teaching kids about thanksgiving
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Great Products for Teaching Kids About Thanksgiving

ByMariel

The past couple months, for homeschool, we’ve been learning all about the pilgrims, the indians in the New World, and the first Thanksgiving. We like to take history slow and really delve into each time period. This coming week we’re going to have a fun Thanksgiving lunch (for school) to celebrate and reinforce what we’ve learned. I LOVE homeschool. Really. I love getting to learn right along with my kids! Anyway, after reading a bunch of books and watching some videos, I’ve narrowed it down to a handful of favorites products for teaching kids about Thanksgiving.

DIY Library Card
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Family Library & DIY Pretend Library Card (she: Kristina)

ByKristina

Besides raiding the fridge and climbing everything in sight, my daughter has started getting into imaginary play lately. Since she’s the oldest, I’ve tried to be creative about some things I can make for her.  Last week it was a gas can for her cozy coupe car, and this week I took a stab at…

homeschool resources
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5 Favorite Homeschool and Educational Products and Resources

ByMariel

I have a deep love for educational products and resources. Deep. I enjoy learning right along with my kids and finding (or creating) ways to make it fun. Anyway, with homeschool in full swing, we’ve been getting lots of use out of some super great homeschool and educational products and resources.

Here’s my current faves:

Daily Writing Prompts – The Teacher’s Corner has a fabulous list of daily writing prompts for every day of the year. What is super cool is that they are all relevant to the actual day, so let’s see… today is September 17th. There are 3 choices of writing prompts. One is about how today is the day the constitution was signed and asks kids to learn and write about one of the amendments. Another is about how September 17th is citizenship day and write what it means to be a good citizen. The last is about how today is the day NASA introduced the first space shuttle, and then a thought provoking question about that. Good stuff, I tell ya. So, not only are they getting handwriting practice, but they are actually writing about something educational.

10 Great Homeschool and Educational Ideas (& Link Party!)
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10 Great Homeschool and Educational Ideas (& Link Party!)

ByMariel

Hello, weekend!  Last weekend I shared 10 Great Back to School Ideas, and since we still all have school on our mind, I thought this week I would share 10 Great Homeschooling and Educational Ideas!  This is a round-up of some of my favorite posts on ‘Or so she says…’ all about fun ways to…

Educational BINGO ~ The Kids BEG to Play!
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Educational BINGO ~ The Kids BEG to Play!

ByMariel

I know school is almost over for most of you, and although I intended this activity to be for homeschool, I can see us playing it all year long. It’s nothing fancy, just BINGO…awesome BINGO. I’ve always got my eye out for really great educational products for kids, and while browsing the daily Zulily deals, I saw these really neat BINGO sets for half off. They’re from Lucy Hammett Games and each set is based around a certain theme, like: birds, weather, wildflowers, oceans, body, butterfly, art, and soooo many more! You play it like you would any other BINGO game, but the kids are actually learning with these. Yay! Not only can they learn from the pictures alone, but on the back of each card is a little description/facts about what is on front.

The first time we played, we used jelly beans as the markers. Mistake. Nobody could keep them on the board and out of their mouths!

Our Homeschool Year 2012 & My FREE E-Book (124 Quotes for Kids)

Our Homeschool Year 2012 & My FREE E-Book (124 Quotes for Kids)

ByMariel

Well, we’ve kicked off another homeschool year.  And, I’ve been promising this post to so many people…sorry, I’m slow.  So far, every year I am adjusting to this homeschool-thing, learning more about what works for us, and it’s getting eaiser!  I was a little nervous about adding a third child to the mix (Audrey joined…

Motivating Kids to Read & Favorite Books!
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Motivating Kids to Read & Favorite Books!

ByMariel

To read about my latest motivation chart, that encourages my kids to read, read, read, stop by Make and Takes (where I contribute regularly)! In the meantime, here’s some of my kid’s latest and favorite books (most of my their favorite books happen to be the ones that I read aloud.  I don’t know if…

Favorite Educational Products for Kids ~
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Favorite Educational Products for Kids ~

ByMariel

At my house, the kids have what they call ‘The 4:00 Rule’.  Meaning, if they are using any electronic devices on their school “breaks” (computer, ipods, tv, etc.) before 4:00, Monday through Friday, then it has to be something educational.  * Note – They are homeschooled. They feel like they have to gripe about this…

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DIY Spooky Story Book ~ Great Handwriting & Creative Thinking Project!

ByMariel

With Halloween on it’s way, I knew it would be a perfect excuse to get my little students/offspring to practice their handwriting and exercise their creative minds.  So, we started writing our very own family spooky stories book…cRAzy-mama style.  Read all about it over at Make and Takes today, where I’m contributing.  AND, leave me…

Favorite Educational Apps For Kids ~ Homeschooling with the Ipad

Favorite Educational Apps For Kids ~ Homeschooling with the Ipad

ByMariel

We’re starting our 3rd week of homeschool today.  I must say, I’m liking our second year sooooo much better.  I enjoyed the first, but didn’t love the curriculum.  This year we switched to a program (Sonlight) that has been less tedious and I can already tell that they kids and getting much more out of…