What Did You Do Before There Were Older Kids to Help?
From the comments: What did you do with the little ones before you had an “older kid” old enough to be in charge of them? My oldest is eight and is often the one I need to be spending the one-on-one time with. But the one and just-turned-three-year-old cannot be trusted to their own devices and the five-year-old is not responsible enough to watch them. The one-year-old does not watch videos (not something I choose, he just is not interested)…the three-year-old would but they would disrupt the eight-year-old since our living/dining

Annie’s Circle Time
Hey Kendra- I wanted to email and thank you for your blogging, and all the encouragement and the practical advice you share.  I’ve been meaning to email for quite some time, but part of July, all of August and even some of September was the nasty morning sickness.  I felt better in September and did some serious catching up. I read through your postings about Circle Time and it sounds like a great way way to add in some things we’ve not been doing (like singing hymns, reading the Bible together, and praying. . . yikes! the very basics!) and be a little more formal ab

Blue Yonder Books for Circle Time
I’m in serious love with these terrific activity/recipe/craft books from Blue Yonder Ranch.  They’re a perfect addition to Circle Time plans, and they are delightful to look at and explore together. As I was walking out to get the mail last week, I noticed huge toadstools growing under the redwoods by the pond.  I thought it would be so homeschooly of me to take my kids out there to see them, but I really don’t know a thing about mushrooms so wasn’t sure what I’d tell the kid

When You Work Cheerfully Like This…
You soon get to enjoy these…

Little Boys Who Don’t Love School
My oldest son has been attending a state kindergarten (equivalent to your preschool I think?) this year, but we pulled him out at the end of third term. I have been doing some Math and Phonics with him, but the phonics are a real struggle – not for him to understand, but to get him to do! He just doesn’t like it! He loves for me to read him books, and he always has a book nearby for himself to look at. He knows all of his letters and many of the sounds they make, but isn’t interested in learning to put them together into words. He can read a couple of words, but they have been learnt by sight (his name and the names of his siblings for example). He likes to draw