Blog

Picture Books

I was saddened to hear my favorite children’s author/illustrator, Tomie dePaola, passed away yesterday. As a child, I would ask my dad to reread Strega Nona over and over again and today I will do the same with my children. Bubble, bubble, pasta pot Boil me some pasta, nice and hot, I’m hungry and it’s […]

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File Folders

During the first year of my teaching program at the University of Minnesota, we were tasked with creating a file folder game. I don’t recall what my game consisted of (something with rabbits??) and I am sure it wasn’t overly creative, but I had fun making it! Geared toward preschool and lower elementary aged children, […]

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Getting Started

Over the course of the year, our middle daughter, Elsa, had asked repeatedly to go back to homeschool. She loved her friends, her teacher and the school community, but she no longer enjoyed school and at times didn’t feel safe in the classroom. In listening, we made the decision to pull her out after spring […]

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Time For Home School

Although life seems chaotic at the moment, the one thing NOT to panic about is school. Granted, statewide school closures can be problematic and stressful for parents, but know when it comes to curriculum and learning, you got this. As much as the unknown can be scary, I challenge all the parents and caregivers to […]

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2020

I can’t believe it’s been four months since I last blogged. Life this fall into winter was a little hectic with four kids and much of my life went on the back burner…but I’m back and sharing about our newest educational toy. For Christmas, Santa brought Elsa and Soren an Osmo. For those not familiar with […]

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Math Anxiety

“I was never good at math” “Ugh! I hate this NEW Common Core math” “This was NOT the way we did math as a kid.” As teacher and a tutor, these were common phrases I heard uttered by parents, in front of their children. Although it’s well meaning and meant to support a struggling child, […]

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Summer Resources

The school year is slowly winding down but the end of year activities and chaos seem to be ramping up, hence my lack of blogging. In addition to running my kids to concerts, recitals, practices and play dates, I have been planning my online summer courses for middle and high school. There is still time […]

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Non Fiction Resource

At the end of each school year, Scholastic does a sale and sells off extra copies of their magazines to make way for the new inventory. Having tried Super Science, we decided to order a few copies of Storyworks, which is Scholastic’s literary magazine for students in grades 3-6. Fiction, nonfiction, paired texts, drama, grammar, […]

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Kids and Nonfiction

As I shared in a previous post, it’s important to pinpoint what your child likes to read.  Although our tendency is to think along the lines of fictional stories, many children love nonfiction. Not only is nonfiction fun and fascinating, it is also an integral component to your child’s academic development. 6 Reasons to Use […]

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Magazine Musings

When you are sick, it’s hard to be extra, let alone even normal. Having caught strep throat, I found myself laid up in bed and all of my projects put on hold. Since I am adult, it took me forever to recover from my illness, but I am back at it and sharing one of […]

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