Category Archives: preschool

The Very Hungry Caterpillars

We are raising caterpillars into butterflies.  Painted Ladies, to be exact. We’ve done this before, but this time we are really paying attention, every single day, to these fantastic creatures and the amazing transformation they are making. In just 9 … Continue reading

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Posted in Early Elementary Years, homeschooling, kindergarten, nature, preschool, science | 14 Comments

Letter Matching

All of a sudden, Love Bug, age 3, has a new obsession….letters!  He doesn’t know the names of them yet, or the sounds they make, and sometimes he calls them numbers, but he has been carrying around our collection of … Continue reading

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Posted in homeschooling, preschool, toddlers, why we homeschool | 10 Comments

4 Ways That Kids Benefit From Yoga

This gallery contains 7 photos.

Kids are naturals at yoga. They love to move, they’re flexible, and even my wiggliest of kiddos is intrigued by the poses, the breathing, the peace that he has found in practicing yoga. And I have benefitted greatly from returning … Continue reading

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Space Shuttle Discovery!

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We didn’t know what kind of a view we’d have, if we’d see it once or twice or even at all. Would the kids understand what an amazing opportunity this was? Would we regret making three small children wait for … Continue reading

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Star Jars and So Much More: Learning About the Life of Stars

We are learning about the amazing stars in the sky. We began with a fun project, then we got down to business to understand the life cycle of a star. First, let me show you our fun project. We made … Continue reading

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Posted in Early Elementary Years, homeschooling, kindergarten, preschool, science | Tagged | 11 Comments

Tuesday Tea Time-It’s Not Just For Girls!

We started a new ritual today: Reading poetry while having tea time.  It was really fun and it only took a half hour from start to finish, leaving me wondering why I’d never done it before. Genius, pure genius and … Continue reading

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Posted in books, Early Elementary Years, kindergarten, literature-based learning, preschool | 21 Comments

It’s a Pinning Party

We’ve begun to build up our fabulous collaborative Pinterest boards, to share even more wonderful hands-on history, science and literature activities with you all. My Pinning Friends have been quite busy. Please check out our boards and see what we’ve … Continue reading

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Posted in American History, Ancient History, blogging, Early Elementary Years, hands-on history, homeschooling, kindergarten, learning to read, literature-based learning, preschool, science | 7 Comments

Countdown Paper Chain

My daughter is about to turn 6 and she has asked me no less than 400 times, “How many more days ’til my birthday, Mommy?”  She is over the moon about her upcoming birthday party. So today we made a … Continue reading

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Posted in kindergarten, math, preschool | 6 Comments

Catching Leprechauns

We had so much fun today, making leprechaun traps and pots of gold. This is The Queen Bee’s Leprechaun Trap. I helped her cover a shoe box in green construction paper. She went out and collected sticks and we hot-glued … Continue reading

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Posted in art projects, creative play, Early Elementary Years, holidays, kindergarten, preschool | 6 Comments

Easy Volcano Experiment

We made the easiest, fastest, most fun volcano experiment in our kitchen today. It was so easy, we made many volcanoes, again and again. Now by easy and fast, I am not referring to the volcano experiment we did earlier … Continue reading

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Posted in Ancient History, Early Elementary Years, History Odyssey, kindergarten, preschool, science, Story of the World | 20 Comments

Learning With Literature: The Mitten

The Mitten , by Jan Brett, provided us with wonderful learning opportunities and fun. First, we printed out  big paper mittens and animals from Jan Brett’s website.  We colored the front and back of the mittens, then hole punched around … Continue reading

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Posted in Early Elementary Years, homeschooling, kindergarten, literature-based learning, preschool, science | Tagged | 7 Comments

Creekside Astronomy: The Spiral Galaxy Experiment

This experiment is from Janice VanCleave’s 200 Gooey, Slippery, Slimy, Weird and Fun Experiments. We used this in conjunction with The Usborne Book of Astronomy and Space, With Internet Links. And learning to use the hole puncher and picking up tiny … Continue reading

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Posted in Early Elementary Years, homeschooling, kindergarten, preschool, science | 10 Comments

Learning With Literature: The Snowy Day

 The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats is a Caldecott winner and a Before-Five-In-a-Row selection.  And this year marks the 50th anniversary of the release of this wonderful book. Quite significant, is that it is the first children’s book to … Continue reading

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Posted in books, F.I.A.R., homeschooling, keeping toddlers busy so you can actually educate your older children, kindergarten, learning to read, literature-based learning, preschool, winter | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Science, Math & Reading All in One

We just did a great little activity that my kids, from ages three to seven, loved.  It involved math, science and reading and it only cost me $1. I filled a pie pan with water for each of them and … Continue reading

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Posted in creative play, Early Elementary Years, homeschooling, keeping toddlers busy so you can actually educate your older children, kindergarten, learning to read, math, preschool, science, toddlers | 16 Comments

Activities for the New Year

As one year comes to a close and another one begins, we’ve begun to plan some activities to celebrate and learn about 2012. For my newly-turned 3 year old, we will begin teaching him what New Year’s eve is all … Continue reading

Posted in Early Elementary Years, holidays, homeschooling, kindergarten, preschool | 13 Comments