Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books are a favorite in our household. We've read through the first 5 books together several times over the last few years. I usually try to come up with some hands on learning activities to go along with our read alouds. I feel like it helps my kids get more out of our reading.  Here are some of the activities we've tried while reading Little House on the Prairie: Make A Log House: After reading the chapters about Pa building the house, look at some pictures of log homes (Google Images is great for this). Then try making your own "log" house out of Lincoln Logs, popsicle sticks, or even pretzels. We used popsicle sticks.  Take A Virtual Tour: While the actual house that Pa built on the Kansas prairie no longer stands, there is a replica of the one room house at the site of the Ingalls family homestead. You can take a short virtual tour here:   The Real Little House on the Prairie . Prairie Wildflower Activity  Laura ...

As I do every year, I sat down with my daughter this summer to talk about her goals and what topics she wants to cover next school year. She asked to learn about birds, electricity, space, pioneers, and forensic science. She also asked to learn some sign language, learn to write in cursive, and said she wants to finish at least 10 chapter books this year. I think she picked some fun topics and set some excellent goals for herself. Our Plan For The Year: Something new we've decided to try this year, is incorporating more free choice interest led learning. Instead of having some formal lessons 5 days a week, we're going to try doing formal lessons just 3 days a week, and dedicating the other 2 days to whatever happens to interest her that day. My 8 year old is extremely independent and very much a free thinker. Too much structure is frustrating for her, but if I completely hand the reigns over to her, she tends to get lazy and doesn't want to do anything, so I'm...

I am honored to announce that Neesa from  Home Educator Online  has nominated me for The Sunshine Blogger Award.  What is the Sunshine Blogger Award? The Sunshine Blogger Award is an award given by bloggers to other bloggers who are bringing positivity and creativity to the blogging world. Rules For The Sunshine Blogger Award: *Thank the blogger who nominated you in your blog post and link back to his/her blog. * Answer the 11 questions the blogger asked you. * Nominate 11 new bloggers to receive the award and write them 11 questions. * List these rules and display the sunshine blogger award logo in your post and on your blog. Questions I was asked: How long have you been home educating?  We've been homeschooling since my oldest was kindergarten age, so this will be our fifth year. What is your favorite part of home educating?   It's so hard to pick any one thing, there are just so many wonderful things about homeschooling. One of my favo...

The number one concern I hear from most people about homeschooling, is the socialization factor, but the idea that homeschooled kids don't get enough social interaction is completely false. I think this misconception stems from a misunderstanding about what modern homeschooling actually looks like. Homeschooled kids are not shut ins who are stuck in the house doing book work all day. Homeschoolers are out at the library, exploring at the park, taking classes and lessons, or running errands with their parents on an almost daily basis. If you think about it, they likely get more real world interaction with people on a daily basis than their public schooled counterparts. When again in life are you ever going to spend the majority of your waking hours, in a room full of the same 30 people, who are your exact same age, everyday? Probably never. Homeschooled kids tend to get more opportunities to interact with people of all different ages and from different walks of life, just from being...