Get a Melissa & Doug 25% Off Coupon When You Take the North “Poll”

We seriously love Melissa & Doug toys. They were the go to toys when the girls were younger, especially the puzzles. We have passed many Melissa & Doug toys down to younger friends. Here’s your chance to get some of these great toys at a discount. Continue Reading ….

Kids Craft – Egg Carton Caterpillars

My daughter collects egg cartons. She has a huge collection stuffed away in a cabinet waiting to turn them into something. We have used them to make fire starters in the past but the other day she decided she wanted to make some caterpillars. She got everything ready and we all sat down at the kitchen…

The Mathematics of Doctor Who’s Fez

My oldest is a huge Doctor Who fan. She has seen all of the episodes from the last couple of seasons and quite a few of the previous ones. When Halloween started getting close she wanted to be Doctor Who, more specifically the 11th Doctor. We went to various thrift stores and department stores and outfitted her with his trade marked suspenders, tweed jacket and bow tie but the one additional think she insisted on was a fez, because to quote the Doctor “I wear a fez now. Fezzes are cool”

Self Directed Math Learning with Base Ten Blocks

Can you unschool math? Sure you can, especially with base ten blocks and other manipulatives! My kids love math and love working with numbers, splitting up sets, multiplying (although I’m not sure if they understand what that word is), etc… A great deal of this enjoyment comes from unstructured work with base ten blocks. Base ten blocks are a…

Learning on the Fly

  Sometimes life presents to you great opportunities for learning, the goal is to be open to them. We had a great time camping last week but our last morning was rainy so we decided to pack up camp and have breakfast in a nearby town. While we were there our waitress showed us amazing…

Unschooling the Practical Arts

One great thing about unschooling is that life is learning and “school” is always in session. This weekend we attended an Arts and Crafts festival in town and it was great. There were all sorts of artist there, painter, sculptors, jewelers etc… The girls watched pottery demonstrations, talked with artists and saw various types of art for sale….

Friday Finds – Writing Resources for Kids

Lately I’ve been encouraging my oldest to write more. We don’t follow any sort of curriculum but I do require her to write something every day whether it’s an email or writing in a journal. Lately she has been extremely responsive to writing in a journal. We use a numbered list of writing prompts. Every day…

Unschooling Success Stories

By kigaliwire   Ultimately as parents we want to do the best for our kids to put them on a path to success (whatever that’s defined as). This makes unschooling interesting because as much as I see its effects and I see my children learning sometimes there is a little voice deep deep back in…

Letting go of Worry

I worry. I’ve always worried but it’s become worse since I have become a parent. I can see all of the potential injuries that the world has to offer. This was not so much of an issue when my kids were younger and the potential injuries small but they have gotten older and have a…

Scavenger Hunts as a Learning Tool

We just got back from a family reunion in Virgina. Everyone had a great time, inspite of the 100+ degree temperatures. One of the activities that was planned for the reunion was a scavenger hunt that took us to various sites that were important to the town and battle of Manassas. My family, along with…