If you haven't checked out Mrs. Wordsmith, I'd highly encourage you to do so! To be honest, I had never heard of it until now. However, we're totally sold now. We received it for free as a product tester and are so glad we did! My boys were so excited when it arrived in the mail. They couldn't wait to rip it open and check it out! The quality is top-notch -- the paper is thick (can withstand the terror of a 4 year old), the colors are bright and vibrant, and stories and pictures are fun and inviting. Sam was laughing the second he started looking through the flash cards and reading the activities. The activities are silly, while still being very educational.

So far, we've only truly sampled it. I didn't want to get too far into it just yet, as I'm going to try and incorporate it into our curriculum this fall and I want to wait until then. However, from what we've used so far, it's a total win in our book!


If this sounds like something that might fit the needs of your family, you can check it out here.






I plan to use both for each of my boys. I'll be sure to come back and write more once we've gone through more of the curriculum, but I wanted to write a little note now!

It's the perfect time to go buy it before school starts!

Well, when life gets busy, or you just cleaned the kitchen and want it to stay that way, it's easy to forget this concept and focus more on keeping things clean or preventing madness with a big mess.

While on a playdate earlier today, I was talking with a dear friend about this concept. While we were talking, my younger son (just turned 4) took two cups of ice water -- both more than half-full -- and started experimenting. He started to pour one cup into the other and we both watched as water and ice started to slowly flow everywhere -- on the table, the chair, the floor, etc. His only response was a slow, soft, "Uh-oh," as he continued to pour the cup and watch the result. We couldn't help but chuckle as his reaction didn't cause him to stop. He just kept doing it, ha! In that moment (and many others recently), I've tried to make a conscious effort to just let him (and his brother) do what he's doing and see what happens. It's all in the name of science, right?! Ha!


All of this came about after seeing an inspirational video that's been floating around the internet lately. I saw it a month or two ago and it's been on my mind ever since. It was taken from a speech by Neil deGrasse Tyson about how kids are born scientist -- if we let them be, they'll explore...


Being a homeschool family, I feel that this video speaks VOLUMES and should be a reminder to us all to let kids be a kids and just let them explore the world around them. They learn so much by doing so!

Whether it's by taking a nature walk and letting kids play in the dirt while observing the animals around them and seeing what happens in the local creek, taking a toy apart to see what's inside, or making a mess in the kitchen and playing with ingredients...we need to step back and let them explore...

Nature Anatomy: The Curious Parts and Pieces of the Natural World

My Nature Journal~Kids Nature Log/Nature Draw and Write Journal: Draw And Write Nature Journal For Children

Little Backyard Explorer Insect Bug Viewer Collecting Kit 

Since we finished up our Social Studies curriculum early this year, I've been letting my son pick a topic for us to cover each week. He recently requested Paul Bunyan. Between the book, the cartoon, and the resulting conversations about geography and history, I knew this could easily keep us busy for a week or more!

Not only are his videos fun, but his monthly STEM kits are awesome! We first heard about them last year while my son was in kindergarten. Even though he was technically younger than the recommended age, we still decided to order them and test them out. Sure enough, he was able to work through the experiments easily and had a ton of fun! They're the perfect addition whether you homeschool or not. I personally add them to our weekly lesson plans since we homeschool, but I think they'd be perfect for an after-school activity, too!

Each month is a different theme and if you do the STEM Deluxe Kit like we do, it comes with 10+ experiments along with the experiment guide that allows the child to write down their findings and answer various questions about what they've learned. I love that each kit also includes everything you'll need minus a couple basic household items that you most likely already have in the house -- vinegar, dish soap, etc. It makes it so easy to just open and go! The themes we've received so far have all been fun -- my son gets excited every time one comes in the mail and can't wait to check out the new theme!

I also have to add...their customer service is awesome! One of our kits included a glass bottle that unfortunately didn't survive the USPS. When we brought the box in from the mailbox, it had tiny shards of glass falling out all over the place. Upon opening the kit, I realized there was no hope for using that kit. I contacted their customer service and received a response almost immediately. I didn't have all our account information at the time, but without hesitation, they mailed out a new box the next day. The rep also personally ensured that she would pack the new bottle extra well and asked that we let her know if it arrives safely. Sure enough, the package arrived and there was no wiggle room for that bottle. That little experience with their customer service team made me love them even more, ha!

With that said, here's a little peak at what it looks like at our house when we use the kit...

Normally, it's just Sam working on the experiments, but Sweet Caleb decided he wanted to join us this time. So I found an extra pair of safety glasses (safety first, right?!), and he excitedly participated in the fun!

I'm sure if you live in America, everyone in your house was fully aware of the total solar eclipse that happened on August 21, 2017. How could you not?! That's all anyone could talk about and for good reason! What a cool event to witness! There were plenty of places to buy the safety glasses, and if you didn't buy the glasses to check it out, I'm sure you joined us in making a pinhole viewer. They popped up all over Facebook, so it was hard not to, right? My 1st grader loved viewing the eclipse through our cereal box. He was completely amazed by what he saw -- even at the 60% coverage that we got where we live. So cool!


With that said, I realize that the big day has come and gone, but it's still a great topic to cover regardless! Our first day of school was also the day of the solar eclipse, so we're kind of learning about it in reverse. We witnessed it and now we're taking the time to learn about it. My guy can't stop talking about it, so it's been the perfect topic of the first week of school! If you're interested in doing a lesson on it and aren't sure what to use, this is what we have been doing...

First off, we've already chosen to use Apologia's Exploring Creation With Astronomy this year, so it worked out perfectly! We used pages 24-28 in the text book, but also pulled a bunch of other items up to make it fun -- printables, library books, videos, etc. Below is a list of a few of the items that we used...








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If you have little ones in the house, I'm sure you've gone through the dinosaur phase. My boys are currently hooked. They both love watching Dinosaur Train and reading various books about them. A perk to living in Southern California is that we have a few awesome museums nearby -- they both loved going to the La Brea Tar Pits and the Raymond M. Alf Museum of Palentology during the last year! Over the last week, our family did a road trip up to Yellowstone and when I found the Dinosaur National Monument on the map, I knew we had to go!

To be honest, I had never heard of the Dinosaur National Monument, but I'm glad I found it while browsing Google Maps. It was the perfect addition to our trip and the boys had an amazing time checking it out! It's pretty surreal standing there next to a wall of rock that has dinosaur bones in it that were found long ago. I think it's amazing to think that bones found there have been shared to museums such as Carnegie and the Smithsonian. I never really put much thought into where they came from when we've visited those museums, but to stand there where they were initially discovered -- it's pretty awesome!

Since my son, Sam, has been wanting to create videos to put on YouTube, we made one about his experience at the Dinosaur Quarry Exhibit Hall. I decided if I can make this love for YouTube into a learning experience, then why not? Check out the video below to see Sam's take on his visit there. If you feel compelled, also leave a comment (on the YouTube page) for him to read later. It's cute how excited he gets about this stuff!

It's been a fun day in our house. The rest of our 2017-2018 curriculum arrived! I don't know about you, but I'm one of those nerds that gets excited about Back To school deals and getting all the new fun supplies. The day our curriculum arrives is just as exciting, ha!

Are any of your kids hooked on YouTube??? Better yet, do they have their own channel???

My boys are both hooked. In fact, I think that's how Caleb has learned all his colors -- I don't know if I should be proud or embarrassed, ha. Among all the fun stuff the kids can find, they both love the kids that have their own channels. They could watch eggs being unwrapped, toy reviews, and kids playing superheroes and making hot wheels tracks all day long! Lately, Sam has been asking if he could start making his own videos -- he wants to be a YouTube kid, too! Considering there's a lot to learn while doing that, I decided to go for it. After all, he can learn filmmaking -- I suppose I could add that to our curriculum list this fall, right? Ha!