The Ultimate List of Free Homeschooling Resources

With the sudden closure of schools and numerous businesses over the past couple of weeks, homeschooling has become a necessity. For some of you who already have resources together, this is a piece of cake. For others, the question “Where do I even start?!?” is replaying over and over. Regardless of where you currently stand, it’s my hope that you find this comprehensive list of FREE homeschooling resources organized by subject and grade level helpful. 

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Great Gifts for Creative Tweens

Allowing our creativity to shine allows us to feel alive! It sparks joy within us. The benefits are endless! However, when our creativity is inhibited, we become reluctant to share our gifts and ideas. I know that I personally start to feel miserable inside when I stop creating. It’s so important that we encourage our children’s creativity. This doesn’t mean that each of our children will become the best artists in the world or that each will become world-famous in some manner. It simply means that our children will become increasingly confident in their creativity and in sharing this confidence with others. Not only that, but our children learn to embrace mistakes and learn from them. This is why I’ve put together this gift guide of unique gifts for creative tweens. Each idea is sure to spark your tween’s creativity!

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How to Help Your Child Read

So you’ve followed all of the suggestions. Your child doesn’t fit the mold. He/she still isn’t reading. What’s going on? Why is this happening? Is it dyslexia? Is there something else getting in the way of your child being able to read with ease and enjoy reading? These are common questions that have parents searching the internet and beyond for answers. The problem is that parents then become overwhelmed by possibilities and nothing is made clear. Yet shouldn’t the answers to how to help your child read be made clear? Don’t our kids deserve this?

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The Key to Overcome Reading Difficulties

Reading excites me! Yes, I love reading myself. However, what I love even more is seeing kids’ eyes light up when they first start to see themselves as readers. I love it when they feel confident in their own reading! If there is a light inside of me, you can be sure it is shining brightly when kids first confidently read. This process does not happen overnight for the struggling reader. There are barriers to overcome and negative self-talk to address. There is confidence to gain! Each of these steps is part of the process when helping individuals overcome reading difficulties.

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Amazing Race Birthday Party

I always seem to be at a loss for what to do for my kids’ birthday parties. All of my kids have their birthdays in the span of one month. Of course, each of them desires to be unique. I’ll be honest in saying that I feel a sense of relief if one says they just want to watch a movie at the theatre with a couple of friends. It just doesn’t get easier than taking kids to a movie theatre! 😉 So, when my one daughter insisted she wanted an Amazing Race birthday party for her 11th birthday, I had some thinking to do! 

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Summer Reads for Tweens

Summer can be a great time for reading books. Choosing books that both capture our children’s interest and are at their reading level is imperative. There is so much to do in the summer and reading must be able to compete! To help out with this, I have put together a list of books that my tweens have been enjoying this summer. I am also including strategies that ensure our kids are reading should this prove to be challenging. Cheers to great summer reads for tweens that keep our 9 to 12-year-olds engaged!

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The Importance of Laughter

Laughter… is it really that important? We all know the 5 senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. Some argue a sixth sense is knowing where our body is in space. Others call our sixth sense that gut feeling… our inner knowing. Not long ago, I overheard a student diagnosed with autism asking the educational assistant working with her, “Why are there only 5 senses? Why are there not more senses?” I didn’t think much of it at the time until now after seeing that my mom has recently lost the ability to do something I have always taken for granted… laugh! With my mom’s latest loss, the importance of laughter is blatantly clear to me.

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Challenges of Parenting Little Ones

We recently had visitors with little ones for a few nights. It was a great visit and I am thrilled that they spent time with us. The visit had me reflecting on how the support our children need changes over the years. Currently, my own children range in age from 8-20 with the ones still living at home being 8, 10, and 12. Throughout the recent visit, it became glaringly apparent that there are challenges all parents go through when raising young children that quickly become forgotten about as they age. Because of this, I thought it would be appropriate to write a post for all parents of young children highlighting challenges of parenting that we all go through when raising a young family.

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Spelling Hacks Everyone Needs to Know!

We all know at least one person who struggles with spelling. Perhaps you struggle with spelling yourself! After all, there are so many rules around spelling. To add to this, for every rule, it seems there can be just as many exceptions to the rule. With 44 phonemes (sounds) in the English language and more than 200 ways to spell them, spelling is not an easy task! Add terms like blends, digraphs, and trigraphs, and the individuals that become confused with spelling really become confused! I share what I believe are the best spelling hacks ever in this post.

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