I just uploaded this new product on my website: Mixed Media 3D Tiki Masks! This is such a fun art project to make. It involves making your own texture paper using acrylic paints. Then using these handmade papers to add color and shapes to create a 3D tiki mask with corrugated cardboard. You've got to try this with your kids this summer.
This art lesson is perfect for students in grades 6th through 12th grade. Inside you will find step-by-step directions with photos and samples. Includes a Tiki Face Shape worksheet full of ideas and shapes students can use to inspire their own design.
Here is a link to this product.

This adorable, grumpy, squeaky, inflating amphibian is called an African rain frog. I fell in love with these cute frogs after seeing a video of one puffing up and squeaking. I had to make a unit study about it. Now you and your kindergarten through second grade students scan enjoy learning about this silly animal while covering all the core subjects: language arts, science, math, geography, and art.  I started working on this pre-covid. Life got busy, we decided to start our home remodel and now, a couple years later, I have finally finished unit study.

This download has lots of fun projects for you. Including a cute fictional story that I wrote and illustrated. Its called The Case of the Missing Hot Chocolate: An African Rain Frog Mystery. I sketched out the illustrations on paper, uploaded them to Photoshop, then added the color - such a fun project to create. I also include some worksheets to go along with this story where students will fine tune those language arts skill such as letter blends, contractions, suffixes, and reading comprehension. You will also find geography, science, math, art, reading, and writing worksheets and activities. 

You can check out this product page by clicking here.

Many of us are plagued with sloppy handwriting. If this is you or one of your children, then I have the perfect remedy. My latest download should do the trick. With my Nice Handwriting PDF you can use the tracing practice sheets to help you hone in on those pesky penmanship problems. 

Whether it’s for a practical tune-up or for a therapeutic activity to do on a rainy – or sunny – day,  these worksheets will bring you hours of enjoyment. This playful handwriting doesn’t look like elementary writing worksheets. As adults or teens, we want a nice handwriting that has a sense of personal style such as, a slightly flourished “f” and a little tiny hook on the “t” and the “h.” I enjoyed using these worksheets myself to improve my handwriting and I know you will enjoy them too. The lines are college-ruled so you will be ready to transition to any lined paper or journal. There are a variety of worksheets for you to explore and use to improve your penmanship. Use the ones you like or use them all.  
Everyone loves freebies. So here is a code you can use at checkout. Use mayfreebie expires 5/31/22. If you missed out on my freebie for the month of May, be sure to sign up for my newsletter on my home page here. Its on the right side.
Here is a link to this product in my store page.

Most of us have been there. The current school year is coming to an end. You begin to feel the pressure to plan as you hear others talking about classes they want to teach at co-op or a fun curriculum that so and so found, but you have no clue where to begin or what your children need. It's easy to get lost in the curriculum search. I have been at this homeschooling journey since 2004 and year after year I use the same form to begin. With this blog post, I will give you a gentle push into the "river" by sharing my form with you and I'll even keep you floating downstream with a few pointers and resources that I use to help me navigate homeschool planning.

First, lets get right down to business. Here is a free PDF printable of my Subject Planning Guide that I use for my kids every year for all grades. Print this out.

​Next, you will need to figure out what curriculum, topic, or class your student will need or is planning to take next year at your homeschool co-op. The best place to start is on your book shelves. Many homeschoolers are book hoarders - I will raise my hand to that. This is the first place I begin. I pull out things that I have wanted to use. You can begin to fill in the subject planning guide with curriculum titles for the subject they fit in. Depending on your child's age and grade, you will not need to fill in the electives options - these are  for middle and high school students. Something else to note is that some curriculums cover more than one subject so you will not need a curriculum for each one.

Lastly, Its time to fill in any holes you may have and begin researching new curriculum to purchase. My favorite place to begin is on Cathy Duffy Reviews. You can browse her reviews and look at any curriculum that interests you. If you live in Washington state, you will also want to check out Homeschool Potpourri which is a curriculum consignment store - I have spent hours upon hours fumbling through curriculum books and other educational material here, my absolute favorite store. If you don't live close by, you can email or call them and they will ship you any curriculum you desire that they have in stock.  A few other places I love to shop for curriculum are: Materbooks, Rainbow Resource, and Christianbook.

Our homeschool plan for next year is just about complete. I'll give you a breakdown of what I'm using which will give you an idea of how I plan things and more resources for great curriculum that I have found. With my oldest graduated, I am now homeschooling three of my four children.  My oldest will be 11th grade, my middle child will be 8th grade, and my youngest will be 2nd grade. This means I'm teaching the entire educational spectrum: high school, middle school, and elementary. In reality, my high schooler is very independent, aside from teaching his two co-op classes, grading his work, and recording it on his transcript, I don't teach lessons at home since he does all his work independently.  My 8th grader is a different story, he needs more of a hands-on, unit based, delight-directed approach to learning which means more involvement on my part which I love because his learning style is my teaching style. My 2nd grader is easy in the sense that I have taught this grade three times through with my older children so I know what I'm doing. He is harder in the sense that he does not like a traditional approach to learning, just like my 8th grader, so I end up piecing together several supplemental curriculums to create one subject for him.

If a curriculum isn't working for you and your child, don't be afraid to throw it out and find something that does work. I had to do this a few months ago with Masterbooks first grade math. I love the math book and they have done an excellent job creating a living math curriculum with a good mix of math stories and worksheets, however, my son did not appreciate it. This meant throwing it out and starting over. 

If you need to know what your state homeschool requirements are, I recommend checking out HSLDA. They are specialist in the homeschool law and have a ton of helpful information for you to browse. If you have a high schooler and need to information on credits and creating a transcript then I highly recommend checking out Lee Binz, she is a professional when it comes to high school transcripts.

Below is a list of the curriculums I have chosen for my kids for this upcoming year. I have include a brief explanation and links for you to browse.  I hope you feel my gentle push into the curriculum "river" as you begin to research curriculum options so you can fill in your Subject Planning Guide.  

​My High Schooler's Classes
Math - We are using Aleks math. This is an online math curriculum that is mastery based. It uses an algorithm to detect when the student understands the new concept and moves on to a new concept. If you don't understand a new concept the program will generate more practice problems. It also is self grading which is a plus.  My son has been enjoying this compared to Teaching Textbooks - this is also a great option but we found that once you get to the pre-algebra, the curriculum was a bit difficult and they were needing a lot of help so I only recommend it for elementary grades.

Bible - We will be using Nine Fruits of the Spirit by Robert Strand and What He Must Be by Voddie Baucham. This will count as a  .5 elective credit.

 English - I have not written it in on my Subject Planning Guide yet, but I am planning to use Jensen's Format Writing. This curriculum has an option for a two-year schedule so we plan to complete half of it for his 11th grade and supplement it with Jensen's Vocabulary curriculum.  My son will finish the second half of both curriculums for his 12th grade year.

Social Studies (History, Geography) - My son will be studying American History and I will be teaching this subject at our homeschool co-op. I am super excited to have found American History: A Story of Courage, Conflict and Freedom by Mike Zietsma! This high school curriculum offers an eclectic mix of projects which is a trait that you usually don't see in curriculum for high school - all the American history curriculums I have seen thus far are heavy reading with chapter end tests and exams. Zietsma's curriculum uses a multi-media approach which includes a balance of reading, videos, movies, research, animated maps, PowerPoints, games, and online history simulations – this makes the curriculum very appealing. It brings history to life and incorporates a delight-directed method to learning. There is a wide variety of worksheets so students wont get bored doing the same thing for each unit- he even makes writing a thesis and an essay look super easy with his formatting and directions. The course overview estimates 106 hours of instruction for the main bulk of the curriculum and has optional projects for each unit to choose from. I plan to supplement this by using some of the optional projects, having students choose two books from my list below and use the video series America: Columbus to the Constitution by Drive Thru History with Dave Stotts.

American History Book list: the following list was  compiled from Sonlights American History and American Literature course readers for high school - they are also an excellent resource for homeschool curriculum. 
o Up From Slavery by Booker Washington
o A Separate Peace by John Knowles
o Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
o Traitor: The Case of benedict Arnold by Jean Fritz
o The Panama Canal by Janet Pascal
o Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
o Dragon’s Gate by Laurence Yep
o The Yanks Are Coming by Albert Marrin
o Before Columbus: The Americas of 1491 by Charles Mann
o The Boys’ War: Confederate and Union Soldiers Talk About the Civil War by Jim Murphy
o Sacajawea by Joseph Bruchac
o Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Russell Freedman
o The Great Little Madison by Jean Fritz
o Shh! We’re Writing the Constitution by Jean Fritz
o World War ll: The Rest of the Story and How It Affects You Today by Richard Mayberry

Science - I love, love, love the 101 DVD series for high school science.  For this coming school year, my son will be using Physics 101 DVD curriculum for science. It's a great alternative to Apologia. The first DVD can be inserted into your computer to access and print the course Guidebook and Quizzes, and the Course Accreditation Program for your student or you can purchase a hardcopy of this on their website. I love this curriculum because its simple and it's not a textbook! As a side note, I love Apologia's curriculum but I find that their high school curriculum moves way to fast, has too many tests, and the book tends to very difficult to read because of the college-level vocabulary - its very well written but its not for every student. As an excellent alternative, Physics 101, Chemistry 101, and Biology 101 are wonderful.  Each DVD fulfills the high school requirements for a 1-year, 1 credit high school course. For each topic in the course, you watch a portion of the DVD, then you use the guidebook to read a review and additional facts of what was just learned on the DVD, and then you use the Course Accreditation Program worksheets to guide you through the required projects to complete for that topic. This portion of the curriculum works like a check list for students and offers a wide variety of activities to complete.

Physical Education - I left this blank because my son has already fulfilled the two-year requirement for this for my state. 

Electives - My son wants to learn American Sign Language to fulfill the two-year requirement needed on a high school transcript for college enrollment. Since I could not find a class for him to take, I will be teaching this at our homeschool co-op.  I plan to use an online video course called Sign It!  I will supplement this with worksheets, games, deaf culture, and deaf history. I found many great lessons to supplement with on Teachers Pay Teachers.  For my sons, second elective I wrote "Bible, however, I already wrote that above so he still needs to pick out an elective for this.

There is nothing quite like soft homemade playdough hot off the stove! Mixing up a rainbow of playdough colors will instantly bring out the curiosity and imagination in your kids. Everyone needs a good recipe on hand so you can mix up some fun on a dark winter day. While visiting my sister in Florida, she cooked up some fresh playdough to remedy a bored child. Her recipe was the same one she got from her elementary teacher in the first grade. This vintage recipe was even created on a typewriter. A classic pastime needs a classic recipe from the past. This dough is easy to whip up and is super soft.
Click here for a free printable pdf.

Add a little more fun with my Brick Challenge: Playdough Mats download.

HOMEMADE PLAYDOUGH

In a medium saucepan  combine:
     1 cup flour
      1/2 cup salt  
     2 tsp. cream of tartar

Stir in: 
     1 cup cold water
     1 TBL. vegetable oil
     food coloring (if desired) - about 10 drops

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. Mixture will thicken quickly. When a ball forms, pan bottom is dry and all moisture is absorbed, turn dough out onto lightly floured board. Knead until smooth - add more flour if needed.
Store in covered container. Will keep for 3 months in refrigerator.

Does your teenager know how to sign their name? I have been in a few situations with my older kids where they were asked to sign their name on a document. They turned to me with a puzzled look and asked "do I just write my name?" These awkward moments sparked a desire to make sure that the rest of my children knew how to sign their name so we could avoid another fiddly moment of watching them print their name on the signature line.

A signature is an important part of your identity. Taking the time to develop your signature at a young age will be highly beneficial. In this downloadable lesson plan your student will learn about the purpose of a signature, practice developing it, look at some historical signatures, learn about the parts of a check and practice writing and signing them. Grades 4-12

Learn about the history of writing with this easy-lapbooking curriculum. Students will enjoy traveling through history as they gain knowledge about clay tablets, hieroglyphics, Roman wax tablets, illuminated manuscripts, wax seals, 18th century writing, the invention of the printing press, and how we got our alphabet. All the text is included.
This workbook uses a lapbooking method for the writing portion. Traditionally, lapbooks are made from file folders that are glued together, with this easy-lapbooking curriculum students simply glue the minibooks onto the designated pages in this book for a simplified approach. Inside you will find a variety of minibooks, flaps, pockets, and trifolds for a tactile and artistic approach to writing. 
Includes step-by-step directions and photo samples for 7 fun hands-on projects!
139 pages. Grades 4th - 12th.
Available in softcover and digital download PDF

Get your kids writing with these new downloadable resources. These downloads are a perfect supplement to change things up for a few lessons. You can give your student a print handwriting tune-up or practice perfecting their print with a fingerprint writing art lesson.  Making their own handmade journal will inspire them to do some personal journaling or use it for notebooking about a topic of their choice.

• Penmanship Tune-Up: Print Handwriting Worksheet Download
• Art Lesson: Handmade Journal & The Coptic Stitch
• Fingerprint Writing

I am so excited to share this new elective course with you. The Art and History of Penmanship & Calligraphy has joined penmanship drills with the history of writing and art. This one year course will show your students that writing can be fun, it can be useful, it can be artistic, and it is full of rich and exciting history.

This curriculum is designed for students grades fourth through twelfth who want to improve their print handwriting and learn cursive, calligraphy, and brush lettering. There are a variety of projects and lessons that incorporate language arts, scripture verses, art, and history into one cohesive package. The lessons are designed to bring meaning and purpose to the skills taught. Some are fun and creative, while others are practical and useful. 

Students will get a tune-up on their print handwriting. Travel to the 18th century as they learn cursive handwriting and script. Go back in time to the medieval era as they decorate the pages of illuminated manuscripts with calligraphy. And teleport to the modern age of creative lettering as they design beautiful signs and art using their brush lettering skills.

Teachers will find this curriculum easy to implement since it is organized with a daily schedule and formatted with many photos and examples so that you can execute the lessons in this course with success and confidence. You don't have to know how to do calligraphy and brush lettering. Although, you may want to get a student workbook for yourself and learn alongside your students. 

Click here to learn more about this brand new elective course for grades 4th-12th.

​Are you looking for a way to motivate an unmotivated student? Do you find your child uninterested in learning and can't get them to do their school work? Well, I just might have the answer to solving this problem!
Have you ever sat in a boring class as an adult, watched a movie that was not interesting to you at all, or read a book that was not at all what you had hoped for? The first thing you do is disengage your mind, look for a better movie, or donate the book to Goodwill, right? Your children respond the same way when they are faced with boring curriculum and topics that don't intrigue their curiosity. Every person is unique. We all have different talents, abilities, and characteristics that make us individual from each other. Yet, we find that when it comes to learning we try to put our kids in the same boxed education that worked for their sibling or for our friends' kids - who are really smart and well behaved so naturally it will make our kids like theirs if we use the same curriculum. If your child is unmotivated and uninterested in learning then maybe that "box" or curriculum doesn't fit their learning style or giftedness. If this is the case then maybe a change is necessary.
My 12 year old son loves learning but only about things that interest him. Instead of pushing a history curriculum on him and making him hate learning I am allowing his interests to guide his history studies this year. As long as he stays within the genre of history, all doors are open to him. My only rule is that it has to be something he has never read or watched before. He can find a book, watch a movie or research about a history topic that interests him. He loves that HE gets to choose the history topics and he loves that he can control his learning! This approach is called delight-directed learning. We are doing the same approach with science but he has to stay within the topic of Astronomy. Each school day he works through his school chart and checks off each subject as he completes them. - this chart is available as a free download on my website.
This delight-directed approach to learning has been like the magic wand to Cinderella's ball gown. No complaining, no dragging his feet, no nagging him to get school done. Instead, I find him searching on Prime for a good history documentary or scouring our book shelves for something that piques his interest. Learning can and should be fun! If you find your child is not engaging in school as you had hoped, then maybe choosing one or two subjects that he/she can do using a delight-directed approach is the answer to solving this problem.

Looking for some fun curriculum that will spice up your lesson plans for this upcoming school year? We all need a little more excitement with all the world issues right now, am I right? So, why not add some engaging supplemental resources to your school days? I love adding a unit study or two to my lessons because we can incorporate many fun projects that check off several subjects with one curriculum. Try my Japan Unit Study to add a splash of culture and a dash of social studies. For younger kids, my Penguin Unit Study has so many fun worksheets, games and crafts that will stir up the fun in your classroom.

Nearly all of my products are on sale! Visit my store to pick out your flavor of supplemental curriculum that will add some spice to your classroom.

Launch a rocket, draw a robot city, and explode a volcano with this STEM Brick Challenge download. My brick challenge lessons plans are some of my best sellers and now you can get 5 of them all at once for some brick building classroom fun.  I'm giving this download away for free with the coupon below.

Inside this download you will find 5 exciting and well planned lessons that can easily be used as classroom centers. This 22 page download is created for grades K-3rd.

You may also be interested in my Brick Challenge Spelling Bingo or my Penguin Unit Study, be sure to check them out.

Lessons include building a robot, a rocket, a boat, a volcano, and an animal. Each of the 5 challenges has step by step directions for the teacher, and a worksheet where students log the measurement, weight, and color of their new brick creation. Once all the writing is done, students can use their brick creation in the culminating activity suggestion at the end of the lesson. You will also find design inspiration photos to show students to give them ideas of what to build. Use the coupon code freestem expires 2/8/2020.

With good intentions, dreams, and desires, all parents want the best for their children. They also want to see integrity and Godly character shine from their children's heart. But how does one do that on top of sleepless nights, never ending dishes, and the millions of other things a mother does? Success begins by having some helpful resources that will guide you gracefully throughout your busy parenting days.

Here in this post I will share my top 8 resources that will shepherd your day as you teach and love your children. Having these resources at your finger tips is the first step to success to help you and your children grow and learn and shine the love of Jesus. 

Titus 2:11-14 (NLT)For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God, while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed. He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds.

This download includes two reading comprehension worksheets (one for older students and one for younger students), a word bingo activity, and a fun worksheet where students can design a shirt for Pinkwin. A Penguin Pup for Pinkerton by Steven Kellogg is an adorable story of a Great Dane dog that wants his own baby penguin to take care of. He finds a football and thinks that it is a penguin egg. The story is full of adventure and ends with a cute surprise. Use this picture book unit download to go along with this children's book.
This unit is for grades K-3rd.​
Click here to view or purchase.

Our latest obsession has been these mysterious waddling birds. From zoo trips where we got to hand feed penguins to this fun penguin unit study, we are diving deep into the incredible world of these adorable birds. I just published this unit study last night so now you can dive deep into study along with us.

This unit study is for grades K-2nd and it wont disappoint those emerging readers because it comes with a complete reading program. From reviewing letter sounds to learning over 400 CVC words which are the first words that a young student learns to read. Best of all your student gets to learn language arts skills through games and activities while incorporating penguin science, penguin art, penguin geography, and penguin math for a unified and natural approach to learning. 

Is your student already reading? Don't worry I've got that covered too. There can be a big difference in reading and writing skills for students in K-2nd grade which is why I have created two varieties of worksheets for all the lessons where this was needed. There are worksheets for students who are not quite writing on their own and need words to trace or copy and there are worksheets for kids who need more of a challenge.
​
It is available as a hardcopy or PDF download!

Click here to learn more.

I created these worksheets a while ago and I'm just now getting around to combining them into one awesome USA geography download to share with you. Use the code "freeusa" when you check out for another freebie. It expires 4/11/19. 

Travel the United States of America and learn geography with these fun worksheets. Students will learn about landmarks, historical places, land features, state capitals, bordering states and countries, land area, population density, oceans, map key, and tourist attractions. This download Includes:

• 3 sections that cover the 3 regions of the US with a geography test at the end of each section
• USA Label-As-You-Learn Map
• A map worksheet for every state with a variety of mapping projects to keep your student engaged
• A mapping project for Washington DC and the National Monument

Click here to view and download this geography resource.

Having my 5-year-old practice writing and memorizing our phone number and address has been on my mind lately. Yesterday I finally found the time to make these interactive worksheets for him. I am excited to introduce them to my son today. We are going to color them together and laminate them so we can reuse until they are set to memory. Here is a coupon code for a free download so you can use them with your kids too, use the code "myaddress" at checkout, expires on April 5, 2019.

Writing and memorize your personal information is an important lesson to learn for young children as they gain a sense of the world and community around them. Learn to write My Name, My Address, My Phone Number, My Birthday & The Emergency Number 9-1-1 with these interactive worksheets. 

This worksheet set is perfect for k-3rd grade. 

Click here to view and download my newest product.

If you need some fun worksheets to keep your kids engaged in a topic then I've got you covered with this 85 page download. Inside you will find many creatively designed pages for you to use with any  unit study topic. This one offers exciting layouts in regular lines. World maps and USA maps are included.

Here is a coupon code for a free copy!
Use at checkout: freeunitpages     Expires 3/12/19
Click here to go to the product page.



Have little kids that need wider lines?
​Primary pages coming soon! Be sure to subscribe to my newsletter to be the first to know when new products and freebies are published, Click here.

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This download would be a great companion to my Free Unit Study Planner.

Oftentimes I find myself working on projects and I have no idea what sparked the motivation to make it. This was one of those projects. It's pretty and it's in black and white so it wont suck up all your colored ink. I hope someone finds this free unit study planner a blessing.

Inside you will find...

• A 3-page form to help you plan out a unit study and organize the books you want to use, the topics you want to cover, the hands-on activities and games you like, the art projects to create, the videos or DVD's you want to show your students, the writing assignments to do, the field trips to take, the supplies needed, and more.
• A 36-week (180 days) lesson planner will help you prepare and track your school days and lessons.
• In the back yo will also find a daily school record where you can record the date and a summary of your school days so you can make sure you meet the minimum required instructional days.

​Click here to view and print.

This is available as a hardcopy and is now called Homeschool Planner. Click here to view and purchase this book to get your home school year off to a good start.