Activities for the Book Hello Ocean: Beach Shoebox Diorama

June 16, 2014 by Selena Robinson 4 Comments

I’m originally from the coast and I miss the beach so much. In fact, I think it actually intensifies as I get older.

So when summer time approaches, my mind lightly turns to thoughts of warm sand, salt air, and waves.

Unfortunately, we live several hours inland now, so a trip to the beach is not always feasible.

But we can always head to the shore with a beach shoebox diorama activity!

This was such a fun summer activity and it only took a few minutes. Plus, it was a great tie-in for a beautiful beachy read-aloud!

If you enjoy this project with the kids, be sure to try our simple Coffee Filter Beach Ball Craft!

Beach Shoebox Diorama Activity

To make this beach shoebox diorama, you’ll need the following: (This post contains affiliate links. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

Empty shoebox
Crayons
Printer (with ink)
Printer paper
Scissors
Glue stick
Cotton balls
Play sand (If you want to make your own, try our DIY play sand recipe!)
A copy of our Day at the Beach Diorama Pack (See below)

We decided to read the book Hello Ocean by Pam Munoz Ryan to introduce our beach theme.

I love this book. It’s very simple for young readers and the pictures are absolutely beautiful.

The poetry does an excellent job of capturing the feel of a day at the beach, right down to the taste of the salt water.

After we read the book, we decided to put together a shoebox diorama featuring a beach scene.

This was another of our super simple activities.

We only needed a shoebox, some crayons, scissors, glue, and our printable Day at the Beach Diorama Pack!

The kids colored the bottom and sides of the shoebox using the colors mentioned in the story: grey, blue, and green.

We cut out the background scenes…

and pasted them to the bottom of the shoebox.

Our background is all done, so it’s time to add a few props!

We cut out each upright scene image, including the bottom square, as one piece.

Then we folded the bottom square under to make the image stand up.

After we used a stretched cotton ball as a cloud, we poured a little play sand in the bottom and added our upright images to get a feel for the beach in our dining room! 🙂

Scroll down to get your printable beach shoebox diorama pack!

Don’t miss these other posts!

To see even more fun summer crafts, follow my Summer Activities for Kids board on Pinterest!

If you’d like to complete this activity with your littles, grab our free Day at the Beach Diorama Pack by clicking the image or the link below to download it!

>>>> Day at the Beach Diorama Pack <<<<

This post is part of the “A Book and a Big Idea: Summer” linkup at iHomeschool Network! Click on over to read the great book activities of our fellow bloggers!

12 Months of Sensory Dough: Vanilla Ice Cream Sensory Dough

June 12, 2014 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

This post contains affiliate links. See our Disclosure Policy for details.

Hey everyone! It’s time for our 12 Months of Sensory Dough linkup! Every month, I’m honored to co-host this linky with 11 other bloggers, including Dayna at Lemon Lime Adventures, Val & Alex at Glittering Muffins, Devany at Still Playing School, Sarah at Little Bins for Little Hands, Kimberly at Natural Beach Living, Melissa Ann at The Eyes of a Boy, Nicolette at Powerful Mothering, Amy at Wildflower Ramblings, Rachel at I Heart Crafty Things, Michelle at Delightful Learning, and Jennifer at The Life of Jennifer Dawn!

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Tips for Homeschool Time Management

June 9, 2014 by Selena Robinson 13 Comments

Today we’re talking about homeschool time management, which helps us deal with one of the biggest obstacles to happy homeschooling in our home: NOT ENOUGH TIME!

We have four children, including some with ADHD, plus I’m a full-time minister and I work – so time is extra precious around here. But, I’ve learned a few great tips for managing our homeschooling time and I’m thrilled to share them with you all!

How to Improve Your Homeschool Time Management

1. Make a Schedule and Stick to It

I’ve previously sung the praises of a consistent homeschooling schedule and I’m still a huge fan of scheduling. When time is at a premium, using a daily homeschool schedule can literally save your lesson plan. So if your days are extra busy, block out a regular time for your schooling and hold class at the same time each day.

Tricia over at Hodgepodge has a great homeschool routine that works for her family. It involves a great early morning routine that calls for all of the kids to be up, dressed, and ready for school by 8:45. Genius!

2. Delegate Housekeeping to Your Kids!

What if you’re drowning in housework? Get your kids involved! Assigning daily, age-appropriate chores to your children accomplishes two things: 1) It reduces your workload and 2) It teaches them valuable life skills. With a little planning, you can even incorporate it into your school day. 🙂

Tristan from Our Busy Homeschool is a homeschooling mom of 8. Eight! One of the things that keeps her homeschool on track is having her kids do chores everyday. She even manages to get her toddlers and preschoolers involved!

3. Restructure Your Lessons

One of the many wonderful things about homeschooling is that we don’t have to follow a regimented lesson plan. We can rearrange our lessons whenever we like. For example, Tigger finished her language lessons early last year, so had a chance to double up on math for a few weeks.

Beth at 123 Homeschool 4 Me manages to work in schooling, housework, and errands in a single day! How? She keeps the “school” time to three hours a day and uses other activities to teach, including library visits, storybooks, and educational iPad games. Beth also makes use of the workbox system, which is great for assigning work to each individual child without disturbing the others.

Great Books for Homeschool Time Management

There are a lot of great books for homeschooling parents who need to work on their time management. I’ve enjoyed the tips in these two in particular:

The Imperfect Homeschooler’s Guide to Homeschooling: Barbara Frank

Scheduling – The Secret to Homeschool Sanity: Plan Your Way Back to Mental Health – Lee Binz

Use these tips for better homeschool planning!

For even more homeschool scheduling and planning tips, follow our Homeschool Planning board on Pinterest!

This post is part of the “I Can’t Homeschool Because… linkup at iHomeschool Network ! Click on over to read how some of our fellow bloggers overcome obstacles to homeschooling!

Sister Bonding Ideas: Sisters Spa Day!

May 29, 2014 by Selena Robinson 6 Comments

There’s an eight-year age gap between Tigger (our oldest girl) and Piglet (our youngest girl). But we’re determined to help them form a close relationship through sister bonding ideas and experiences. My brother and I are 10 years apart and we’ve always been close, so I know that a large age difference doesn’t stand in the way of a sibling bond.

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5 Atlanta Staycation Ideas for Families

May 19, 2014 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

In the past, we’ve always tried to go on a summer vacation with our kids.

This year, though, we’re making the best of our home city with a few fun Atlanta staycation ideas for families!

More and more families are saving money by taking “staycations” rather than vacations.

If you’re unfamiliar with a “staycation”, it’s just when you use your vacation time to explore your own city instead of a different one.

You save money because you don’t need to drive to a new area, stay in a hotel, or eat out every night. Great idea, right?

Five Fun Atlanta Staycation Ideas for Families

But here’s the thing about staycations: They can become expensive really quickly if you try to visit the most popular attractions in your area.

This particularly true if you have several children (as we do). So this year, we decided to take not just a staycation, but an affordable one.

Read on to get our list of five places to go on a staycation in Atlanta. Plus, get a free printable Staycation Bingo challenge to complete with your family!

Looking for more ways to plan family trips? Take a look at our list of 10 helpful tips for traveling with kids!

Plan a fun family summer with these five Atlanta staycation ideas for families!

5 Fun Atlanta Staycation Ideas for Families

1. Zoo Atlanta

Zoo Atlanta is about half an hour from our house and we love visiting it with the kids.

Our public library system has an arrangement that allows a family of four to visit the zoo once a year for free.

Since we have four kids, we only had to pay for two tickets. Not bad at all!

One of the reasons we love the zoo so much is that it’s a non-stimulating attraction.

When we see the animals, we’re excited but we’re not overly stimulated. It’s a much more relaxing time for our family than visiting an amusement park.

2. Atlanta Area State Parks

As the weather warmed up, we decided to use another of our Atlanta staycation ideas and visit some nearby state parks that we’d never visited before.

Tallulah Gorge was incredible. We drove for a couple of hours and it was totally worth it.

The kids had snow cones, we went on a hike, and we learned about the North Georgia mountains.

Another one of our favorites is High Falls State Park. It’s only about 30 minutes outside of the city of Atlanta.

But you can hike right next to the waterfalls! We couldn’t stop staring at how pretty they were.

Plus, we got to ride the paddleboat along the water.

3. Callaway Gardens

Technically speaking, Callaway Gardens is not in Atlanta. It’s about 90 minutes west.

But if you like the outdoors and flowers, in particular, this is one of the local Atlanta staycation ideas you simply have to try.

A word: If you go to Callaway Gardens, spring is absolutely the best time of year to plan a trip.

Visiting Callaway Gardens on an Atlanta Staycation

Everything is in bloom and the entire park looks like a paradise.

See what I mean? It’s absolutely gorgeous.

4. Go bowling.

I have to admit: I didn’t bowl often as a child. I think I might have gone two or three times.

But we took the kids bowling one summer and they had an absolute blast.

With the Kids Bowl Free program, kids can bowl up to two games free per day over the summer at participating alleys.

And it’s a cool way to beat the summer heat in an air-conditioned space.

During the day, bowling alleys tend to be pretty quiet. So you may not even have to worry about wait times.

Finish off the afternoon with a slushy and that’s basically a perfect summer day.

5. Southeastern Railway Museum

A few summers ago, we got to visit the Southeastern Railway Museum – just outside of Atlanta.

I didn’t think that the kids would find it interesting. But they did!

Visiting the Southeastern Railway Museum

We toured vintage locomotives (which are much bigger than they seem on screen).

Visiting the Southeastern Railway Museum on a Staycation

We checked out vintage tour buses. Then we got to see a video about how train engines came to America back in the 19th century.

Southeastern Railway Museum Field Trip with Kids

And we finished with a ride aboard a vintage steamer!

It was affordable and surprisingly interesting for all of us.

Printable Family Staycation Bingo Challenge

So if you’re in the North Georgia area, those are five fun Atlanta staycation ideas you can try as a family this summer.

But, no matter where you live, you can still plan a simple and fun summer staycation with this printable Staycation Bingo challenge!

There are 32 ideas here – 16 for adults or couples and 16 for families with kids!

Some of the ideas include indoor fun such as making slime, trying a scavenger hunt, and reading books.

But there are plenty of outdoor ideas too! Like going camping, taking an art class, or having a picnic in the park.

Hang the kids’ challenge on your fridge and let the kids check off each idea as you try it!

To get your copy of this Family Staycation Bingo Challenge free, click the image or the link below to have it sent directly to your inbox!

You’ll also get our weekly newsletter – this Sunday!

>>> Printable Family Staycation Bingo <<<

What are you all doing for your family vacation this year? Are you considering a staycation? Have you done one before?

If you live in Atlanta, do you have any more fun Atlanta staycation ideas to suggest? Share your plans and experiences in the comments!

This post is part of the “Summer Staycation” hop from iHomeschool Network! Click on over to see how our fellow bloggers are spending their summers at home!

ASL Lesson 6: ASL Signs for Food #2

May 9, 2014 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

Hi everyone! We’re back with another installment in our ASL video lesson series!

This week, we’re learning more ASL signs for food to add to the food signs we covered last time. In this lesson, you’ll find the signs for:

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Learning about Poetry with Shel Silverstein

April 30, 2014 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

This post contains affiliate links. See our Disclosure Policy for details.

Hi all! We’re co-hosting the Poetry Celebration and Contest over at Preschool Powol Packets today! All month long, the co-hosts have been sharing great tips for introducing poetry to kids and we’re wrapping up the series today with a look at the work of Shel Silverstein. We decided to examine poetry with the Shel Silverstein book A Light in the Attic.

As we read the book, we noticed that some of the poems followed a certain rhythm pattern and some did not. For example, in the poem “How Many, How Much?” every other line rhymed. In the poem “Fancy Dive”, though, every line rhymed. We spent a little time writing two-line poems as a family using the section on poetry in Brain Quest Workbook: Grade 3.

We ended up with these:

“There once was a flea

Who wanted to ski” (Pooh)

“There once was a crow

Who played with Play-Doh” (Roo)

We also discovered that poems can change patterns. The Shel Silverstein poem “Tired” changes patterns from every other line rhyming to every line rhyming. Tigger used one of the poetry planning pages from the School Zone Second Grade Big Workbook to design a poem of her own that changed patterns. Here’s her poem called “My Family”.

“Friends don’t know about my family

And they don’t know about me.

My family is so cool!

It is probably better than being in a pool.

Love and hugs and kisses galore!

You know, they’re so kind. They even help me when I fall on the floor!” (Tigger)

We also learned about how poetry can make use of onomatopoeia. On page 58 of A Light in the Attic, we read the poem “Eight Balloons” and noticed the use of the sound effect “POP!” as a sound effect and a rhyming word. We talked about how onomatopoeia allows us to use sounds as words, and then we made our own poem using onomatopoeia.

We jotted down the sound effects first and then put them into a poem called “The Wind”.

“With a roar,

The wind went WHISH!

The kites went WHOOSH!

And the leaves went SHISH!”

The kids spent most of the rest of the day inventing their own rhymes, so I’m counting this as a successful creative writing lesson. 🙂

During the Poetry Celebration and Contest, you and your kids can submit original works for a chance to win some great prizes! If you’d like to enter to win some of the great prizes in the Poetry Celebration and Contest, you can enter via the Rafflecopter widget below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The following companies are sponsoring the Poetry Celebration and Contest!

Discover With Dr. Cool:

Little BLAST:

Corey Rosen Schwarz:

Brave Writer:

Homeschool Encouragement:

Word Traveling:

Preschool Powol Packets:

Be sure to stop by and visit all of the co-hosts of the Poetry Celebration and Contest!

Preschool Powol Packets ~ Homeschool Encouragement ~ Brave Writer’s Life in Brief ~ Word Traveling ~ The Measured Mom ~ Wildflower Ramblings ~ Line Upon Line Learning ~ Teach Beside Me ~ Living to Learn ~ Vicky Arnold Blog ~ School Time Snippets ~ Creekside Learning ~ Are We There Yet ~ Look at What You Are Seeing ~ Look! We’re Learning! ~ Our Homeschool Studio

How to Reuse Old Candle Jars

April 28, 2014 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Do you have a bunch of old candle jars just sitting around the house? Turns out – you can actually get some use out of them after your candles melt!

We had several candle jars that we’d already used, but the jars were so well made that I hated to throw them out. Pinterest to the rescue again! I found a great tutorial on how to reuse old candle jars from A Homemakers Journey and got to work.

I was pretty skeptical that the method described would work. I mean, look at these things. They look like they’ll never be any good again.

But I followed the instructions carefully, which included heating them to melt the wax.

After I got the wax out, I washed them thoroughly.

Gasp! They look like actual glasses!

And that’s what I got! I ended up with three glasses. In fact, those two larger glasses are basically tumblers.

The largest candle jar became a manicure in a jar gift for Tigger. 🙂

And the teeny jar got repurposed into a paper clip holder. By the way, this whole process took me about 30 minutes. Not bad at all!

So if you like buying candles, now you’ve got another reason to go get some more! 🙂

This post is part of the Spring Pinterest Flips and Flops linkup from iHomeschoolNetwork! Click on over to see some of the Pinterest fails and successes our fellow bloggers are sharing!

Seasonal Skirts: My Favorite Modest Skirts for Spring

April 23, 2014 by Selena Robinson 3 Comments

Hi everyone! This year, we’re sharing in a new quarterly linkup called “Seasonal Skirts: A Guide to Feminine Dress Throughout the Year!” I’m excited to share in this linkup with 10 other bloggers, including Dusty at To the Moon and Back, Erin at For Him and My Family, Laura at Raising Soldiers 4 Christ, Kyndra at Sticks, Stones, and Chicken Bones, Mrs. Warde at Sceleratus Classical Academy, Cynthia at Cynce’s Place, Melissa at Life Off the Paved Road, Dawnita at Fogleman Forerunner, Hilary at Our Homeschool Studio, and Annette at In All You Do!

This month, we’re focusing on our favorite modest skirts for spring. Now, I don’t wear skirts exclusively. In fact, I own quite a few pairs of Old Navy jeans. 🙂 However, we spend so much time in our Bible education work that I end up wearing skirts on most days.

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How I Juggle Going to College and Homeschooling My Kids

April 21, 2014 by Selena Robinson 27 Comments

Good morning! College finals are fast approaching, so I took last week off from blogging to catch up on some of my last assignments for this semester. Now that I’m nearly a full year into my “back to school” experience, I thought I’d share some of the pointers I’ve picked up about how to homeschool while going back to college. Spoiler: It’s hard. 🙂

1. Insist on a regular schedule.

You’ll need at least two schedules: one for your kids’ lessons and another for your own. It’s really difficult, but it’s essential that you keep the kids on their regular homeschooling schedule. Otherwise, you’ll finish the semester and then realize that you have to do double lessons for a month to catch up on math (like I have to do with Tigger in May).

As for organizing my classes – I have an enormous binder that I use for my classes with sections for each subject and a stack of weekly planning pages in the front. At the beginning of the semester, I look through every class schedule and then write the due dates for my assignments in my planner pages. I usually do this during the first week of class before the really heavy assignments start.

I’m usually very organized at the beginning of the semester, but after spring break, it’s all downhill and I’m barely functioning by finals. That’s when the organizing I did early in the semester ends up saving me. Seeing what assignments are due several weeks in advance helps me avoid having to work on them all at once.

2. Enlist the help of your spouse.

I’ve written before about why we need supportive homeschooling spouses, and going back to college has just underscored how much I need the help of my husband. There have been many, many school days that he’s taught for me so I could go study. He has no problem cooking dinner or getting the kids ready for bed when I need to cram for a test or attend a school function.

In order for our spouses to help us out, though, we have to communicate with them. Jay and I have had several long conversations, especially this past semester, about how we can make adjustments to our schooling schedule while I’m in class. After finals, we’ll be sitting down again to see how I can revise my course load in the fall so that we can get back to learning more as a family.

3. Be flexible.

This is probably the most important tip I’ve learned about trying to go to college while homeschooling my kids. I’ve had to be open to trying new approaches almost every week. One of the choices I made was to take classes online, since that was the most flexible way for me to get my school work done.

Btw, if you are considering going back to college, I highly recommend distance learning. It’s convenient, easy to use, and adaptable for moms who are already busy during the day.

Another big part of being flexible is prioritizing. I have several interests that have had to take a backseat, especially during this past semester, including knitting, sewing, traveling, and (occasionally) blogging. But that’s life. We always have to shuffle our priorities to make sure that we’re taking care of the “more important things.” (Phil. 1:10)

I’ve even had to let go of my attempt to maintain a 4.0 GPA. In the past, I’ve done extra credit and additional assignments to make sure that my grades were perfect. As I’ve gotten older, though, I’ve learned that it’s more important to be reasonable than right. I hope that’s something I can teach my kids as well.

So, those are a few of the things I’ve learned while juggling homeschooling and going back to college! Are any of you back in school? Are you thinking about it? We’d love to hear your tips or suggestions in the comments!

This post is part of the “How Homeschool Moms Juggle” linkup at iHomeschoolNetwork! Click on over and read how our fellow bloggers juggle homeschooling and their other responsibilities such as housework, caring for a new baby, and working outside the home!