Looking for some fun and educational hands-on activities to teach ecology to your kids? Here’s a book that delivers it well. The Kitchen Pantry Scientist Ecology for Kids: Science Experiments and Activities Inspired by Awesome Ecologists, Past and Present is one of a series of great books by Liz Lee Heinecke, also known as the […]
Note: This is an article that ran on my homeschooling column at Examiner around 2009 titled “Long Division Is So Last Century.” Last week a fellow homeschooling mother told me that her sons were struggling some days with long division. I cringed and admitted we had not even started on the subject at our house. […]
Welcome to week one of our 12-week free art lessons for kids course here at A Magical Homeschool! This week the kids will be learning about the art of Wayne Thiebaud (pronounced TEE-bo) and following along with five days of fun and easy art projects using a variety of media. Who was Wayne Thiebaud? Wikipedia […]
I talked recently about lessons you can take from Montessori to enrich your homeschool. Waldorf schools are another great source of ideas. Here are five Waldorf principles that appeal to many homeschoolers. 1. Young children don’t need academics. Waldorf schools don’t start any sort of formal teaching (including teaching reading) until age 7, much like […]
Math seems to trigger some ancient fight-or-flight mechanism in some otherwise brilliant children. This irrational fear of math can cause kids who don’t feel good at the subject to avoid doing it, leading to a snowball effect of more avoidance, falling farther behind and feeling more panic about not understanding it (and more avoidance). Luckily, […]
All five of our homeschooled kids are now great spellers, but they weren’t always great. They learned in different ways that suited them, but in the end they all ended up becoming excellent spellers — without worksheets, drills or a curriculum. How? It was easier than I thought it would be, once they learned in […]
We have a new favorite science experiment book in our homeschool! I was lucky to preview an advanced copy of The Science Spell Book: 30 Enchanting Experiments for Kids earlier this year and immediately fell in love with it. It’s is one of my favorite children’s science books that I’ve read, and I’ve read a […]
Who needs to stick to a boring old math curriculum? There are some really great books for hands-on math fun. Math Games Lab for Kids: 24 Fun, Hands-On Activities for Learning with Shapes, Puzzles, and Games by Rebecca Rapoport is definitely a fun one to check out with your kiddos. I read an advanced reader […]
Is your child interested in learning American Sign Language? There are some really wonderful free resources for kids of all ages to learn ASL. The American Sign Language University offers wonderful free online ASL classes. They provide four levels of classes for free, with each course building on the last and comprising of 15 in-depth […]
Here’s a wonderful free resource for adults or kids to learn indigenous languages. 7000 Languages is a nonprofit website and app that teaches native languages such as Dakota, Cree, Balinese and Ojibwe, absolutely free. 7000 Languages explains: We create free online language-learning courses in partnership with Indigenous, minority, and refugee communities so they can keep […]
Have your kids played on Artsology yet? This free site uses a wide range of games and activities to teach kids about famous art and music, from Georgia O’Keefe flower puzzles to Salvado Dali hangman to virtual graffiti tagging and jazz musician name scrambles. This is a site we visited with our older kids years […]
Here’s a wonderful infographic to help you and your kiddos identify 60 different trees by their fall leaves! Infographic Developed by MJJSales.com The poster (courtesy of MJ Sales Umbrellas, which has a surprisingly helpful blog) helps kids learn about simple versus compound leaves, palmate versus pinnate leaves, and lobed versus not lobed leaves (see the […]
Weather trees are great ways to incorporate art, nature studies, science and even math into a fun daily project. Here’s a free printable weather tree for February to help your kids track the month’s weather. Kids can assign a different color to each weather type, then color one leaf each day to show that day’s […]
Continuing in our series of absolutely free curricula in every subject for every grade, here’s a round-up of resources for math, science, history, language arts and more that are absolutely free for third grade. (Note from Alicia: This post was compiled as part of a series for my homeschooling column at Examiner, which is no […]
Here’s a fabulous astronomy freebie! Lie Back Look Up has created a wonderful 6-page stargazing diary for families to print out for free. It includes pages for kids to draw the constellations they see, draw the moon, track its phases and more. Find the stargazing diary here. Be sure to look around the rest of […]
Wikijunior has created a free geometry wikibook for the elementary level that’s a great introduction to geometry for all ages. The 72-page book, Geometry for Elementary School, covers basic information such as points, lines, symmetry, congruence, how to bisect an angle and the Pythagorean Theorum. It is intended for beginner readers, meaning any age will […]
Here’s a wonderful freebie for your nature studies. The Cornell Institute of Ornithology offers its 12 page BirdSleuth Explorer’s Guidebook absolutely free to download and print. The full color booklet includes lots of great stuff for identifying birds, including some fun activities and worksheets to fill out. Pages include: Wake up your ears What’s a […]
We checked out a fabulous book from the library yesterday and it got our youngest daughter, Fiona, excited about finding and identifying feathers. Plume, written and illustrated by Isabelle Simler, was New York Times selection for Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2017 and you’ll be able to see why. I just find it enchanting and simple, […]
Forest schools and other outdoor learning environments are becoming increasingly popular, not just in the United Kingdom but in the U.S. and around the world. A Year of Forest School: Outdoor Play and Skill-building Fun for Every Season, by Jane Worrell and Peter Houghton, gives parents and teachers ideas for nearly 40 seasonal activities suitable […]
Looking for some fun ways to work nature studies into your homeschooling this month? Here are all kinds of wonderful ways to use nature to work science, math, writing, art and more into your learning. Whether you live out in the country or are stuck inside an apartment this month, there are still ideas to […]
Purple cabbage, like elderberry juice, is a natural pH indicator. That means that it changes colors depending when you add substances to it of varying pH levels. More acidic substances, like vinegar and lemon juice, turn it more pink. More basic substances, like dish detergent, turn it more blue. We came up with this experiment […]
In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, here’s an assortment of lesson plans, pages, songs, interesting info and more to use in your homeschool. abc Teach has a printable PDF bio with a multiple choice Q&A at the end. The Crafty Crow has MLK Day crafts and KidsSoup has some great crafts and activities. […]
Fall is right around the corner and there are so many wonderful ways to learn with this season. Here’s one fun way to do math with fall nature items, from my book, A Magical Homeschool: Nature Studies (52 Wonderful Ways to Use Nature Studies in Every Season to Teach Science, Math, Art and More). Nature […]