Hello, friends. Can you forgive me for the 4-month long silence? I’m here to announce that I’m back and excited to start posting again! These past 4-months have been quite the roller coaster ride.
Good thing our family likes roller coasters! (That's Pearl in the purple shirt with a look of pure delight on her face.)
Because of a number of changes in our family (including my husband’s decision to try working from home and other bits and pieces), I got to …

Read on »

Happy Earth Day, one and all!
Before I continue, I must confess that I didn’t do these activities specifically for Earth Day. But I wanted to showcase some of the growing we’ve been doing and this seemed like the perfect day to do it.
On to the green!
Back at the end of March, the little homeschool co-op that we belong to had an Easter activity. Part of that was planting seeds to grow our very own Easter grass–how fun is that? We …

Read on »

Now that Easter has come and gone, are you left with a bunch of plastic eggs just begging to be useful again? If so, here is a great way to use those Easter leftovers. And what a fun way to welcome Spring!
I first read about this idea here at Stacy’s blog. It seemed pretty simple, so I thought I’d give it a try. The steps:
1. Gather your eggs.
I decided on four pairs (or pair, if you prefer) of plastic eggs.
2. …

Read on »

Since toddlers often get in trouble for making messes, I think it’s fun to give them some activities where messiness is not only part of the package, it’s encouraged! The occasional romp in the dirt and some puddle splashing are just delights for children (even if they are not always so delightful for parents). So, here’s a classic homemade messy craft experiment that’s reasonably easy to clean up. Goop!
The recipe is simple–1 part cornstarch : 2 parts water. I found …

Read on »

Last weekend, I went to a great homeschool forum. One of the workshops was called “Ingredient #20: The Closet.” If you’re familiar with Leadership Education, at least the Thomas Jefferson Education version of it, you’ve probably heard of The Closet. The idea is to have an area in your home to store work and activities for younger children. A closet or cupboard work well for this. In a sense, it’s quite similar to the Montessori model of having work ready …

Read on »

My friend over at Giving Up on a Clean House is having a great giveaway right now–adorable felt board sets! The winner will get to choose a set from StressLESS Teacher’s Shop on Etsy.
Aren't these great?
I just wanted to let you all know about this so you can get a chance at the goods! Head on over and enter!

Read on »

Here it is…the moment you’ve all been waiting for…my review of Maria Montessori’s classic text, The Absorbent Mind. My apologies for the long blog post. I couldn’t help it!

The Absorbent Mind by Maria Montessori
Truth be told, I think I’ve been putting off writing this review because the task just seemed overwhelming. How to review a pivotal text in early childhood education in a manner that is thorough but concise, that does it justice without boring you to tears, that adequetly …

Read on »

I am now the proud owner of my very own laminating machine. I know–exciting, right? With this little beauty, I can now make activities that might actually stand a chance of surviving the sticky fingers of this house.
Here’s my new baby:
Ta-da!
I got mine at Target for like $28.00. Loved that price tag. And, so far, it’s worked really well! It heats up quickly and then you just stick whatever you want laminated in one of these:

Laminating pouches.
You send it through …

Read on »

The other day, I happened upon Teacher Tom’s blog. What a great resource! I’ve enjoyed reading about the adventures in Teacher Tom’s preschool and am quite interested in his educational philosophies and how he manages his cooperative preschool–very cool stuff!
Anyway, the other day, he wrote about the song he sings to signal to the children that it’s time to clean up. He also talks about encouraging a sense of ownership and responsibility by giving children the time and space to …

Read on »

I love when you read something and it’s like, “This is exactly what I needed to hear at this very moment.”
I had one of those moments today and it was like a shimmer of sunlight parting clouds.
While reading through some blog posts about homeschooling with youngsters, I stumbled across this blog post over at Delighting in His Richness. Just looking for some tips about teaching with a toddler running around, I was blown away when I was given something much …

Read on »