We threw out our first pumpkin today. Arizona weather is not kind to any living thing, including pumpkins. I was so excited for the holiday season that I bought a pumpkin the second I saw them out. And as a result, we’ve already had to throw out our first pumpkin. It reminded me of how…
Do you ever feel like your kids need a small review of previous lessons? I was reading with Royal the other day and he just plain forgot what sound -sh makes. He’s a great reader so I was a bit confused. I think he might have been having a brain fart, if you will, but…
Years and years ago, Baloo asked me to make addition with candy corn so I did, and he loved it. Its one of those things that we pull out every single year and enjoy. Royal and Logi-Bear love it now too, but Baloo is well beyond that. But he still loves Candy Corn (he’s crazy, although I…
We have a tradition on Thanksgiving where I print out activities (like this Thanksgiving Addition Game) and the boys have something to entertain them for that hectic 15 minutes while we are finishing the food and putting it on the table. The challenge for me is to create something that is entertaining enough that they…
I am excited for Thanksgiving this year. Honestly, holidays can be really hard for me, as they are for many people. I’ve found that by focusing on the kids and new traditions, the holidays seem easier. They are so full of wonder at this age and I find it easy to get enraptured in their…
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…
What do you do with a child who thinks reading is amazing, pretends to read constantly, yet isn’t quite ready for sounding out words? You teach them sight words! I’m pretty much on board with teaching phonics and that’s how we taught both Royal and Baloo, primarily. We limit sight words and push through with…
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…
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…
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…
People all learn in different ways, right? I was the kid in school who pretty much always learned new concepts quickly. I am the person the public school system is designed for. My kids are not. They’re not slow learners they just don’t learn that way. Earlier this year I found Times Tales, which is…
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…