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…

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…

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Making T-Shirts into Pillows

I was at a friends house the other day and saw this wonderful t-shirt pillow that her daughter had made at school, it was so simple I just had to try it. This is a great way for us to recycle some of the more beloved t-shirts in our house. All you need for this…

Pausing to Reflect

The homeschooling resource center that my kids go to had their pausing ceremony this week. It’s a time for everyone in the community to get together, for the kids to perform something if they wish and a time to say “see ya later” to the older teens who are moving on to other things. The…

Getting Ready for our First “Official” Year of Homeschooling

We have always considered ourselves homeschoolers but this year we face our first real challenge, registering with the state. Since our oldest is now 8 she needs to be registered with our local school district as a homeschooler. Within the next month I will submit our affidavit and our educational goals for the next year….