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Photo: Kristin Brown on Unsplash It’s been seven weeks since school closed. Sometime during week one, I woke in the middle of the night and caught the teaching bug. You see, our son attends a completely play-based preschool, and therefore writing, not even letters were happening for him in the near future. So, I stepped up to the challenge and gave the whole homeschooling thing a shot. Welcome to “Mama School.” It worked! I believe it’s still working because it dawned on me that as a parent teaching a young child, you need to have a happy medium. Our medium is “kid’s choice.” Every...

Before starting school each day, the boys and I take a walk before starting school. During our first walk, I we picked up acorns we found around the oak trees. Then, one morning, we found an acorn with a small tree popping out of it! We continued to look for little acorn trees, and picked them up as we went along. In previous nature walks, I explained that we never disturb nature, as we could affect the ecosystem where we were walking. But in the case of our neighborhood walks, it was okay to pick up the acorn tree sprouts...

Education Research ReportTHIS WEEK Education Research Report NAEP scores: Pre-Common Core improvement replaced by declines after Common Core was implemented by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 17h U.S. reading and math scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and other assessments have seen historic declines since most states implemented national Common Core English and math curriculum standards six years ago, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute. While Common Core was promoted as improving the international competitiveness of U.S. students in mat Survey: School engagement is surprisingly high, despite concerns about the future by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 21h School-age children in nearly 90%...

What comes to mind when you think of preschool and toddler art activities? Macaroni collages in the shape of a heart? Cute little handprint turkeys or thumbprint flowers? Pre-cut animals glued onto a barn?There is nothing wrong with any of these craft projects, but they all have one thing in common: The focus is squarely on the result, and it's a predetermined result. An adult has concocted a cute art project that might be a little bit fun for the kids and will surely be loved by their parents, but there isn't a lot of room for drawing outside the...

Create your very own starry night painting inspired by the famous artist Van Gogh using items from around your house, including an apple core! (Disclosure: Affiliate Link to Amazon) I’m always trying to find ways to expose my children to various mediums of art and famous artists and pieces of art. This week we did a quick lesson using this adorable book called Touch  the Art: Make Van Gogh’s Bed by Julie Appel and Amy Guglielmo. Touch the Art: Make Van Gogh’s Bed I think this is such a great series to teach children about art and incorporate reading! Since...