Middle School → Royal Baloo

How to Make a Home Writing Center for Kids

ByErin June 28, 2023January 31, 2024

In today’s fast-paced digital world, fostering a love for writing in children has become more important than ever. A home writing center can provide a comfortable and inspiring space where children can explore their creativity, improve their language skills, and develop a lifelong love for writing. In this blog post, we’ll guide you through the…

Celebrate Pi Day by Writing in Pi-Lish

ByErin March 3, 2023November 26, 2023

I love Pi Day. In fact, it’s one of my favorites holidays. And I love finding more and more activities to incorporate into our Pi Day festivities. When I first heard about Pi-Lish I got so excited and knew I had to find a way to incorporate it into our Pi Day celebrations. Looking for…

Elections Printable Game for Kids

ByErin October 8, 2020October 8, 2020

It’s funny – it feels like just yesterday when I was trying to teach my kids about elections and how they work. But it’s actually been 4 years since that was a real focus of ours. Now, they’re somehow 4 years older and ready to delve even deeper into elections. I created this game to…

Make a Spectrometer for Chemistry

ByErin October 21, 2019January 2, 2020

Imagine a world in which fire, air, water, and earth were considered ‘the elements’. A world in which we didn’t know about oxygen or the role it plays. When people scoffed at the idea of atoms or tiny things you couldn’t see. Sounds much different than what we know and see today, right? But this…

Fourth and Fifth Grade | History | Middle School | Uncategorized

How to Teach the Real Story of Columbus

ByErin October 7, 2019January 2, 2020

I was an adult when I first learned the real story of Columbus and it was a bit devastating to me. Not only did I grow up thinking this guy was a hero but he was actually a really terrible person. Even if we give him a pass and say he was a product of…

Wizards Dueling – a Harry Potter Game

ByErin April 10, 2019March 27, 2020

Last year I had the joy of teaching a Harry Potter class at our homeschool co-op. It was so much fun to delve into the world of Harry Potter every week and share it with some young Potterheads. One of the favorite activities was the Harry Potter style Wizard’s Dueling Game that we invented. How…

Harry Potter Transfiguration Class with Coloring Changing Mugs

ByErin October 19, 2018January 2, 2020

No Harry Potter class would be complete without transfiguration, right? Let’s not kid ourselves though. It’s hard for muggles to really learn transfiguration. No matter how many times I try to turn beetles into buttons, I still have just beetles. It’s not like potions where you can make a love potion for everyone! Or…

Learn All About Cells with Slime

ByErin October 4, 2018January 2, 2020

My kids weren’t really interested in learning about cells until I said slime. Okay, it was a fairly cheap trick since I knew they loved slime. But I also knew that slime would be the perfect way to learn about cells. I can’t say I’ve ever touched cytoplasm but it sounds very slime-like to me….

Kingdom of Kush Secular History Book List

ByErin September 18, 2018January 2, 2020

Can I confess something real quick? I didn’t know about the Kingdom of Kush until I started really looking into history on my own. Phew, I feel much better. Well, actually, I don’t feel better at all. Because I know I am not alone. The Kingdom of Kush, or Ancient Nubia, is possibly one…

Prehistory Living Book List – A Secular Historical Fiction List

ByErin September 29, 2017January 2, 2020

I have been working diligently on a literature-based, hands-on secular history curriculum. At its core are great books that we can enjoy as a family. It has taken me so much time to find these books and I want to make sure everyone can easily find great lists of books. **If there is a book…

Harry Potter Arithmancy – Math and Logic Fun

ByErin June 5, 2017April 21, 2020

Did anyone else ever notice that Harry never had to do math? Hermione chose to take arithmancy because…well why not? But no math was compulsory. No wonder my kids think Hogwarts is such an awesome school. But I wanted to get some math involved in our HP school so, sorry kids. But at least it’s…

Pi Day Fun Math Game for All Ages

ByErin February 27, 2017February 15, 2023

Pi Day is approaching. Not Pie day…Pi Day. Although, if you want to celebrate Pi day with Pie, I don’t think anyone is going to stop you. I suggest a good apple pie, in fact. Anyway, Pi Day is March 14th. Why? Because March 14 is 3/14 which is oddly similar to 3.14, which are…