When I start thinking about gifts I want to choose things that will bless the person that I am giving them to and not just take up space. We love to include educational items in our gift giving but I don’t want them to feel disappointed or like they got stuck with schoolwork for Christmas. If you want something they can really use and learn from without feeling like they got ‘stuck’ with something educational check out these art and music resources.
*Some of the links in my posts may be affiliate links see below for more information. *
Art supplies and classes are top on my list for this type of gift. It encourages creativity and most children tend to love the chance to express themselves through art. Over the course of this year I’ve had the chance to review four different types of art products that would all make great Christmas gifts.
First are You Are An Artist Chalk Pastel Lessons. These are so much fun and so easy for a beginner to get started while being varied enough to keep a more skilled child interested. They offer seasonal courses, themed courses, history related courses, and our personal favorite a Clubhouse Membership which gives you access to new projects each month. They also have recently branched out and started included acrylic lessons! My oldest enjoyed the lessons except that he really didn’t like how the chalk pastels got on his hands. We had been adapting by allowing him to use color pencils but I recently discovered these chalk pastel pencils that I’m going to get him as part of his Christmas to give him the ability to blend and shade like the pastels but still keep it off of his hands. (They are having a 25% off sale this week so its a great time to check them out.)
The second art lesson/projects that we tried and loved are the Kidzaw Master Kits. We reviewed the Starry Night kit and the children really enjoyed it. The box came with enough supplies for two completed projects (the same project done twice) and the project took less than an hour from start to finish. They recreate a famous work of art and get the opportunity to learn a little more about the artist. They have lots of other kits and even this fun party kit that makes up to 12 pieces of the art work. That would be a fun and inexpensive alternative to doing a birthday party at one of the art studios.
Zirrly Super Beads are another great option. These low mess beads are easy to put together with a bit of water and a lot of fun for a variety of ages. My four year old did them with a bit of help from his sister but my ten and twelve year olds still enjoyed using them and doing some of the more complicated designs. The fourth fun art option we reviewed this year were Pencil Grip Magic Stix Markers. These were great options for older children (old enough to be careful and not write on things they are not supposed to). They do not dry out like many markers and have a dark strong color that is great for a variety of projects.
Not a specific product but another idea that my children have loved is a ‘bucket full of art’. You can gather a variety of supplies and put them together in a bucket full of art supplies that they can use to create whatever they can imagine. We always like to include the basics such as scissors, paper, crayons, and glue. Then we find some other fun items like stickers, clay, paint, beads, yarn or glitter glue. You can order these items online or check out your local craft store. They can provide hours of fun for a very reasonable price. For older children you could include supplies specific to a hobby or supplies for making slime and goo.
Some children prefer music to the arts and there are lots of options for musically inclined children. I am not musically inclined but my children have been showing interest in various musical instruments. My four year old really wants to learn to play the harmonica. I’m not quite ready to help him learn but I did find this great harmonica and book with video lessons for when I think he is old enough to get started. The great thing is I could get both for under $20 total.
My twelve year old has been learning to play the guitar using Guitar 360 Method and really enjoying it. These online video lessons are significantly cheaper than in person lessons and give us the flexibility of being able to complete them whenever he has a few minutes. If you have a student that is interested in learning to play the guitar, but you do not have the time or finances for in person lessons this is a great option. Since he is already taking the lessons I am purchasing this collection of guitar picks as a stocking stuffer for him this year. (Check out the blog post for a 20% off coupon.)
Elizabeth is learning the violin. In interest of full disclosure I prefer listening to guitar practice than violin but she loves it and is showing great progress. I will have a full review of that product coming in January but if you are interested in giving violin lessons as a gift check out Practice Monkeys.
Schoolhouse Teachers also has a great variety of music classes available with their family membership. In addition to all of the other core and elective classes they offer both guitar and violin courses that have video components. They also offer music theory, voice, and recorder classes. In addition to those instruments there are a variety of musical unit studies and classes. One membership covers all of the courses for an entire family so this is a very economical option. (Check below for a great sale on Schoolhouse Teachers)
I hope that you found some fun and educational gift ideas to support your budding artist or musician. Please share in the comments any additional ideas that you have for fun gifts that are also beneficial.
Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure
When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.
Resource Library
This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.
Deals and Freebies!
A Christmas Carol Audio Book Only $1.43 (Amazon prices subject to change)
Amazon has put Heroes Next Door: Hornet 24 on sale and there is a coupon on the page to make it even cheaper! This is a great Christmas gift.
Need a good way to organize all of these great printables and have access to them when you need them? Try a free Dropbox Plan.
Amazon Prime 30 day FREE trial. If you do not yet have Amazon Prime this is a great time to try it for free for 30 days! Get your Christmas shopping done with free shipping, enjoy Christmas music and more.
The Green Ember is only $2.99 on Kindle or Free with a KindleUnlimited Trial
$10 Sign-Up Bonus for Ibotta and they are doing some major savings and rebates starting today. Great way to save money on the things you are already buying.
Two Free Audio Books with an Audible Trial and if you aren’t sure what to start with I’d suggest checking out the Green Ember or The Penderwicks for good family choices.
One of my favorite Amazon sales, just in time for Christmas shopping! Buy 2 Get 1 Free Books!
Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.
Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)
Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)
Free Help Your Child’s Memory Book from All About Learning Press!
Over the past month or so my twelve year old has been learning to play the guitar using the online Semester 1 Bundle from Guitar 360 Method. When my son was about four he wanted to learn to play the guitar and our wonderfully talented youth and music minister agreed to teach him. He enjoyed the lessons but refused to practice and so I discontinued them and the guitar has sat mostly unused ever since. My son had recently began mentioning lessons again but I was hesitant to commit to taking him to more lessons given our busy schedules and his lack of follow we saw last time. I felt like the scheduling concerns were addressed by using this online program because we could work the lessons into our busy and changing lives as needed.
*Some of the links in my posts may be affiliate links see below for more information. *
Music lessons are one of those subjects that I chose not to require in our home school. I know that different families have different areas of focus and for us music lessons are not a priority. We do incorporate music appreciation, hymn study, and this year a fun genre study into our everyday curriculum. Since we do not require lessons, but my son had been talking about wanting to try guitar again, I let him decide if this review was something that interested him. He was so excited to try it and I’m glad that I gave him the opportunity!
While this was not his first time in classes, it had been seven years since he took them so we started him in the Absolute Beginner Course. He worked through that at his own pace. He enjoyed it and found that he learned new skills and brushed up on some other skills. At first we had a bit of problem with the videos not wanting to stream correctly (the sound would play but the video would freeze). We determined that the problem was that we were using an older computer and the videos were playing at a very high resolution. I’m glad we were able to easily solve that small problem by wsing a newer computer or adjusting the resolution fixed this issue and allowed for a much smoother practice session.
The first day that he had access to the lessons he worked through multiple lessons in the beginner course because he was so excited. Throughout the rest of the review period he practiced four or five days a week, which considering our busy schedules during this time was an excellent accomplishment. He really enjoyed the chance to practice and learn each day. He worked through all of the beginner course and began the Semester 1 course. During that time he learned basic chords, strumming patterns, and even his first song.
Each video ranged from about three to ten minutes in length making them very easy to fit into our days. However, I recommend making sure that your student also builds in some addition time to practice those skills in order to see the most progress. This program is not a subscription that you lose at the end of the thirteen week program so there is no pressure to rush through and finish ‘on-time’.
Some of the lessons he picked up on quickly the first time through and he could keep moving forward. There were a few things that he needed to go back and work on but that was very easy with this program. He could simply watch that video lesson again and even pause and practice some more before continuing. However, I think that I let him work through those lessons a little too fast in the beginning with not enough practice and he struggled to put it all together. Learning an instrument is not like binge watching your favorite streaming program, you have to develop the muscle memory. Once I made him go back and master each lesson before moving on he showed a good deal of progress.
Each week of the course includes a goal for the week and then various teaching and practicing videos. The teaching videos show a new skill or concept that they learn along with and then the practice videos are several minutes of work on the skills that have been covered. The course is a good mix of music practice and music theory. This helps with the goal of giving the musician freedom and confidence in playing and not just memorizing songs.
We still have a long way to go to be finished with this course, which is a 13 week course not counting the Guitar Course for Beginners portion. However, at the end of the course my son should be able to play a variety of songs and chords and have the skills and confidence he needs to play well with a band or independently. He will understand the music theory enough to allow him to be flexible and adapt his skills to the situation and not just memorize chords. The instructor says that with mastery of the course a player would be well equipped to be a valuable player in a worship band or other similar setting. My son would really love to play well enough to be able to help out with our band at church.
I was not sure that our family had the time or resources to give to music lessons during this time in our lives, but this program proved me wrong. The flexibility of the online prerecorded format and the short easy to follow lessons allowed my son to fit his lessons in around our other obligations. The program was fun, easy to follow, and allowed him to move at his own pace. This has been a very positive experience for us and we are excited to see how well he is playing when he finished the Semester 1 Bundle. If you have a son/daughter who wants to learn the guitar, or even if you as an adult want to learn I highly recommend this program. I would recommend it for ages 10 and above. Check out all of the other Crew Reviews below to see how people used it in a variety of situations with a variety of ages. I can also offer you a 20% discount on this course using the code HOMESCHOOL20. The course was already significantly less expensive than paying for most private instructors and the 20% discount makes it an even more amazing value. This would be a great addition to your curriculum or a gift for that music lover in your life.
Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure
When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.
This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.
In the past we have focused our music appreciation on famous composers and studied a single composer for a semester or a year. While I believe these are valuable we wanted to do something a little different this year that would introduce the children to a wide variety of music and help us create some fun family memories at the same time.
A little while back we were camping at a campground in Virginia and the folks next to us were playing some music that my husband and I had listened to when we were a little younger than we are now ( I won’t date myself too badly). The songs would come on and sometimes one or both of us would sing along because we remembered the lyrics even after all of these years. The children were amazed that we knew the words and wanted to learn more about the music we used to listen to. We realized that we wanted to expand their musical knowledge while still being careful about the language and content that we filled our ears and hearts with.
So this year we have decided to choose a different genre of music each month. Throughout that month we will listen to a variety of songs from that genre and learn about some of the famous musicians. Whenever possible we will attend a free or inexpensive local concert related to that genre. I will mostly use music that is available from Amazon Prime or YouTube to make this an inexpensive study.
Our first month we are starting with Bluegrass music! I know that it is not as popular or mainstream as some genres but I think it is so much fun. I love the instruments and the fun songs. Fall also tends to be a time when I can find more bluegrass concerts available locally. There are always several at our North Carolina State Fair and the apple orchard where we are hoping to pick apples later this month hosts multiple local bluegrass bands (among other genres). If timing works out we will hear a band at the apple orchard and if not we can catch a concert next month at the fair.
I have not scheduled out the other eight months because we will use the availability of free or inexpensive local concerts to help with our scheduling. We intend to study jazz, classical, gospel, big band, classic country, blues, rock, and Celtic music. I know that there are many other genre’s and sub genres that we could have chosen but we felt that those included many favorites that we wanted to expose the children to as well as a well rounded variety. Each month I’ll share a short post with the genre we are studying and some free resources that you can use to share with your children.
What favorite genres or musicians do you want to share with your children? Share your ideas in the comments!!
Bluegrass Resources
Please check these before using with your children to make sure they align with your family. I have listened to some of the tracks but not all of them.
When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.
This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.
Deals and Freebies!
SchoolhouseTeachers.com is doing an amazing sale this month! Buy One year get One Year FREE! We use this for several of our courses and one price covers all the students in your home for as many of their over 400 courses and you would like to use.
Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.
If you have been considering adding an art program to your curriculum, you need to check out the newest upgraded membership over at You Are An Artist. My children love the lessons with Nana and now they have two different membership levels, the newest one includes all of their lessons with some great new additions including the Presidents, hymns, and famous artists. They are also offering 25% off of any of their courses (not memberships) until 9/3!
*Some of the links in my posts may be affiliate links see below for more information. *
Today’s blog hop theme was Friday Favorites and I decided to share five of my favorite homeschool supplies that you might not have thought about. There are other supplies that we need as well (pencils, paper, books). I also did not include chocolate milk which I find to be necessary for me to function homeschooling or not, since I know many of you prefer coffee or tea. However, these are supplies that make my life as a homeschool mom a lot easier. I’ll share what they are and how we use them in no particular order.
I am not sure how I would have survived homeschooling without velcro dots. Especially the preschool and early elementary years. I used them for our calendar time, I used them for counting games, for matching activities, and for identifying things on a map or timeline. I recently realized that I could use them on sheet protectors to make an extra pocket in our three ring binders. This was really helpful in keeping the pieces in my four year olds calendar notebook. I love that with velcro dots it is easy to keep reusing things and to switch things out as needed. They are also inexpensive, you can get 250 sets for less than $10.
These are my favorite nature journals for young children (even through upper elementary). It gives them lines spaces to write and blank spaces for drawing, leaf rubbings, or even gluing flowers or leaves. They are fairly durable and handle being in and out of bags on nature walks without being overly heavy. My children get new ones whenever they fill one up and at the beginning of the school year. They are also great for young children who are learning to write and want to illustrate what they have written.
When I hear the term ‘boogie board’ my mind immediately goes to the ocean, but this is a different kind of Boogie board. This is more like a high tech etch-a-sketch and we love them in our homeschool. You draw or write on the board with the stylus and then when you are done you simply push the button and it erases. My children use them for school and play. One way we use them for school is spelling practice. They find it to be more fun to write it on the board than in their notebooks. They also use them to work out math problems and for doodling while they listen to me read aloud. It saves paper and clutter while being fun and reasonably inexpensive.
I love these for sorting books, particularly books that we are using during the current year or unit study. I sit them on top of the shelves and for example I can put all of our “Ancient Greece” books in one, and all of our “Skeleton Books” in another. I also use them to sort loose papers, extra folders, and extra notebooks. This allows me to keep those supplies handy and available without having them cluttering up desks or tables. The children could also use one on their desks to store folders or notebooks that they need throughout the school day.
Almost 13 years ago my husband bought me a glider rocker when I was pregnant with our first child. I have used that chair ever since. First, it was in the nursery but when we began to homeschool when he was six and his younger sister was four we moved it up to our school room. It provides me with a comfortable but supportive place to sit while I read, teach, or monitor progress. Even if you do not have a separate school room I highly recommend a comfortable and supportive chair. The glider rocker is also a great place for me to hold my littles and read. I even ‘sneak away’ to sit and relax or read in it by myself occasionally.
Those are five of my favorite homeschooling items. What items do you love in your homeschool that people don’t always think about?
Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure
When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.
This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.
SchoolhouseTeachers.com is doing an amazing sale this month! Buy One year get One Year FREE! We use this for several of our courses and one price covers all the students in your home for as many of their over 400 courses and you would like to use.
Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.
When I decided to homeschool our children everyone from family to strangers had an opinion on what was best. Some folks thought we were crazy, some assumed I had lots of patience, some were encouraging, and some shared their concerns that our children would be missing out. For the record homeschool moms do not naturally have more patience than non-homeschool moms, but that is a post for another day.
Some of the most common concerns that people had are actually reasons that I am most thankful to be going ‘back to homeschool’ for another year of learning and growing as a family. Today we are going to discuss the three ‘F’s. Friends and field trips were two things that some people assumed my homeschooled children would be missing out on. The thrid ‘F’ concern was family time, not a lack of it but having too much time together.
Friends (or socialization) is a homeschool concern that is shared so much that it is a running joke in most homeschool circles. While there are exceptions both with homeschoolers and traditionally schooled children, homeschoolers in general have no lack of friends or social opportunities. In a regular school setting my children would spend the majority of their waking hours with the same group of same age children each day. In our lives as homeschoolers my children interact with many different groups of people throughout the week.
They have friends that are younger, friends that are older, and they interact with a variety of adults. When I look at my life outside of a classroom, my social interactions and my friends are made up of a variety of people from all ages and walks of life. In the natural flow of life we interact with a variety of people and I’m thankful that my children get that opportunity so frequently. They have friends they hike with, friends they do 4H with, friends in church, Trail Life, American Heritage Girls, friends that live in our town, friends that live several towns over, and a even a few friends we have to go visit out of state.
Field Trip to Roanoke Island Festival Park
Field trips are one of the best educational opportunities available. When I was a student I enjoyed them and then as a teacher we used them to help provide experiences that would supplement our classroom instruction. In a school setting those opportunities were limited by funds, logistics, and often county policy. Funds can still be a limiting factor in our homeschool at times but we are able to take advantage of many opportunities for field trips and real life learning experiences. Everything from our twice monthly group hikes to a family trip to Washington DC become fun and educational trips. My children have had far more field trip opportunities in our homeschool than they would have had in a traditional school setting. I have not set up all of our trips but I already know in September that they will attend a concert, two hikes, apple picking, a visit to the mountains, and a trip to a cheese factory.
The third ‘F’ is family time and honestly it is the one that makes me the saddest. This is the one where they tell me they couldn’t’ stand to be with their children all day. I don’t want to paint some unrealistic rosy picture where I never get frustrated with my children and I don’t enjoy a quiet dinner out with my husband on occasion. However, I am so very grateful that I have the opportunity to be with my children each day. I am the one that gets to teach them and share life with them. Of course there are days when I just want to lock myself in the closet with a candy bar for a few minutes of golden silence, but all in all I love doing life with my family. Homeschooling means that we can travel together, eat our meals together, spend time with my husband around his work schedule, and continue to learn and grow together.
Those are three of the many reasons that I’m thankful to homeschool. I’d love for you to share the reasons you are thankful to homeschool.
Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure
When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.
This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.
SchoolhouseTeachers.com is doing an amazing sale this month! Buy One year get One Year FREE! We use this for several of our courses and one price covers all the students in your home for as many of their over 400 courses and you would like to use.
Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.
*Some of the links in my posts may be affiliate links see below for more information. *
If you have been in the homeschool world for very long you have probably heard about morning baskets, but in addition to a morning basket we use our ‘Evening Education’, not to be confused with night school, to fit it all in. ‘Evening Education’ is the term I coined for the parts of our school day that we do in the evenings with my husband. With children at varying ages, homestead chores, household duties, 4H and American Heritage Girls/Trail Life our days can get pretty busy and it is easy for certain subjects to get pushed to the side. Our ‘Evening Education’ time allows for us to utilize that time together in the evening for subjects that are fun and enjoyable as a family.
What Do You Use For ‘Evening Education’?
This can certainly vary from family to family based on what you enjoy and what you want to cover. For us we want to keep it fun and engaging so that they enjoy the family time while still covering areas that we need to cover. We love using Drive Thru History Adventures during this time. The children feel like they are being rewarded with a movie and I know that I’m covering Bible or history. We can sit back and watch the movie with popcorn and then discuss what we saw. We also use other movies and documentaries that correlate with our studies.
We use a cable to stream the videos from our computer onto the television.
We also use simple family discussions. My husband will ask them about what we are covering in a subject like science or history and then share more information and discussion. He’s really great at extemporaneously coming up with content and guiding a discussion.
This year we are going to use our ‘Evening Education’ time to cover our music appreciation studies. We will be choosing a different genre of music each month. A couple times a week we will use Prime Music or YouTube to share various songs and artists from that genre. I prefer Prime Music because of avoiding commercials. The children love to sit and listen to music with us, so this should be a fun experience. We also hope to attend some free or inexpensive local concerts to represent as many of the genres as we can.
We also enjoy using board games for our ‘Evening Education’. Sometimes that is a common board game like Yahtzee that teaches math skills and sometimes those are the history games from Home School in the Woods that go along with whatever we are learning (or something we have already covered.)
How Often Do You Do ‘Evening Education’?
We do not have a set schedule for our Evening Education time. We generally do something three or four nights a week depending on our schedule for that week. It may be as simple as a discussion at the dinner table or as elaborate as pizza and a movie or game night.
What Are The Benefits of ‘Evening Education’?
We have seen several benefits of ‘Evening Education’. One big benefit is that it allows my husband to be involved in the children’s education. Many dads are interested in what the children are learning but work schedules can make it difficult for them to be active participants but this allows them to stay connected and included.
It also frees up time during our regular days and allows us to cover those ‘extra’ things that we may not otherwise have time to complete. Instead of feeling pushed and not doing music or watch that documentary we simply switch it to a different time of day.
Finally, we find that it creates lots of fun family memories. They truly enjoy our game nights, family discussions, and movie times. I love that it connects learning with fun and family. They do not feel like they are being made to do ‘school’ at night but simply that they are learning through our family time.
I encourage you to consider if ‘Evening Education’ could benefit your family. Is there a subject or activity that you could move from your regular school day and enjoy as a family whether that is in the evenings or even on the weekends. I’d love for you to share ideas for ‘Evening Education’ in the comments.
Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure
When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.
This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.
SchoolhouseTeachers.com is doing an amazing sale this month! Buy One year get One Year FREE! We use this for several of our courses and one price covers all the students in your home for as many of their over 400 courses and you would like to use.
Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.
Do your children love crafts and activities? Do you secretly (or not so secretly) dread doing them because of preparation or clean up? That was the situation in my house but I want to share a few tricks that I’ve been using to make it easier to say yes to their desire to craft without losing my sanity. With summer almost here I know they will want to spend a lot of time doing crafts.
First, I keep supplies on hand and easily accessible so that I do not have to worry about needing a trip to the store to get materials for basic crafts. We have a closed cabinet in our dining room that houses the children’s craft supplies. It is low enough for the children to get to the supplies on their own, has shelves and drawers to help with organization, and closes up so that no one can see when that organization falls apart (just keepin’ it real). This has made a big difference for me because now when the kids ask to paint I can say yes even if I’m not able to stop what I am doing to get out everything they need. For younger children, you may simply want a small box of craft supplies that are safe for their use and easily accessible. For example, you might put paper, children’s scissors, crayons, beads (assuming they are old enough not to put them in their mouth), pipe cleaners, and stickers.
One of my biggest hurdles to saying yes to crafts was always the mess. I loved to watch them have fun and be creative but I dreaded the clean up that followed. I started doing a few things that made a big difference in clean up. First, you probably know that the disposable Dollar Tree tablecloths work great for protecting tables but have you thought of putting them on the floor. They catch the drips of paint, the run away glitter, scraps of paper, etc and can simply be shaken out in the trash can or thrown away depending on the level of mess. Even easier than dollar tree table cloths, is crafting outside. This only works in good weather but my children love to take paints and such outside and work. I love it because not only does it keep them from creating a huge mess in my kitchen but they get fresh air and being outside often sparks some additional creativity.
The other big obstacle that I faced was over complicating things. I would often feel like I needed to find a big project and sit down and show them each step. Don’t get me wrong, we still do art projects together like Zirrly Super Beads or chalk art pastel lessons. However, in their free time they enjoy just taking their supplies and using their creativity. When I took the pressure of having to plan something off and just started letting them use their imaginations it was much easier to say yes to craft time and not feel like it was driving me crazy.
What tips and tricks do you have for saying yes to craft time without losing your sanity? I’d love to have you share your favorite ideas in the comments!
Resource Library
When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.
This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.
Deals and Freebies!!
FREE: Check out this great new FREE resource for classical and Charlotte Mason education! Classical Christian Education & Charlotte Mason. Great for folks already homeschooling or if you have friends that are looking into it!
ENDS TODAY!!! Fit2B is offering a 25% discount for Mother’s Day!! I love both the exercise program and the course for girls. Use Code mothersday25off It is tummy safe and great for moms.
FREE Poetry Pack from Write Shop! 20 Printable Activities and Worksheets, including: Practice exercises, brainstorming worksheets, poem planning worksheets, word banks, and colorful lined writing pages
“Psst! Did you know that SchoolhouseTeachers.com is having a sale? Not just any sale, but one that can open up a world of opportunity for your children for only $99! Plus, you get a FREE collectable tote bag and a print issue of The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine mailed to your door when you sign up for our annual membership! That is one year of access to over 380 different courses, not to mention the resources and videos and World Book content. Hurry over and sign up at SchoolhouseTeachers.com before the sale ends on May 31! And don’t forget your coupon: YEARLYOPTION.”
While certainly not one of the most important holidays on our calendar, we do enjoy a bit of fun on Groundhog Day. It is a great chance to focus on the weather or other related topics, especially with young children. I think what my children enjoy most about Groundhog Day is the pancakes. We found a cute idea for making pancakes that look like groundhogs several years ago, and the children really enjoy them.
With small children, you could spend the day or even the week learning about seasons or weather. Another great focus would be on groundhogs and other similar mammals. My older students will mostly continue with their regular studies, but we will be adding a fun writing prompt about Ground Hog day. However, with my three-year-old, we will spend some time discussing the weather with a few fun sensory and art projects.
We will also enjoy reading some great books and maybe sneak in a Magic School Bus episode on the weather. I also found this great free groundhog art lesson. This is one of those days that we get to enjoy a bit of fun without a lot of added stress or expectations.
Also, check our free resource library with history freebies, recipes, and more! There is a great winter bucket list that would be fun for a snowy day.
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Deals and Freebies!
Little Women is only .99 on kindle right now! (Amazon prices are subject to change always check before purchasing.)
If you are looking to add some new electives or switch up some of your classes, SchoolhouseTeachers.comis having a great sale on over 400 courses to use with all of your children for one low price.
All About Learning has released the best deal of the day: A FREE Snowman Pack with reading and spelling activities for a variety of ages.
The American Boy’s Handy Book: PART ONE (PDF ebook)
Part One of this wonderful, classic collection of projects from yesteryear for adventurous boys (and girls) to make and do all year long. Just a few are: building kites, unique ways to fish, building an aquarium, knots, water telescopes, boat building, wooden toys, hunting, even taxidermy! Fully illustrated.
This seems along the same lines as one of my son’s favorites from the library, “The Dangerous Book for Boys.” Looking forward to checking this out, with summer approaching quickly!
And on Wednesday and Thursday…
The American GIRL’S Handy Book: PART ONE (PDF ebook)
In this great companion book to the Boys book, subtitled How to Amuse Yourself & Others”, we again have a huge collection of a bit more genteel projects, activities and fun stuff for girls (and boys) to make and enjoy. Includes: finding & preserving wildflowers, corn husk & flower dollmaking, and much more! Fully illustrated, A true classic glimpse of childhood in days gone by.
Thursday’s installment includes
nature art projects, parties for all seasons, games, plaster casting, home gymnastics, needlework, candymaking, holiday amusements, and lots more fun stuff from yesteryear.
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