August Dollar Tree STEM Box | 2018

Are you ready for a challenge? Check out my August Dollar Tree STEM Box | 2018, and test out your own tent building skills today!

Challenge- Build an edible tent!

Suggested supplies:

• Fruit Roll-Ups
• Pretzel Sticks
• Twizzlers Pull’n’Peel

Directions:

1. Build the tent structure with pretzel sticks. (Hint: use the twizzlers to tie the sticks together)
   
   
   
   
2. Drape Fruit Roll-Up over your pretzel structure.
   

This was a fun project, but a little more difficult than I imagined. We had to use a little bit of team work to hold the pretzels in place while someone else tied them together. I am embarrassed to admit that our edible tent building skills may be equivalent to real life tent building skills… I wouldn’t trust us out in the wilderness on our own (bahahaha)! We had a lot of fun trying though. And the kiddos didn’t mind eating some extra snacks today!

A little extra…

My artsy girl took things a step further and made her own Twizzler person roasting a marshmallow on a camp fire! 

Thank you for checking out my August Dollar Tree STEM Box | 2018…

Ready for s’more learning? We kicked off the 2018-2019 homeschool year with a fun indoor camping day… Check out my Tea Time Tuesday Camping Edition for all the details! 

Did you miss our past STEM Box challenges?

You can find them all here. 

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2018-2019 Homeschool Room

It is that time of year again… Supplies have been purchased, curriculum ordered, lesson plans written, and the school room is clean and organized once again! Check out my 2018-2019 Homeschool Room Tour to see where the Raiche crew will be learning this year.

Homework and Horseplay’s 2018-2019 Homeschool Room…

Our school room has had a slight facelift since I shared our 2017-2018 space. However, our work area mostly stayed the same minus the loss of our rocking chair. Sadly (and much to my children’s amusement), a few months ago when I sat in our rocking chair it broke… And I don’t mean just a little crack! The chair and I both hit the ground in a pile of rubble. I think it was a bigger hit to my ego more than anything! And I know my children will probably never let me forget this little mishap.

Since the rocking chair is gone I decided to move one of our antique school desks into that corner. Julia loves to draw during read aloud time, but the boys move around too much at the big table and make her mess up. I think she will love having a space close enough to hear and draw without interruption.

Organization

Our Children’s library has remained the same. I keep thinking I should start going through and getting rid of some of the books we no longer use, but my bibliophile heart just won’t let me!

I did change up how I organize our student cubbies though. Usually I put all the materials we are currently using on the cubbies right next to our table and the rest of the materials for the year on a shelf on the other side of the room. All of my other shelves are completely full, so I made space on the cubbies for everything.

I think this is going to work out great. If you seen our 2018-2019 Homeschool Plan and curriculum selections for the year, you know that I made my own literature lists for my teenagers. I have scheduled a few of the books for certain times of the year, but for the most part I am allowing Kenten and Julia to pick what order to read the books in. Having the books all in one spot for them to see will make it easier for them to decide what to read next!

Hangout Area

We purchased a larger sectional for our family room a few months ago. So our old sectional made its way into our homeschool room. I love having more comfy seating for all of us during the school day, but we did have to put away two of our desks and shuffle a few things around to make it fit. 

This is definitely an upgrade from the lovely second hand floral sofa we used to have down here! With our children getting older we really want this space to not just be comfortable for school, but also for our teenagers to have a place to hang out with each other and their friends. Thankfully we were able to fit both the air hockey table and sectional over on this side of the room.

We also moved a few of our game systems down into this area. My children are only allowed to play video games on the weekend during the school year. However, even those two days of gaming is enough to drive me crazy. I love that all the video game madness is out of our family room finally. It is useful having a tv in our homeschool room for documentaries and video lessons as well. Off to the side we also have a small desk area with our printer and laptop. We using Teaching Textbooks, and it is nice having a quiet area to complete math lessons.

New Space

Over the winter the command strips I used to hang my large whiteboard gave out and the board hit the ground. It broke beyond repair… As much as it sucks to lose such a big board the new placement of the sofa would have made it hard to write on. I also had to put away two of our desks (insert sad face here) due to lack of space. I really wanted one more work space and my father-in-law came to the rescue! He gave me this little sofa table months ago, and it fits perfectly on the back wall behind the air hockey table. It is currently holding a small white board and our library book basket. 

This standing desk area is on the same wall as our children’s library (just down a couple feet).

So that’s it… It was a ton of work shuffling all of this furniture around, but I think it was worth the effort. Our homeschool room may not look perfect, but it is perfect for us!

Thank you for checking out my 2018-2019 Homeschool Room Tour…

Do you have a dedicated homeschool room? I would love to see your space. Please feel free to leave a link below to your homeschool room tour!

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5 Homeschool P.E. Ideas to Keep Your Family Active

Let’s face it… As homeschool mamas we have a lot on our plates when it comes to planning out our homeschool year. I spend endless months researching and purchasing curriculum for the upcoming school year. Most of my time is spent focusing on the core classes, but this past year my oldest son started his high school career and things had to change. Although I should have known this from my own high school years, I realized that electives play a big part of a high schoolers schedule. In fact, in my state it is a requirement to have P.E. (a class that I am embarrassed to admit I have neglected for far too long) credits to graduate. My first thought was “Wait, what? How the heck do I teach  homeschool P.E.?”… Then I realized that I was overthinking things as usual, and this was an easy course to tackle! Just like homeschooling is a lifestyle, P.E. is just part of living a healthy lifestyle. Check out my 5 Homeschool P.E. Ideas to Keep Your Family Active to see how easy it is to meet that P.E. credit requirement.

Join me in the Ready, set, homeschool! Blog Party to find out how the Raiche crew is keeping active and tackling P.E. class this year…

Don’t forget to check out all the other amazing posts from the party. There is everything from homeschooling with movie-based unit studies to how to eliminate digital homeschool clutter!

Thank you for checking out my 5 Homeschool P.E. Ideas to Keep Your Family Active…

Do you need even more ideas to get your heart racing? Try mixing in small exercises throughout the homeschool day, such as:

• jumping rope for 5 minutes
• 10 squats every time you go to the bathroom
• play spelling hopscotch
• 100 steps ups on the bottom step before going on lunch break
• carry items one by one up the stairs rather than in one trip
• 10 sit ups before starting a new lesson
• complete lessons standing up
• 10 push ups before or after snack break
• replace your chair with an exercise ball
• do jumping jacks as you spell words- 1 jumping jack per letter 

How does your family stay healthy and fit together? Feel free to comment below with your fun homeschool P.E. ideas, or comment over on the Ready, set, homeschool! blog party. We would all love to have fresh ideas to incorporate into our healthy lifestyles, and get our families moving even more.

The post 5 Homeschool P.E. Ideas to Keep Your Family Active appeared first on Homework and Horseplay.

Dot-to-Dot Philadelphia Review

Are you looking to put your child’s math skills to the test and add a little fun to your homeschool day? Check out my Dot-to-Dot Philadelphia Review to find out why this is a homeschool math must have!

What is Dot-to-Dot Philadelphia?

The Dot-to-Dot Philadelphia book is a dot-to-dot book designed in honor of the centennial of Philadelphia’s Benjamin Franklin Parkway. In this book you will find 23 dot-to-dot puzzles highlighting different attractions in the Parkway Museums District, such as: museums, public art, architecture, and fountains. The puzzles included range in size from 156 to 1,690 connectable dots. The Dot-to-Dot Philadelphia book also includes:

• a brief history of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway
• a puzzle key to identify the Parkway attractions 

This book is recommended for ages 8-108, and is included in Timberdoodle’s 11th Grade Curriculum Kit.

How did we use the Dot-to-Dot Philadelphia book?

Julia completed one puzzle every other day in place of her traditional math work over the last few weeks. It took her anywhere from 15-40 minute’s to complete the puzzles depending on how challenging they were. 

Homework and Horseplay’s final thoughts…

I am very impressed with the Dot-to-Dot Philadelphia book so far. We homeschool year round, but in the summer I try to change up our math lessons to keep things interesting. This book is a fun way to keep the learning going,  and challenge your children all at the same time! 

What impressed me the most is that each puzzle comes with a specific set of rules to follow. For example, The Thinker puzzle says:

Stop your line after completing each set, then skip to the next set and start your line again. 

These extra rules bring this dot-to-dot book to a totally new level. Before receiving this book, I have never seen a dot-to-dot puzzle that wasn’t just a straight forward “connect the dots from 1 to 100″ (or whatever the end number is). As an added bonus we also spent quite a bit of time researching and learning more about Philadelphia’s Benjamin Franklin Parkway. I love when our homeschool lessons naturally led us from one subject to the next!

Thank you for checking out my Dot-to-Dot Philadelphia Review…

Do you and your family enjoy dot-to-dot books? 

As always, I just want you to know…

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Link4fun Food Cards 3-in-1 Learning Library Review

Do you love flashcards? I know I do. I think flashcards are a great way for children to to review materials they are learning, but I do have to admit that they can get boring at times. Stages Learning Materials has come up with a perfect solution to keep their flashcards exciting. Check out my Link4Fun Food Cards 3-in-1 Learning Library Review to find out why you should add these interactive cards to your homeschool today!

What is Link4Fun Food Cards 3-in-1 Library?

The Link4Fun Food Cards 3-in-1 Library from Stages Learning Materials is a 72 flashcard set with a free interactive app that engages multiples senses. There are 36 word cards and 36 correlating picture cards in this learning library that include the following categories:

• fruits
• vegetables
• dairy
• protein
• grains
• snacks

With the use of the cards and free app your child can complete the following 8 activities:

1. Touch to view pictures & hear words
2. Tap cards to view pictures & hear words
3. Match pictures
4. Match words
5. Picture to word
6. Word to picture
7. Hear & find pictures
8. Hear & find words

What are the device requirements to use the Link4Fun Food Cards 3-in-1 Library?

You will need the following to fully use these interactive flashcards:

• iPad 2 or later, iPad mini 1 or later
• Free Link4Fun App

What did Jack think of the Link4Fun Food Cards?

Of all of the items that we received from Stages Learning Materials, Jack was least excited about these cards. A number of the activities were easy enough for Jack to complete, but there were a few that he struggled with such as the “hear & find words” portion. Jack’s biggest struggle in school is reading, and because he knows it is hard for him to do he is very resistant to all things reading. With that said, he did eventually warm up to using these flashcards and was excited when he got the correct answers.

Homework and Horseplay’s final thoughts…

I believe the Link4Fun Food Cards 3-in-1 Learning Library is a great product for a wide range of ages. It has activities that children as young as 3 could complete all the way up to the point of a child being able to read comfortably on their own. Since Jack struggles so much with reading I love having another activity for him to complete so he can build up his reading skills. One of his biggest complaints in the beginning was that he didn’t have enough time to find the words before it was prompting him to move on. Although it was hard to see him get frustrated, that “time crunch” was a good thing because it pushed him to work at a quicker pace. I have seen a huge improvement with him being able to recognize and read these food words. I look forward to continuing to use the Link4Fun Food Cards 3-in-1 Learning Library with Jack throughout the school year, and I hope before too long he will be able to read all of these words with no problem! 

Thank you for checking out my Link4Fun Food Cards 3-in-1 Learning Library Review…

Stages Learning Materials kindly sent us the following items in addition to the Link4Fun Food Cards 3-in-1 Learning Library:

• Wiggle Cushion
• Link4Fun 3 Book Set
• Active Kids & Farm Animal Cube Puzzles

A special thank you to Stages Learning Materials for sending such a wonderful package of goodies to Jack and I. Make sure to check out my full reviews for all of these products (simply click the links above). 

As always, I just want you to know…

The post Link4fun Food Cards 3-in-1 Learning Library Review appeared first on Homework and Horseplay.

Link4Fun 3 Book Set Review

Active Kids and Farm Animal Cube Puzzle Review

Are you looking to purchase some new puzzles for your family, but sick of the cardboard pieces that always go missing? Look no more! Stages Learning Materials has created a whole line of beautiful cube puzzles. Check out my Active Kids & Farm Animal Cube Puzzle Review to find out why these puzzles are great for not only special needs children, but all beginning learners.

What are Active Kids & Farm Animal Cube Puzzles?

The Active Kids Cube Puzzle & Farm Animal Cube Puzzle are cube puzzles crafted from solid wood and paint.  

Active Kids

The active kids cube puzzle is not just one puzzle, but 6! Each puzzle has its own fact card. On one side of the card there is a picture of the completed puzzle for reference while building, and the other side has facts about the activity. The puzzles included in this set are:

• running
• karate
• jumping rope
• skating
• playing soccer
• riding bike

Farm Animal

The farm animal cube puzzle also features 6 puzzles and 6 fact cards. The animals included in this set are:

• cow
• sheep
• goat
• pig
• chicken
• horse

What did Jack think of the Active Kids & Farm Animal Cube Puzzles?

Initially Jack was not super excited about these puzzles because he thought they were for “babies”… However, his opinion quickly changed. We were both surprised that the cube puzzles are more difficult than expected. While completing a few of the farm animal puzzles he has the wrong side of a cube facing up, and it took him a bit to find the correct picture to complete the puzzle.  Jack also commented that he was happy that the pictures are full of real animals and people. I think if the pictures were cartoon figures and simple drawings he would have definitely continued to feel the puzzles were meant for younger children only.

Homework and Horseplay’s final thoughts…

I am very impressed with the quality of these cube puzzles. The pictures featured on the puzzles have nice, vibrant colors. Unlike some other cube puzzles I have purchased in the past I believe the Active Kids & Farm Animal Cube Puzzles will hold up to time since they are made from solid wood and paint, rather than stickers. 

I love how much Jack has to put his fine motor and problem solving skills to work while building these puzzles. Jack spent years in occupational therapy, but he still struggles greatly with all of his motor skills. The learning and growing didn’t stop there though. Through the fact cards Jack learned all kinds of interesting facts, such as:

“The fasted recorded speed any human has run is 25 miles per hour.”

“You can tell how old a horse is by its teeth.”

I read the fact cards aloud to Jack before he completed each puzzle, and then when he was done he worked on reading them aloud to me. Jack is still learning to read, so I loved having a different activity to practice his reading skills with.  The cards are also full of great vocabulary words, such as: marathon, stallion, gi, dojo, and ewes. I wrote out the definitions of all the new vocabulary terms Jack was introduced, and he used them for his copywork for the week. I will definitely add more of these puzzles to our homeschool soon. The other cube puzzle topics include:

• fruit
• dairy
• grains
• snacks
• protein
• vegetables
• positive interactions
• community helpers
• healthy habits

Thank you for checking out my Active Kids & Farm Animal Cube Puzzle Review…

Stages Learning Materials kindly sent us the following items in addition to the Active Kids & Farm Animal Cube Puzzles:

• Wiggle Cushion
• Link4Fun- Animals Books Master Pack
• Link4Fun- Foods Cards Master Pack

A special thank you to Stages Learning Materials for sending such a wonderful package of goodies to Jack and I. Make sure to check back soon for full reviews of all of these products. 

As always, I just want you to know…

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