Homeschooling My Kinetic Kids

During my preteen and teen years, I was obsessed with "who lives, who dies, who tells your story" (although Hamilton hadn't been written yet).  When I was around 11 or 12, the asthma doctor told myself and my parents that I would probably not live into adulthood.  My lungs were so bad that any illness or irritant could be the thing from which I never recovered.  Tough words for a doctor to tell their patient, very difficult words to hear, and heartbreaking for a parent. From that moment on, I was obsessed with telling my own story, and reading other stories about girls my age who had also dealt with difficult things.  I loved the "Dear America" series for that reason.  It was historical fiction about lives in the past, who had overcome adversities and survived them (or not).  I remember also being a bit obsessed with Anne Frank, even addressing an entire diary/journal to her at one point. Living and Adventuring with Asthma I've been wanting...

I've been waiting to publish this printable for a really long time, because I kept thinking I would do something more interesting with the blog post besides just giving you the PDF.  Then, when I went to write this post, I realized that the digital scrapbook file had been corrupted, and I no longer had the original file.  As a result, the printable in the link is NOT an exact copy of the ones displayed in the picture.  Sorry.  I've done my best to remake them and added a few more options than I had before (so that's good). > > > Click Here to Get the Printable < < < Like all of my letter cards, these can be downloaded by clicking on the colored text under the picture.  Print them on cardstock for the most durability.  If you're wanting to use them for spelling, printing 2-3 copies might be a good idea.  You can organize the letters in small zip top bags to make finding the one you want a lot easier.  Cut out the eggs...

Summertime means that lots of us are getting outside of our houses and into nature once again.  The birds are singing, the butterflies are fluttering, and the poison ivy is stinging.  Unfortunately, getting back to the wild can also mean exposing ourselves to lots of harmful plants.  Of course, there are lots of helpful plants in North America, too, but how can we tell the difference? Before starting this blog post and FREE printable, I had no idea which plants were helpful and which were harmful.  I could maybe name a few, but I definitely couldn't name ten of each kind.  Can you?  Comment below and tell me which ones I've missed. My information about poisonous plants came from the World Atlas and their list of ten.  Before doing this printable, I had only heard of a few of them, mostly because they're not very common in the Pacific Northwest.  The only one that I have had personal experience with is the nightshade- one of my siblings...

Did you know that the jaguar has the strongest bite force of all the big cats?  You'd think it would be the tiger, since it's the largest.  Nope!  It's the lithe jungle cat- the jaguar- that takes that crown.  There's really so much to learn about the rainforest, it's almost a never ending topic.  It's my hope that this post will get you excited about learning and give you a few places to begin your exploration. Learn About the Rainforest 1- Many of the foods we eat and products we interact with every day come from the rainforest.  A great place to start exploring is the produce section of the grocery store, since up to 80% of our food originated there.  Things like avocado, bananas, pineapple, tomato, mango, and more!  Have the kids pick something new to try and a few of your favorites, then use the stickers on the fruit to find out where it's from.  Look at a world map and match them.  Which fruit came the furthest?  ...

Several months ago, I saw this amazing idea on Instagram that I knew I needed to make my own one day.  A mom and blogger at "The Rome Home" featured a horse learning theme with a mystery word activity called, "Stable Secrets."   From the first moment I saw the post, I was trying to find a theme to match it.  When I bought this garden clip art pack from Etsy recently, I knew I had found the perfect kit to finally do the mystery word printable! Since we're talking about words and helping kids learn to read, I thought a book list would be a good place to start.  All of these books are nonfiction resource books for learning about plants and how seeds grow.  From toddlers to upper elementary- you should be able to find the perfect book for your crew.  Click on the colored text to learn more about the books. Trees, Leaves, Flowers, and Seeds From Seed to Plant   <>  How Seeds Grow Botanicum- Welcome to the Museum Flower A...

I've never been very excited about botany or plant life cycles.  I prefer biology instead, and this blog reflects that in a big way (even though my kids are always telling me what animals I'm still missing).  With everyone in isolation for the virus, my FB and Instagram feed are filled with people setting up gardens with their kids.  Although I still have no desire to plant my own garden, I've caught the bug in form of lots of gardening-themed printables to be released this month. Last year, I went nuts with the battleship style math games with several different themes. I have ones for rubber duckies, penguins, oreos, star wars, dinosaurs, and multiplication.  Since I'm crazy about this fun garden clip art pack from Etsy now, I decided that I need to make a garden one too.  And who are the enemies of the garden?  Adorable bunnies, of course! The Tale of Peter Rabbit book   <>   Peter Rabbit Toy It's Not Easy Being a Bu...