Make Your Own Book: Lift-the-Flap Spring Colors

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This month’s Story Corner Blog Hop is about Spring, and while I have a huge number of favorite spring books I could share about (I may in the coming weeks), the book I kept coming back to is one that my daughter has recently fallen in love with: Lift-the-Flap Colors.
Because spring is simply packed full of new colors, this seemed the perfect book to keep my daughter interested in a Springy activity. We decided to make our own Lift-the-Flap book, but this time with the spring colors we see!After reading a delightful lift-the-flap book, my toddler wanted to make her own lift-the-flap book! Continue reading →

Egg Carton ABC Penny Drop (Workbox Wednesday)

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201504 egg carton abcs
My son’s Math and Science Club teacher through the park district came to class with a pile of amazingly large egg cartons recently. They played a math game, but my daughter and I used a blank one to make an ABC Penny Drop game.
All we needed was the egg carton, a marker, and a handful of pennies. Strawberry had a ton of fun dropping or throwing the pennies at the egg carton and then delightedly telling me what letter she had landed on.
We also used some ABC flashcards to match the letter we hit to the letters of the alphabet. She was delighted whenever we landed on a letter we had not yet landed on! Continue reading →

Three Things My Three-Year-Old Teaches Me

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Three Things My 3-Year-Old Teaches MeMy little Strawberry-girl turned three two months ago, and the fact that it has taken me so long to get this post written is a testament to how crazy life is with her around. The truth be told, I would not have it any other way. Strawberry keeps me on my toes but she makes each moment of the day a delight. Here are three simple things my three-year-old teaches me about life. Continue reading →

A Workbox for a Big Kid (Workbox Wednesday)

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A Workbox for a Big KidMy toddler is ill today, so I thought I’d focus on how I organize my older child’s daily work in a workbox instead of the little ones!
Raisin is in second grade this year. This is a difficult grade for me to get my mind around, simply because I know what he is capable of doing independently, but he does not always approach school with the confidence I know he can. He still needs parent guidance in getting all daily goals finished before the day is over! Thus, this year has still been parent intensive, more so than I would have liked. I need to be realistic, though: it is still second grade! Continue reading →

Dinner is Art Class with a Scribble Tablecloth

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It was a tired night for me. The kids were cranky, but we still had dinner to go before I could send them to bed! To make matters worse, it was a leftovers night (spaghetti) and I knew that my kids would whine about that too. My husband would not be home for quite some time.
It was up to me to change the mood of the evening. It was up to me to not go crazy as I did so.
It’s a good thing I have been reading The Giant Book of Creativity for Kids. I don’t see myself as a very creative person, but the author of the book certainly is. On a whim, I took up Bobbi Conner’s brief suggestion: I unrolled butcher paper on the table and grabbed some crayons. This was our tablecloth for the night.
1503scribble-tablecloth
Continue reading →

Integrating STEM into Our Elementary Homeschool

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201502stem-integration-BRLThe middle of the school year is the perfect time for evaluating how the curricula choices have been going and tweak the schedule.
This month, I finally accepted two things that I’ve been fighting against.
First, Writing With Ease Level 2 was not working for Raisin. He hated it. The “listen to a passage” portion was boring. The copywork was tedious. And although he seemed somewhat interested in the books the quotations were from, he was bored with all the work.
Secondly, my husband reiterated again to me that he wants me to do more with S.T.E.M. subjects: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Now, I am not a science and math type of person. At least, those subject were always the most difficult for me in school. I was not even sure I could label what engineering really is. So I must insist that I still am not a STEM person.
That said, I have found that integrating STEM more fully in to our school work is not as hard as I was afraid of! Continue reading →

Toddler Busy Box Organization (Workbox Wednesday)

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201502toddler busybox organization
If there is one thing parents know about toddlers, it is that they have a short attention span. They are unpredictable, too, so if you are headed somewhere and you want to keep them busy, it is best to have a number of options for them to choose from.
Busy boxes for toddlers, then, need to have a variety of different options. If you are taking them with you, it also must be easily portable! Here are some of the things I do to keep organized when preparing a busy box for my toddler. Continue reading →

ABC Peg People Busy Bag

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peg people2I love how I get great ideas from Pinterest and from great blogging moms who have fantastic ideas. Other moms have been there before and have great ideas and words of wisdom to share. Making letter people is one idea I found that I simply love! When I stumbled upon No Time for Flash Cards‘ post about Alphabet Peg Dolls, I knew ABC peg people were something my daughter would love to play with, especially as she begins to learn her letters. Continue reading →