Over the past weeks, we’ve been reading Bessie’s Pillow A Young Immigrant’s Journey published by Strong Learning, Inc during. The book was written by Linda Bress Silbert, and is based on the true story of her grandmother, Bessie Driezen. The story follows the journey of Bessie, who left Lithuania for the U.S. in 1906, by herself, at the age […]
Creating A Masterpiece {Homeschool Art Review}
Sharing my love of art with my little women is one of my favorite part of homeschooling. Spending a relaxing afternoon creating something new and beautiful never stops being a joy for us. We’ve recently had the pleasure of trying out the Monthly Plan from Creating a Masterpiece, which provides my girls with excellent video based art […]
Creative Freewriting Adventure {Review}
As a writer, the desire to encourage a love of creative writing in my kids is strong. I’m picky about what resources we use in our homeschool writing projects. I want my daughters to be inspired, and approach writing with a positive attitude. My goal is for them to experience the joy of bringing a story from the depths of their […]
Remembering How I Became A New Englander
It’s been 15 years now, since I left New York behind, quietly slipped over the state line and became a Connecticut resident. It was something I said I would never do, back when I was 21 and knew everything. When we moved, I didn’t think it would be forever. In fact, I still don’t see […]
Week in Review {Photo Friday}
Have you ever felt like you’ve fallen into a place where time moves more quickly? As if some outside force hit the fast-forward button on your life? I’ve been there lately. So rather than go in deep, and tell you all about the changes (it’s all good), I’ve decided to share snaps of things going on […]
A Quick Intro to 3D Printing
We’ve been watching videos about 3D printing lately, and my girls couldn’t wait to try it out. The Butterfly (13) designed and printed a nameplate for her bedroom door. The Princess (10) created a unique artistic design using shapes. Following a quick lesson on how to set-up and use the 3D Printers, they used TinkerCad to create their designs. So what […]
Rocks, Gems and Minerals (Wordless Wednesday)
The Butterfly is participating in the rocks and minerals event at Science Olympiad next month. This is her first year competing, so we aren’t sure what to expect, but we do know that the preparation has been fun! She and her teammate spent an entire afternoon testing every rock and gem they could find in […]
Telling Kids the Truth About Cookie Dough and Important Things
This post is a flashback from the archives. It was originally published 6 years ago, when my kids were 4, 7, and 11. Our daily lives have changed significantly since those days, but I still maintain that establishing an honest, trusting relationship with your kids when they’re young will lead to a more peaceful experience of the teen years. Also, skip the Santa […]
Make Math Facts Stick with Times Alive! {Review}
Do you have clear memories of being drilled on the times tables when you were a kid? Do you recall the boredom of the experience? Luckily, there is a much easier – and fun – way to get your kids through the process of memorizing multiplication facts. Over the past weeks, my daughter has been using Times […]
Playing with Poetry: 3 Ways to Make Poetry Engaging
Teaching poetry can be daunting. Many young students find reading poetry daunting, or worse, boring. I’ve been asking around and many (if not most) people seem to think poetry is a nice and all, but they aren’t enthusiastic about exploring it with their kids. It doesn’t have to be this way. Poetry is just […]
Raising a Little Entrepreneur
If challenged to create a product to sell, what would your child create? They may surprise you… My youngest daughter (now 10) took a class at our homeschool co-op last semester called Little Entrepreneurs. Over the course of a couple of months, students developed their ideas for a product, created it at home, learned how to design a logo, […]
Using Minecraft to Inspire Your Child’s Writing
It’s been ages since I first wrote about the educational possibilities using Minecraft. Since then, a wealth of resources have been created to help kids learn everything from coding to history using Minecraft as inspiration. I recently received a comment on my Reading and Writing with Minecraft post and I wanted to share. It’s from […]
Sunrise Over Snow (Wordless Wednesday)
It’s been rainy here lately, not at all the snow filled Connecticut winter that I’ve come to expect. I caught the sun coming up over a fresh snow fall last week, and then it was gone. I know I always complain about winter, but now I’m going to complain about this lack of winter. It […]
My UncommonGoods Christmas Gift List
Did I leave Christmas shopping to the last minute? Of course. I’ve been browsing and I’m almost ready to hit the Buy Now button. I discovered today that I could probably do my Christmas shopping exclusively at UncommonGoods and find something to make everyone smile. They have a unique selection of gifts for the women […]
The Twelve Dancing Princesses {Wordless Wednesday}
The Adventurer played The Old Woman in a recent production of The Twelve Dancing Princesses at Edmond Town Hall in Newtown, CT. The Butterfly played Jill, the quiet, sweet princess who often had her nose in a book. I love watching them year after year, changing and growing as performers. The performing arts has […]
Plan Your Year, Reach Your Goals in 2017 {Review +Coupon}
Disclaimer: I was given a copy of this planner in exchange for my honest review. It’s that time again. Time to look back at last year and determine what you want to change for the coming year. It’s time to reflect, set new goals and plan how you will achieve them. I’m giving a […]
7 Favorite Homeschooling Resources for 2016
I want to start by saying that I don’t believe success in homeschooling is dependent on expensive resources. At our house, curricula and resources are here to help, but they don’t dictate our learning adventures. We often use these materials to guide us, or as a starting point, or we use it as intended for […]
Show Prep, Holiday Prep
Our December routine has been the same for the past four years, and I love it. It also makes me a little crazy, because it’s non-stop activity until I drop, sometime around mid-month. When I recover (around the 15th) I rush to get all of the Christmas planning, shopping and decorating completed. I promised myself […]
A Post Election Gratitude List and the Things We Can’t Control
I haven’t slept well these past weeks. I toss and turn in the dark hours, waking with alarming images floating through my head: pervy old white men laughing, swastikas painted on playground equipment, fascism in neon lights on tall buildings. Every damn morning I rise up like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, wondering what the […]
Language Smarts {The Critical Thinking Co.™ Review}
For the past six weeks, we’ve been trying something new at our house. My 9 year-old is learning quickly (and painlessly) about grammar, reading comprehension, writing, punctuation usage and spelling using a single resource. I love the thoroughness of Language Smarts™ Level E from The Critical Thinking Co.™. It’s a full language arts program that covers everything a […]
