Enjoy your Holidays, Don’t Burn Out!

Please make sure that you are going to take some time off during the holidays to do nothing. And by nothing, I mean after you’ve prepare that big holiday meal, baked, finished your homemade gifts, Christmas shopping and holiday traveling.

While you it may not seem like the holidays considering all the work that is needed to host your inlaws or travel to visit other family members, make sure you take a minute for some time for yourself. This should be a holiday for you too. I think sometimes we get too wrapped up with cooking, baking and dealing with extra family members that we forget to relax ourselves.

The holidays are a wonderful time to spend together, enjoying each others company with good food. Get others to help with the cooking, baking, cleaning and dishes. Don’t take it all on yourself when there is a load of people in your home. A tired, overworked host doesn’t make very good company. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, get the children involved, let them help and clean up as well. [Read more...]

Great Winter Crafts

My goal this week is to set the books aside and get some crafting done. Here are some great winter craft ideas. I like to try a few new ones while doing the things we always do. We always decorate our windows with snowflakes and it just doesn’t seem like Christmas without them. I guess it’s our own tradition, we also make our own cards to send out to those family and friends we don’t get to see as often as we’d like.winter crafts

I’m not a big decorator but I do have a lot of the children’s artwork around the house. They love displaying their handywork in the house for visitors to see. [Read more...]

Review: SchoolhouseTeacher.com

schoolhouse teachers

This is my first review for the Schoolhouse Review Crew and I’m lucky enough to get the chance to review the subscription to SchoolhouseTeachers.com from The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.

It’s a bit overwhelming at first because there are so many subsections and you don’t know where to start first. There are lessons for children from pre-k to high school. I don’t have any high school students, so I didn’t spend much time there.

We love lapbooks here and I was excited to find a lapbooking section in the early elementary section. Each month, there is a new lesson and then another file for the actual mini books. They’re made from the people from Hands of a Child and I love their lapbooks. [Read more...]

Great Educational Gifts for Kids

I’m always on the look out for great educational gifts for my kids. I would much rather have them playing with great toys then watching TV. They do have several games systems but they get limited usage.

Building toys are a great way for your kids to use their imagination and get creative. My boys love Legos and K’nex, I prefer the general sets where they can build their own creations, although my boys have plenty of Star Wars and other sets as well. For younger children, I would go with Megablocks or Lego Duplo because they are more durable. I have the same Megablock set from when my 6th grader was a toddler. They get used every single day. [Read more...]