This past weekend my family had the wonderful experience of attending the In Home Conference in St. Charles, Illinois. The past few years I’ve gone by myself, but after seeing the amazing workshops offered to the kids, I knew that I wanted everyone to go with me this year. I had a chance to personally…
Abstracting,Analogizing & Recognizing Patterns: The Next Three Thinking Tools
Last Wednesday I shared with you the first two thinking tools: Observing and Imaging, from the book Sparks of Genius: The 13 Thinking Tools of the World’s Most Creative People. I’ve found these tools fascinating and think that introducing them to my kids will be an invaluable resource for them to develop the important…
10 Out-of-the-Ordinary Spectacular Spring Activities
In three more days, spring will be here! Spring is my favorite season of the year. I love all the newness, all the colors, and all the warmth. It’s a time to be outside of the house more, although with such a mild winter, we were able to get out quite a bit these past…
Sparks of Genius: The First Two Thinking Tools
About five or six years ago I read a wonderful book called Sparks of Genius: The 13 Thinking Tools of the World’s Most Creative People. In the book, highly creative people described the way they thought and went about the process of expressing their creativity. I had been doing a self-study on creativity and had…
My Interview with Homeschooler Keilee about Creativity & Following Your Interests
Today I’m so excited to share an interview I did with Keilee. Keilee is 12 and has been homeschooling for the last five or so years. I’ve learned a lot about all the creative things Keilee has been doing lately from visiting her mom Karen’s blog at HomeschoolGirls. I wanted to interview Keilee because she…
Answering the Unschooling Question: So What Do You Do All Day?
* Today I’m excited to share with you a guest post by my good friend Julie Polanco, author of the book Finding Joy: A Christian’s Journey to an Unschooled Life. So, what do you do all day? Recently, I was invited to speak at our local homeschool support group meeting. What was the topic? As…
The Comfort Zone: Helping Kids Get Out of It
I’ve been planning a big road trip that we’re going to take this summer. We’re a nature-loving family, and our travels in the past usually include either mountains, deserts, beaches or islands. This summer will be different. Our trip will have a lot of nature-watching, but it also will have some big city touring, too….
My February Unschooling Fun & Resources
After a month of unexpected bumps in the road, like our two car accidents, my asthma attack and taking my son to the ER at 2 in the morning, it felt like we were really out of our groove this month. It didn’t really feel like we had done that much, but I was a…
4 Ways Travel Can Dispel Myths about Unschooling
* I’m exited today to share with you a guest post by my new friend Monica @ FamilyTrek.org. So we’ve taken the plunge into the outer fringes of society, pulled our kids out of the public school grind and are now enjoying a life that most people don’t understand. We are the ones who people…
Nuturing Relationships: The Essential Ingredient in Home Education
Someone asked on Twitter the other day what was the most essential tool I use in educating my kids at home. Several things came to mind: the library, the internet, free community events, games, cool iPhone apps, science kits and DVDs. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that all those…