to break down a…