Scrapbooking has been a favorite hobby of mine since high school. I love preserving memories and I love the creativity involved. I also really like that it's a hobby I can share with my children. I bought my oldest daughter her first scrapbook when she was 4 and she loved it. In this post I share why scrapbooking is a great hobby for kids and some tips for getting started. Why Scrapbook With Kids? Scrapbooking is primarily an adult hobby but is also a great activity for kids. Kids love photographs and preserving memories important to a child, are always fun to look back on later. Scrapbooking involves lots of cutting, pasting, drawing, and writing. It can be a fun way for kids to develop these skills. Scrapbooking requires kids to get creative and gives them a chance to express themselves.  What You'll Need To Get Started: There a lots of scrapbooking boutiques out there with tons of great supplies but they can be pricey. Really all you need is: ...

Microscopes are a scientific instrument that all kids should get a chance to learn how to use. There are so many everyday things that look really amazing up-close. Under a microscope you can see that objects and even plants and animals are made of tiny intricate parts. The microscopic world is amazing! In this post I share 40 things to try looking at up-close under a microscope. 40 Things To Look At Under A Microscope: 1. A feather  2. Soil 3. An insect wing 4. A human hair 5. An animal hair 6. Pond water 7. Diatomacious earth-  diatomacious earth looks SO cool magnified! 8. Cheek swab 9. An insect leg 10. A drop of blood 11. Mold 12. Sand 13. A shaving from a chicken bone- try both a piece of hard bone from the outside and some spongy bone from inside a bone. 14. Kombucha 15. Snake or lizard skin after they shed  16. A flower petal 17. A sliver of wood 18. Sugar 19. Salt- try different types 20. Thread 21. Sa...

My family loves Dr. Seuss. My husband and I were huge Dr. Seuss fans even before we had kids. Infact, our oldest daughter's nursery was Dr. Seuss themed and had a huge Horton Hears A Who mural painted on the wall. That's why I was a little surprised recently to find out there was a Dr. Seuss book I had never read or even heard of before, called The Butter Battle Book. After reading it, I decided to see what other Dr. Seuss books I'd been missing out on and found a couple more: Yertle The Turtle, I Had Trouble In Getting To Solla Sollew, and On Beyond Zebra. Here's a little bit about those four books plus a few more lesser known Dr. Seuss books: The Butter Battle Book The Butter Battle Book is a book about how out of hand intolerance can get. It's a story about the Yooks and the Zooks who both enjoy buttered bread but don't agree on how to butter it, and the craziness that results from this disagreement. Great Day For Up Great Day For Up is a...

We don't use a store bought science curriculum in our homeschool, instead I sit down with my daughter before a new school year begins and ask her what science topics she would like to learn about that year. This year she asked to learn about the human body, plants, and microscopes. Instead of just ordering a premade curriculum, I like to build my own to tailor suit my daughter's interests and needs. And believe it or not, it's really not that difficult. In this post I will share how I build my own science curriculum and what resources I use. Getting Started I usually start by searching Amazon for a good science kit on whatever topic I'm working on. For our human body unit this year I ordered The Magic School Bus: Journey Into The Human Body kit. We've used several of their kits before and they make an excellent base for building a science curriculum around. There are lots of other companies out there with great science kits too. I just recommend reading lots of ...

I don't know about you, but I'm always looking for new healthy snacks my kids will actually eat. In this post I share 20 of my kid's favorite simple but healthy snacks. - Apple slices and nut butter - Frozen banana slices - just slice a banana and stick in the freezer for about an hour until the slices are frozen. - Multi-grain chips with salsa or guacamole - Dill Pickles-  always a favorite in our house. - Fruit Kabobs - put various fruits and slices of fruit on a kabob stick. Our favorites for this snack are grapes, strawberries, pineapple chuncks, and marshmallows. - Trail mix - I love trail mix because you can make it with so many different ingredients. Our household favorites are peanuts, cashews, dried coconut flakes, craisins, and vanilla yogurt chips. - Smoothies - this is another simple snack with so many different options. Berry smoothies with greek yogurt and almond milk are a favorite in our house. If you need some inspiration, check out th...

Math is one of those subjects that too often becomes all about worksheets and workbooks. I try really hard to incorporate hands on and real life application activities into our lessons but this can be especially hard when it comes to math. In this post I will share several ways to take math outside the classroom setting.  Grocery Store Trips Grocery store trips are an easy way for your kids to get math practice in a real life setting. Some activities you can do are: -Teach your kids how to use and read the scales in the produce department. - Have your child use the scales to calculate how much your spending on an item. -Have your child add up the prices of items. -Have your child calculate the difference in price between two similar items. -Ask questions like "If we have $10 to spend on bread, how many loaves can we get?" or "which block of cheese is the best deal?" -Help your child pay the cashier and count out exact change. -Young children c...

We are definitely a critter loving household. We currently have two Chihuahuas, a cat, a Ball Python, an aquatic turtle, an African Water Frog, and 5 chickens. There are many benefits that can come from raising a pet with your children, in this post I share a few of them. Teach Responsibility: One of the most important things we have to teach our children is responsibility. Helping feed and water and care for a pet is a wonderful way to help kids develop responsibility.  It's also a great way to introduce basic care giving skills. People who have raised pets tend to have an easier transition into parenthood because they've already been the provider and care giver for another life. Emotional Well-being: Having and caring for a pet can have a profound affect on emotional health. Interacting with animals has been shown to reduce stress levels and can even help with impulse control, social skills, and self esteem.  Our older Chihuahua used to work a...

So much emphasis is put on early literacy these days. Many school districts expect children to be reading by the end (or sometimes even the beginning) of kindergarten. While there is certainly nothing wrong with a child learning to read early, not all kids are developmentally ready to read at age 5, and that's okay. In this post I share several reasons why learning to read isn't a race. Developmental Readiness Kids all develop at their own pace. We know this when it comes to learning to walk, or climb the jungle gym, or being ready for slumber parties, but it is often overlooked when it comes to learning to read. Not all kids are developmentally there at the same age.   Pushing kids to read before they're ready can cause a lot of frustration and resentment. It can destroy a child's chance to develop a love for reading by turning it into a frustrating chore.  Reading Isn't The Only Way To Learn New Information One of the reasons reading is pushed ...

I struggled with terrible insomnia for years. It was awful, not sleeping makes you feel so irritable and unhealthy. I tried quite a few over the counter and prescription medications but none worked well for me. They either made me jittery, not sleepy, or made me so sleepy I felt groggy and tired for half of the next day.  Several years ago I finally gave up trying different medications to help me sleep and decided to try some natural remedies. I ended up finding several things that helped. In this post I share a few natural remedies for sleeplessness that I have found to be useful. Magnesium Lotion Magnesium deficiency is very common, especially among woman. Magnesium plays an important role in supporting deep restorative sleep. Magnesium is necessary for maintaining healthy neurotransmitter levels including GABA, a neurotransmitter responsible for promoting sleep. One of the easiest and fastest ways to raise your magnesium levels is applying a good magnesium lotion befo...