Every once in a while, I read a book that I grabs all of my attention and screams to be used for fun with kids. I love taking those books and turning them into fun unit studies for educational purposes, and Elise Broach’s new book The Wolf Keepers is just such a book. A high-stakes middle… Continue reading NEW! A Linked Unit Study for Elise Broach’s “The Wolf Keepers”
Category: homeschool
NEW! Make Planning Beautiful with the Year Round Homeschooling Planner
If you’ve been following our school journey for any length of time, you know that we do homeschool a bit differently, and I don’t mean just because we homeschool. Sometimes we’re eclectic. Sometimes we’re unit study-ers. Sometimes we’re road-schoolers. Sometimes we’re project-based learners. We don’t use any packaged curriculum as-is except for math, because I… Continue reading NEW! Make Planning Beautiful with the Year Round Homeschooling Planner
Field Work Friday: Visiting the Nina & the Pinta
Did you know that there are reproductions of historic ships sailing around the world? I didn’t, until recently, but when we found out, my DH arranged to take us to a nearby port city to see the Nina and the Pinta, two of the three ships sailing with Christopher Columbus on his famous voyage in… Continue reading Field Work Friday: Visiting the Nina & the Pinta
Living History: The Roaring ’20s
It was the era of gangsters, Prohibition, and all that glitters. It’s known as the Roaring ‘20s, and our living history club brought the era back to life. We love holding this special events each semester, and this one was definitely the glitziest. The day kicked off with a photography session, as the dressed-up students… Continue reading Living History: The Roaring ’20s
Entering a National History Day Competition
When I hit middle school, I was encouraged to compete in our local National History Day competition. I was hooked from that very first event: I loved the research, the preparation, the work to analyze historical events and to share their importance, and, yes, the competition. That’s why I was so very excited when I… Continue reading Entering a National History Day Competition
Interviewing Author Chris Grabenstein
It started with the happiest of emails. Not the fake “you’ve-won-a-million-dollars” type, but the a real from-the-personal-assistant “Congratulations! You’ve won!” type. In this instance, though, the prize was a thirty-minute interview with Chris Grabenstein for my students. It would be exciting to interview any children’s author. We love books and love reading, so being able… Continue reading Interviewing Author Chris Grabenstein
Book Club, Boys’ Edition: Gary Paulsen’s “Lawn Boy”
Last month the boys read Gary Paulsen’s Lawn Boy for book club. Maybe this seems like a strange choice for January, because it’s really about just what it sounds: a boy who creates a summer job mowing for lawns, but for our purposes, the winter weather suited us just fine. In the book, the main… Continue reading Book Club, Boys’ Edition: Gary Paulsen’s “Lawn Boy”
New! Stock Market Challenge Project
My Little Man is totally fascinated with the stock market lately. He’s done chores to earn the money to purchase his very own stock, and he’s picked his favorite companies (that have stock he can afford). Because he’s so very interested in this, however, I’ve been looking for ways to help him understand how it… Continue reading New! Stock Market Challenge Project
A Roarin’ ’20s Book Club: “Isabel Feeney, Star Reporter”
Some books just scream out for a special event, and that’s exactly what happened when I read Isabel Feeney, Star Reporter. I knew it would make a fantastic book club pick – not only because it offers myriads of possibilities for a special event, but because Fantaskey did an amazing job writing a book that… Continue reading A Roarin’ ’20s Book Club: “Isabel Feeney, Star Reporter”
Book Club, Girls’ Edition: “Tuesdays at the Castle”
We read an exciting fantasy book this month called Tuesdays at the Castle. It’s about a castle with feelings that grows and shifts on its own and the potential takeover of the kingdom from other lands when the king and queen go missing. Heirs Rolf, Lilah, and Celie work to find their parents, learn… Continue reading Book Club, Girls’ Edition: “Tuesdays at the Castle”
