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…
Tag: Homeschooling lifestyle
Teaching Permutation and the Factorial
Cultivating Systematic Critical Thinking Permutations and combinations are part of probability and s… 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 you are…
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 we studied the collections of baskets she had made. Oak baskets. Pine Needle baskets. Simple baskets. More complex baskets. “There’s a different between a basket…
Reading Comprehension – Close Reading
How I Teach It Explicitly and Then Use the Process Integrated in What We Are Studying. Being able to… 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…
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 circles from the book Drawing Circle Images to use tools from the science of learning to review material we’ve learned earlier in the year. The…
Vedic Multiplication
Recently I had someone ask me if Vedic Multiplication, that is taught with my guide in year 3 of Mul… 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…
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 blast came down causing a snow and ice storm across the Southern US, January 2025 of this post. Here are some photos of our area.
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 we did in elementary school. This was a short three-week block. For this post, I’m going to show you how I scaled the entire block…
Quarterly Reflection
Looking at homeschooling so far this year and setting goals for the future. One thing that I’m addi… 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…
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 for last. I consistently over plan and so that means we end up doing the best for the first block of the year. That’s what…
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 of Play. The Playful Math Carnival is a monthly collection of math fun: tips, games, activities and more. Denise Gaskin’s from Let’s Play Math founded…
A Main Lesson Page
Where Everything that You Work on in your Homeschooling Comes Together I’ve heard a lot of people de… 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…
A Look at Division
From Introducing Division, to Long Division, to the Fractions and Factoring This week we are looking… 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/ ….
Teaching Foreign Language
What we’ve used and what it looked like for us over the years When I talked about finding your basel… 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…
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 had a number of trees, a stream, and plants. Most of the drawing was from imagination and had little of the species that we see…
Nesting Shapes
We have used these nesting shapes at different times during the years. With Quality of Numbers,… 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…
Choosing a Microscope for Your Homeschool
Magnification, Resolution, Lenses – We’re Going to Chat about it All. Hello there, Friend, Let’s talk Microscopes! This is a question that I get quite regularly, especially when there is any story or picture that has us doing microscope work. The question usually is, “Do you like your microscope? Would you recommend it?” The short answer…
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)…
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…
Waldorf Wet-on-Wet Painting Supplies and Resources
Wet-on-Wet paintings is one of my favorite aspects of Waldorf art. I love the exploration of color theory by play. The release of the expectation of having any kind of a real product combined with meditative nature really appeals to me. I enjoy the emergence of the form from the color. Even with all this,…
Sophomore Year in Review
Whew! High school has been a whirlwind for us, but homeschooling high school is definitely doable. I just have to mentally prepare myself by realizing that there will be lots of changes through the years. He shifted gears midway through the academic year, which I talk about in the video. We used a variety of…
Fourth Grade Year in Review
This was such a fun video to make. I had just finished looking through the kids portfolios in preparation for their annual evaluation, and then looked through photographs of the year to add to the video. Looking back at the year allows for me to see how much we have accomplished in the last year….
How Homeschooling is Different than the Brick and Mortar School
My father-in-law, a retired high school science teacher, sat across from me in our living room at their last visit discussing all things education. If you’ve followed me for a while, you’ll know I love to talk homeschool. It was a fun and lively conversation, mostly about teaching science, when the topic of discussion turned…
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…
Homeschool Planning for my Daughter’s Year 4 Journey
We start homeschooling again in not quite two weeks. I finally settled down and finalized with a framework for our year will look like. I say framework, because in homeschooling things change, and it’s important to be adaptable. In the video below I go over the blocks we will be doing and why I scheduled…
Schooling at Home thru the Covid-19 Pandemic
Homeschooling is not school at home. It has a totally different look and feel to it. I think at a time like this we probably have enough stress, that to try to replicate school at home right now would be far too much. But I do have some ideas that can promote, encourage, and continue…
Slowing down for the Winter Season
When September rolls around each year, I have a sense of anticipation. The long hot summer days of Florida have started to wear on all of us. We’ve retreated into the recesses of our air-conditioned home to escape the bugs and humidity. So when September hints at the possibility of cooler weather, which is actually…
Activity Advent Calendar
I want to share our favorite seasonal family tradition with you – our advent calendar. It’s far from the typical advent calendar where you open a window and have a piece of chocolate. These little envelopes are filled with family connection, love, sharing, and adventure. My family loves them, even our teenager. They can’t wait…
Seasonal Traditions
This time of year holds so many family traditions for us that make my heart grow warm at the start of the fall. I came to realize recently that these traditions serve as guide posts and memories for my children. I hope they seed a deep core of being cherished that guides through rough patches…