Turkey Digraph Sort: Gobble Up Reading Fun
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Turkey Digraph Sort: Gobble Up Reading Fun

ByErin

When learning to read, it’s all about the tricks.  They’re not really tricks, of course, more like little chunks of information to build upon.  Digraphs are a chunk of their own, and quite an important chunk!  After all, if you don’t learn that ‘sh’ doesn’t say sss-ha, you’ll never be able to figured out that…

Fun Addition Fact Practice – Train Doubles Plus 1
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Fun Addition Fact Practice – Train Doubles Plus 1

ByErin

Sometimes I feel so stuck with learning math facts – or the boys learning math facts that is.  They’re not highly motivated so the idea just falls flat on them.  So I’m continually trying to find new, fun, and novel ways to get them to practice!  I knew I wanted a train doubles plus 1…

Transportation Skip Counting Puzzles for Hands On Math
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Transportation Skip Counting Puzzles for Hands On Math

ByErin

I love puzzles and I was always one of those people who loved having a puzzle on the table to work on little by little.  Somehow over the years, we’ve gotten out of the habit of puzzle solving.  We don’t even really do many puzzles with the kids, which makes me sad.  I think there…

LEGO Pictograms – Beginning Graphs and Tables for Kids!
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LEGO Pictograms – Beginning Graphs and Tables for Kids!

ByErin

We are color coding our LEGO bricks.  Not even kidding!  We have about a million sharp and pointy LEGO bricks all over the place.  Even the cats hate stepping on the…but they are getting organized and it is so awesome.  As a kid, we had a small box of LEGO bricks.  Each kid got to…

Duck & Truck ck Easy Reader Book For Beginning Readers
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Duck & Truck ck Easy Reader Book For Beginning Readers

ByErin

Getting kids excited about reading by themselves can be tricky.  We spend years and years reading to them and they don’t want that to stop (and rightfully so) but sometimes that also means they resist reading by themselves.  My kids are not really motivated readers.  They take some prodding.  But with easy reader books that…

Transportation Multiplication for Beginning Math
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Transportation Multiplication for Beginning Math

ByErin

Multiplication is the first big fish in the math pond, or that’s how my kids see it at least.  When learning concepts like addition and subtraction, they kind of don’t even know that’s what they’re learning.  It’s presented from preschool age and then suddenly we tell them “Oh by the way, that’s called addition”.  But…

How to Teach Kids to Be Responsible without a Fight
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How to Teach Kids to Be Responsible without a Fight

ByErin

Everyone has concerns when they start homeschooling or think about starting homeschooling.  Some concerns are covering all the material, keeping them engaging, socialization, etc.  My biggest concern is independence and responsibility. I grew up in public schools and my parents education philosophy was fairly hands off.  Don’t get me wrong – they cared immensely about…

Practice Averaging and Ordering Numbers with Trains!
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Practice Averaging and Ordering Numbers with Trains!

ByErin

I have the harder time finding fun work for my older kids (especially Baloo, at 10). Sometimes he just wants something fun like his brothers! But if I make something just for him, I have two younger kids begging to join in. So when I can put something together that they can all use, it’s…

14 Ideas for Minimalist Gifts for the STEM Child
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14 Ideas for Minimalist Gifts for the STEM Child

ByErin

Did you know studies show that clutter actually had an affect on our brain chemistry?  That sounds crazy, doesn’t it?  Yet, when people adopt a minimalist attitude, they have overwhelmingly positive reports.  More time with family, less stress, more money, etc. We’ve been working on minimizing for a few months and oh my gosh, it…

No Prep Addition Booklets for Interactive Math Practice
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No Prep Addition Booklets for Interactive Math Practice

ByErin

What do you do for kids that are having trouble memorizing their math facts?  All of my boys are working on memorizing some facts and without motivation, it just seems like slow going.  We play games, watch math shows, and even do bedtime math. Sometimes though, I need something that I can just hand over…

Dinosaur Make a Word Printable for Easy Writing Practice
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Dinosaur Make a Word Printable for Easy Writing Practice

ByErin

I’ve never been very good at Scrabble even though my mom is a whiz.  I’m happy to get a 3 letter word down and she isn’t happy if she doesn’t get at least one BINGO in a game.  We’re just on different Scrabble levels.  So activities like making a word out of a bigger word…

LEGO Counting On for Learning to Start Counting Anywhere
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LEGO Counting On for Learning to Start Counting Anywhere

ByErin

‘Counting on’ is one of those skills that I didn’t understand needed to be taught until Baloo was probably 4 or something.  I guess I just hadn’t thought of it and assumed kids would just pick up on the pattern of numbers.  And some kids pick up on that really well!  In fact, I noticed…