Exploring Density’s Role in our Grade 6 Earth Science Study We’ve done this lab before in her Chemistry Block for G3, but you know how I feel about repeating things – it’s a great idea! Density plays such a big role in the formation of the Earth and of the Earth’s atmosphere. I felt we…
Category: Early Elemenatary
Winter Ice Lanterns
A Tutorial on the Ice Lanterns that We Made during Christmas Break. Winter break from homeschooling this year brought record lows with the historic arctic blast storm. We had three straight days of hard freezes. That’s unheard of in North Florida. It very rarely snows here (maybe once in the 20 years we’ve lived here)…
Making Maple Candy
An Activity for our Native American History and Literature Study – The Anishinaabe Nation As part of our Anishinaabe study under our Native America History and Literature block we attempted making maple syrup candy. It was surprisingly simple and easy to make with only one ingredient – maple syrup. I wanted to use an Anishinaabe elder’s…
Some Favorite Books for Black History Month
I know I’m a little late to the ballgame, but I wanted to add to the wonderful collection of books that I am seeing for Black History Month. Not all of them are historical necessarily, but there are a couple that I just needed to add anyway. These are not affiliate links. I, Matthew Henson…
Making Mushroom Spore Prints
We love to go mushroom hunting. Our mushroom hunts are for spore prints. We do NOT eat our mushrooms. I wish I knew which ‘shrooms were edible and which were not, but alas… Goals! Spore prints are a favorite around here. I do not know how I made it all the way through my college…
“Notice and Wonder” with Cuisenaire Rods for Homeschool Math
Today for math we did one of my favorite activities, though I will admit, it is not always my children’s favorite. My daughter, now 10, build a structure with the Cuisinaire Rods, and then we did a “notice and wonder” activity. The structure that she build for today was a pyramid. I could have guessed…
Wax Resist Naturally Dyed Eggs
Dying eggs is just so gratifying, especially with natural dyes. When my children were young, it was overwhelming to use natural dyes and the best that I could do was a kit. As they have gotten older though, I am able to spend the time making the dyes, usually the night before. This year was…
Renaissance Unit
Renaissance art is some of my favorite art. I don’t know if it’s the depth of color or the intensity of the scenes, but I find it fascinating. The artists that created them are also fascinating. This has been one of our many history units this semester. And just in case you noticed that Shakespeare…
Explorers of the World History Unit
This year in history we have come to the dreaded “Age of Discovery,” which is a misnomer, because all these European explorers really “discovered” nothing at all. These places were already inhabited and well-established, sometimes with populations even greater than any in Europe at the time. A better name for this time period might be…
Homeschool Rhythms and Rituals
It’s afternoon. We’ve just finished lunch and are clearing the table. My daughter goes to get a piece of chocolate, her daily treat after she finishes her lunch. I reach over and give her a hug and look into her eyes. “Are you ready for school?” “Sure.” “Want some tea today?” “Yes, please. Can I…
Using Songs and Music for Homeschooling
“Good Morning, Good Morning, Good Morning to you. Our day is beginning. There’s so much to do. Good Morning, Good Morning, Good Morning to you.” This song was the song that I sang every morning with each of my children when we started our our circle time when they were young. It was a great…
Nurturing a Love of Reading
Learning to read is definitely one of the hallmarks of childhood, and a particularly special on for a homeschooling parent. Not only do you have the joy of a parent watching your child learn to read but also the joy as their teacher. Remembering the point for each of my children reading journey where they…
Games-Early Elementary
THIS IS A 4-PART BLOG SERIES ON GAMES. IT INCLUDES GAMES FOR PRESCHOOLERS, EARLY ELEMENTARY, LATER ELEMENTARY, MIDDLE SCHOOL AND HIGH SCHOOL. THIS POST CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS THAT WILL HELP YOU FIND THE GAME EASILY. We have shifted from our normal structured homeschool style to a more unschooled style of homeschooling for the summer. With…
Golden Age of Islam (Middle Ages) Resources and Activities
Ramadan Mubarak! Though we are not Muslim, we have several friends and followers that are. I am saddened that they have to celebrate their holy month in the middle of the Corona pandemic. In honor of the month of Ramadan I’ve compiled our resources and activities for the Golden Age of Islam Unit that we…
Tree Unit Resources, Games, and Activities
New Blog Post: I’ve just finished a blog post going over the resources, game, and activities for our Tree Unit. This has been such a delightful unit. There is the usual list of games and book with details of our favorites and what each book contains in the post. In addition though, I go into detail about how we incorporated math, geography, writing, poetry, art, and science into the unit with a list of activities. Enjoy and be sure to tell me what you think or what I left out. Go hug a tree today. They are amazing creatures.
Paper-folding Fraction Activity
This is a math series follows our unit for introduction to fractions in grade 3. This is one of several. Look for the others by searching “fractions.” Though we are not completely finished with the number line work, it was Friday and the end of a busy week, so we were both looking for something…
Fractions on a Number Line
This is a math series follows our unit for introduction to fractions in grade 3. This is one of several, and I’m combining several days into one post. This part of the unit all involves number line. Day 3 My intention for our fraction work was to continue with our circles, but it was so…
Fractions-Circles
This is a math series follows our unit for introduction to fractions in grade 3. This is one of several, and I’m combining several days into one post. This part of the unit all involves circles. Day 1 We opened our fractions unit with cutting circles. I precut 8 different colors of circles, 3 of…
Quality of Numbers
I love math. I always have. I think partly because I was able to see the magic of the patterns through the humdrum of algorithms and worksheets that were mundanely fed to us in school. I was lucky in that. So many cannot, and math becomes a tedious bog to drudge through each step…
5 Ways to Liven up your Homeschool Journey
Homeschool feeling bogged down. Here are 5 ideas to help. These techniques will help to solidify the information your children are learning.
A Little Geography with your Valentine Exchange?
For the last few years we’ve participated, and this year hosting, a valentine exchange through social media. You can find exchange groups on Facebook. We’ve used this as a fun geography lesson. We take the valentine stamps and sometimes stickers, cut them out and tape them on our map. We color in the states that…
Patterns in the Multiplication Chart
*A note about the numbers. In this piece to try to keep things clear, when I speak of the multiples or a particular number, I am writing the numeric symbol for the number i.e. “9.” If I am not talking about the number but describing an amount, I am spelling it out i.e. “three…
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”…
10 Tips for Rearing Butterflies in your Classroom
We have so enjoyed rearing butterflies over the years and observing their life cycles. Here are my 10 tips to get started on one for yourself. Of course I’ve listed a couple of activities and lots of our favorite BOOKS! Hope you enjoy an easy read on this Mother’s Day.
An Inspiration in Math for One Small First Grader
With everything there are trade-offs. It’s the same for homeschooling. Sometimes when I am planning I come across an activity or discussion that I think would work so much better in a group dynamic. It doesn’t happen too often, but often enough. Sometime, like with physics for my 13-year-old son this year, I just decide…
Fall Window Cling Tutorial
One of our favorite things to do in the fall is to make window clings to place on our windows for decoration. There is a little bit of wait time involved, but this project is it rather easy one and a lot of fun. The overall project includes making lead lines with black fabric paint….
Native American Inspired Beading Tutorial
I had some requests on instructions for the beadwork that my children did for our Native American studies. This activity can lend itself to a variety of ages. Some things to consider when choosing what materials might be appropriate for your child: The size of the loom. The size of the string and…
What We Are Using for Foreign Language
In this post I talk about what we are using for foreign language and how it works for us.
Using Bowling for Math
We used bowling for math this week. Here’s how we did it.
Using nesting shapes when playing with math
Nesting shapes are a fun, visual way to explore shapes and math. In addition they lend themselves to flexibility of ages and a variety of mathematical concepts. I’ve written a short tutorial in making them. First take a piece of cardstock 8 ½ by 11 and mark 1 inch strips lengthwise. Cut out those…