Homeschooling Archives

Nubian History for Kids

August 11, 2015 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

A few weeks ago, I got the chance to share a guest post over at To the Moon and Back about how we teach Nubian history for kids in our homeschool. So if you’re a history buff, read on to get a look at how we cover this subject with our children!

Today is also another edition of the Laugh and Learn linky! Check out our picks from last week’s party and read this week’s new parenting and homeschooling posts below!

Nubian History for Kids

As part of our 10 Days of African History series, we did an in-depth study of the ancient kingdom of Nubia. It’s interesting to me that there are so few children’s resources about Nubian history, but since I found lots of adult-oriented material, I just tweaked it for the kids. 🙂

To see more about how we covered Nubian history with our children, check out the guest post I wrote for The ABCs of Ancient History series at To the Moon and Back: “N is for Nubia“!

N is for Nubia – To the Moon and Back

And now it’s time for the linky!

Welcome to our 45th week of Laugh and Learn – Homeschool and Parenting Linkup!

Last week was our best linkup ever! Thanks for sharing 79 links with us.

Laugh and Learn – Homeschool and Parenting Linkup will be open by 6 am every Tuesday morning.

Each and every week all of the hosts pick one favorite post to be featured on the next week’s linkup. All of your links will be shared on five blogs.

We are also sharing the top posts on Pinterest: #LaughLearnLinkup {Featured Favorites}. It’s added exposure for your awesome content!

Your Fabulous Hosts 😉

Tina

Tina lives abroad in Latin America with her husband and four children. Currently in Mexico, Tina is active in homeschool, travel, and her Bible ministry. She blogs about all of their adventures and more at Los Gringos Locos.
Find Tina at her blog link above, and on the following social media networks:
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
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Linkedin
Tsu

Selena

Selena is a writer and a homeschooling mom to four kids, including three with ADHD/SPD. Selena and her husband, Jay, are committed to teaching their children at home and loving every minute of it! You can read about the family’s homeschooling experiences at Look! We’re Learning, written by Selena!
Find Selena at her blog link above, and on the following social media networks:
Facebook
Pinterest
Twitter
Google +
Instagram

Sarah

Sarah lives in Kentucky, USA, where she and her husband homeschool three children. Sarah writes for and about, families with special needs. She hopes to provide support and encouragement to all special needs parents in the homeschool community. Visit Sarah at Dedicated Homeschooler.
Find Sarah at her blog link above, and on the following social media networks:
Facebook
Instagram
Pinterest

Haley

Haley hopes to encourage stay at home moms. She wants to help moms learn how to make an extra income, to stretch a budget, to make crafts, and other useful information. Haley always has updates on the kids and funny things that happen. Visit Haley at Haley’s Vintage Finds & Deals.
Find Haley at her blog link above, and on the following social media networks:
Facebook
Pinterest
Instagram
Twitter
Google+
YouTube

Lindsey

Lindsey is a passionate writer eager to touch the hearts and minds of homeschoolers and parents abroad. As a devoted mother to two, happy homeschooler, and scatterbrained housewife, she’s on a mission to find love and joy in “the simple life” and invites you to join her! Visit Lindsey at Nitty Gritty Homeschooling. Find Lindsey at her blog link above, and on the following social media networks:
Facebook
Google+
Instagram
Pinterest
Twitter
YouTube

The Winners for the Week of August 10th:

CARDBOARD ARC DE TRIOMPHE

DIY FARM ANIMAL GAME

MINECRAFT UNIT STUDY

DISPLAY KIDS ARTWORK

KID MADE BANANA BURRITOS

Thanks to everyone who submitted a post. Please check out the post above by clicking on the image.
[bctt tweet=”Come share your favorite #parenting or #homeschooling post with us. #ihsnet #ibabloggers”]

Now give us your best posts!

An InLinkz Link-up

10 Homeschooling Gifts I’ll Never Take for Granted Again

August 10, 2015 by Selena Robinson 10 Comments

Last year, I went through a serious case of homeschooling burnout. I was working, I was going to college full-time, and I was attempting to homeschool my three oldest children. And it was not going well.

I sent them to public school for a few months, but even though I appreciated the slight increase in “alone time“, I missed them terribly. And I found that I actually missed homeschooling.

Now that we’ve returned to homeschooling, I’m determined to have a more thankful attitude toward our learning this year by appreciating the homeschooling gifts our family enjoys by being together. Here are 10 of the homeschooling gifts that I missed and vow to never take for granted again.

Image: beerphotographer / Dollar Photo Club

10 Homeschooling Gifts I’ll Never Take for Granted Again

1. Preparing breakfast with my children

2. Making artwork together

3. Playing outside with my kids

4. Sharing a new story as a family

5. Taking a homeschool field trip

6. Listening to my children talk about what they learned

7. Watching all four of the kids read quietly

8. Helping my daughter (who hates math) master a new math concept

9. Seeing my kids get excited about choosing books at the library

10. Hearing one of my children say “Thank you” when we finish the school day

What homeschooling gifts are you thankful for? Share them in the comments!

And let me just add an update here – There are a few more homeschooling gifts that I’ve grown to treasure:

11. Watching my children support each other in a tough subject

12. Being there when they have questions or fears about learning something new

13. Waking up when we feel like it and beginning the day relaxed

14. Taking a vacation whenever we’re ready for one

15. Observing my kids grow into young adulthood with confidence

Need more parenting encouragement? Don’t miss these posts!

This post is part of the Homeschool Gifts linkup from iHomeschool Network! Click over to read what our fellow homeschooling bloggers are thankful for this year!

Need more ways to plan your homeschool this year? Check out my Homeschool Planning board on Pinterest!

5 Ways to Make Geography Fun

August 8, 2015 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

This year, I’m determined to cover more geography with my kids. But the problem with studying geography is that it can be incredibly boring, even for the parents who teach it.

When I was in school, geography consisted of my teacher pointing at maps, telling us to read pages in our book, and then quizzing us on what we learned. Gag.

But the beautiful thing about homeschooling is that we can teach geography however we like! So, here are 5 ways to make geography fun that I plan to use in our homeschool this year!

If you like these ideas, don’t miss our list of hands-on geography activities you have to try!

5 Ways to Make Geography Fun

1. Go for a geography walk.

In Crystal Wagner’s “Geography Field Guide”, she recommends taking children outdoors and using nearby land features to illustrate larger ones. A local stream could represent rivers, a hill could represent mountains, and so on. That way, kids can “see” geography, instead of just reading about it.

Geography Field Guide, Crystal J. Wagner

2. Choose an area of the world for in-depth study.

Drop anchor in one part of the world and study it thoroughly with your kids. For example, the notebooking pack “Discover Europe” allows kids to get to know the entire European continent by examining the people, culture, and geography of each country.

3. Include hands-on activities.

Kris Bales’ book “Hands-On Learning” describes a ton of ways you can take geography learning off the page for your kids. Making papier-mache models, cookie dough maps, and learning centers are just some of the suggestions she gives that can make geography more fun for students.

4. Use notebooking.

Adelien Tandian’s “Geography Notebooking Pages” are perfect for helping kids organize what they learn. As you cover your lesson, you can have your children fill in the basic facts of each region. After completing an area of the world, children can use their notes to write a report or complete a diorama!

5. Make a part of the world into an ongoing series.

Taking another cue from Kris Bales’ book, we’ll be having Fifty State Fridays with our kids this year! I don’t want to give away how this is done (seriously, read her book), but when you make geography into a regular series, it’s much easier to get everyone excited for your upcoming lessons.

Do you have any ways to make geography fun for your kids? Share them in the comments!

Check out these other suggestions for teaching geography in your homeschool!

Want more geography ideas? Follow my Geography for Homeschoolers board on Pinterest!

This post is part of The Massive Homeschool Geography Guide from iHomeschool Network! Click over to read more geography posts from my fellow bloggers!

Back to Homeschool with Family Fun Friday!

August 6, 2015 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Are you celebrating back to homeschool time this week? Lots of homeschoolers are! We’ve settled on our homeschooling curriculum and I am currently in the midst of a lesson planning marathon. 🙂

Naturally, the homeschooling tips shared during last week’s Family Fun Friday were right on time for me! Take a look at the features and then get even more homeschooling inspiration from this week’s posts!


Monica created Family Fun Friday and blogs at HappyandBlessedHome.com where she shares free preschool tools and printables, encouraging words for moms, and ideas for having fun together as a family. Follow: Blog / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter /Google + / Bloglovin’/ Instagram. Monica will feature Family Fun Posts.

Selena is a homeschooling graduate and a veteran homeschooling mom to four super special kids. She blogs at Look! We’re Learning! about unit studies, foreign language, and homeschooling with ADHD. Follow: Blog / Facebook / Pinterest / Instagram / Twitter. Selena will be featuring homeschooling and kids’ crafts.


Herchel enjoys blogging about parenting, organizing, crafting, and having good old-fashioned kid fun her blog Scrggbug Corner. Follow: Blog / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter /Google +. Herchel will feature organizing and family fun.

Here are my favorite posts for this week!

1. If you’re trying to use more online resources in your homeschool, you’ll love the 25 Free Educational Websites for Kids from Tidbits of Experience!

2. Get some inspiration for your preschool homeschool room with Growing Hands On Kids’ Montessori Inspired Tot School Space!

3. Embark On the Journey shares an adorable printable pack based on the classic children’s book The Little Red Lighthouse!

4. We’re planning to school year round this time, so I loved the ideas at Year Round Homeschooling on how to Make Year Round Homeschooling Fun!

5. Need help getting your homeschool supplies organized? Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus shares tips to help you Get Organized for the New Homeschool Year!

6. Help your kids build literacy the Lego way with Growing Book by Book’s Lego Activities That Build Reading and Writing Skills!

Were you featured? Grab the Family Fun Friday button below!

Stop by to see what my co-hosts are spotlighting this week!

Bloggers are invited to share their best family-friendly and mom-inspiring posts in the link-up below.

Link guidelines:

Link your post.
Link back to the link party.
Follow your host(s).
Spread the word. Share and pin your favorites.
Mingle! Bloggers love comments.
Grab a button.
If you link up, you permit the hosts of Family Fun Friday to use your pictures/ideas as part of future posts and/or social media.

Family Fun Friday is a growing link-up with over 200 bloggers sharing their posts each week. Each host shares her favorites from the week before, increasing your chances of being featured. Co-hosts will also be pinning their favorites to a community Family Fun Pinterest Board. This link party opens up at around 4 pm EST on Thursdays.

Please be aware that by linking in Family Fun Friday you give our hosts permission to use your images to create a collage for our features. We may also use the collage to promote Family Fun Friday through our individual social media accounts.

5 Awesome Homeschool Planning Resources for Busy Moms

August 4, 2015 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

If you’ve already gotten your homeschool planning done for this year, you are my hero. (Needless to say, I am nowhere NEAR finished.)

Even though I’m finished with my college experience, I find that I am still so, so busy! And I think most moms are. It can easily feel like we just do not have enough time in the day to plan our homeschool lessons, especially if we’re parenting more than one child.

So I’m excited to share 5 awesome homeschool planning resources for busy moms today!

Today is also another edition of the Laugh and Learn linky, so you can check out our features from last week and read the newest posts shared below!

5 Awesome Homeschool Planning Resources for the Busy Mom

Creating a Schedule That Works – Marlene Griffith

Need to get your life together in a hurry? Marlene explains how you can go from unscheduled to scheduled in just 12 days. Since homeschooling parents need a schedule that everyone can stick with, she also talks about starting with a clearly defined purpose. That way, you have an overall goal to keep in mind as you stick with your routine.

Blueprint Homeschooling – Amy Kneppers

Amy’s book is a really great way to outline your entire year in advance. Yes, I mean, your ENTIRE year. She includes exercises you can complete as you read to help you get a feel for the rhythm of your home and how homeschooling can fit naturally into the life you already lead.

Homeschool Planner – Jolanthe Erb

If you want to have one homeschool planner you can use year after year, Jolanthe’s planner is the one. This homeschool planner is composed of editable PDFs, so you can type in this year’s lessons and then print them when you’re finished. Next year, you can do it all over again!

Homeschool Planner 2015-16 – Patricia Espinoza

Do you want a pretty paper planner that makes you feel happy to plan lessons? (I do.) Patricia’s Homeschool Planner is so beautiful that looking at it just makes me feel better. You can print the pages you need, skip the ones you don’t, and get to planning your year peacefully.

Planning Your Best Homeschool Year – Kyle McVay

One of the issues with homeschool planning is that we can get so focused on covering the material or finishing our curriculum that we forget to consider our kids! Kyle’s book is excellent for helping parents consider their kids learning styles right from the beginning. There’s no point in planning a homeschool year your kids will hate, right?

And now, it’s linky time!

Welcome to our 44nd week of Laugh and Learn – Homeschool and Parenting Linkup!

Last week was our best linkup ever! Thanks for sharing 78 links with us.

Laugh and Learn – Homeschool and Parenting Linkup will be open by 6 am every Tuesday morning.

Each and every week all of the hosts pick one favorite post to be featured on the next week’s linkup. All of your links will be shared on five blogs.

We are also sharing the top posts on Pinterest: #LaughLearnLinkup {Featured Favorites}. It’s added exposure for your awesome content!

Your Fabulous Hosts 😉

Tina

Selena

Sarah

Haley

Lindsey

The Winners for the Week of August 4th:

20 First Day of Homeschool Celebrations

19 EXPLORING OUTER SPACE ACTIVITIES, CRAFTS, AND PRINTABLES FOR KIDS

25 Free Educational Websites for Kids

5 ADVANTAGES TO CREATING YOUR OWN HOMESCHOOL UNIT STUDY

European Espresso Cake

Now give us your best posts!

An InLinkz Link-up

Our 2015-16 Year Round Homeschool Schedule

August 3, 2015 by Selena Robinson 8 Comments

This year we’re trying something that’s kind of new for us: an actual year round homeschool schedule.

We’ve always been year-round homeschoolers (sort of), because we don’t actually take a summer break. But this is the first year that I’ve actually sat down and planned to teach lessons the whole year.

If you’re interested in year-round homeschooling, take a look at our year-round homeschool schedule for 2015-16!

2015-16 Year Round Homeschool Schedule

The reason we’re embarking on a true year round schedule this time around is because I’m planning to become a full-time minister. Since I’ll be spending around 70 hours a month in our Bible ministry, I’ll be trying to do the bulk of my ministry during temperate months and NOT in the heat of summer…lol.

As a result, we’ll be doing the bulk of our homeschooling in the summer. And – in speaking to some other homeschoolers, I’m not the only one taking that approach. Summertime here is just too hot to do anything and most of the recreational facilities are packed with public schoolers during summer anyway, so…summer school it is!

One other note: I no longer use timed scheduling. I’ve done that in the past and it just does not work for our family. We do much better when we have a general rhythm to our day.

Here’s our year round homeschool schedule:

September – April:

Tuesday: Unit Study, ELA, Math, Science, P.E.

Thursday: Unit Study, ELA, Math, Geography, P.E.

Friday: Unit Study, ELA, STEM, Logic, P.E.

May – August:

Monday: Unit Study, ELA, Math, Science, P.E.

Tuesday: Unit Study, ELA, Math, History, P.E.

Thursday: Unit Study, ELA, Math, Foreign Language, P.E.

Friday: Unit Study, ELA, STEM, Art/Music, P.E.

And that’s it! Have any of you tried a year round homeschool schedule? What adjustments did you have to make along the way? Share your experiences in the comments!

This post is part of the 2015 “Not Back to School Blog Hop” from iHomeschool Network! Click on over to read how my fellow bloggers are getting ready to NOT go back to school this year!

10 Simple Science Printables for Kids

August 1, 2015 by Selena Robinson 15 Comments

We’re going to be focusing more on science during the upcoming school year than we have in the past. Science is NOT one of my favorite subjects to teach. I was a humanities major. 😉

But, thanks to some of the great resources available from Enchanted Homeschooling Mom, I’m finding it easier than ever to plan my science lessons this year! Here are 10 of the simple science printables for kids you can find at Enchanted Homeschooling Mom, including a complete weather science curriculum!

10 Simple Science Printables for Kids

1. Dinosaur Science Writing Prompts – Enchanted Homeschooling Mom

2. Printable Cloud Wheel – Enchanted Homeschooling Mom

3. Shark Coloring Pack – Enchanted Homeschooling Mom

4. All About Butterflies Pack – Enchanted Homeschooling Mom

5. Penguin Friends Pack – Enchanted Homeschooling Mom

6. Dolphin Anatomy Lesson Game – Enchanted Homeschooling Mom

7. Plant Journal – Enchanted Homeschooling Mom

8. Duck Mini-Unit – Enchanted Homeschooling Mom

9. Scientific Words Journal – Enchanted Homeschooling Mom

10. Weather Detective Science Curriculum – Enchanted Homeschooling Mom

And these are just a few of the printable resources available from Enchanted Homeschooling Mom! If you’d like to get access to all of these printables, plus tons more, you can join the EHM Members Only site for a one-time fee of just $15! Click the image below to learn more!

On a personal note: I want to say that Jill was the first professional blogger to take me under her wing. She gave me tips, support, and encouragement when I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. 🙂 It’s a privilege to be able to support her this time around.

This post is part of the Blog Hop for Enchanted Homeschooling Mom – a project to support Jill of EHM during her difficult time! Be sure to stop by to see my fellow bloggers and their roundups of fabulous resources from Enchanted Homeschooling Mom!

Not Back-to-School Picnic Ideas – Stir the Wonder

10 Fun Gross Motor Ideas – 3 Dinosaurs

Sensory Bins – Brain Power Boy

Space Activities – Preschool Powol Packets

Storybook Activities – Growing Book by Book

Spring Crafts for Preschool – Kidz Activities

Around the USA – Trillium Montessori

Disney Themed Crafts – Life with Moore Babies

10 Free Coloring Packs – Sunny Day Family

Disney Printables – In The Playroom

10 Simple Science Printables for Kids – Look! We’re Learning!

Pray Species – Fall Crafts and Activities

Superhero Activity Sheets – Crafts on Sea

Kids Activities to Prepare for a Disney World Trip – Mess for Less

Enchanted Preschool Printables – Itsy Bitsy Fun

Living Montessori Now – Living Montessori Now

Sensory Bins Based on Children’s Books – Mom Inspired Life

Science Ideas to Start the School Year – Capri + 3

Simple STEM Challenges with Hands-On Engineering!

July 29, 2015 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

I’ve set a few homeschooling goals this upcoming school year and one is to include more STEM learning with the kids. My biggest problem is that my passions include literature, writing, and dance – basically everything that is the opposite of STEM….lol.

So I was excited to try the book “Hands-On Engineering” from Prufrock Press! If you’re unsure how you can set up STEM learning at home, this is a great resource for simple STEM challenges!

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for this post. All opinions are my own and I was not required to post a positive review.

Simple STEM Challenges with Hands-On Engineering

In “Hands-On Engineering“, you get complete teacher instructions, project descriptions, internet resource links, and student activity sheets. It’s almost a no-prep solution to planning STEM activities. 🙂

The resource is described as appropriate for grades 4-7 and I can see why. Some of the projects are fairly detailed and require a good amount of critical thinking from kids. But I decided to use it with all three of our school-age kids – just to see.

The teacher resources are fabulous. There are diagrams, explanations, Internet links, and summaries that give you a good background of each activity.

We settled on the Build a Catapult challenge from the book, and that involved getting an understanding of how a lever works. I drew the same diagram from the Instructor Key on the board and we talked about the essential parts of a lever.

Then the kids sketched their own diagrams. Afterward, we used some of the internet links listed in the Teacher’s activity sheet for the catapult activity.

We watched a video showing how ancient catapults (or “onagers”) were assembled and we talked about some of the advantages and challenges they posed for armies in battle. Then it was time for the kids to build their own catapult!

Explore Science, Technology, Engineering, Math!

Simple STEM Challenges - Look! We're Learning!

One thing I really like about “Hands-On Engineering” is that there are no detailed instructions on how to build the item in question. As a result, the kids were forced to try various methods, brainstorm ideas, and cooperate. Among the list of available supplies were rubber bands, clothespins, popsicle sticks, and plastic spoons.

What really impressed me was that, of all three children, Pooh (our almost seven-year-old) was the first to build a working catapult!

We rounded up all of the pennies in the house and, before I knew it, it was raining pennies from heaven…lol.

Look at that face. That is the face of a boy who is extremely pleased with himself.

Once Pooh figured out the basic design of a catapult, the other kids made their own. But then they started hitting the chandelier in my dining room with their pennies, so they were banished to the living room. After all, engineers have to learn to work in all kinds of environments. 😉

I loved Hands-On Engineering and I’m looking forward to making more of the projects with the kids this school year! If you’d like to try to build a catapult or any of the other simple STEM challenges in “Hands-On Engineering“, check out the book for yourself!

Free Printable Flashcards: Sorting Flashcards

July 28, 2015 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

Continuing with our free printable flashcards series, we’re introducing our newest set today: Free Printable Sorting Flashcards!

These cards are great for young ones who are just beginning to recognize differences and similarities in objects.

Free Printable Sorting Flashcards

These cards feature four simple objects in four basic colors: blue, red, orange, and green. Kids can then sort them out according to color.

The set includes blank flashcard pages with hints as to which colors belong on which page.

You could cut the object cards out and then let the kids describe what they are, what they look like, what color they are, and which ones belong together according to color.

If your little ones are still working on color recognition, don’t forget to pick up our free color flashcards as well!

To get your set of our Free Printable Sorting Flashcards, click the image or the link below to visit our have them sent directly to your inbox!

You’ll also get our weekly newsletter this Sunday!

Click here to get your printable resource

>>> Sorting by Color Flashcards <<<

2015-16 Homeschool Student Photos

July 27, 2015 by Selena Robinson 8 Comments

We’re not actually starting school until September, but we wanted to go ahead and take our school pictures for this year now. 🙂

This upcoming year, we’ll be teaching 5th grade, 2nd grade, 1st grade, and tot school, so I’m lesson planning like a mad woman….lol. In the meantime, we wanted to get some pics of our kids to compare to last year’s school photos.

If you like the back to school signs the kids are holding, stop over at 3 Dinosaurs and download them for free!

Everyone is psyched about moving up a grade, even little Piglet. 🙂

Tigger is going into fifth grade this year. Her favorite subject is science. Her least favorite subject is math. I keep telling her that you need math to learn science. She remains unconvinced.

Pooh is going into second grade. His favorite subject is history. His least favorite subject is also math. Needless to say, I’ve been pinning lots of teaching ideas to make math fun this year.

Homeschool Student Photos - Look! We're Learning!

Roo is going into first grade. He is excited about anything having to do with building, so he’s probably going to be my child who’s most excited about STEM learning this year.

Piglet is only two, so she’s continuing with tot school this fall. After she turns 3 in December, though, we’ll be beginning light preschool. She’s good on ABCs, colors, and counting to 10, but I want to encourage her to keep learning now instead of waiting until she’s actually 4 to start.

My “big school” kids. 🙂

Now I know these pictures can make it look like everything in our family is just hunky-dory. It actually took me about 30 minutes to get enough decent shots for this post. By the time we finished, two children had burst into tears.

So – here are a few of the “outtakes” it took to get a nice set of pictures.

Pooh was bitten by a mosquito. As you can see, it was on par with a mortal injury.

Piglet refused to hold her sign right side up and required assistance from Roo. Tigger was visibly getting tired of holding her “Mom is taking a picture” smile.

Good enough, right? 🙂

Music Fun Subscriber Freebie

July 24, 2015 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Hi everyone! I’ve got a new subscriber freebie today! 🙂

We love music in our family. And this year, I am determined to help my kids learn to play an instrument. Exactly which instrument is still undecided. They change their minds on that fairly often…lol.

But we’re definitely incorporating more music education this year, so I made a new printable pack that’s all about music! And, for a limited time, it’s free for our newsletter subscribers!

Music Fun Printable Pack

This printable pack includes flashcards for 12 different musical instruments (classic and modern), plus 12 unlabeled cards for memory practice. There are also coloring pages featuring different instruments and instrument identification pages with handwriting practice!

We’ll be using the pack along with listening activities for each instrument and videos that show how they are played. Maybe someone will finally pick one instrument and stick with it…lol.

This Music Fun printable pack is available absolutely free for our email subscribers through the month of August! Just sign up using the form below and claim your freebie! If you’re already receiving our newsletter, you’ll receive a copy in this week’s edition. 😉

New Ways to Teach Classic Subjects with Family Fun Friday!

July 23, 2015 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

We don’t officially start our new school year until September, but I’m still loving all of the “back to school” posts! I think back to school time is probably one of my favorite times of year. The frustrations of the new year haven’t happened yet. 🙂

This year, I’m really trying to break out of my comfort zone and find new ways to teach classic subjects. I’m very much a traditional learner and teacher, but my kids are not. Since they have ADHD, they love to move and they need a lot of novelty in order to keep their attention on the lesson.

So I was glad to see some fabulous homeschooling posts during last week’s Family Fun Friday that highlighted some novel ways to make traditional school subjects fun! Check out my favorites from last week below! Be sure to scroll on down and read this week’s newest posts as well!


Monica created Family Fun Friday and blogs at HappyandBlessedHome.com where she shares free preschool tools and printables, encouraging words for moms, and ideas for having fun together as a family. Follow: Blog / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter /Google + / Bloglovin’/ Instagram. Monica will feature Family Fun Posts.

Selena is a homeschooling graduate and a veteran homeschooling mom to four super special kids. She blogs at Look! We’re Learning! about unit studies, foreign language, and homeschooling with ADHD. Follow: Blog / Facebook / Pinterest / Instagram / Twitter. Selena will be featuring homeschooling and kids’ crafts.


Herchel enjoys blogging about parenting, organizing, crafting, and having good old-fashioned kid fun her blog Scrggbug Corner. Follow: Blog / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter /Google +. Herchel will feature organizing and family fun.

Here are my favorite posts for this week!

1. If your kids have caught the Minions craze, check out the ideas at Brain Power Boy for Learning Math, Science and More with Minions!

2. Teaching middle school? Homeschooling 4 Free shares a handy dandy Middle School at Home Supply List!

3. Make math fun for your preschooler with the 3 Fun Ways to Teach Preschool Math at Learning 2 Walk!

4. If you’re shopping for your homeschool science curriculum, visit Year Round Homeschooling and check out the Homeschool Science Curriculum Roundup!

5. Visit Planet Smarty to find out how you can teach Geography by Playing Games with a Globe!

6. Make daily reading time into your child’s favorite part of the day with the Reading Nooks for Kids featured at Growing Book by Book!

Were you featured? Grab the Family Fun Friday button below!

Bloggers are invited to share their best family-friendly and mom-inspiring posts in the link-up below.

Link guidelines:

Link your post.
Link back to the link party.
Follow your host(s).
Spread the word. Share and pin your favorites.
Mingle! Bloggers love comments.
Grab a button.
If you link up, you permit the hosts of Family Fun Friday to use your pictures/ideas as part of future posts and/or social media.

Hurricane Lapbook Review

July 22, 2015 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

Having lived in the southern U.S. for all of my life, summer is just not summer until you talk about hurricanes. 🙂

When I was a child, I lived closer to the coast and we evacuated a couple of times during the 80s and 90s. Hurricanes Hugo, Andrew, and Floyd are the ones I remember the most. As a kid, those experiences are exciting. As an adult? Not so much.

Now that we live farther inland, we don’t worry about hurricanes to the extent people on the coast do, but they’re still fascinating weather patterns to study. So I was excited when I got the chance to try a hurricane lapbook from Knowledge Box Central!

Take a look at how you can use this lapbook in your homeschool! And, for more hurricane learning, don’t miss our Hurricane Unit Study!

Disclosure: I received a copy of this resource in exchange for this post. All opinions are my own and I was not required to post a positive review.

Hurricane Lapbook Review

After getting the hang of the Math Mini Office Lapbook, this one wasn’t much more work. It’s more involved, but I thought it was pretty fun to assemble. Maybe I’m just a nerd. 🙂

I added a hurricane graphic that I got from Wikimedia Commons to the front. Otherwise, I’ll probably forget what it is…lol.

Look at that beauty!

When you get a lapbook from Knowledge Box Central, the assembly instructions show you a completed picture of the inside so you can see where everything goes.

Plus, the instructions explain how to put each book together and even suggest when to use colored paper. A huge help for people who tend to get overwhelmed easily (like yours truly).

Here’s the inside of the first folder. There are three in all.

And the inside of the second folder…

And the third!

Two of the books in the last folder fold down – including the Pet Plan…

…and the Hurricane History book.

I usually start a lapbook activity by just giving the kids a chance to explore all of the minibooks. These are all blank inside, so if they want to use them, they’ve got to learn something to write inside!

What makes this lapbook even better is that the PDF includes most of the information you’ll need to teach about hurricanes. So it’s not just a hurricane lapbook – it’s really a mini hurricane unit study.

I just sent the file to my Kindle Fire and let Tigger read from certain sections. Then we’d discuss them together.

After learning about some of the most destructive hurricanes in U.S. history, Tigger started filling in the “Hurricane History” minibook at the back of the lapbook. She made notes of the year, the name of the storm, the location it affected, and the level of damage. Some of those storms that struck before the invention of modern radar were truly terrible.

Then we flipped back to the beginning of the book and started discussing how meteorologists determine when a storm qualifies to be called a hurricane. We learned about the wind speed requirements for tropical depressions, tropical storms, and hurricanes. Tigger used the information to fill in a minibook.

And, of course, she wanted to learn about tornadoes. What child doesn’t? 🙂

The “Tornadoes” minibook is a flip book that has space for kids to record what they learn about each aspect of these destructive storms. One of the supposed “positive” aspects about hurricanes when I was young was that you generally had plenty of time to evacuate. But tornadoes are, of course, another story. Just another reason to take those hurricane watches seriously.

The Fujita scale has been revised and it is now called the EF scale. We looked up the wind speed classifications online and Tigger filled in her Tornadoes minibook with what we learned. She couldn’t believe that tornadoes could ever have winds of 200 mph or higher. I think we may do a unit study about tornadoes this year as well. 😉

We loved the Hurricane Lapbook from Knowledge Box Central! We’ll be using it throughout the school year and we’re excited about all the things we’ll be learning!

To get a look at the Hurricane Lapbook and all of the other lapbooks available, visit Knowledge Box Central today!

Want to learn more about weather with kids? Try these other learning ideas!

And see more ideas for homeschool units on my Unit Studies Pinterest board!

5 Homeschool Dining Room Ideas

July 20, 2015 by Selena Robinson 6 Comments

Last week we shared what homeschool curriculum we’ll be learning with this year. This week I’m excited to talk about where we’ll be learning it. 🙂

We’ve been using our dining room as our homeschool space for several years. As much as I’d love to have a dedicated school room, it’s just not going to happen for a while. So – we’ve taken a corner of our dining room and made it into Learning Central.

The thing about using your dining space, though, is that your homeschooling supplies can easily take over and leave you with nowhere to eat. So it’s good to get a few tips for storing your supplies.

If you’re cramped for space and you’re using your dining area for school, you’ll appreciate these 5 homeschool dining room ideas!

5 Homeschool Dining Room Ideas

1. Use a dedicated bookcase.

If you can’t have a dedicated room, use a dedicated bookcase! 🙂

Once we committed to schooling in our dining room, we pulled a deep bookcase from our garage and reserved it FOR HOMESCHOOL USE ONLY. Nothing goes on that bookcase that is not directly related to our schooling. Otherwise, it ends being a “catch-all” and I’ll never find what I need to teach the next day.

Most school resources are brightly colored, which is great because both our dining room and the bookcase are rather bland…lol.

At the top of the bookcase, we keep our pencil sharpener, our “Job Jar”, and our Brain Breaks. The Job Jar is our chore manager. Inside the jar are folded slips of paper – each with one chore to be done. The kids reach in, grab one, and get to it. Needless to say, it’s very popular with Mom. 🙂

We use Brain Breaks regularly to get the kids up and moving in between lessons. If you have kids with ADHD (like we do) or just kids who prefer to be active, definitely, definitely, definitely check out The Ultimate Guide to Brain Breaks. It’s been a huge help for us.

The Ultimate Guide to Brain Breaks eBook

2. Keep only your most used resources nearby.

Now, I hope you guys don’t think that what you’re looking at is ALL of our homeschooling resources. It’s not. 🙂

We store the bulk of our homeschooling supplies in a hallway closet and we use the back of our laundry room door to store markers, pens, and paints.

Which brings me to tip #2: Only keep the resources you use the most in your homeschool dining room.

Every summer, I go through this crate and take out what we won’t use the next year. Then I look through the closet, pull out the resources we intend to use, and keep them in the crate for the new year. Easy peasy.

3. Separate each child’s grade-level resources.

This year, I hit upon the idea of keeping each child’s grade-level books in separate boxes. Previously, I was keeping everything in the crate, but all four kids will be “doing school” this year and the crate just can’t handle it all…lol.

These bins were salvaged from a toy bin bookcase that our oldest daughter outgrew. I kept those boxes for months until I found a use for them. 😉

Tigger and Pooh’s books are on the bottom, because they’re going into 5th grade and 2nd grade, respectively. Roo and Piglet, who are going into 1st grade and Totschool, keep their supplies on the shelf above.

4. Make use of your wall space.

We had a nice, big, blank wall in our dining room, so we hung up a small blackboard. School at home doesn’t work for our kids, but the chalkboard does help, especially when they get to come up and write on it themselves.

The corkboard next to the chalkboard serves as our Anchor Chart space. Because our kids are easily distracted (ADHD and all), I only put something there when I’m actively using it.

Like so. 🙂

5. Store your printables and lesson plans somewhere else.

We use a lot of digital homeschool resources in our family, which means I have a LOT of printables each school year. If I was to try to store them all in our homeschool dining room, there’d be paper everywhere.

So, I keep them in a crate separated by student and week.

I wish I could take credit for this idea, but I saw it in a homeschooling group on Facebook. It’s awesome. That way, I can print out lesson plans for a few weeks at a time and keep them in a folder for each child for each week.

Then, I just bring the folder out to the homeschool space and use it as needed. The crate stays tucked away under my desk in our bedroom. 🙂

And those are 5 homeschool dining room ideas you can use to keep your schooling space neat!

This post is part of the 2015 Not Back to School Blog Hop hosted by iHomeschool Network! Click over to read even more school room posts from our fellow bloggers!

3 Tips for Choosing Homeschool Curriculum

July 17, 2015 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

As you might have noticed, we’re in a bit of a homeschool curriculum frenzy around here this week. 🙂 We’ve already shared our homeschool curriculum for this year, but what if you’re still undecided about what you want to use during the new school year?

Don’t worry! Today, I’m sharing a post I contributed for The Homeschool Post that features Three Tips for Choosing Homeschool Curriculum!

3 Tips for Choosing Homeschool Curriculum

Homeschool planning season can be both the best and worst time of the year, especially if you’re a curriculum hoarder (like me). 🙂 But if you approach it with a clear focus, you can avoid overwhelming yourself with a litany of choices. (Trust me, I learned this the hard way.)

Visit The Homeschool Post to read my 3 Tips for Choosing Homeschool Curriculum!

3 Tips for Choosing Homeschool Curriculum – The Homeschool Post

If you’d like to get some inspiration for grade level curriculum choices, check out these posts from my fellow iHomeschool Network bloggers!

Nitty Gritty Homeschooling: Our Homeschool Schedule

Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus: First Grade Homeschool Curriculum for History and Geography

Heart of Michelle: Our Charlotte Mason Homeschool

Eva Varga: Curriculum Plans for 8th and 6th Grade

Unschool Rules: 10th Grade-ish Curriculum Plan

Hands-On Summer Learning with Family Fun Friday!

July 16, 2015 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

For a lot of homeschoolers, summer break is coming to an end, but there’s still time to get in some fun hands-on summer learning activities! This week’s edition of Family Fun Friday features six great interactive learning posts from last week, so be sure to visit them and show them some love!

By the way, don’t forget to scroll ALLLLL the way down to the bottom of the page to see this week’s posts and link up your own fun! 🙂


Monica created Family Fun Friday and blogs at HappyandBlessedHome.com where she shares free preschool tools and printables, encouraging words for moms, and ideas for having fun together as a family. Follow: Blog / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter /Google + / Bloglovin’/ Instagram. Monica will feature Family Fun Posts.

Selena is a homeschooling graduate and a veteran homeschooling mom to four super special kids. She blogs at Look! We’re Learning! about unit studies, foreign language, and homeschooling with ADHD. Follow: Blog / Facebook / Pinterest / Instagram / Twitter. Selena will be featuring homeschooling and kids’ crafts.


Herchel enjoys blogging about parenting, organizing, crafting, and having good old-fashioned kid fun her blog Scrggbug Corner. Follow: Blog / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter /Google +. Herchel will feature organizing and family fun.

Here are my favorite posts for this week!

1. Teaching the alphabet to young kids can be super fun with these cute DIY Alphabet Gems from Little Log Cottage School!

2. Heading on a road trip? Try this Road Trip Bingo game from Three Kids and Fish to keep the kids entertained along the way!

3. A Life in Balance features 6 Easy Kid Crafts for a Rainy Day, which are great for those stormy summer afternoons!

4. Have a toddler running around? (We do.) Check out the list of Toddler Boredom Busters from My Bored Toddler!

5. Kayse Pratt shares some free Printables for Planning Simple Summer Activities for each day of the week!

6. Learn about animal prints with the easy and cute Paw Prints Painting Activity from Letters in the Sand!

Were you featured? Grab the Family Fun Friday button below!

Stop by to see what my co-hosts are spotlighting this week!

Bloggers are invited to share their best family-friendly and mom-inspiring posts in the link-up below.

Link guidelines:

Link your post.
Link back to the link party.
Follow your host(s).
Spread the word. Share and pin your favorites.
Mingle! Bloggers love comments.
Grab a button.
If you link up, you permit the hosts of Family Fun Friday to use your pictures/ideas as part of future posts and/or social media.

The Land of Nod, design for kids and people that used to be kids

Our Homeschool Curriculum for 5th Grade, 2nd Grade, 1st Grade, and Tot

July 12, 2015 by Selena Robinson 6 Comments

Hi everyone! Today is a wonderful day, because it’s the start of my favorite time of year – homeschool planning season!

After briefly experimenting with public school last year, I’m thrilled to be resuming our homeschool life this fall and I’ve had a great time choosing our curriculum for the 2015-16 school year!

Today I’m sharing our homeschool curriculum for 5th grade, 2nd grade, 1st grade, and Totschool!

Image: Africa Studio / Dollar Photo Club

Our Homeschool Curriculum for 5th Grade

I honestly cannot believe that Tigger is entering fifth grade. It seems like it was only yesterday that I planned her preschool curriculum. Amazing how fast time flies.

The book What Your Fifth Grader Needs to Know will serve as our curriculum spine for this year. I always appreciate the Core Knowledge books, because they give me a framework to use for designing my lesson plans.

I’m not a classical homeschooler, but I love the classical approach to history. So we follow the history method outlined in The Well-Trained Mind – a chronological approach with a four-year rotation of the same time periods.

This year, the bulk of our history lessons will come from The Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of World History.

One thing I actually liked about public school was that it introduced Tigger to the rigors of Common Core Math. I am actually a fan of the Common Core curriculum, though not necessarily the instructional method. (I’ll share more about why I use Common Core Math in our homeschool in an upcoming post.)

This year, we’ll be using enVision Math Common Core Grade 5 by Scott-Foresman Addison-Wesley.

To supplement our math lessons and to accommodate Tigger’s ADHD, we’ll be using a few other math resources, including the Math Mini Office Lapbook from A Journey Through Learning. (See our review here.)

Our science curriculum will be based on Harcourt School Science for Grade 5. I’ve been able to find this book (and other school books like it) for just a couple of dollars on Amazon. Win!

We’ve been using the Homeschool Fitness Package from Family Time Fitness for years and we’re sticking with it this year too! It’s an easy and fun way to get everyone moving, which is absolutely critical for kids with ADHD.

Family Time Fitness - Fitness 4 Homeschool

We have a Lifetime Membership to Notebooking Pages and we’ll be putting it to good use this year! There are pages for all kinds of topics, including history, nature study, geography, and more!

For geography, this year we’ll be learning about the continent of Europe. And we’ll be using the wonderful notebooking pack Discover Europe to explore each country!

Both Tigger and Pooh will be using the program Keyboard Classroom to practice their typing skills. I think Pooh, in particular, will love it because he hates to write things by hand.

Our art program this year will be the Art for All Ages from Southern Hodgepodge. We got to use the Shark Chalk Pastel ebook last year and my kids loved it so much that we’ll be sticking with chalk pastels this year as well.

For music this year, we’ll be using SQUILT Volume 1: Baroque Composers by Homegrown Learners. This will be our first time studying classical music as a family, so I’m excited to get started! (If you’re interested in SQUILT, you can save 25 percent on any volume through July 17th!)

Our Homeschool Curriculum for 2nd Grade

For second grade, we’ll be using the book What Your Second Grader Needs to Know as our curriculum spine.

Our math curriculum for second grade will consist of Khan Academy, which Pooh loves, and a continuing study using the Life of Fred: Apples and Life of Fred: Butterflies.

This year, we’ll be using several resources from the EHM Members Only Website for Pooh. Some of our picks include:

The 2nd Grade Daily Math Activities Book
It Just Makes Cents Money Book
Geoboard Activity Pack
Foam Dart Physics
Landforms Around the World
and the US State Study Packs

Our Homeschool Curriculum for 1st Grade

Roo and Pooh have a lot of their lessons together, but I still like to make sure that he masters his concepts. His first grade curriculum will be centered on the book What Your First Grader Needs to Know.

Like Pooh, he’ll also be using Khan Academy and Life of Fred for math. And he’ll be using some of the resources from the EHM Members Only site as well, such as:

All About My Community Pack
Days of the Week Activity Pack
My Plant Journal
and the Children of the World Pack

Since he also has ADHD, we’ll have to break out the Ultimate Guide to Brain Breaks to help him burn off a little activity in between lessons.

Our Homeschool Curriculum for Totschool

For Totschool, I’m keeping things simple with little Piglet this year. We’re going to be using the oldie-but-goodie Teach Me Mommy by Jill Dunford.

I’ve had this book since Tigger was a toddler and I love it so much. It’s a wonderful introduction to preschool themes but it has all of the book suggestions, activities, and crafts laid out for you each week.

Since Piglet will be three in December, we’ll begin using this then and probably continue with it until she reaches PreK. And I guess this is the last child I’ll use it with! *sniff*

We use a lot of unit studies with our kids, so I’ll also be including some of the themed Tot Packs from 3 Dinosaurs and 1+1+1=1. That way, Piglet can get in on learning about the same things as her older siblings!

Before we begin officially Totschooling this winter, we’ll be using the book Learn with Play from the Kid Blogger Network to help her get involved in making things and having sensory fun while learning. I suspect the older kids will want to get in on the fun too. 😉

Those are our choices for homeschool curriculum for 5th grade, 2nd grade, 1st grade, and Totschool! I’d love to hear what you’re using this year, so tell us your choices in the comments!

This post is part of the 2015 Not Back to School Curriculum Week Hop from iHomeschool Network! Click over to read even more great posts from our fellow bloggers!

Teaching Math with Math Mini Office Lapbooks

July 10, 2015 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

We have a small problem in our homeschool. Tigger doesn’t like math. And I’ve been so frustrated with her about it, because when she puts forth the effort, she does a good job. She just doesn’t like it enough to try.

I talked about one of the hallmarks of ADHD in our review of Math Bafflers – lack of desire to sustain mental effort on a challenging topic. That symptom always rears its head when it’s time to learn math.

So – I was glad to get a chance to review the Math Mini Office Lapbook from Knowledge Box Central! And the great thing is: Not only did it work wonders for Tigger’s attention span, it was also good for all three of my oldest kids!

Here’s how I used the Math Mini Office Lapbook to teach math to multiple ages. 🙂

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this resource in exchange for this post. All opinions are my own and I was not required to post a positive review.

Teaching Math with Math Mini Office Lapbooks

Knowledge Box Central is a homeschool provider that specializes in fun and engaging lapbooks. In fact, I’ll be sharing a couple more of their resources in upcoming weeks. 🙂

But when I saw that the Math Mini Office Lapbook was an option, I jumped on it!

I will say that putting the lapbook together took a little time on my part. But, Knowledge Box Central includes extremely detailed instructions with pictures to help you know what to put where. There are even suggestions as to which pages to print on what color paper!

I love how you can assemble the lapbook and then stand it up to work as a mini-office. Tigger loved that idea! She wanted to sit behind it and do “real work”.

So we handed out scratch paper and got to work! Here’s a closer look at what’s inside the lapbook.

As you can see, this math mini-office is basically a stand-up reference chart. There is a number line, a math symbol chart, a 100 chart, an addition chart, and a subtraction chart. There’s also a telling time activity that helps kids practice representing analog time and calculating time forward and back.

On the other side, there is a multiplication table, multiplication chart, fraction equivalent chart, division chart, and a place value practice activity. If you use the hand trick for learning 9 time tables, there’s a handy reference for that and for recognizing patterns in the 9’s tables.

For Tigger, I wanted to focus on fraction equivalents first. Fractions were one of the last math concepts she reviewed during the school year.

Teaching Math with Math Mini Office Lapbooks

We talked about the relationship between multiplying and dividing in order to increase or reduce fractions. As we learned, we multiply to increase a fraction and we divide to reduce a fraction – just like with any other number.

The fraction equivalent chart shows that you can increase any fraction by multiplying the numerator and denominator by the same number.

Seeing it represented that way was very helpful to Tigger. Plus, we were able to test it out with any fraction on the chart!

Here’s where the Math Mini Office Lapbook really became helpful to our family. The resource is listed as appropriate for Grades 3-5. But some of the concepts are also good for younger learners!

The lapbook instructions recommend laminating it before you use it, and for good reason. That way, your kids can use the Telling Time, Place Value, and Number Line activities again and again!

I decided to focus on the number line with Roo.

We practiced a few addition and subtraction problems with the number line. When we drew the line on the board, Roo would copy down our actions using a dry-erase marker in the lapbook. He loved it!

Pooh worked on telling time. Since we usually have digital clocks around the house, telling analog time is a skill my kids really have to work on. But once he remembered how to count minutes (by 5’s), he did fine!

And when we were done, we just erased our marks to get the lapbook ready for next time!

It even folds back up for easy storage when you’re done!

We loved using the Math Mini-Office Lapbook from Knowledge Box Central! I’ll be using it with all three of our kids during the upcoming school year. 🙂

To get one for yourself, check out Knowledge Box Central’s huge list of lapbook offerings!

Art and Sensory Activities Galore with Family Fun Friday!

July 9, 2015 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

This week’s Family Fun Friday is all about art and sensory activities for kids! We use sensory play a lot in our homeschool, especially because some of our children are living with Sensory Processing Disorder.

Interestingly, though, I’ve found that sensory activities and art projects can be particularly helpful for learning. And that’s why I’m excited to announce the release of the book Learn with Play by the bloggers of the Kid Blogger Network! It’s filled with even more art and sensory activity ideas!

Disclosure: I received a copy of the ebook free in exchange for this post. All opinions are my own and I was not required to post a positive review.

As I mentioned above, Learn with Play is a brand-new ebook packed with over 150 different activities for young children! A lot of resources offer suggestions for activities to keep your kids busy during the day, but only a few are focused on educational activities.

What makes this book special is that all of the activities are geared toward helping kids actually learn something.

To get an idea of what’s included in Learn with Play!, check out the two activities below.

As you can see, each activity features a clear picture, a supply list, and full instructions. No having to jump pages on blog posts to know what to do next! 🙂

During Launch Week, Learn with Play is available at the discounted price of $9.99 – a $5 savings off the regular price! To get your copy, click the image below!

Now – it’s on to Family Fun Friday! Be sure to scroll all the way down to the bottom to see this week’s posts! 🙂


Monica created Family Fun Friday and blogs at HappyandBlessedHome.com where she shares free preschool tools and printables, encouraging words for moms, and ideas for having fun together as a family. Follow: Blog / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter /Google + / Bloglovin’/ Instagram. Monica will feature Family Fun Posts.

Selena is a homeschooling graduate and a veteran homeschooling mom to four super special kids. She blogs at Look! We’re Learning! about unit studies, foreign language, and homeschooling with ADHD. Follow: Blog / Facebook / Pinterest / Instagram / Twitter. Selena will be featuring homeschooling and kids’ crafts.


Herchel enjoys blogging about parenting, organizing, crafting, and having good old-fashioned kid fun her blog Scrggbug Corner. Follow: Blog / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter /Google +. Herchel will feature organizing and family fun.

Here are my favorite posts for this week!

1. Letters in the Sand shares a fun sensory play activity you can make yourself: DIY Moon Sand!

2. Learn how to make DIY Chalk Paint for Kids over at Mini Monets and Mommies!

3. Mosswood Connections features an Exploring Owls Art Project – perfect for a fall unit!

4. Make your own Homemade Gak with the directions from One Little Project!

5. Learning about Picasso? Art Club Blog explains how to make Picasso-Inspired Pots!

6. Ever think about using sidewalk chalk to make powdered paint? You can with the instructions from P is for Preschooler!

Were you featured? Grab the Family Fun Friday button below!

Stop by to see what my co-hosts are spotlighting this week!

Bloggers are invited to share their best family-friendly and mom-inspiring posts in the link-up below.

Link guidelines:

Link your post.
Link back to the link party.
Follow your host(s).
Spread the word. Share and pin your favorites.
Mingle! Bloggers love comments.
Grab a button.
If you link up, you permit the hosts of Family Fun Friday to use your pictures/ideas as part of future posts and/or social media.

Math Bafflers Review: Introducing Logic to Kids with ADHD

July 8, 2015 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

One of the challenging things about homeschooling a child with ADHD is helping him or her learn to think critically. Kids who have classic ADD tend to avoid any kind of sustained mental effort, especially when the topic is challenging.

And that’s my Tigger. She’s linguistically smart, but she’s not a natural at math. When there’s a concept that’s hard for her to grasp, she tends to tune out or get frustrated. But we can’t just skip those parts, right?

Recently I got a chance to try the workbook Math Bafflers from Prufrock Press and I found it to be a great way to teach logic to kids with ADHD! Here’s our Math Bafflers review.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for this post. All opinions are my own and I was not required to post a positive review.

Math Bafflers Review

Just to give you a little background:

I’m pretty sympathetic to Tigger on the whole “avoiding sustained mental effort” thing, because…

I’m the exact same way.

Last semester, I took Honors Logic and I’m here to tell you that it was rough. I can do the work, but there are times when I sit down to concentrate and my head pretty much feels like it’s filled with bees. Kind of like a mental static.

So if that’s what Tigger deals with, I can vouch for the fact that it’s irritating and it interferes with your ability to concentrate.

However, logic is SUCH an important skill to learn that I was determined to find a way to teach it. And Math Bafflers was a great way to introduce it.

Math Bafflers is not a logic curriculum, but it is a logic puzzle workbook. The first thing I loved about it was that the activities are fairly short – perfect for Tigger’s short attention span!

Look at her expression. That is the face of a child who is NOT interested in this subject at all…lol.

Using Math Bafflers to Introduce Logic to Kids with ADHD

I loved the way Math Bafflers provided a gentle intro to logic for children. In the very beginning, the book acknowledges that logic is not the easiest subject to learn.

So there are a list of steps to follow to help kids (and their parents) make sense of how to solve each puzzle. I summarized the steps and wrote them on the board.

Then I had Tigger copy them down. Having her write things down seems to “ground” her in a way. Then, she’ll have something to refer back to when she can’t remember how to solve a problem.

We started with the very first Math Bafflers puzzle. Basically, it requires kids to sort through a list of criteria to determine which television program comes on when. There are clues such as: “Program ABC comes on after Program XYZ, but before Program DEF.”

I’ll be honest. Those kinds of puzzles stump me too.

Which is why I was so glad for the problem-solving steps in the beginning of the book. Finding the answer seemed overwhelming initially, but as we followed each step for each clue, we ended up narrowing down our choices fairly quickly.

Something I noticed about Tigger is that she tends to read “more into” a sentence than is actually there. For example, a clue might say “Leah does not breakfast while watching Program XYZ. She eats breakfast between 8:30 to 9:30 a.m.”

When I asked Tigger, “What does that mean about Program XYZ and when it doesn’t come on?”, she would answer, “It doesn’t come on in the morning!” But the clue didn’t say that. It simply said that it didn’t come on during her breakfast time. There were other morning times outside of the time when Leah eats breakfast.

I chalk that up to her desire to hurry up and get through a problem quickly. So helping her slow down and develop patience with her schoolwork is going to be one of our focuses this school year.

Tigger kept trying to give up, but I wouldn’t let her. And sure enough, we solved the puzzle! Whoohoo!

Now I will say – After we finished the first puzzle, we stopped with this subject for that day. I didn’t want to overwhelm her and I didn’t want her to hate learning logic. But this will definitely be part of our curriculum for the 2015-16 school year. 🙂

And that’s our Math Bafflers Review! If you’re just getting started with a study of logic in your homeschool, I highly recommend Math Bafflers! It’s perfect for kids with ADHD, kids who struggle with math, or anyone else!

Easy Science and Math Ideas with Family Fun Friday!

July 2, 2015 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

Are you trying to keep your kids interested in learning over summer break? Last week’s edition of Family Fun Friday featured some easy science and math ideas for kids that I wanted to spotlight today!

Don’t forget to scroll on down and read this week’s newest parenting, homeschooling, and cooking posts!


Monica created Family Fun Friday and blogs at HappyandBlessedHome.com where she shares free preschool tools and printables, encouraging words for moms, and ideas for having fun together as a family. Follow: Blog / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter /Google + / Bloglovin’/ Instagram. Monica will feature Family Fun Posts.

Selena is a homeschooling graduate and a veteran homeschooling mom to four super special kids. She blogs at Look! We’re Learning! about unit studies, foreign language, and homeschooling with ADHD. Follow: Blog / Facebook / Pinterest / Instagram / Twitter. Selena will be featuring homeschooling and kids’ crafts.


Herchel enjoys blogging about parenting, organizing, crafting, and having good old-fashioned kid fun her blog Scrggbug Corner. Follow: Blog / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter /Google +. Herchel will feature organizing and family fun.

Here are my favorite posts for this week!

1. If your kids like simple science experiments, they’ll love this one from Planet Smarty: A 5-minute Molecule Attraction Experiment!

2. Research Parent shares a free printable you can use to explore the Relative Sizes of Planets in our solar system!

3. Kim from Life Over C’s shares how you can Use Beads as Math Manipulatives – perfect for little hands!

4. Shark Week is coming up! Brain Power Boy shares a roundup of fun Shark Activities to do with your kids!

5. Grab a set of free Animal Number Puzzles for Kids from Totschooling!

6. And for another early math printable, stop by Life Over C’s to get your Printable Bird Counting Play Dough Mats!

Were you featured? Grab the Family Fun Friday button below!

Stop by to see what my co-hosts are spotlighting this week!

Bloggers are invited to share their best family-friendly and mom-inspiring posts in the link-up below.

Link guidelines:

Link your post.
Link back to the link party.
Follow your host(s).
Spread the word. Share and pin your favorites.
Mingle! Bloggers love comments.
Grab a button.
If you link up, you permit the hosts of Family Fun Friday to use your pictures/ideas as part of future posts and/or social media.

Nubian History for Kids

Last week was our best linkup ever! Thanks for sharing 79 links with us.

Each and every week all of the hosts pick one favorite post to be featured on the next week’s linkup. All of your links will be shared on five blogs.

Your Fabulous Hosts 😉

The Winners for the Week of August 10th:

Now give us your best posts!

10 Homeschooling Gifts I’ll Never Take for Granted Again

5 Ways to Make Geography Fun

1. Go for a geography walk.

2. Choose an area of the world for in-depth study.

3. Include hands-on activities.

4. Use notebooking.

5. Make a part of the world into an ongoing series.

5 Awesome Homeschool Planning Resources for the Busy Mom

Last week was our best linkup ever! Thanks for sharing 78 links with us.

Each and every week all of the hosts pick one favorite post to be featured on the next week’s linkup. All of your links will be shared on five blogs.

Your Fabulous Hosts 😉

The Winners for the Week of August 4th:

Now give us your best posts!

2015-16 Year Round Homeschool Schedule

September – April:

May – August:

10 Simple Science Printables for Kids

Simple STEM Challenges with Hands-On Engineering

Free Printable Sorting Flashcards

Music Fun Printable Pack

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Hurricane Lapbook Review

5 Homeschool Dining Room Ideas

1. Use a dedicated bookcase.

2. Keep only your most used resources nearby.

3. Separate each child’s grade-level resources.

4. Make use of your wall space.

5. Store your printables and lesson plans somewhere else.

3 Tips for Choosing Homeschool Curriculum

Our Homeschool Curriculum for 5th Grade

Our Homeschool Curriculum for 2nd Grade

Our Homeschool Curriculum for 1st Grade

Our Homeschool Curriculum for Totschool

Teaching Math with Math Mini Office Lapbooks

Math Bafflers Review