Homeschooling My Kinetic Kids

Is there anything more exciting in springtime than seeing the first butterfly?  We love it!  As the weather gets warmer, our homeschool lessons start moving more outside or things that we can see outside.  Butterfly life cycles are so fascinating, and growing caterpillars is something kids should do at least once in their lifetime (I know some families do it every year). I'm always looking for new activities and printables to go with a butterfly or insect study and these Painted Lady and Monarch butterflies are great for celebrating springtime.  Putting this printable together was refreshing and theraputic.  I hope these colorful lepidoptera will perk you up, too.  If you're working on a theme unit on butterflies, check out the awesome resources below! How to Rais e Monarch Butterflies book Monarch Butterfly Anatomy Tshirt Monarch Butterfly Life Cycle Set Monarch Butterfly Stuffed Animal Monarch Butterfly Dress Up Wings Monarch Butterfly Garland   <>   Monarch Butterfly K

The regions of the USA have a great variety of wildlife.  Whether you're studying the geography of the entire nation for homeschooling or you want to familiarize your kids with the animals in your own area, the Safari Ltd Great Lakes Toob  would be a great addition to your collection.  The set includes 10 plastic figurines of common regional animals including Canada Geese, Sturgeon, and Mudpuppies. I have a personal goal of creating Montessori-inspired 3-part cards to match every Safari Ltd toob.  I have several of them, which can be found by clicking on the colored text here.   I am pleased to add the Great Lakes toob to my collection.  Scroll down to get the printables for free! If I was studying this region with my kids, I would also add many of the animals from the River toob and the North American toob.   For this reason, I also added a few extra cards to the printables pack, so you can make an even more robust unit study.  Here are a few things I found to add to your learn

Once again, it's only a few days before a major holiday and I'm finally getting around to doing a blog post about it!  I was listening to The Prince of Egypt the Musical cast album this morning and realized that Passover is THIS weekend!  Passover is one of our favorite holidays, but it's always hard to remember since it doesn't have all the hype of bigger days like Christmas (although I still tend to do last minute things with that holiday too). If you're a Christian family and have been wondering about Passover, this blog post is specifically for you!  I want to set up a very simple explanation of the holiday for curious people.  I have written about Passover previously, but it was a long 3-part series and not as simplified as I'd like and not easy to share.  Obviously, there is A LOT I could write about and many more details, but I'm aiming to make this post short and sweet. CONTENTS: - What is Passover? - Why Should Christians do Passover? - Passover Sh

Every year about this time, the kids start wishing for warmer, drier weather, so they can start looking for worms.  They love finding tiny babies and fat older ones and carrying them around as their pets for a long time.  Spring is the perfect time to capitalize on kids interests of worms and add in lots of other learning too.  1- Read Some Great Books One of the easiest places to start when you're looking at a new subject is at the library.  These books offer both information about worms scientifically and tell fun stories featuring the wigglers.  Speaking of  Wiggling Worms at Work , this book explains how worms enrich the soil to help plants grow.   Yucky Worms  focuses on how worms move and where they live.  For a good look at their life cycle and anatomy, check out  Garden Wigglers , which includes all that and more.   2- Make a Worm Sensory Bin The blogger mom at  Montessori From the Heart  had a great idea for worm lessons using air dry clay to create both wigglers for playi

March 28, 2021, is the full moon known as the "Worm Moon."  It's a celebration of springtime and the return of worms into the soil.  If you have kids who are still learning how to write letters and number, this sensory writing tray will be a great way to celebrate.  I absolutely love doing these themed writing trays, so click on the colored text below to see all I've created so far. Lots of Sensory Writing Tray Ideas HERE I made this writing practice tray in a 7x8 shallow black tray, which I've found to be a good size for kids.  The sensory material is plain flour mixed with cocoa powder or you could use dry cake mix.  Of course, dirt is an easy thing to use as well. After you print the letter cards (upper and lowercase included), your child can practice writing the letters on the cards or in the chocolate dirt.  If you laminate the cards, your kids can write on them over and over with dry erase markers.  Punch a hole in the corner and add a binder ring to make

Originally published on June 10, 2015 and updated on March 3, 2021. I live in North America, and most of these animals are native to my neighborhood.  Back in 2015, my kids (then 2, 1, and 6 months) loved the Safari Ltd North America toob, because they recognized almost every creature.  As you may have noticed, I've been on a campaign to rework my old Safari toob printables.  Since the North America toob was one of the first I ever made, I'm excited to present the latest version for you. This is a Member's Only Printable! Sign Up for the Newsletter to Get the Password! After you've put in your email address into the box, check your inbox for the confirmation email.  Open the email and click on the button to confirm your subscription.  You'll get a second email with a link to download the printable.  Download the PDF from the protected page.  Print the first two pages twice and laminate them for long-term use.  Then, cut out all the cards and separate them by

Originally published on March 25, 2016 and updated on February 23, 2021. You probably don't know this because I don't talk about it very much on my blog, but I'm slightly obsessed with New York City, particularly the island's history.  I spend most of my evening free time reading historical fiction on NYC.  I also enjoy Broadway musicals and am oftentimes either listening to a soundtrack or watching one while I craft.  However, I have absolutely no desire to actually visit the city.  Instead, I'll enjoy my big life in a small town, while New Yorkers can keep their small life in the big city (specific musical reference). Instead of visiting the city, I'll stick with continuing to learn about it with my kids through great products like the  Safari Ltd New York City toob  (and scroll down for more homeschool ideas).  I'm slowly working on remaking all my old matching card printables for all the Safari Ltd toobs, since my family loves them so much.  They're