Tag Archive
Audio Books: A Great Way to Forget the Winter Chill
At our house it has become tradition to spend the cold days of our Iowa winters listening to books on CD. We are often finished with our schoolwork shortly after lunch which leaves the long afternoons to work together on a jigsaw puzzle while we listen to a book on CD. We have listened… »
What I’ve Been Reading
You would think with the busyness of the holidays that I wouldn’t have time to read. Wrong! I always have time to read. It is definitely my sanity safety net. This month I have been reading a variety of things. Sometimes whole books, sometimes just portions of a book. Either way, I have found some… »
Creation Science Resources
This year marked the 100th birthday of Charles Darwin. With that fact drawing attention again to his work, there has been a renewed interest in the age old conflict - Evolution vs. Creationism. My older boys have shown an interest in this topic and have read several books about the subject. We have had an opportunity to discuss… »
Do You Geek the Library?
From a homeschoolers perspective it goes without saying that the library is a vital part of daily life — at least at our house. I don’t know about you, but for our family the library is actually our main source of curriculum. I use the word “curriculum” loosely. It isn’t uncommon for me to have… »
Sometimes Life Gets Messy
Sometimes my life gets messy. I’m not talking about issues, emotional stress, challenging relationships. Not that kind of mess. I’m talking about the really physical mess that happens in households where kids are being trained. For years I have had trouble finding the line between training my children to be responsible and keeping my household… »
Jim Trelease’s Read Aloud Handbook
Recently a friend reminded me of a wonderful resource that I had used many years ago and then somehow forgot about. Back when I was in college I took a children’s literature course that introduced me to The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease. At that time I was revisiting my childhood, reading piles of… »
Ways to Avoid Summer Brain Drain
I know a lot of homeschoolers do some sort of formal schooling all year round. For a long time I started each year with the intention of continuing through the summer but as April rolled around and then we got into May, my resolve always crumbled — by then we all needed a break.
The research… »
It’s Summer! Get Out Those Library Cards!
With summer in full swing it’s time to get everyone signed up for a summer reading program. Of course you can check with your local library to see what they are offering but there are also several great online opportunities for encouraging your kids to read over the summer.
Click here to see one program that… »
Some Good Old-Fashioned Summer Fun
If you are like me, you are always looking for some fun things for the kids to do that don’t involve “screens” of any kind. By that I mean computer, TV, iPod, video game, you get the idea….
Here are a couple of books that are loaded with some of the fun things we did as… »
A World View of the Family Meal
We just finished reading a fascinating book called What the World Eats. This book is a photo essay with photographs taken by Peter Menzel. He also wrote a book back in the 90’s called Material World: A Global Family Portrait which is also worth your time, but I’ll get to that in a minute.
What the… »
