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Learning with Themes Activity Pack for Early Learning {video}

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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 theme-focused approach In fact, I think it …

Chinese New Year Unit Study Activities {2021}

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The Chinese New Year is the celebration of the new year based on the traditional Chinese calendar. The date moves each year. In 2021, it is on February 12 and is called The Year of the Ox. I thought it would be fun to put together a collection of Chinese New Year activities you can …

How Visual-Spatial Children Learn to Read (Hint: It’s not phonics!)

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There are two broad camps regarding teaching children to read – whole language and phonics. When I went through my teacher education program, I was exposed to both teaching phonics and using whole language, but whole language was definitely the thing. If you aren’t familiar with the term, whole language means that children learn words …

Scarecrow Themed Unit Study Activities

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Scarecrows are a fun and colorful part of fall. Children of all ages will enjoy a special scarecrow unit study featuring books, activities, writing prompts, and printables related to scarecrows. If unit studies are new to you, check out my post on How to Create a Unit Study. In order to help make your planning …

Online Reading Instruction for Homeschoolers

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I’ve heard many homeschoolers mention over the years how much their kids love Reading Eggs, but for some reason we never used it. When Caroline and I had the opportunity to try it out, we were interested since we always like looking for fun ways to learn on the computer! (Truth be told, I’m not …

Creative Learning Ideas for Miss Suzy

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Miss Suzy by Miriam Young and pictures by Arnold Lobel is the delightful story of a little gray squirrel who lives “in the tip, tip, top of a tall oak tree.” First published by Parents’ Magazine Press in 1964, this classic book has been enjoyed by generations of children. It teaches important themes such as …

Free School Year Countdown Calendar Printable

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Caroline and I decided to make a school year countdown calendar printable to help her keep track of how many days of school she’s completed. Each day she can cross off a number. I think this will be a great visual reminder of what we’ve accomplished and how much we still need to do. Even …

How to Start Homeschooling a Kindergartener

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Are you thinking about homeschooling your kindergartener? Congratulations! Homeschooling can be a very rewarding experience. So what do you need to know about how to start homeschooling a kindergartener? Homeschooling a Kindergartener If you feel overwhelmed or even a bit anxious, that is totally okay! It’s normal to feel a bit overwhelmed when taking on …

100 Early Elementary Printables You Don’t Want to Miss

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In order to assemble this collection of free and paid printables, I asked some of my online friends to share their best and favorite early elementary printables with me. I also spent several hours looking online to find great resources. Below you will find a selection of both free and paid worksheets, printables, activities, mini-books, …

100 Classic Children’s Picture Books

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Snuggling up to read some of the classic children’s picture books with a small child is truly one of life’s simple pleasures. Exploring a world full of adventure, kindness, courage, and truth broadens her understanding of life itself. As a former elementary school teacher and ardent picture book lover, I already had a large collection …

Sticker Dolly Dressing – Sticker Books as Learning Tools

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I purchased Sticker Dolly Dressing Around the World probably almost a year ago. It sat on the shelf until it seemed like the “right” time to get it out and use it with Caroline. This fall was the right time and so we’ve been enjoying it! Using Sticker Books for Learning One of the things …

Using a KWL in Your Homeschool

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I think the KWL chart is one of the most helpful yet underutilized tools a homeschool parent can use. I rarely see them mentioned in homeschool publications and I think people are missing out. I recently read on a blog of a mom’s surprise when she discovered something her daughter didn’t know that she thought …

Apple Farmer Annie Learning Ideas

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The fall book Apple Farmer Annie by Monica Wellington is the delightful story of Annie, a young woman who owns an apple farm and sells her products at the farmer’s market in the city. The book has bright, colorful illustrations that appeal to younger children as well as simple text making it an ideal read …

Fall Unit Ideas, Crafts, and Books for Kindergarten and First Grade

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Enjoy fall with your kindergarten and first grade children with this collection of simple and easy-to-implement fall-themed ideas. These autumn lesson ideas and read aloud suggestions will work well in September and October with a wide variety of fall-focused units. Sorting Nuts, Leaves, and Pine Cones Have students collect a variety of nuts, leaves, and …

ABC Mouse Website for Toddlers, Preschool, Kindergarten, and First Grade

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Perhaps the best website I’ve used with Caroline is ABC Mouse. It is by subscription, but worth every penny in my opinion. There are two things that set ABC Mouse apart from other learning websites. The first is the high quality of the site in general. The graphics and production level are far superior to …

The Importance of Play for Small Children

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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 …

Teaching Our Spirited, Active Child to Read

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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 …

Homemade Weather Monitoring Station

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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 …