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Editor's Note: This post was originally published in April 2018, but has been updated December 2019.

The early years of homeschooling are so fun! Teaching letter and number recognition is like playing with your child when you incorporate do-a-dots, messy fun, and lots of games. Many times the child doesn't even realize they are "working" because it's just having fun with Mommy. 

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This is the easiest, most convenient way I have found to consistently add memory work to our homeschool routine!

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Whoever first said, "Idle hands are the devil's workshop" might not have been quoting scripture, but they certainly knew boys!

There's nothing that will get a boy in trouble faster than having nothing to do. Well...maybe having several boys together with nothing to do. 

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Nature journaling with young children can be a challenge. 

They aren't really capable of writing much (if anything!) in a nature journal, which pretty much eliminates copying poems, writing scripture, or labeling nature finds.

Their observation skills are still in the process of developing.

And their attention spans are...let's just say short.

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There are few things that engage children in learning like food and fun! 

​Perhaps that's why our tradition of wrapping up our study of a particular time period with a celebratory feast has become a long-standing tradition in the Beechy and Johnson homes. Who doesn't enjoy the chance to throw a party?!

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To have a home library you don't need to live in a Victorian manor with a separate room devoted to floor-to-ceiling shelves, although that would be nice.

​Something like this, perhaps?

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The most commonly confused letters are b, d, p, and q. It's not hard to see why since they are all essentially the same letter (in type).

​While it's tempting to worry when your child continues to mix up these letters, most educators agree this is pretty common until around second grade. Even then, letter reversal isn't necessarily a sign of dyslexia.

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Spring has officially arrived this week! Can I get a hallelujah, ladies? We've made it through the long, cold winter. The days are beginning to lengthen, the sun is beginning to shine and we are ready to GET OUTSIDE!

Nature study provides an excellent reason for taking our school lessons outside. So much happens in nature in the springtime that our backyards become virtual hands-on classrooms! To inspire you to get outside and study nature with your children, we've collected a giant list of spring nature study resources. 

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We 21st-century homeschoolers are so blessed. Unlike the early pioneers of the homeschooling movement, resources and curriculum abound all around us! 

We have libraries, homeschool conventions, thick curriculum catalogs delivered straight to our door (does anyone else read the Rainbow Resource 1,000-page catalog from front to cover like a novel? Or is that just me?) and let's not forget the internet. The internet, people! How in the world did the women that came before us ever homeschool without the internet?!

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What if you could assemble one simple game that would teach your preschooler letter and number recognition, colors, shapes, counting, textures and more? What if that one simple game also could provide sensory input and strengthen motor skills? Sound too good to be true? Yeah, you're right. It probably is. You should just go back to those boring workbooks.