During the elementary and middle school years, our history studies – for the most part – take place as unit studies. In a relatively short amount of time, we can cover SO much material in fun and interesting lessons. And this unit was no exception! Colonial History Unit Study Over the course of about six…
These exponential growth activities offer an excellent way to blend literature and math! Gather the books One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale by Demi and The King’s Chessboard by David Birch. The activities below offer hands-on experiences with exponential growth to help children visualize the rapid expansion of doubling numbers. Your children will love…
These Thanksgiving and gratitude living books have been favorites around our house for years. Some help explain the history of our Thanksgiving celebration, while others are just sweet stories with a Thanksgiving theme. Yet others really have nothing to do with Thanksgiving, in particular, but focus on a spirit of gratitude that’s such an important…
Living literature isn’t just for reading but also for teaching writing styles! Serious writing lessons don’t start in our homeschool until middle and high school, but believe it or not, I often use picture books to help me teach. Since picture books can be read in one sitting, they are perfect examples of good writing from…
Does your family have a favorite children’s book author? If you find yourself reading book after book from the same author, it’s pretty safe to say that your family may have a favorite! Why don’t you consider a favorite author study to celebrate that author (or illustrator) and learn a lot about the fundamentals of…
If you’ve been around here long, you know I love living math! One part of living math that makes so much sense for kids is connecting math concepts with literature. If you’ve never tried it, you’ll be amazed at the understanding gleaned from a simple book that teaches the topic in a new and fresh way. This…
Why would anyone use picture books to teach expository writing? Because picture books are written by master authors who can teach us clearly through their examples. Not to mention, it doesn’t take long to read through most picture books, so you can share examples and get right to the work of writing. What is expository…
Yes, I’ve told you how much we love literature around here many times. While I teach geography through maps, quizzes, and games, the best way to connect to the maps and their culture is through really good books. Enjoy this giant list of world geography living literature with your elementary children. This post contains affiliate links….
Do you remember when Eli and I took a short detour from our regular Story of the World studies to learn more about Vikings? We detoured again – this time with a mini pirate unit study. Should I have been shocked? What boy (and many girls) wouldn’t love extra time to hang out with pirates? This…
You may have heard me say before that we follow a four-year cycle of chronological history in our homeschool. Well, we used to. My littlest man will be in 3rd grade this coming school year, and we’re just now getting into ancient history – year 1 in a four-year cycle. I still plan to follow…
Teaching simple machines through hands-on, experimental lessons is a hit for children. While gathering materials takes just a bit of time, the engagement factor makes this quick and simple unit study worthwhile. This post includes affiliate links. Simple Machines Unit Study Before reading the first book about simple machines, set up some little centers for self-discovery….
We follow a four-year cycle for teaching science. In the elementary years, science picture books have helped me introduce and explain scientific topics so well that I consider them as much curriculum as anything else we use to teach science. How We Learn Science While we do use the occasional science textbook during the elementary…