With everyone social distancing and taking self-quarantine measures during the COVID-19 Pandemic, a number of friends have asked me for game suggestions. Here are some of the games we’re playing and enjoying in our house:
**I will try to update this post with more details over the next few days. But for now, I’m off to play a game with my kids.**… Continue reading
My 5-year-old loves cats. His favorite color is purple. And he adores all things with fairies and sparkles.
About a year ago I stumbled upon a pair of purple socks that had cats adorned with fairy wings stitched into them. When my son opened them as a gift, he told me, “Mama, these are the socks of my dreams.”
He loved his new socks. … Continue reading
One of the things I strive to instill in my children is that learning is a lifelong endeavor. We will always have things to learn (no one knows everything!). In fact, I often remind them, the more we learn, the more we realize we don’t know. Learning not only teaches us, it helps to ask more and better questions.
So many people in our culture see admitting that they don’t know something as a sign of weakness. … Continue reading
We’ll soon head out of town to visit my family. As I reminded my boys about our upcoming trip (so they won’t be surprised when we load them into the car for an 18-hour drive), the first question out of my son’s mouth was, “Have they opened that library near [great-grandma’s] house yet?” At least we’re all clear on our priorities.… Continue reading
Part of helping kids to grow is challenging them to explore and utilize the myriad of intellegences that reside in their bodies. Gross motor skills, emotions, logical reasoning, fine motor skills, empathy, planning, and on and on and on.
I try hard to teach these different things to my children through interactions in our everyday lives. I include them in my own efforts and learning (see HERE). … Continue reading
There are many things I want my children to know before they grow up and leave our house. I want them to learn to sew. They need to learn to clean up after themselves (see HERE), and how to clean a house (see HERE). They need to learn how to manage their finances (see HERE, HERE, and HERE). … Continue reading
Election Day is this Tuesday, November 6. My ballot this year was long, including national, state, and local representatives and issues. So many of these issues, on all three levels of government, are big, important, and will impact our day-to-day lives. My friends in other states tell me their ballots are similar.
Some people think only the presidential elections are important. … Continue reading
The other day I was baking with my 5-year-old. We were making Grain-Free Bread (recipe HERE). He was helping me scrape down the sides of my stand mixer (I have an old model of THIS) when suddenly the spatula he was holding went right through the beaters. Yikes!
Thankfully he let go of the spatula as soon as he felt something was off. … Continue reading
My 9-year-old loves inventing and building things. Sometimes he sees an idea somewhere and decides to build or make something similar of his own. Sometimes he sees an object, figures out a way to improve upon the design, and sets about creating his own improved version. And, sometimes, he sees a need for something and comes up with a way to meet that need through something he imagines and then makes.… Continue reading
Skip-Bo is a fun card game the whole family can enjoy. The rules are fairly simple, and you can learn them quickly. And it’s an easy enough game that almost anyone who is able to recognize and sequence their numbers can play.
We’ve played with anywhere from 2 to 6 people, and had fun with each different grouping. If you added a second deck of cards, you could easily have more people join in the game.… Continue reading