The First North Carolinians: Resources for Early North Carolina History

When I say the first North Carolinians, who comes to mind? Are you thinking of the Lost Colony? We will get to the Lost Colony soon, but this month we are talking about tho.

We will work through North Carolina’s History and geography throughout the year. Each month I will share some resources specific to the topics and time periods we are studying that month. I also have a more comprehensive list of North Carolina history resources that I continually update as I find new resources.

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As we delve into North Carolina history this month, we will begin by studying the American Indians of North Carolina. I am excited about this study because I know very little of my ancestry, but the little I know traces my roots back to the Tuscarora Indians of North Carolina.

We started our study by watching North Carolina American Indians Live! as a family. This very educational film shared the historic lives of American Indians and their modern-day lives. It helps to dispel some myths about modern-day American Indians. Next, we plan to check out the Pepsi Regional History Center.

Over the next several weeks, we plan to try out some of the recipes and read the book If You Lived with the Cherokee together. My son will be researching a tribe or aspect of the life of the American Indians in pre-colonial North Carolina and presenting it to us as a family. He will complete a stop-motion video to accompany his project if time allows.

My daughter will be completing the American Heritage Girl badge on Native Americans, focusing on those in North Carolina.

While I do not think we will make it to Town Creek or Cherokee this month, I hope we can travel to at least one of those locations before our study of North Carolina history is complete. They offer wonderful resources to better help us understand those native tribes.

If you have a tribe near you, many of them offer festive and educational events that are open to the public. You can learn more about their ancestors and their current traditions.

I encourage you to check out some of the wonderful resources I have found below (many of which are free) and tell me in the comments what resources you use to learn about American Indians. Don’t forget to check back next month for resources on The Lost Colony through the early colonial era.

North Carolina American Indian Resources

Books:

If You Lived with the Cherokee

The First Strawberries: (A Cherokee Tale)

Soft Rain (Trail of Tears)

Only the Names Remain (Trail of Tears)

Native Carolinians

Videos:

North Carolina American Indians Live!

American Indians in North Carolina (distance learning class)

Websites:

North Carolina American Indian Educational Resources

NCpedia (An online encyclopedia of all things North Carolina)

The Tuscarora

American Indian Timeline

Field Trips:

Pepsi Regional History Center

Town Creek Indian Mound

North Carolina Museum of History

Cherokee

Museum of the Cherokee Indian

Roanoke Island Festival Park

Trail of Tears National Historic Trail

Recipes:

Cherokee Favorites

United Cherokee Nation Recipes

American Indian Food

Corn Soup

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Deals and Freebies

As we enter into the fall season and return to our routines it often feels much like a new year and a chance to start over. What are you doing to get/stay healthy? I am trying to drink more water and take daily walks.
If you are looking for some starting over with a healthier lifestyle you might want to check out the Healthy Living Bundle that is on sale for just a few days. At only $37 for 93 ebooks, ecourses, and printable packs it is an excellent deal. This includes help with allergies, nutrition, gardening, exercise and more.

Free 5 Day Learning without Worksheets Challenge: FREE 5-Day Learning Challenge We have done several of her different challenges in the past and they are lots of fun and easy to implement.

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)

Enrichment Studies has a great free fine arts memory match game this month!

Free Help Your Child’s Memory Book from All About Learning Press!

Reading Eggs Kindergarten Math Skills (Review)

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If you are like me, when you hear the name Reading Eggs you think of reading, but this great program has come out with some wonderful math resources as well. I recently had the opportunity to review one of their new workbooks: 200 Essential Math Skills for Kindergarten. My five-year-old started ‘kindergarten’ a few days ago, and I thought it was a great book for him to try.

Each lesson in the book was four pages long and had about 8-10 questions/activities for him to work through. This included items like matching, tracing, drawing, coloring, and writing numbers. The book begins by covering numbers, colors, and shapes. Later it covers time, patterns, adding, three-dimensional shapes, and more. After every five lessons, there is a quiz to review what was learned, an achievement certificate, and some fun activities such as color by number that they can complete. If you pair the workbook with the online program, there is a spot to mark at the end of each lesson showing what you did online. The programs pair well together; however, this book can also be used as a stand-alone program.

He was excited to receive it in the mail and wanted to get started right away. He enjoyed most of the activities and could normally complete a lesson in one session. A few of them were taking him longer, and we broke them into two sessions. The book is broken up into 50 lessons with an additional 10 quizzes, which means that for a traditional 36-week school year, you have to complete less than two lessons each week to finish the program. This gives you lots of flexibility to let them work at their own pace. He was learning and mastering the lessons well, except that he struggled a little bit with the number and color words. I felt like this was a good concept to be introduced to, but since he was a little young to expect mastery, we just let him work through those parts as he could and move on. He mastered writing the numbers and making the shapes without any problems.

He didn’t like to take his time coloring but he was learning the concepts.

He didn’t like to take his time coloring but he was learning the concepts.

I loved that it was colorful and engaging. I also found that having it in a book like that, as opposed to on the computer or something with many parts and pieces, made it very easy to do math wherever we were. We started the book towards the end of the summer before we started our regular school year. Since it was only taking him a few minutes a day to complete a lesson, he was happy to work on it three to four days a week. We had a couple weeks of family visiting and spending time on the river planned. He could bring it with him and work on it while he rested in the afternoons. Once we came home and started our school year, he has been completing half a lesson to a full lesson each day at his desk.

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In addition to 200 Essential Math Skills for Kindergarten the Crew reviewed a variety of other grade levels as well as their reading workbooks, so even if you don’t have a kindergarten student be sure to click the graphic below and check out the other Crew Reviews. In addition, Reading Eggs is generously giving all of my readers a four-week free trial of their online program.

$240 Essential Reading Skills & 200 Essential Math Skills {Reading Eggs Reviews}$

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Zeezok Music Appreciation (Review)

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One of the things I love about homeschooling is the ability to allow my children to explore a variety of interests and passions. My daughter has developed and interest in music through her violin lessons and our family trips to the symphony. I was excited to be able to review Music Appreciation Book 2: for the Middle Grades and help her learn more about some of the composers whose music she was hearing and playing. Zeezok Publishing did a great job creating a program that helped her delve further into the lives and music of various composers while also teaching some basic information about reading and understanding music.

We received the student book and nine biographies covering seven composers (two of the composers were split into two books). When we started this program over the summer, I had my daughter, a rising sixth grader, working through the program with a little help from me. The program started with Frederic Chopin, Early Years and she learned about how he grew up in Poland and his childhood. We all enjoyed her fixing a Polish Christmas feast for dinner one night after learning about this custom. She used a recipe for poppy seed cake that was included in the activity book and found other recipes online for sauerkraut, kielbasa, perogies, and more.

The program would have her read several chapters and then do a variety of activities in the student book. This included answering questions about the chapters, listening to music selections via QR codes, and activities to learn about musical concepts such as the various types of notes (whole note, quarter note, etc). The curriculum also has the student create a journal to help record what they are learning and their thoughts about the composers. If you are in a state or situation where you need to track national standards the curriculum covers all of the national standards for music appreciation in fifth through eighth grades.

She was enjoying working through the program even though we were technically on summer break from school. As we are starting back to our regular schedule, I have switched it up a bit and I am going to use the biographies as a read aloud to all three of my school aged children. My daughter will still be completing the student book and activities but I thought all of the children would enjoying learning about the composers. We are currently learning about Schumann and look forward to also learning about Wagner, Foster, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and MacDowell.

The curriculum is designed for fifth through eighth graders but they do also have a coloring book that you can purchase to go along with the composers. This could be a great way to include younger siblings and I am considering purchasing one for my kindergartner. They also have a lap book that can be purchased for your hands-on learners.

I love it when I find a program that is fun and can teach my children (and me) about our interests. Music Appreciation Book 2: for the Middle Grades certainly fit that description. The interesting biographies really helped us to connect with the composers, while the activities kept things fun and engaging. I encourage you to check out the program and also to click on the graphic below to check out the other Crew reviews and see how other families integrated it into their day.

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Hymn Study: Jesus Loves Me

“Jesus Loves me, this I know…” These simple words bring back so many memories for me. I remember singing that song at church as a child, hearing other people sing it to me, and then when my children were babies it was one of the songs I sang as I rocked them to sleep. The words are so simple, but the meaning of those words is powerful.

1 Jesus loves me, this I know,
for the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to him belong;
they are weak, but he is strong.

The words of this song were written by Anna Bartlett Warner in 1859. She wrote the words as a poem that was included in her novel, Say and Seal. In 1861 William Bradbury added a refrain and wrote the tune to the song as we know it today. “Jesus Loves Me” is occasionally listed in hymnals under the name China because of its popularity with churches in China. There is even a story of someone using the term, ” This I know people” to secretly describe Christians.

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There are some really simple ways to study this song. It is an easy one to memorize the lyrics to and there are some great options for learning to play it on the piano, violin, recorder or other instrument for beginners. There is also a version that shows the song in American Sign Language that would be fun to learn. We also plan to spend some time looking at various verses in the Bible that tells us that Jesus loves us. I have also included some free copy work for this song as well as a variety of versions that you can listen to and enjoy.

I also am excited to share with you that we are collaborating with Nana from You Are An Artist Chalk Pastels who is doing a great painting to go along with this hymn tomorrow. This is a fun way to engage your little artists in hymn study or your musicians in art. To check out the art lesson from You Are An Artist Chalk Pastels you need to be a You Are An Artist Clubhouse Member! This brand new lesson is included in the You Are An Artist Clubhouse membership.

Hymn Study Resources:

Jesus Loves Me (Joey & Rory)

Jesus Loves Me (with Lyrics)

Jesus Loves Me (lullaby)

Jesus Loves Me (ASL)

Download Your Freebies Below!

Hymn Study Fact Sheet

Jesus Loves Me (Copywork)

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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 5 Day Learning without Worksheets Challenge: FREE 5-Day Learning Challenge We have done several of her different challenges in the past and they are lots of fun and easy to implement.

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)

Enrichment Studies has a great free fine arts memory match game this month!

Free Help Your Child’s Memory Book from All About Learning Press!

Britfield & the Lost Crown (review)

The saying goes that you should not judge a book by its cover but I have to admit Britfield & the Lost Crown‘s cover drew me in right away. We received the 383 page soft cover version of Britfield & the Lost Crown for this review and I was immediately impressed by the colorful engaging art that made you want to find out more about the hot air balloon adventure that was portrayed on the cover.

BritfieldPinterest

Britfield & the Lost Crown is the first book in a planned series by C. R. Stewart. The book features the story of Tom and Sarah and their many adventures. The story, set-in modern-day England, features an orphanage located in a medieval castle. The children in the orphanage are treated very poorly, forced to work hard, and given unreasonable discipline. Tom and Sarah are two of the children in the orphanage and the other children helped them to escape in hopes that they can find help for all of them.

Before they left the orphanage, one of the children found Tom’s secret file and note with the word “Britfield”. As Tom and Sarah are on their quest to escape (hence the hot air balloon on the front cover) and get help they also begin discovering more about what Britfield might be and Tom’s possible history. I won’t share the ending but I will say that while some of our questions were answered it was a cliffhanger and my son is a bit sad that he has to wait for the next volume to be published. He was ready to have me order it so he could find out what happens next.

In addition to this fun fictional story, there is a great downloadable study guide that was created to accompany the book. This eight-week guide would be great with a single student or a group of students (like a co-op or classroom setting). This guide includes comprehension questions, vocabulary activities, and even history and geography questions to help students learn more about England.

My thirteen-year-old son read this book upon its arrival. I asked him to rate the book on a scale of 1-10 and in typical thirteen-year-old boy fashion he couldn’t just give me a simple number. He said it was a 9.999. He recommended it for children ages 9 and older. There are a few scary or intense parts when the children are mistreated in the orphanage but no other questionable content. I asked him his favorite part and he described the ending, but I don’t want to give it away so I will let you read it for yourself!

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If you are looking a new series to excite your middle grades reader or if you love mystery and adventure, this is a series you should check out. In addition to the soft cover version that we received they do have it available on kindle and audiobook. You don’t have to take our word for it, make sure to click on the graphic below and check out all of the other Crew Reviews and then get your copy of Britfield & the Lost Crown.

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Z is for Zoo Adventure

Z is for the Complete Zoo Adventure by Mary and Gary Parker. This adorable book is both a nonfiction book and a curriculum combined. It is best used in conjunction with a field trip to the zoo, but could also be used to learn about the animals from home. This book is published by Master Books and is written from a creationist perspective.

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zoo adventure

The book begins with seven devotions to help you prepare for your zoo trip and better understand God’s creation and plan. The devotions cover the 4Cs of God’s Word (creation, corruption, catastrophe, and Christ), Garden of Eden, the Ark, and more.

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The next section of the book is titled, “At the Zoo”, and includes beautiful pictures and information about 27 different animal species that are often found at the zoo. Each animal includes basic facts, pictures, a Bible verse, and a map showing where they are located. You can use this to learn about each animal as you find them at the zoo. You could also use these to do a virtual field trip finding information on the internet or using a variety of live cams and webcams at zoos to see the different animals.

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The final section is titled, “After the Zoo”. This includes over 30 different activity sheets that can be used to increase your knowledge of the various animals. There are also a variety of discussion questions and other ideas and suggestions included. The appendix includes answer keys, glossary, and other resources.

This book, The Complete Zoo Adventure, is a wonderful resource to use with your own family or with a small group or co-op class. While a trip to the zoo is a wonderful field trip and the best way to utilize this book, I would also recommend it for children that are interested in the animals but cannot not make the trip to a zoo.

Have you read this ‘Z’ book? Tell me what books come to mind when you think of the letter ‘Z’.

abcblogging

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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.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

Enrichment Studies has a great free fine arts memory match game this month!

Free Help Your Child’s Memory Book from All About Learning Press!

Adding Fun Into Your Homeschool: Field Trips

When we started homeschooling, my oldest son was in first grade and my daughter was four but wanted to ‘do school’ like big brother, so she was doing a mix of preschool and kindergarten materials. I had set up our school schedule and thought I had a great plan. It worked for a week or two but then we found the other homeschoolers in our area and started hearing about all of these wonderful opportunities. A trip to the fire department, a local play, a trip to the nature center. I jumped at the opportunity to be involved in these wonderful trips and saw how much my children were learning.

Adding Fun Field Trips

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There was just one problem, it was putting me behind on my schedule and I felt like I was struggling to keep up with my plans and these trips. By the second year, I realized that I needed to value these opportunities and leave space for them in my plans. I started planning for a four-day school week and allowing a day for field trip, or enrichment, opportunities each week. While it looks a little different now with two middle school students, I still allow for a field trip day each week because I think those opportunities are invaluable. They learn so much for the real-life environments and they have fun. When people ask my 13-year-old why he likes homeschool better than public school, one of the first things he says is that he gets to go on more field trips. Our field trips range from a quick trip to the local library, a day visit at a nearby nature park or aquarium, to incorporating learning opportunities into family vacations out of state. They all provide a variety of learning opportunities.

For young children, field trips provide great exposure to a variety of people and places that they need to be familiar with particularly the group that are often called, “community helpers”. What better way to understand about police officers, postal workers, firemen, and other community workers than to talk to them, see them working, and learn about their jobs. A trip to the fire department most often also includes some great fire safety education to help keep them safe in our homes.

You can talk about flowers, birds, and fish all day long, but if you want to get a child really excited about those things, they need to see them. Hikes in your local park and trips to the aquarium, zoo, or nature center can help students really enjoy learning about the world around them and give them a greater appreciation for God’s creation. Many state and national parks offer free or inexpensive classes and guided programs, and self-guided junior ranger activities to help them learn more about different aspects of nature that are present in that park. We have enjoyed bird walks, tree identification programs, and a nature scavenger hunt at area parks.

I feel saddened every time I hear someone say that history is boring. Too often people view history as a list of dates and names to memorize. When my children were in preschool we were very blessed to find living history programs geared towards preschoolers at our local historic site. We would attend once a month and they would bring history to life. There were crafts, impersonations, tours, and more that all made them excited to learn about history. Historic interpreters and living history events can really bring history to life and make it so much more fun and exciting. We now actively search out living history events at other historic sites to visit and volunteer our time at our local site to help bring history to life for other families.

I have had people tell me that they don’t have the budget for field trips and I know this is true in some situations. However, please note that trips do not need to be expensive or far away to add in lots of fun and education. Many of the parks and sites are free or only a couple of dollars per person and some offer group rates for homeschool groups. Most of the community services will do free field trips. There are also often homeschool discounts at larger venues such as aquariums and zoos. When we go overnight, we often camp in a state or national park to save money over hotels (most charge around $25 a night) and pack most of our meals.

I would love to hear about how you incorporate field trips into your homeschool. For more information about specific field trips check out our Field Trip Friday posts. Thank you for joining us this week for the blog hop! Don’t forget to check back often for more homeschool encouragement and check out the other posts in the hop today.

CREW @ Homeschool Review Crew – 2019 Annual Not Back to School Homeschool Blog Hop

Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses – ABC of Homeschooling

Dawn @ Schoolin’ Swag – Adding Fun to Your Homeschool Day

Erin @ For Him and My Family – Large Family Homeschooling

Lori @ At Home Where Life Happens – Learning Life Skills

Monique @ Mountain of Grace Homeschooling – Homeschooling the High School Years

Monique D. @ Early Learning Mom – Homeschooling With Autism

Yvie @ Homeschool On the Range – 5 Days of Upper Grades Homeschooling

Abby @ Making Room 4 One More – Time Management for Homeschool Moms

Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool – 5 Days of Homeschool Questions

Amy @ the WRITE Balance – Year-Round Schooling

Annette @ A Net in Time – Homeschooling.

Betty @ Lets Get Real – Homeschooling High School

Cassandra @ My Blessed Mess – Eclectic Homeschooling
Kimberley @ Vintage Blue Suitcase – Roadschooling with a Teenager

Yvonne @ The Life We Build – 5 Days of Relaxed Homeschooling

Destiny @ Some Call It Destiny – Encouragement for the Homeschooling Mom

Karen @ Tots and Me…Growing Up Together – A Peek into Our Homeschool

Cassie D @ Deputie Tribe – Homeschooling 6 Taking Care of YOU

Kristen Heider @ A Mom’s Quest to Teach –Theme: A Quest for a Great Homeschool Year

Patti Pierce – Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy – My Favorite Homeschooling Things

Wendy @ Life on Chickadee Lane – 5 Days of Nature Study

Jacquelin @ A Stable Beginning – Homeschooling my final 4

Christine @ Life’s Special Necessities – Yes! You Can Homeschool Your Special Needs Child

Sally M – Tell the Next Generation – Tips for Homeschooling Struggling Learners

Kim @ Good Sweet Love – Last Year of Elementary

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Deals and Freebies

Back to School Bundle Sale going on now!! Back to Homeschool Online Course Bundle

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.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

Enrichment Studies has a great free fine arts memory match game this month!

Free Help Your Child’s Memory Book from All About Learning Press!

Adding Fun to Your Homeschool: Incorporating Hobbies

Children (and adults) naturally want to learn more about the subjects that interest them. We can incorporate fun into our homeschools by incorporating those hobbies that already interest them into their school days and often into other subjects that they might not have a natural interest.

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One of the hobbies that we first incorporated into our homeschool was Legos. My son adored anything related to Legos and I began to use them often. He would play with them while I read aloud, it kept his hands busy and his mind focused on the book. Then we used them for him to make projects related to history and science. He created the Great Pyramids of Giza the year that we studied Ancient Egypt and even won a ribbon when he entered them into a competition at the fair. Later he built a model of Tryon Palace that was displayed at the history museum. I have even seen them used for fractions and other math concepts.

Tying into the Lego concept, a newer hobby that we have incorporated into our school is stopmotion video. My son uses a kit from Stopmotion Explosion and his Legos to make videos about history or science. This is a great way for them to share what they are learning or to encourage them to do a little more research to get information for a video.

Science tends to come to life when it can be hands on and active. To help add fun to our science we have incorporated several hobbies that are science based. My children, especially my boys, love gardening. They can learn about plants, insects, composting, seasons, and so much more just through the garden without ever even looking at a formal textbook. We also enjoy bee keeping and have several hives in our backyard. This also gives my children a chance to learn in a real-life way and encourages them to be more aware of pollinators and other insects.

Art and music are subjects that sometimes get pushed to the side or left out due to time constraints. I am as guilty of that as any mom, but I have been working on doing a better job of included those subjects because my children are very interested in them. I can incorporate them into our other studies in various forms. For example, my son enjoys drawing and I can have him show me what he learned in science by drawing a picture of the concept. My daughter has really gotten into music since she began playing the violin. She recently enjoyed collecting songs that went along with the history program that we were studying. A child could also create a song to help them remember math facts or science terms. Bible study is another great place to incorporate music, through hymn studies or songs to help memorize scripture.

When we can weave things that our children enjoy into our other homeschool subjects, we can make those subjects more fun. While I am the first to admit that sometimes you just need to do the work because it is important information, I try to incorporate fun ideas whenever possible. Just like in real life, I may not enjoy mopping the kitchen floor but it is always better when I turn on some music or a podcast. What hobbies do your children enjoy that you could weave into your homeschool day? For help with encouraging hobbies you can check out our post from this spring: Exploring Hobbies on a Time and Money Budget.

Don’t forget to check out all of the other great blog hop posts and come back tomorrow for the final installment in this series!

CREW @ Homeschool Review Crew – 2019 Annual Not Back to School Homeschool Blog Hop

Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses – ABC of Homeschooling

Dawn @ Schoolin’ Swag – Adding Fun to Your Homeschool Day

Erin @ For Him and My Family – Large Family Homeschooling

Lori @ At Home Where Life Happens – Learning Life Skills

Monique @ Mountain of Grace Homeschooling – Homeschooling the High School Years

Monique D. @ Early Learning Mom – Homeschooling With Autism

Yvie @ Homeschool On the Range – 5 Days of Upper Grades Homeschooling

Abby @ Making Room 4 One More – Time Management for Homeschool Moms

Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool – 5 Days of Homeschool Questions

Amy @ the WRITE Balance – Year-Round Schooling

Annette @ A Net in Time – Homeschooling.

Betty @ Lets Get Real – Homeschooling High School

Cassandra @ My Blessed Mess – Eclectic Homeschooling
Kimberley @ Vintage Blue Suitcase – Roadschooling with a Teenager

Yvonne @ The Life We Build – 5 Days of Relaxed Homeschooling

Destiny @ Some Call It Destiny – Encouragement for the Homeschooling Mom

Karen @ Tots and Me…Growing Up Together – A Peek into Our Homeschool

Cassie D @ Deputie Tribe – Homeschooling 6 Taking Care of YOU

Kristen Heider @ A Mom’s Quest to Teach –Theme: A Quest for a Great Homeschool Year

Patti Pierce – Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy – My Favorite Homeschooling Things

Wendy @ Life on Chickadee Lane – 5 Days of Nature Study

Jacquelin @ A Stable Beginning – Homeschooling my final 4

Christine @ Life’s Special Necessities – Yes! You Can Homeschool Your Special Needs Child

Sally M – Tell the Next Generation – Tips for Homeschooling Struggling Learners

Kim @ Good Sweet Love – Last Year of Elementary

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

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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.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

Enrichment Studies has a great free fine arts memory match game this month!

Free Help Your Child’s Memory Book from All About Learning Press!
Back to School Bundle Sale going on now!! Back to Homeschool Online Course Bundle

Adding Fun Into Your Homeschool: Cooking

I don’t know about your house but in my house, everyone seems to expect at least three meals a day! When someone is in a growth spurt, you can add in second breakfast and several snacks. This means that I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. My children love to be in the kitchen with me, helping cook and ‘sneaking’ samples. I decided years ago that I needed to make the most of that time.

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When I allow and encourage my children to join me in the kitchen it opens up lots of opportunities for fun and learning to happen, all while we are completing a necessary task. When they are young they are working on fine motor skills while they stir, crack eggs, and chop up fruits and vegetables with their special knives. As they get older the opportunities multiply.

Young students learn about fractions as they use measuring cups or double recipes. They can also practice various forms of measurement with tablespoons, cups, pints, and quarts. To incorporate math into cooking with older students you can look at the nutritional information, cost per serving, or other factors to use real-life math applications.

Incorporating Cooking into Your Homeschool

We have had the opportunity to incorporate cooking into a variety of our science curricula. When we did Apologia’s Swimming Creatures, we tried to cook something that applied to each chapter when possible. We had fish, clams, oysters, shrimp, and crabs. The children really enjoyed it.

We have also used cooking to study chemistry. You can study how yeast makes bread rise, or how different things react to lemon juice. You can make salad dressing with and without an emulsifier and see what happens. You can make ice cream in a bag with salt on the ice and without, seeing the effects of the salt. For more examples of chemistry in the kitchen, you can check out this post at A2Z Homeschool.

Cooking and History

Our favorite way to incorporate cooking into our homeschool has been in our history and geography studies. I first got the idea when we were using Story of the World for history and they occasionally included recipes with the chapters. Most of them were recipes from the region and time periods we were studying, such as a Japanese tea and Apache fry bread.

Sometimes they were projects that related to the lesson through a creative idea such as using cookie dough to make the Parthenon. We began adding food to as many history lessons as possible because we found that the children really enjoyed it and the sensory experience of a meal made it easier for them to remember what they learned.

Just this past week we enjoyed a Polish Christmas feast. It was complete with a poppy seed cake based off of the study of Chopin in the music appreciation course that my daughter is currently working through. She baked the cake, made beet soup, perogies, kielbasa and sauerkraut. I never thought I would use cooking to learn about music but it just shows you that you can weave a seemingly mundane everyday task into just about any subject.

Have you ever incorporated cooking into your homeschool? Do your children enjoy getting in the kitchen and helping with meals and snacks? For more ideas about getting your children involved in the kitchen check out Homeschool in the Kitchen. Don’t forget to check out all of the other blog hop posts and check back tomorrow for more fun ideas.

UPDATE: Check out the subscriber library for free summer cooking challenges for young children and teens!

CREW @ Homeschool Review Crew – 2019 Annual Not Back to School Homeschool Blog Hop

Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses – ABC of Homeschooling

Dawn @ Schoolin’ Swag – Adding Fun to Your Homeschool Day

Erin @ For Him and My Family – Large Family Homeschooling

Lori @ At Home Where Life Happens – Learning Life Skills

Monique @ Mountain of Grace Homeschooling – Homeschooling the High School Years

Monique D. @ Early Learning Mom – Homeschooling With Autism

Yvie @ Homeschool On the Range – 5 Days of Upper Grades Homeschooling

Abby @ Making Room 4 One More – Time Management for Homeschool Moms

Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool – 5 Days of Homeschool Questions

Amy @ the WRITE Balance – Year-Round Schooling

Annette @ A Net in Time – Homeschooling.

Betty @ Lets Get Real – Homeschooling High School

Cassandra @ My Blessed Mess – Eclectic Homeschooling
Kimberley @ Vintage Blue Suitcase – Roadschooling with a Teenager

Yvonne @ The Life We Build – 5 Days of Relaxed Homeschooling

Destiny @ Some Call It Destiny – Encouragement for the Homeschooling Mom

Karen @ Tots and Me…Growing Up Together – A Peek into Our Homeschool

Cassie D @ Deputie Tribe – Homeschooling 6 Taking Care of YOU

Kristen Heider @ A Mom’s Quest to Teach –Theme: A Quest for a Great Homeschool Year

Patti Pierce – Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy – My Favorite Homeschooling Things

Wendy @ Life on Chickadee Lane – 5 Days of Nature Study

Jacquelin @ A Stable Beginning – Homeschooling my final 4

Christine @ Life’s Special Necessities – Yes! You Can Homeschool Your Special Needs Child

Sally M – Tell the Next Generation – Tips for Homeschooling Struggling Learners

Kim @ Good Sweet Love – Last Year of Elementary

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Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

Resource Library

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.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

Enrichment Studies has a great free fine arts memory match game this month!

Free Help Your Child’s Memory Book from All About Learning Press!

Adding Fun Into Your Homeschool: Games

When we talk about incorporating games into your homeschooling, many folks automatically assume that we are only talking about early elementary school. It is easy to think of games that teach colors and shapes or other basic concepts. I will mention a few of those games today, but I also want to think about games that can be beneficial for our older students.

*Some of the links in my posts may be affiliate links see below for more information. *

One of our favorite types of game to play as a family is history related games. My husband loves history and will often join us for those types of games. My children have been really enjoying American History Timeline. You are dealt cards with various events from American history and each time you have a turn you have to place one of those spots in the correct place on the timeline of cards. Once you have placed the card, it is turned over to reveal the date. If it is correct, the game continues to the next player. If the card is in the wrong spot the player puts the card at the bottom of the deck and draws another card. The first player to successfully place all of their cards wins. We also really enjoy the history games from Home School in the Woods. She has a variety of file folder games that you can print and play focused on various time periods and historical locations. They are a great way to add a little fun to your studies.

In addition to history, there are several options to use games to work on geography. My children received Ticket to Ride for Christmas and have really enjoyed playing it. As they make connections and complete routes, they become more familiar with the United States and various major cities across the map. They also have a variety of other boards and expansion packs, so you could have maps of Europe and other locations. I certainly wouldn’t use it as my only geography study but it is a fun way to help cement knowledge or peak interest. Scrambled States of America is another great one that is even more directly educational while still being lots of fun. In this game you learn about the fifty states, their capitals, mottos, and other interesting information about each state. If you like computer based games, Stack the States is a lot of fun.

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There are a variety of opportunities for math games to add in a little fun. Some games such as Telling Time Bingo and Frog Pond Fractions were created with the express purpose of teaching math skills. While others are a bit more subtle in their math lessons. For example, Yahtzee and Monopoly both require players to use various math skills as they complete the game. My children also enjoy Life on the Farm and Act Your Wage, and I find both of those games to be more enjoyable than Monopoly and not quite so lengthy. When I asked about games on my Facebook page last week someone also mentioned, Smath which is like scrabble for math. I have not yet tried it, but I have added it to my wish list. You can also check out my post on using card games to help with math concepts.

In addition to academic subjects, I think games can be a great way to work on character traits as well as critical thinking. Games such as Clue and Guess Who? can be fun ways to work on those critical thinking skills. There are also a variety of cooperative games that are available. In these games children are working together to achieve the goal instead of competing. I find that these can be helpful with siblings who might be struggling with attitudes towards each other. We particularly like Wildcraft as a family and my five-year-old son enjoys Count Your Chickens.

For the preschool crowd, there are dozens of wonderful options for teaching cooperation, colors, shapes, letter, and beginning math concepts. I could write an entire post on the options but I will just share a few of our favorites with you today. When my older two children were preschool age, Leap Frog had a Letter Factory game. They spent hours playing that game and learning their letters. A favorite that has been around since I was a little girl is High-Ho Cherry-o. I also highly recommend pattern blocks, even though they may be considered more of a toy than a game.

There are so many ways to add fun into your homeschool day through games. I would love for you to share your family’s favorite games in the comments and tell me how you incorporate games into your homeschool days. Don’t forget to check out all of the other great blog hop posts today!

CREW @ Homeschool Review Crew – 2019 Annual Not Back to School Homeschool Blog Hop

Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses – ABC of Homeschooling

Dawn @ Schoolin’ Swag – Adding Fun to Your Homeschool Day

Erin @ For Him and My Family – Large Family Homeschooling

Lori @ At Home Where Life Happens – Learning Life Skills

Monique @ Mountain of Grace Homeschooling – Homeschooling the High School Years

Monique D. @ Early Learning Mom – Homeschooling With Autism

Yvie @ Homeschool On the Range – 5 Days of Upper Grades Homeschooling

Abby @ Making Room 4 One More – Time Management for Homeschool Moms

Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool – 5 Days of Homeschool Questions

Amy @ the WRITE Balance – Year-Round Schooling

Annette @ A Net in Time – Homeschooling.

Betty @ Lets Get Real – Homeschooling High School

Cassandra @ My Blessed Mess – Eclectic Homeschooling
Kimberley @ Vintage Blue Suitcase – Roadschooling with a Teenager

Yvonne @ The Life We Build – 5 Days of Relaxed Homeschooling

Destiny @ Some Call It Destiny – Encouragement for the Homeschooling Mom

Karen @ Tots and Me…Growing Up Together – A Peek into Our Homeschool

Cassie D @ Deputie Tribe – Homeschooling 6 Taking Care of YOU

Kristen Heider @ A Mom’s Quest to Teach –Theme: A Quest for a Great Homeschool Year

Patti Pierce – Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy – My Favorite Homeschooling Things

Wendy @ Life on Chickadee Lane – 5 Days of Nature Study

Jacquelin @ A Stable Beginning – Homeschooling my final 4

Christine @ Life’s Special Necessities – Yes! You Can Homeschool Your Special Needs Child

Sally M – Tell the Next Generation – Tips for Homeschooling Struggling Learners

Kim @ Good Sweet Love – Last Year of Elementary

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

Resource Library

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.

If you missed the sale last month, Tuttle Twins is doing a 50% off sale in honor of back to school! Simply use the code: SCHOOL

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)

Enrichment Studies has a great free fine arts memory match game this month!

Free Help Your Child’s Memory Book from All About Learning Press!