My kids hate analog clocks. Truly despise. We honestly just don’t even work on that anymore. While I can see it’s importance, the amount they dislike those clocks makes it not worth it. But we were working on calculating how much time has passed, and it’s just easier with these clocks. It’s so much easier…
Royal (7) hit multiplication in our math curriculum and shut down immediately. He thought it was too hard, too early, and he would never get it. I didn’t know someone could have such strong emotions over something they have never tried to do before! He’s even seen Times Tales and picked up some multiplication facts….
For the longest time, 10 Apples Up On Top has been one of Logi-Bear’s favorite books. I have it memorized (and then some. I could have memorized it in another language at this point). All in all, it’s not a bad story. Just very repetitive. I do believe in the importance of repetition in books…
Kids are naturally drawn to puzzles. Not all kids, of course, but there is something about puzzles that naturally draws in a lot of kids. And adults. Yes, I admit to putting together all of the puzzles when we’re cleaning. (I absolutely have to make sure all the pieces are there…). Puzzles are naturally great…
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…
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…
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…
Practicing multiplication facts is boring. I don’t remember it being an issue as a kid, but I was really into school. My kids aren’t like that. They don’t learn for no reason. Learning is a natural response to an interest, and they’re not interested in math facts. I wouldn’t push, but I think memorizing facts…
Kids naturally love learning but I’ve found, at least with the younger ages, nonfiction books can be a bit overwhelming. The information often doesn’t read like a normal book and kind of just has little blurbs randomly spread over the page. My kids don’t often pick up nonfiction books, and I think that has something…
The Olympics are coming up and, if you’re like me, you want your kids involved in the excitement and frenzy. Once every 4 years the summer Olympics takes over. I was never into it as a kid. I really didn’t care about gymnastics or skating or sports in general. My mom loved watching as…