“Outside” was our three-year-old’s first two-syllable word. By the time he was about sixteen months old, he would go to our front door and ask to go outside, usually while signing “please.” He was absolutely right. Kids need to be
OUTSIDE!
Keep It Real
When teaching your littles about money, you can buy plastic coins and paper dollars, but why waste your real money buying fake money? Any time you can use real-world objects for manipulatives, go for it! Today Daddy and our three-year-old
Counting to 100
We recently observed that sacred school holiday: the 100th day of school. My three-year-old is working on counting to 100, and he has been using a 10 x 10 matrix. Ours is just a print-out in a dry erase sheet, but
Going Green
When we consider the financial impact of home schooling, a lot of factors come into play. Obviously, losing my income is the most critical, but we’re also looking at savings — tuition, daycare, the gas from my substantial commute. The
In A Blink
It’s happening today: my baby is turning one. While many advantages draw me to home schooling — flexibility, individual pace, custom curriculum — none come close to the idea of spending more time with my boys. Childhood passes in a
A Fierce Independence
A bit of wisdom from Maria Montessori today: “Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed.” For our older son, that’s basically every task now. Last month he hit three and dove headfirst into
All Aboard!
Albert Einstein said, “Play is the highest form of research.” Â This is most true when our children play with toys that allow them to create, experiment, and solve problems. Our three-year-old is enchanted with his wooden train set these days.
Urban Outdoors
I grew up in a small town, but fate has seen fit to have me raise my boys in a big city. I hate the traffic. My best friend is Charlotte Masoning her children in rural Indiana with chickens and barn
Unifix Letters
Today the “extra duties as assigned” part of my contract obliged me to visit our 1st grade classroom to deal with some technology drama. I love going out there to see what the littles are up to. Today they were
Snake Eyes!
Working with dice enhances number sense in young children by training them to look at a group of objects (the dots on the dice) and recognize how many are there without counting. As children grow familiar with these common arrangements, they