Recently, my son and I began a unit study on chameleons. Of course, a large component of studying chameleons is learning about their special characteristics, including, but not limited to their ability to change colors. I asked my son why he thought chameleons would change colors. His answer was “to try to fit in”. Long…
APPLE KITCHEN FUN
My family just loves apples. As soon as the weather starts to chill, we start making plans to get to different area apple orchards as often as possible. Besides the adventure of picking our own apples, we start dreaming up some apple kitchen fun. Each year is a little different. Here are some of our…
APPLES
Every September, I like to add in a short unit study on apples. I do this to take advantage of all the fun apple orchards in my area that we love to visit as a family. Some of my favorite apple activities include:Fingerplay/felt board song:WAY UP HIGH IN THE APPLE TREE Way up high in…
KEEPING BABY AND TODDLER BUSY
Keeping the baby and toddler busy while trying to work with the older children can be a frustrating challenge.There were days where I felt like there was nothing I could do with my older children because the youngest ones were so time-consuming.I’m going to share with you some of the different ways I’ve found through…
SUMMER JOBS
This summer was a different one for me with the introduction of summer jobs. I’ve run an in-home daycare for almost 10 years now, and my older children have always been extremely hands-on and involved. My children have helped to come up with weekly themes, activities, fun meals and art/craft projects to go with each…
RAISING BILINGUAL CHILDREN
When I was pregnant with my first child, friends and family continually asked me if my child would be bilingual.My husband’s first language is Spanish and mine is English. At first, I wasn’t sure what we should do. I began to do some research into the advantages of raising bilingual children. The research poignantly pointed…
SUMMER BOREDOM BUSTERS
Let’s face it, once the heat and humidity settle in, and the novelty of being home for the summer wears off, it doesn’t take long to hear those dreaded words I’M BORED Here are some of my go-to SUMMER BOREDOM BUSTERS: Jump roping Bubbles Sidewalk chalk Water balloons Backyard sprinklers Balloons Sketchbooks & colored pencils…
SAND PLAY
Sand play has so many benefits for children, and what better season to get out and take advantage of these benefits than in summer!? The excitement when I tell the children we’re heading to the beach for the day is palpable. When my children were very young, these little outings proved extremely stressful. The need…
FIREFLIES
Fireflies are fascinating little creatures. Growing up in Chicago suburbs, catching fireflies(or lightning bugs as we called them) was a summer tradition. We’d often collect jars during the days and spend our evenings catching fireflies and filling the jars with them. We’d go about playing our nightly games.Here’s my blog post that talks about a…
SUMMER READING CHALLENGE
I love books!I always have and I suspect I always will. While I was pregnant with my first child, I scoured garage sales, thrift stores, and used bookstores to build a library for her.I collected classics, books that I’d loved as a child, silly books, beautiful picture books, you name it, I had collected some.I…
