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Review: Watercolours Made Easy
Yes, I know “watercolours” is not the American way to spell watercolors. But neither is “aquarelle” which is the name on the box. This is a multi-cultural project, don’tcha see? The facts are these: Watercolours is the Brit spelling. Aquarelle means “watercolor” in French. Ravensburger (the maker of this kit) is a German company. The artist Claude Monet was French.…
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Review: Tenzi Game
In the midst of our moves over the past few years, I’ve whittled down our table game collection to just our very favorites. We like to play games as a family when we’re camping and during the holidays. The girls play games with each other and with their friends on winter evenings. And so we enjoy a wide assortment of…
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Review: Simbrix
Simbrix is another product Rebecca and I are reviewing this fall as part of her “continuing education.” It was sent to us by Timberdoodle in exchange for our honest review. You can probably tell from the pictures what it is, but I’m going to talk about it anyway. I’m sure you’ve seen (and maybe played with) the fusible beads that…
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Review: Puzzleball Globe
The Puzzleball Globe is an actual globe and yet an actual jigsaw puzzle. It comes with a stand so you can display it when you're done, or it can be taken apart and returned to the box to be reassembled any number of times.
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Homeschool Organization
One of the little things I enjoyed most about homeschooling was having an excuse to add to my home library. Every year when the new Sonlight catalog came out (usually April 1) and the school year was winding down, I took inventory of my Sonlight library. I checked to see which books were still on the shelf where they belonged and which had “walked…
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Finding a Balance in Your Homeschool
As many families are starting the school year and starting to get into a routine, the questions from homeschoolers change from “choosing” to “using.” Many of them are quick and easy, such as “Where can I find the maps?” or “When do we use this item?” Others are more complex, based on the individual family’s situation. One mom I talked to…
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Our History Scrapbook
When Rebecca was studying American history in middle school, we created an extensive American history scrapbook. We filled a large binder with blank 3-hole-drilled paper and then labeled each page with a year in the upper right corner. We inserted dividers between the centuries. I used a variety of resources for filling in our scrapbook including: Sonlight’s timeline figures (purchased) A Journey…
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How Important is Your Child’s Reading Level?
It truly baffles me when parents say things like, "My 5-year-old is reading at a third grade level. He would just be so bored with the first grade level books." Apparently they haven't thought through what that actually means: that once a person has reached a certain level of reading ability they will never enjoy reading something easier again.
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After Dark
Summer is such a fun time for relaxed outdoor learning. Warm summer evenings are a great opportunity to learn about astronomy, especially since you don't have to worry about "school night" bedtimes.
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Summer Learning
As I’ve mentioned before, we cultivated a lifestyle of learning in our family. We were always eager to take a break from formal schooling for the summer, but the learning never stopped. Summer days were definitely more relaxed and the kids had plenty of free time for playing outside and pursuing their individual interests. I think that’s very important. I’ve…
