My Favorite Revolutionary War Books for Elementary Students
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My Favorite Revolutionary War Books for Elementary Students

ByMariel

Last year, in homeschool, we studied The Revolutionary War, the entire time. It was awesome and we learned a ton (yes, me too!) Since we went through lots and lots of books and movies about the Revolutionary War, we found some that we absolutely loved and some… not so much.

Come check out our favorites! Whether you homeschool, teach public school, or simply want to add some great books to your kids collection, these are for you. All tried and true!

Entertain the kids at your 4th of July get together with this fun free printable 4th of July word search.
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4th of July Word Search – Fun Before Fireworks! (she: Liz)

ByLiz

For my family, get togethers either include the mountains or a pool. But I’ll take either. I also love doing fun activities with the kids for holidays to make special memories. Entertain the kids at your 4th of July get together with this fun free printable 4th of July word search.

This would be so fun to do with the kids! Plus, it makes a great gift... making beeswax candles.
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Making Beeswax Candles With Kids & Printable Christmas Tag!

ByMariel

For homeschool, we learned all about bees. Have you ever learned about bees?? Holy smokes, those things are AMAZING. In a future post, I’ll share with you some of my favorite products for teaching kids about bees. But in the meantime, I wanted to share this project with you… making BEESWAX CANDLES WITH KIDS.

These beeswax candles make great gifts (free printable gift tag included!), home decor, and fun memories of making them with the family.

Favorite Products for Teaching Kids About Slavery and the Civil War
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Favorite Products for Teaching Slavery and the Civil War to Kids

ByMariel

So for last year’s homeschool, we studied slavery and the Civil War… all year long.  That’s how I love doing history.  We just take a small portion of time and spend the whole year really getting in-depth.  This year we’re doing the Industrial Revolution, Great Depression, and World War I, so you can plan on…

free printable math worksheets for kindergarten and 1st grade
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Printable Math Worksheets (she: Liz)

ByLiz

I’m always wanting to make learning fun and interesting so my son will actually get through it without complaining. Since we struggled throughout the school year, I wanted to make sure we practiced during the summer so he doesn’t fall behind once he starts 1st grade next year. Since he does enjoy math, I decided to come up with some printable math worksheets we could do this summer.

end of school wrap up
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End of School Wrap Up… a Questionnaire to Remember Their Year! (she: Veronica)

ByVeronica

Helloooo! It’s Veronica and I’m so excited to be back! Here in the good ‘ol South, we are enjoying our last week of school. It FLEW by this year!! The kiddos and I are enjoying the craziness of field trips, field days, awards nights, different graduations, and the list goes on and on!

I love the idea of my kids answering questions that explain their life. It’s always fun to hear their thoughts and get a glimpse into their fantastic little minds. And because this is a crazy time of year for all of us, I love how simple this idea is.

Keep reading to see what I created for the END OF SCHOOL WRAP UP!

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…