Memorizing the Multiplication Tables

Hello There! Welcome to The Beauty of Play. This post is for my subscription memberships. I currently have two: One for all things homeschooling and another for all things math.  If you are interested, you can sign up for my newsletter HERE where I will let you know when the next enrollment period becomes open….

Unschooling for the Summer

Repost: This post was from last year. As my children become older, they have their own projects and their own interests. I try to facilitate their interests as much as possible. My high schooler has a job now, and is pursuing his interest in drones and videography. He rarely participates in our read aloud. My…

My Favorite Educational Apps

The homeschool world abounds with opinions on electronics. Some think that electronics should be limited, while others think that electronics should be embraced.  My family falls somewhere in between. We do limit our screen time at my house to encourage and promote outdoor  (and indoor) play, but I do use them for educational purposes occasionally, especially on…

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 – Late 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. These are my favorite games suitable for late elementary. I really like to have games that cover a range of…

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…

Educational Games: Preschool

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’ve found ourselves needing a little more family interaction lately in place of all our separate screen time during this…

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.

Master Gallery-Exposure to Impressionism

I try to pair music, art, and literature with history. The reasoning is that perhaps this pairing will give them a reference, a framework, if you will, to how the art developed and existed in context. That is my hope anyway.  A mother can dream. In history this session we studied Story of the World…