This time of year always has me feeling nostalgic. Earlier this week, a friend told me that she wanted to buy her daughter some books for Christmas and asked me what my kids’ favorite books were when they were 2. I couldn’t help but start thinking of those magical memories from reading to my…
TIME TO LET GO
This weekend, we said goodbye to our 12 passenger van. It is another extremely bittersweet moment. I still remember the excitement when we first got it, almost 8 years ago. I had my own 4 children and 3 others that were staying with us, plus my in-home daycare. Additionally, my mom generally joined us for…
TO PLAN OR NOT TO PLAN, THAT IS THE QUESTION
If you would have asked me at the beginning of my homeschool journey if I would ever be the “planner” type of parent, my answer would have been an emphatic “NO!” I had my second child, my oldest son, 10 days before my firstborn turned 3. This started an interesting chapter for us. I was…
Christmas Kitchen Fun
Bringing my children into the kitchen with me was born more out of necessity than desire. I needed to cook/bake/clean. I was home with a baby. Thus it began. I never went into the kitchen alone. At first, I’d bring the baby in her little bouncy seat. Then it was a saucer. I even went…
Those Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
I am not quite sure the reasoning, but it seems that when strangers find out that any one of my children is homeschooled, they always ask them how they like it, and wouldn’t they rather go to school? With my oldest now being 21, I’ve been listening to my children answer these questions for what…
MY FAMILY’S FAVORITE GAMES
I’ve always believed that children learn best through hands-on experiences.We were lucky because our local mall had a board game store, and would set up tables where you could go and try out games. They even offered tutorials on how to play certain games. My kids were young at the time and a lot of…
MIXING UP SOME FUN!
This time of year can sometimes be overwhelming and full of nonstop busyness. Taking a break from the chaos and spending some time getting your hands dirty with your child can be a perfect respite. Some ideas to try: MAKE SLIME 1 5oz bottle of glue1 cup water1 tspn Borax1 tbspn water There are…
GETTING MESSY WITH LITTLE ONES
If you talk about painting or art with little ones, the images that often come to mind can be summed up with the words: NOT WORTH IT! But, I want to say that, although the mess part can be stressful, it is worth it. The advantages to introducing art into the lives of our little…
HEART AT HOME
Up until my daughter was 6, and my boys 3 & 1 ½, the main thing we did during the days, was go to the library a couple times a week for storytime. Then I found out about a homeschool gym class offered at the YMCA once a week and we signed up. Slowly, we…
FLAT SCREEN KILLED THE BOX TV
We did some rearranging of furniture and decluttering today. In doing so, we found 2 box tvs that we definitely no longer need/want. We set them in the middle of the living room, dusting them off and talking about what we could do with them. My oldest, now 21, looks at them wistfully…
