Simple Living, Homeschooling, Faith, Homemaking, & Books
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Learning with themes is one of my favorite ways to teach because it is so effective. It reaches children where they are and with what interests them. Focusing on themes works well for a variety of homeschooling approaches including: relaxed homeschooling delight-directed homeschooling notebooking unit studies a completely …
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I know some of you will think I am exaggerating, but when Caroline was just over two weeks old I told David she looked bored. And she did. I went out that day and bought a Fisher-Price Rainforest Melodies and Lights Deluxe Gym. She LOVED it. From the time she was tiny, she always wanted to be held and carried around. Not swaddled. She hated …
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Perhaps one of the hardest decisions I've made as a home educating mother was the decision to let Caroline play. Sounds silly? I can imagine it does, especially because I believe in the importance of free play for small children. But it is hard to swim against the cultural tide that is currently obsessed with academics and performance. Even …
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We happened across Wild Kratts a few months ago. We had a DVD of three Zaboomafoo episodes that Caroline received a few years ago with a magazine subscription. It was a bit above her at the time so I put it away. She pulled it out recently and I looked to see if I could order some more from the library. That was when we discovered Wild Kratts. …
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Reading has always been a high priority when it comes to being a mom. Our policy from the time Caroline was old enough to attend to a book at around six months was to always read to her when she asked. This included even if it was inconvenient at the moment. Yes, reading to her was that important. We rarely turned her away or put her off if she …
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I wanted to bring together two topics near and dear to my heart in this one post: spirited children and homeschooling. More specifically, teaching a spirited child to read. (If you aren't familiar with the concept of a spirited child or wonder if you have one, you might want to check out my spirited child page that has lots of resources and …
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David and I are weather geeks. We both wanted to be meteorologists when we were younger and I think Caroline got some of the genes. She found a homemade weather station in a book from the library and was very excited to make it. So I drafted David to do this as a science project with her! Homemade Weather Station We found the weather station in …
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One of the things I enjoy about Caroline is the fact that she is so imaginative and creative. She has a rich imagination that far exceeds anything I ever had as a child. In the Strong-willed Child Or Dreamer? book, I am a doer and she is a dreamer. One of the things that makes life challenging for me is the fact that she is so imaginative and …
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I mentioned in April that we were going to give homeschooling preschool a try for a bit and see how it worked. It has been interesting. Here are some random observations in no particular order. What Hasn't Worked Well - Repetition Caroline does not enjoy doing the same thing or similar things more than a few times. We started out making those …
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We started doing homeschool preschool this week and so far we are off to a good start. Caroline is excited each morning to come down and see what is planned. I have to say that none of these preschool ideas are original to me. I've done a lot of surfing, looking for ideas that I thought would work well for us. I am keeping it pretty low-key to …
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A friend wrote to ask my opinion about a situation she is facing with her oldest child regarding enrolling in young 5's or kindergarten. I suggested I post her note here and solicit the insight and wisdom from other parents who have already walked this path. She writes: We have applied for several charter schools for their young 5's program (just …
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I've been finding interesting reading that has helped me think about the preschool question. My gut tells me not to send Caroline to preschool, but I am also trying to be open to God leading in another direction. She belongs to Him and He has plans for her. So I've been talking, reading, researching, and praying to see if God might lead us in …
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I can officially call LeapFrog Letter Factory a big hit with Caroline. Now that I know she likes it, I'll look into the other related ones as well. Thanks very much for the recommendations! I'll be checking out some of the others soon! I also purchased the Fridge Words Magnetic Word Builder today. We already had the LeapFrog Fridge Phonics …
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I wanted to find some fun hands-on ways for Caroline to interact with counting numbers. I found some ideas on a few different websites and adapted them for our use. Hands-on Counting Numbers This activity was super easy to make! The flowers are from my scrapbooking stash. I wrote on them and the white strip of cardstock with a Sharpie marker. I …
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One of Caroline's favorite activities at the Grand Rapids Children's Museum is the indoor sandbox. So far we haven't purchased an outside sandbox for her, but we may look into that next spring. In the meantime, I wanted to come up with a way she could enjoy an indoor sandbox over the winter since she enjoys it so much. So here is my easy and …
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Several days ago Kat left a comment asking if I would share how I organize Caroline's day, what we are doing with her learning, etc. So, for what it is worth, here is where we are right now with Caroline as a three year old. And this is honesty at its finest. I am motivated. Caroline is not ready. I feel guilty for not doing more structured …
