This time last year, I was worried that my kids were outgrowing one of my favorite holiday traditions - our Read-Aloud Advent Calendar. I was right. This year, the books are too "babyish", though I will keep them in a basket in the living room just in case anyone decides to revisit an old friend… Continue reading A Very Makey Holiday Countdown Calendar
Our Hygge-Licious Winter Learning Plan
(This post contains affiliate links. Clicking on them costs you nothing and helps to support this blog. Thank you for your support!) I remember reading about Seasonal Affective Disorder (or SAD) in the school library's copy of Psychology Today when I was in high school, back when SAD was a thing that people were newly… Continue reading Our Hygge-Licious Winter Learning Plan
An Open Letter to the Grammar Police
Dear Grammar Policeman or Policewoman, First of all, I should probably tell you that I used to be one of you. As a high school English teacher, I used to grade essay after essay, feeling increasingly angrier the deeper I got into my grading stack over the disregard for commas, the misuse of… Continue reading An Open Letter to the Grammar Police
Holiday Gift Guide: Gifts for Young Readers
Thanks for visiting one of my holiday gift guides. I hope that you'll find some great gift ideas for the young readers in your life. This post contains affiliate links. Clicking on them costs you nothing and helps to support the upkeep of this blog. Thank you! For Littles Wearables Help establish a child's… Continue reading Holiday Gift Guide: Gifts for Young Readers
A Week of Secular Morning Baskets
(This post contains affiliate links.) In my last post about how we do a secular morning time in our homeschool, I shared with you what we do, but I know that when you're trying to get started with something, sometimes it helps to see concrete examples. In this post, I'm going to show you everything… Continue reading A Week of Secular Morning Baskets
Our Secular Morning Time
(This post contains affiliate links.) Not long into my homeschooling career, I came across the idea of morning time. The idea sounded magical to me. Morning time really got at the heart of what I wanted for our homeschool. I could picture us all cuddled up together, starting the day off in a gentle but… Continue reading Our Secular Morning Time
Fun and Fearless Shakespeare for Kids
(This post contains affiliate links.) I'm about to tell you something that not everyone will agree with. Ready? I think it's NUTS that a great many teachers expect teenagers to open up a script for a Shakespeare play and plow through it with perfect comprehension. The truth is that Shakespeare wrote hundreds of years ago.… Continue reading Fun and Fearless Shakespeare for Kids
How to Create High-Quality Anticipation Guides
Did you know that Shakespeare gives away the ending of Romeo and Juliet in the play's prologue? Even though we know at the outset how the play will turn out, we've been reading, watching, and revering Romeo and Juliet for hundreds of years because the really juicy part of it isn't the outcome of the… Continue reading How to Create High-Quality Anticipation Guides
How to Create Your Homeschool Routine
(This post contains an affiliate link. Clicking on it costs you nothing and helps to support the upkeep of this blog. Thank you for your support!) For me, a schedule is stressful. I'm always behind, something always comes up, and somebody's always hungry when it's time to get started. A routine, though... a routine… Continue reading How to Create Your Homeschool Routine
Teach Vocabulary with Analogies
(This post contains affiliate links. Clicking on them costs you nothing and helps to support the upkeep of this site. Thank you for your support.) First things first, what is an analogy? If you're not sure what a verbal (aka word) analogy is, you're certainly not alone. Verbal analogies are assessment items designed to evaluate… Continue reading Teach Vocabulary with Analogies
The Language Arts Coach 