Kids like control. Heck, people like control. We like to be in control and to have a semblance of control over our lives. Semblance, of course, being the key word. We don’t actually have to have control over our lives as long as we feel like we have at least some control. The same is…
We got one of those amazing spy kits last year and there were a lot of fun activities in it for breaking codes and whatnot. I noticed a few that they came back to over and over and the red cellophane thing was one of them. It was almost like magic! So of course I…
You know that moment when you’ve spent ages teaching something and your kid gets it? You can see it ‘click’ in their eyes? Possibly the best moments, ever. I absolutely love those moments and they’re one part of what makes homeschooling so worth it to me. (I’d be willing to bet that teachers know that…
Pokemon is awesome and multiplication facts stink, right? That’s pretty much what Baloo thinks, but he’s 9… Well, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard of Pokemon Go. We immediately jumped on and joined the game and we are having a blast. Now, you guys know me, I will take advantage of any…
My kids wiggle. They’re just wiggly. Even at nearly 10, Baloo wiggles. They just want to be moving! So I figure I can fight it and somehow force them to be still (which would be impossible) or I can work with it. Certain subjects get more wiggles than others and math tends to be a…
I love playing board games with the boys and I hate it at the same time. On the one hand, it’s great for learning how to take turns, losing to lose, learning to win, and it’s great family time. On the other hand, it’s heartbreaking to watch your kid getting more and more frustrated by…
I’m sure I don’t have the only kids that will talk your ear off about Minecraft, right? Baloo (nearly 10) and I just went on an errand that took about an hour total and I swear he did not take a breath the entire time. His entire stream of thoughts just came pouring out and…
Making math real to kids is one of the best ways for them to actually grasp the material. Math can be very abstract and many kids just don’t grasp that as easily. Math manipulatives make math so much more concrete and real. The easiest way I’ve found to make it real is use real objects. …
We have a habit when we go on road trips to buy a bunch of new toys and activity booklets in hopes that they will be exciting enough that we can make it through the road trip. Granted, it works pretty well. I actually hide the new things until we hit the first breaking point. …
Learning should be fun. Kids should have fun learning. Learning happens best when it is fun. It all sounds good, right? But why? Why should learning be fun? And what does “fun” entail? I’m constantly talking about making learning fun but my real goal is teaching kids how to learn. But the catch is, if…
Sometimes it can be hard to get kids to go along with an activity that seems educational, even if it is a fun activity at it’s core. However, I’ve learned, when LEGO® Bricks are involved, they’re game. Every.single.time. So when I saw a book for Learning with LEGO®, I knew it would be awesome. This…
We are well into summer which means the regular kind of cool activities are no longer cutting it. I’m having to up my game. A few years ago I did a bunch of activities featuring water and I thought I wanted to do more like that. Well, the activity morphed beyond water play, but it…