
Book Themed Gift Ideas for Bringing Stories to Life through Play
One of my children's favourite things to do is to imagine that they are the characters in the stories we read. When learning about ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, I would often find them designating someone (or a doll or action figure) to be god or goddess of this or...

Dictation: How Memory and Mental Pictures Build Writing Skills
Despite the plethora of book reports, journals, poetry, short stories, and writing prompts being used in schools, students continue to be unprepared for skilled writing in high school and college. We hear this lament from college professors over and over again -- we...

24+ Advent Activity Cards {FREE Printable}
A favourite Christmas tradition in our family is our Advent Calendar. I bought it on a whim years ago at the grocery store of all places, and it is our most beloved Christmas decoration! Its just a simple wooden tree made of 24 little doored boxes, but for our family...

Narration: The Art of Oral Composition
In my last post I discussed the simplest and easiest tool for building strong writers in the early years -- copywork -- and today I'm moving on to perhaps the most difficult -- narration. If you've spent any time learning about classical or Charlotte Mason education,...

Copywork:The Power of Learning Through Imitation
I've already mentioned that I don't require any creative writing at all from my young writers -- no stories, poetry, or even journal writing. Instead, I wait until my writers have developed mastery of the skills required to properly express themselves on paper:...

Building Strong Writers in the Early Years
We don't do a lot of the typical writing activities and assignments that are popular in public schools (and homeschools!). In case you are over your shock and horror over the fact that I don't have any assigned reading in my homeschool, I have also never assigned my...

Middlebury Interactive Languages – Elementary French {Review}
I'm so thankful that many years ago when my own parents were making education choices for their children, they decided to opt into the French immersion program of the public school system. We were fortunate to have begun our education in French, and I stayed in the...

Adding Cooking to the Curriculum
What subjects do you teach in your homeschool? I'm willing to bet that Math and Language Arts are on the list, and probably Science and History too. You might even have Art, Music, and Bible included in your plans. I don't know about you, but my list of "to-do's" each...
The Familyman’s Christmas Treasury {REVIEW}
We spend a lot of time in our minivan traveling to and from church, homeschool activities, library visits, and grocery trips. While I'm not necessarily a fan of being stuck in the van with the kids when we could be doing other things, I do like to think we redeem that...

Does Sharing a Bedroom Help Siblings Get Along?
Like every other parent, I want my kids to get along. I mean, who wants to listen to kids argue, tease, and fight all day? It's tiresome, annoying, and just plain unpleasant to listen to that! But I want my kids to get along with each other not just for my own peace...