From when my second child was a toddler till today, when she is a kindergartner and my third child is a toddler, I keep them busy by setting up busy boxes (also called busy bags or workboxes). With fall comes apple picking season for us. The activities and books below are perfect for an apple themed busy box!
I teach a class at our co-op, and my son is present for one or two other classes as well. This means that my two daughters get to “hang out” a lot each week, sometimes with a different adult to watch her.

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Tag Archives: teaching
A Homeschool Mom Schedule is Not for Wimps
“It’s morning, Mommy!”
As usual, I start the day with my 4-year-old daughter’s cheerful greeting. After a hug and a kiss, she runs off to get ready for the day and “make her bed,” and I hop in the shower. Since my homeschool day with almost 9-year-old, 4-year-old, and almost 1-year-old kids (Raisin, Strawberry, and Kitty) is about to begin, it’s best I squeeze in time to get myself ready before I face the day running. My homeschool mom schedule is not for wimps.
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4 Homeschooling Lessons I Learn the Hard Way
I’ve recently begun my fourth year of homeschool, and yet, I find myself learning the same lessons every year. Of course, every homeschooling family is different. You may find some of the things that never work for me do work for you.
Nevertheless, I think I may not be alone in having to relearn these lessons frequently. Some day maybe I’ll learn! Continue reading
Teaching as Christ Teaches
In Chapter Two of Stephanie Dibb Sorensen’s book Covenant Motherhood: Reflecting the Role of Christ in Our Lives, Sister Sorensen talks about how as mothers, we regularly emulate Jesus Christ as we teach our children.
Sister Sorenson knows
Teaching is not easy. Mother days are often busy and noisy and demanding. Sometimes we don’t even know we are teaching. One thing mothers can learn from the example of Jesus Christ is that He did not shy away from opportunities to teach. He recognized teaching moments and open His mouth. (page 14)
Sister Sorensen is not a home schooling mother, but I was really impressed by all the different opportunities she mentions that we can use as teaching opportunities: in the line at the super market, in crowds, at the dinner table, driving places, and on and on. As mothers we have the same opportunity to teach our kids. (Even when we’re not home schooling!)
One of the greatest things I got out of Sister Sorensen’s chapter is the reminder that all of these things work together. We will be teaching our kids, even if we don’t feel like we are. Continue reading
Making an Unfinished Basement into a Homeschool Room
It has taken many months, and it’s still not a polished product, but I feel really good starting our next school year with our new basement homeschool room!
We have a large home, with four bedrooms. Because we will soon have three children and my husband frequently works from home and needs a private office, we cannot afford an upstairs room for school work. In the past, we’ve been moving around: from the kitchen to the couch, to the play room. But we need a space to store all of the supplies and resources, as well as a place to do school work.
I struggled last year, as my toddler constantly wanted attention in the play room (which is a small semi-finished carpeted area in the basement) and my son wanted help with school work while he sat at a desk. It did not work to have him in the same room as the playing toddler!
In January, we began the transition in to making our unfinished “storage” area of the basement into a school room. Here are some preliminaries to keep in mind if you too want to have school in an unfinished concrete-floor basement. I also share some of the ways I’ve organized the area! Continue reading
A Workbox for a Big Kid (Workbox Wednesday)
My 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
Second Grade Curricula
It’s hard to believe, but I’m ready to share my curricula for my son’s grade year. My daughter, at age 2, is going to be enjoying learning too, but I don’t have anything formal for her this year! From ancient and medieval history to Logic of English, here’s what we will be doing this year.
Listening to God’s Will as a Parent
Many of my educational philosophies are secular, and especially on this blog, I share learning ideas that would work for people of all faiths. But it is true that I chose to homeschool initially because God asked me too!
Today I’m blogging on All Done Monkey for her Parenting and Faith series. Here’s how I start my post:
When Leanna asked how our faith influences our parenting, I could not help but recognize that my own understanding of my role as a mother came as a direct result of my faith.
I am not naturally a patient person. When my son entered the difficult toddler age, I found myself at my wits end most days. My husband frequently traveled, and my son stopped napping, so I felt there was never a respite from motherhood!
I could not wait for him to go off to school so I would not be frustrated all day long.
But my perspective changed when he was four. This was when I was guided in a completely different direction as a mother. I let myself listen to God’s will.
Read more of Listening to God’s Will as a Parent at All Done Monkey!
Do you feel like you homeschool for similar reasons?
Planning for Next Year: 2013-2014 First Grade Curriculum
I mentioned two weeks ago that I have loved embracing unschooling this summer. Almost as soon as I said that, I started craving schedule and boxes to check mark as finished. But I know I don’t really want that! I still want to let me my son’s summer be as it is … and I want to embrace unschooling much more this school year!
That said, I’m ready to look forward to the next year. Here are some of the resources we’ll be using for Raisin’s first grade year. It’s hard to believe that if we were going to send him to public school he’d only now be going into kindergarten! With that in mind, I’m not in a hurry to “finish” curriculum. We’ll just go at his pace.

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Thank You for Homeschooling
Yesterday morning, I babysat for two of my friend’s children, her baby and her kindergartner, while she helped her daughter’s preschool class. Raisin recently read a Magic Tree House book about Pompeii, and we’re doing a brief book report on it in two weeks for a Ancient Rome/Italy day at co-op. So I decided to let Raisin and his friend make a play dough volcano together. Continue reading
