For homeschoolers and all educators
Education
Recent Posts
Newest inspiration and resources for teachers at home and at school.
I created these school planning pages out of desperation. I SO needed to get back on track! Did they help? Some more than others. But I can say for certain that they are 100% cute. In this download you’ll find a weekly lesson plan, semester schedule, grade report sheets, and book/media record sheets. All can be sized for any planner, including the Happy Planner.
Last summer I went a little nutty. See, I was SO excited that our curriculum recommended a timeline. SO SO excited that timeline figures came with it. Until ... I opened the packaging. The timeline figures were ... ugly. So I made ancient history timeline figures using classic art! And now I'm sharing them with you, free!
I couldn’t pay my kids to go outside. They’d drag out of bed, take bowls of cereal to the family room where they’d watch TV followed by hours of begging for “screen time” while I battled our way through the morning’s schoolwork. Months of this, years of it. We fought this battle day after day until we made a dramatic decision and drastic change.
Those of you who are familiar with Lent and what it’s all about will understand why the title: Walk Through Lent with Joy, is surprising. Lent is a time of penance and repentance, of fasting, of giving up joy … isn’t it?
My Year Nature Journal gives you 12 full months of nature journal activity and free-creation pages to support your nature/outdoor education. The journal is perfect for fans of Charlotte Mason, Montessori, kinesthetic and hands-on learning, or to simply enhance your enjoyment of the outdoors.
Tools for Teachers
Resources to help simplify your home or school.
I created these school planning pages out of desperation. I SO needed to get back on track! Did they help? Some more than others. But I can say for certain that they are 100% cute. In this download you’ll find a weekly lesson plan, semester schedule, grade report sheets, and book/media record sheets. All can be sized for any planner, including the Happy Planner.
Last summer I went a little nutty. See, I was SO excited that our curriculum recommended a timeline. SO SO excited that timeline figures came with it. Until ... I opened the packaging. The timeline figures were ... ugly. So I made ancient history timeline figures using classic art! And now I'm sharing them with you, free!
Yes, to celebrate the release of my third picture book, A Year With Mama Earth, I’m creating a nature journal inspired by Rebecca Green’s illustrations and the book’s lyrical text. I’m aiming the printables at PreK-3rd graders, and plan to include an abundance of STEAM activities: loads of natural science, art, creative writing, and so much more.
Nearly every elementary school teacher will need to prep a lesson on fairy tales, specifically comparing fairy tale versions. Many wonderful options exist, and many we’ve used ourselves. One of my favorites has always been Little Red Riding Hood. Of course when it came time to write a fractured fairy tale of my own, I picked one of my favorite tales! Find a FREE comparative literature printable unit study based on Violet and the Woof and Little Red Riding Hood.
Learn why sequencing is an essential skill for reading and literacy, and download free printables to practice using the picture book Violet and the Woof!
Enjoy this FREE Halloween Unit Study. A full week of Halloween fun for PreK, Kindergarten, First Grade, all centered on the book Halloween Good Night by Rebecca Grabill.
Inspiration for Education
Encouragement and inspiration for all learners.
I had dreams for my family life, for the kids education, for my own recreation time (which currently clocked in at daily total of zero minutes, zero seconds). I longed to do things like knit, read books with real pages, write for the joy of it. Instead, I was living life of reacting—not to God’s direction—but to people’s momentary expectations, urgent tasks all shoving and bickering to be FIRST on my list. I was desperate to get back to the most important focus of every day...
I couldn’t pay my kids to go outside. They’d drag out of bed, take bowls of cereal to the family room where they’d watch TV followed by hours of begging for “screen time” while I battled our way through the morning’s schoolwork. Months of this, years of it. We fought this battle day after day until we made a dramatic decision and drastic change.
Special Education
A Growing collection of resources and reflections on educating special needs (more coming soon).
How do children learn creativity? Creativity requires courage, and courage requires risk. This lesson is especially vital for children of Apraxia of Speech and their families. Plus discover the inspiration behind the hit retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, Violet and the Woof!
Shop Education
A Growing selection of educational resources at your fingertips.
Enjoy these beautifully designed homeschool planning sheets to keep track of everything all year.
A weekly planning sheet with space for multiple days or students designed with flexibility in mind. Includes gratitude and a look ahead.
Semester Schedule listing times by hour from 5am to 11pm, five days a week. Perfect for tracking class schedules and recurring events.
Grade Record. Print one for each student if you need to keep track.
Media/Books list.
For more details on how I use this resource, check it out here!
These 84 Ancient History Timeline Figures-Cards pair ancient history with classic works of art. Each card holds an ancient event or person, date, at least one classic painting, illustration, or photograph and its details (artist and date when created, if known). These will carry your student from creation to Alexander the Great. Included are major people and events from Biblical history (Moses, Joshua, Babylonian Captivity, etc.), people and events from the broader cradle of civilization (Queen Hatshepsut, Homer, Olympic Games, etc.), and historical peoples across the globe (Danger Cave People, Shang Dynasty, Buddha, etc.).
Print on heavy paper or card stock, laminate if desired, and cut out. Use as flashcards, paste in a timeline book, or use on the wall as a bulletin board or display. Try our Washi Tape tip to show your students what’s happening all over the world during that time in history!
(If you’re looking for the promotional giveaway of this resource, please click here!)
The My Year Nature Journal gives you 12 full months of nature journal printable activities to support your nature and outdoor education. The journal is perfect for those who love Charlotte Mason, Montessori, kinesthetic and hands-on learning, or for those who simply want to enhance your enjoyment of the outdoors. It is designed to compliment the picture book, A Year With Mama Earth, but can easily be used independently. 195 pages of outdoor adventure!
Each month contains:
Monthly teacher’s guide with instructions and suggestions.
Outdoor hands-on activities for exploration--enough for one activity each week of the month.
Indoor rainy-day pages (because rain happens!).
A selection of science concepts, art, language arts, conservation/nature appreciation geared to Kindergarten through 4th grade to accompany themes in the picture book, A Year With Mama Earth.
Blank, grid-lined pages each month for free expression. Plus, if printed double-sided, the reverse of any page with a bleed-through risk will be grid-lined.
Writer’s corner for budding young authors!
Links to online expansions--an entire deep-dive into the monthly topics including curated videos, crafts and additional resources!
You'll also receive 4 beautifully designed color cover options to accompany any style from natural to fun to contemporary.
A Few Topics Covered, listed by month:
September—seasons, observation, describing words, five senses
October—leaves, the color wheel, personification, spiders
November—gratitude, clouds, nature mandalas, winter habitats
December—constellations, evergreens, pine cones, gift-giving & lists
January—snow, winter animals, birds, shelter, verbs
February—night animals, animal tracks, states of matter, characterization
March—textures, camouflage & mimicry, trees & soil, story structure
April—metaphor & simile, poetry, weather & graphs, spring, buds
May—flowers & seeds, gardens, life cycle of a flower, decomposition, recycling
June—bees, wetlands, food webs, parts of speech
July—fireflies & insects, night creatures, observation, thermal energy
August—sun & shadows, seasons, rocks, water cycle
A word about grade level and design:
The My Year Nature Journal is designed to serve students from kindergarten through about 4th grade. While not every page will be easy for a kindergartener to do independently, every month plan will have something for everyone. The re-use-ability value of this resource is high. You can print this journal and use as many years as you like and there will always be something new to discover.
You’ll notice the design is not the “typical” elementary style of chunky cartoons and bubble-letter fonts. I believe, as Charlotte Mason did, that children of all ages benefit from exposure to beauty, and will rise to the expectations set by design. This journal will easily become a keepsake showcasing a full year of exploration and expression.
Do you want to skip the hassle of printing? Do you need only one or two copies or want a beautifully bound nature journal that will be a keepsake for years to come? The paperback My Year Nature Journal is now available.
The FULL My Year Nature Journal is FINALLY HERE!!! MORE pages you won't find anywhere else, NEW cover options for all styles, EXPANDED educational opportunities!
Designed to compliment the picture book, A Year With Mama Earth, this printable includes Two options. Print the Teeny Tiny Nature Journal to make a half-sized booklet, just right for Preschoolers. Or print the Itty Bitty Nature Journal, especially sized for tiny toddler hands! Bind either according to this video (use a paper punch instead of an awl, with only two holes, to make it even easier) or however you like.
Find a curated selection of links, videos, and more Nature Journaling fun at my website. I hope you love this resource! If so, I would treasure your review or a comment at my website! Happy Journaling! :-D
Reading List
All the books reviewed here!
In this delicious interview, discover Sandra Nickel’s forthcoming book Nacho's Nachos, which tells the true story of Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya, who invented one of the world’s favorite snacks.
I first "met" Karlin when she asked to do an author interview on the release of my first book, Halloween Good Night. Of course I had to follow suit (i.e., steal her excellent idea!) to celebrate the release of her second book, An Extraordinary Ordinary Moth.
The End of the Wild is a sweet little story about fracking. No, not really. It’s about a little girl named Fern coming to term with her mother’s death. Well not really. It’s about what it takes to win the science fair (otherwise known as STEM fair). Except really it’s about a poor girl in a small Michigan town who has to decide between her rich grandpa and poor stepdad. Or maybe it’s about nature, preserving the woods or friendship, or dogs...
The Wrong Train by Jeremy de Quidt came up as a novel in my search, but is actually a collection of horror short stories with a thin thread of a storyteller and an abandoned train platform to connect them.
AV Geiger's novel is perfect for those times when you want a good book that's written well but isn't going to make you work too terribly hard.
Engrossing and full of twists and turns. I loved the premise in Follow Me Back of an agoraphobic girl connecting via social media with her crush—a famous pop star.
I don’t know that I’ve ever read YA horror before so I wasn’t sure what to expect. What I found in The Devils You Know by MC Atwood was rather odd—Scooby-Doo meets The Breakfast Club with a little funhouse thrown in for kicks.
Sometimes I review a book the moment I finish it. Fresh details, sharp recollections. Other times I like to wait, let a book seep into me and become something—part me, part what was on the page. I chose to do the latter with The Smell of Other People’s Houses.
In Ready to Fall by Marcella Pixley the premise alone stops me with its awesomeness: his mom dies of a brain tumor that then, he believes, moves into his own head. Raw, a little crazy, huge potential for story. And the book did not disappoint.
I go through phases where I don’t want to read fantasy, no matter how well-reviewed it is. Unfortunately I was in one of those phases when I picked up Last Star Burning by Caitlin Sangster The opening I read reluctantly, my will rebelling. But it didn’t rebel long.
The book that started it all, the one I finished around midnight as Emeric nursed and my husband snored so loudly I ended up smacking him with a pillow, was this: Still Life with Tornado by AS King.
Poetry Month is coming to a close, and with it I'll share five Zolotow picture book classics. Books like these are "out of style" in current publishing, which is a shame. I'd much rather read Flock of Birds over and over than books about crazy hair or farting dogs.
As we continue to celebrate poetry, I continue to study picture books. I don't think I could count how many I've absorbed in the past years. Oodles? Oodles of oodles? A lot.
In honor of National Poetry Month, I'll be sharing some of my favorite poetic picture books. Beautiful, vivid, delightful reads. Here are five by Cynthia Rylant, an amazingly prolific author with an insane diversity of titles to her name.
Caroline B. Cooney’s A Friend at Midnight is one I picked up on a whim Friday afternoon. Obviously, since it’s only Monday now, this book was a quick and engrossing read. It’s the charming (ahem) story of a little boy abandoned at the airport by his father and rescued by his older sister. It’s about the elder sister’s struggle with keeping her brother’s secret. Overall, I’d say the book was annoying and refreshing and gripping and disappointing and meaningful.
What Jamie Saw is the story of a boy and his mother fleeing an abuser. The first chapter is heartbreaking and poignant. Coman chooses a close 3rd person but incorporates a distinct narrator voice—mature, respectful (similar to the Ramona books but less optimistic). So the voice...
Alicia’s Best Friends and Simon and Molly Plus Hester by Lisa Jahn-Clough are two of my favorite picture books and here's why...
Looking for Alaska is easily one of my favorites from the MFAC booklist. Even though I’ve grown a little tired of the forced-funny, self-deprecating voice so ubiquitous in contemporary ya, and tired of a protagonist who stands there going “um hum” while everyone else gets the great one-liners. But here...
S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders. Amazing. Hard to believe this novel was written by a teen. What trumps all here is a sympathetic protagonist and a strong storyline. Hinton can get away with...
I had dreams for my family life, for the kids education, for my own recreation time (which currently clocked in at daily total of zero minutes, zero seconds). I longed to do things like knit, read books with real pages, write for the joy of it. Instead, I was living life of reacting—not to God’s direction—but to people’s momentary expectations, urgent tasks all shoving and bickering to be FIRST on my list. I was desperate to get back to the most important focus of every day...