Last week, I took the kids to the library and I checked out a Where’s Waldo? Find the Differences book. After about 10 minutes of staring at one picture, my head started to hurt. I found Waldo pretty quickly, but finding all the differences in each of the pictures almost killed me. The kids thoughtKeep Reading…
Ruby Bridges has always been an interesting history figure to me. She was such a young girl when she made history and she managed to handle it with grace and class. Naturally, I wanted my children to learn about Ruby Bridges but I also like to share her story with my students. And that’s whyKeep Reading…
Learning how to count by twos, threes, and fives is such a critical skill for early learners. But it doesn’t end there! Counting leads to recognizing inequalities – which numbers are greater or less – and recognizing the difference between even and odd numbers as well. Since teaching during winter can be a bit ofKeep Reading…
We’ve always been passionate about black history in our family. In fact, most of American music history includes accomplishments by amazing black musicians and artists. Which is why we try to teach our kids about black jazz musicians from an early age. And there’s no way to talk about early American jazz without discussing BillieKeep Reading…
Who all remembers having the D’Nealian handwriting border around the top of the classroom wall? I spent many afternoons tracing those letters in the air while I was bored in second grade. We always learned D’Nealian penmanship because it made for an easier transition into cursive writing in later grades. These days, though, students generallyKeep Reading…
We live in the Deep South. In fact, I’ve always lived down here. So I’ve built a snowman in real life…a total of one time. Even then, we ended up using a broken clothes hanger for the mouth, because we didn’t have coal. But I still try to get in on the winter snowman funKeep Reading…
Family night is a wonderful way to spend quality time with the kids, especially after everyone’s had a busy week. If you’re not careful, though, family night can end up being a movie and a snack….every single time. How can you keep family time fun, even when the kids are little? An indoor scavenger hunt!Keep Reading…
Time for another set of free printable flashcards! Piglet is doing great with recognizing her letters, so it’s time to work on letter sounds. I’m not a GIANT fan of teaching phonics, but you know what? They work. Especially if kids don’t really “get” sight words. So, today we’re sharing another set of literacy flashcards:Keep Reading…
Cupcakes, I think, are the most fun dessert ever invented. It’s like – if you make cupcakes on the most boring Tuesday, it’s automatically a party. Cupcakes are also a fun early learning theme for kids. Which is why I thought they’d make for a cute math center activity – this Cupcake English and Spanish numberKeep Reading…
Hot cocoa on a winter morning is just about the best thing ever. Well, hot cocoa on a winter morning when you don’t have to leave the house for any reason whatsoever is the best thing ever. But hot cocoa plays a major role in both scenarios! And what’s hot cocoa without marshmallows? Which isKeep Reading…
Nothing says “winter” like snow. Unless you live in the Deep South. Then nothing says “winter” like temperatures below 50 degrees. It almost never gets cold enough for snow down here, but our kids always want it to snow each year. So we’re making it snow inside with this fluffy snowman slime recipe! This isKeep Reading…
I don’t think there’s a thing young children like more than candy. Okay, maybe ice cream. But it’s got to be a close competition. If you ever want to make math more fun, just start by switching the word problem phrase “Susie has three apples” to “Susie has three pieces of candy” and watch theKeep Reading…
Have you ever put on a puppet show with the kids? We’ve done it a few times and they always had a blast with their puppet characters. We’d usually have rehearsed lines in advance, but someone always wanted to improvise and take the story in a different direction. Which is part of the fun! WhenKeep Reading…
I hate winter. Hate it. I’m from Florida and, whenever the temperature dips below about 60, I’m done for the year. But when you’re homeschooling, you can’t just opt out of teaching during the cold. I know. I’ve tried it. So that’s why I wanted to find some ways to make winter homeschooling fun! TheseKeep Reading…
We’ve been having an unseasonably warm winter down South this year. But that changed drastically this week. Last week, we had highs in the 70s. This week, we woke up to 25 degrees in the morning. That’s nothing to Northerners and Midwesterners, but us Southerners panicked. I think it’s safe to say that winter hasKeep Reading…
When I was little, I was a total hot cocoa addict. My parents drank coffee every morning. But I was in love with hot chocolate. I had a little microwavable mug and, once I learned to make cocoa on my own (usually with Nesquik), I was off to the races. As the weather gets colder,Keep Reading…
Community helpers are such an important theme in early childhood education. After all, it’s important for children to learn how their local community works and who provides the services we all rely on each day. So when you’re ready to teach a community helper theme in class, make sure to use some of these community helpersKeep Reading…
Preschoolers love to pretend to deliver mail. When we took our little ones to a pretend neighborhood, they all wanted to dress up as mail delivery workers and put envelopes in the tiny mailbox. It was adorable. Since learning to recognize colors and color words is an important skill for toddlers and preschoolers to master,Keep Reading…
Early foreign language learning tends to focus on numbers, letters, and basic sentences. Which is great! But it’s also cool when you add in a little fun as you go, right? We’ve already shared printables to help kids learn to count in Spanish, but that’s not quite the same as learning to interact with othersKeep Reading…
When I was little, one of my very favorite movies was Disney’s Robin Hood. You know, the one with the foxes. Actually, I think fox Robin Hood might have been one of my very first crushes. (Please tell me I’m not alone in this.) Ever since then, I’ve had a soft spot for foxes. SoKeep Reading…
One of the wonderful things about preschool is that you don’t have to teach a whole lot of math. After all, you’re working with kids that are four to five years old. So it’s really a time for introducing the very basics of mathematics: shapes, sizes, counting, numbers, and so on. I thought we’d addKeep Reading…
