Overview of Factoring 

An Exploration to its Relationship to Multiplication and Division This week I’m touching on fact… 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…

Spinning with a Drop Spindle

Early Colonial Crafts for our Homeschool Handcrafts for our US History We’ve just started our first history block of the year for US History. The block will cover early colonialization. To go along with this block, I’ve chosen a few early colonial skills needed to serve as our handcrafts. The first one is spinning fiber….

The Silly Sentence Game

My Favorite Way to Play with Grammar and Language in our Homeschooling I just want to say that I… 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…

Gattegno’s Place Value

Making a Place in Homeschool Math for Place Value Gattegno’s chart is an intuitive way to look a… 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…

Language Arts Overview

An Overview of our Language Arts through the years of our Homeschooling Journey There is so much… 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 Monopoly for Math

The Different Ways that You Can Use the Game Monopoly to Get in a Little Math Practice in your Home… 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…

Using Monopoly for Math

The Different Ways that You Can Use the Game Monopoly to Get in a Little Math Practice in your Home… 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…

Sewing a Pumpkin Patch

A Simple Hand Sewing Project for your Homeschool Read Alouds or Lessons Handcrafts have been… 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…

Healing Math Trauma

Including Non-Conventional Math Activities as Part or All of your Homeschooling Math Curriculum … 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…

Putting together a History Block

My Process when Composing a Waldorf-style History Block – hint, we use a lot of Charlotte Mason too… 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…

Rooibos Rainbow Tea Activity

A sensory math activity for homeschooling. Not only is making tea a wonderful sensory activit… 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…

Modeling with Beeswax

Some Tips, Tricks, and Techniques in using Beeswax Modeling in your Homeschool Beeswax model… 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…

Keeping a Math Journal

A Look inside our Math Journals from 4th-6th Grades Introduction Keeping a math journal can b… 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/ ….

Keeping a Portfolio

A Sampling of our Homeschooling Portfolios through the Years: from Early Elementary through High Sc… 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…

Putting Together my Planner for the Coming Year

An Inside look into my previous planners from 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade, and a look at our past Middl… 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…

Math Circles

How the Waldorf Pedagogy uses Circles in their Math Waldorf uses circles throughout their ye… 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…

Window Stars from Squares

There is something about window star transparencies that bring me such joy. One of the moments of p… 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…

Window Star Math

Window stars are one of my favorites, because of their beauty. I hardly ever use them for math, but… 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 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…

Developing Number Sense for Fractions

Adding Fraction for Game Points in our Homeschooling We’ve been playing a RightStart matching game for percentages and fractional equivalencies. The way that we have been calculating our scores for this game has been by adding all the fractions from the pairs. There are many activities that I have in my math curricula Fractions Year…

Botany: Rate of Photosynthesis Experiment

In the experiment, the rate of photosynthesis is explored. This is a fun experiment, because the first time a little leaf disc rises to the surface there is so much excitement. What is being observed is the rate of photosynthesis determined by how much oxygen is being produced. When enough oxygen has been produced in…

Grade 5 Botany: Root Observation Lab

This has been one of most cool projects of our botany block. In this lab, we used a polymer from Miracle Grow, promoted as water crystals, as a germination and growth medium. These polymers are marketed at hydration crystals that help keep soil from getting too moist or too dry. They do this because they…

Grade 5 Freehand Waldorf Geometry: Ellipse Exercise

We’ve been working on our freehand Waldorf Geometry block the last couple of weeks. Check my Geometry highlights on Instagram  for more.  We are using pushpins as string to first draw a circle from the center, and then moving the focus outward from the circle to see the changes in the circle.  It’s a cool exercise just by…

Artist of the 1800’s and 1900’s

We do not usually do artist study separate from our regular studies. With our intertwining of Charlotte Mason (CM) and Waldorf, artist study is usually incorporated into a short CM-style lessons themed to accommodate our main lesson. Since we do history chronologically, this means most of our artists have reflected what we were studying in…

Grade 5 Botany: Dissection of a Flower

One of the activities that we did last week for our botany block was to dissect a flower and find all its parts. We looked at some of those parts under the microscope. As it was spring here in North Florida, we took a little walk around our yard and picked some flowers. Most of…

Botany (Grade 5): Celery Stalk Demonstration of the Vascular System

Matching scientific demonstrations accurately to the explanation of their concepts is important to me. Science is cool, fascinating, and amazing! But even more amazing is scientific literacy and why these demonstrations work the way that they do. It’s essential to match those concepts with clear, accurate concrete examples.  Dying the leaves of celery or carnations is…