Strengths-Based Homeschool (not just for the kids!)

I originally wanted to title this post “I thought I was doing a good job homeschooling until I joined Instagram.”

I joined Instagram last fall but didn’t really understand how to use it until a couple of months ago, when I decided it would be a good place to meet other homeschoolers and also share my blog.   Now that I’ve been using Instagram, I love it, but I have noticed a not so pleasant feeling that bubbles up within me occasionally…

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Comparison Trap

When my son was two, we found out he was delayed in many areas.  For that reason, I would sometimes find Facebook painful.

People posting all these things of what their kids were doing struck me like a dagger.  It reminded me that my kid wasn’t up to par.

Thankfully God’s brought me a long way in this and I am continually growing in seeing my child through the lens of what he CAN do rather than what he can’t.

But these days, especially on Instagram, I struggle with comparisons of a different sort.  A lot of what I see posted are ideas that I just love and can’t wait to try with my own kids.

See, I’m an opportunist, and Instagram allows me to see what hundreds of other homeschoolers are doing.   So many cool opportunities!

However,

the excited opportunist in me +

my perfectionist tendencies of wanting to find the perfect learning opportunity +

endless opportunities = PARALYSIS.

And I find myself thinking I’m not doing enough in my homeschool and that I need to do things more like so an so (such a lie – not just for homeschool moms but ALL moms).

Also, I know most of the ideas in my feed won’t be enjoyed by my creative child, who tends to enjoy doing her own thing.

This got me thinking… I need to get back to our family basics and remember how we became outside the box learners.

Working your “Mom-Strengths” so you can thrive in your homeschool

As someone who totally believes in following kids’ passions to help them bloom, I’m realizing how much MY OWN passions and interests also matter in our homeschool.

When I’m excited about something, there is at least some interest from the kids.  It’s contagious.

A few examples… I love doing crazy fun voices during read-aloud and therefore my kids generally enjoy read-aloud. Music moves me, and therefore if I sit down at the piano, my daughter will join me adding in harmonies in a higher key(that’s a real treat for me!).  I’m a nature lover so I have an innate wonder of God’s creation that rubs off on my kids.

Craft extraordinaire I AM NOT. Thank goodness for subscription boxes!  Our current box of choice is the Toucan Crate.

If I’m doing a special project or activity (that I’ve seen on Instagram or Pinterest) because I’m thinking my kids SHOULD like it, I often get pushback, and then I feel drained.

However, if I already enjoy something I don’t have to manufacture enthusiasm.  I love the idea of hands-on projects but in reality, it’s not my strength.  We still do crafty stuff just not every day. And usually, it’s if my kids request it.

Include things your kids love and what’s important to you.

If you’re enthusiastic about something there’s a strong chance that it might ignite interest in your kids.

Obviously, you still need to get the main things done (reading, writing, ‘rithmetic).

But include things you like, too…

Read a book (or two…. or ten!) that was a favorite from your own childhood.

Recognize what lights your fire and infuse some of that into your homeschool.


 

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Gardenschooling & the Joy of Learning Together

A Bunch of Brown Thumbs

I have always loved the idea of gardening, and while I certainly enjoy being outside, I am no green thumb!

Can you relate?!

My daughter has been asking for months now to learn more about gardening, so I figured we could all get our hands dirty, and learn together!

gardenschooling

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A couple of things happen as we learn together:

  1. I am modeling that you never stop learning.   This is HUGE.
  2.  We share a unique bonding experience since we’re all in it together.  We are sharing in not only what we are doing, but also what we are learning.

Also, I must point out, this year definitely marks a shift in my perspective of homeschooling, moving from a school at home approach to homeschooling.  They are not the same.

In previous years, I would have viewed something like gardening as extra after the REAL schoolwork was done.

And being a lower capacity person, I was never able to squeeze it in.

Between negotiating with my creative child, and life in general, my energy was usually spent.

gardenschooling

This spring, one of my main goals is to learn how to garden with the kids.  It isn’t an EXTRA thing.  It is one of the main dishes!  🙂

Preparation

We didn’t, nor will we do an extensive unit study on gardening (you know the lapbooks, worksheets, extra activities,etc.)

I have done those things in the past, but find the energy I spend preparing for them is generally not matched by enthusiasm from my kids.

That makes the teacher in me sad at times but is part of the story of how we became outside the box learners.

You gotta do what works.  And frankly, the planting IS the extra activity!

So to prepare us for planting, I gathered some books on gardening for the kids.  That got the “brain juices” flowing…

gardenschooling

Here are the books we explored together:

101 Kid-Friendly Plants

 

 

 

 

Container Gardening for Kids

Roots Shoots Buckets & Boots (this is a great one to OWN!)

Start small

Part of what has kept me from gardening is a false idea that I needed to have our garden all planned out.

Like anything, sometimes you need to just start somewhere.  This is something I have to tell my perfectionist self ALL. THE. TIME.

So, though still in the process of planning out our veggie garden, when the bug hit us this past Monday (while out running errands in the gorgeous weather!)  we decided to stop at the store and just get a few plants that the kids had read about and were excited to plant.

Their plants of choice were Pansies and Marigolds.

gardenschooling

 

 

 

 

Starting small can apply to anything your kids want to try (building something, sewing, computer coding, baking, cooking, etc).  You don’t need to go all out. 

Keep it simple.  Start with watching a video or getting a book on whatever they’re interested in.

A Rich Learning Experience

Although we only spent about an hour doing the planting, the conversations that happened during that time were so rich.

We discussed the parable of the sowers.

We hypothesized what would happen if there were strong winds.

Would they ruin the flowers since they’re still so small and newly planted?

That led us to talk about the importance of being rooted in our faith and God’s Word.

It was truly a beautiful time.

And they were so happy to be planting and so proud of themselves.  Their excitement towards gardening only grew from this relatively small experience.

In fact, when we went back into the house they were reading more from their gardening books and they had a richer context for what they were reading.

Their brains are now more engaged and primed for learning about flowers, plants, and gardening.

gardenschooling

And as we move towards starting our vegetable garden, we ALL have more confidence and excitement!

Sometimes, when you’re treading into waters (or soil… ha!) completely foreign to you, you just need to do something and take a small first step.

What have you been learning alongside your kids?

 

 

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Great Homeschool Convention – 5 Takeaways

It’s been a week since we were at the Great Homeschool Convention in St. Louis, MO, and I have been thinking about and implementing a lot of what we learned or re-learned.  And most of it’s not even related to homeschooling!

If you missed it, here is my post about preparing for a Great Homeschool Convention.

This blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through these links will result in a small commission for me (at no cost to you!) 

Packing

Okay – a few notes on packing…

We should’ve brought even more food than we did.  We spent more on dining out than planned.  Next time I’m keeping it simple with PBJs for lunches.

Having a backpack was essential!  There were lots of handouts, papers, not to mention the items we bought in the exhibit hall.  Some people even had rolling crates.  I think I even saw a toddler napping in a wagon!  Genius!

Concerts

We enjoyed both concerts – Andrew Peterson and Slugs and Bugs.  The kids were ecstatic to get a picture with and signed tickets from Randall Goodgame.  We laminated them to use as bookmarks!  🙂  

Great Homeschool Convention Slugs and Bugs
Kids with Randall Goodgame of Slugs and Bugs and his daughter

Speakers

Dr. Kathy Koch

We were blessed to hear Dr. Kathy speak twice.  I would have loved to have attended more of her sessions but there were so many sessions we wanted to hear, it just didn’t work out.  But I did get a lot of great takeaways from those two sessions.

Great Homeschool Conventions Kathy Koch
Meeting Dr. Kathy in the exhibit hall

#1 Takeaway – Talk about the behavior you WANT to see.  

For example, instead of “You’re so rude”, use “I look forward to the day you can talk kindly.”.

When you focus on what behavior you’re looking for, it gives hope and tools for change.

#2 Takeaway – Use Consistent comebacks

Consistent comebacks have helped me immensely.  It’s very empowering to have tools in your toolbox that are easy to implement and that WORK!  These comebacks have aided me in not getting entangled in otherwise fruitless (and draining) conversations this week.

Here are a few examples.  There are many more in Dr. Kathy’s new book Start With the Heart.

Kid says:

“I can’t do this.”

Consistent Comebacks:

“What can you do?”, “How can I help?”, “What don’t you understand?”, “You can when you try.”

Also…

Kid says:

“I don’t want to.”  We get this one a lot.

Consistent comeback:

(repeat request), “Because……?”, “Not negotiable.”, “Already answered.”

Colleen Kessler

I attended all three of Colleen’s talks.  Her talk on executive functioning was very enlightening.  And her talk on perfectionism/anxiety was extremely helpful.  Her talk on rabbit trails had lots of practical tips.  Here are my main takeaways.

#3 Takeaway – Importance of Fostering Resiliency In Our Kids

Both Dr. Kathy and Colleen spoke on this.  And both also recommended the book: Mistakes That Worked – a great little book full of stories of inventions that were created by mistake, including chocolate chip cookies, potato chips, and many more!  Some ways we can foster resiliency in our kids are to let them see us make mistakes or talk about our own struggles.

Remind them the process is more important than the product. 

From Colleen’s talk on perfectionism:

Takeaway #4: VALIDATE VALIDATE VALIDATE

I think I do a pretty good job with this, but it was just a good reminder…  If you have a child who struggles with emotional regulation, or anxiety, or really just any kid (or person!) who’s dealing with big emotions, it’s so important to validate their emotions.  To us, it may seem silly or not a big deal that they’re so upset, but to THEM it’s a big deal.

Also, remind them their emotions are valid but their behaviors are a choice.

Sarah Mackenzie

I only went to one of Sarah’s talks, but it was packed full of great homeschooling advice.  But one thing she said really stuck with me…

Takeaway #5: The baby is the lesson.

Sarah could definitely speak to this as she had twin newborns and a 1-year-old (as well as three older kids) at one point.  Now we don’t have babies here anymore, but I do have a busy and strong willed 4-year-old.  And often it seems so hard to get things done because of that, which can be discouraging.  Her talk was a good reminder that a lot of what our kids will learn has more to do with life and relationships than academics.

GHC Convention
Kids with Sarah Mackenzie
img_6453
I got to meet her briefly before her session. 🙂

The Loot

We bought more than we planned.  But they were a bunch of resources we were excited about!

The Picture Smart Bible really caught our eye.  It’s more hands-on and also pretty in-depth.  As we get started on it, I’ll make sure to update on how it’s going.Picture Smart Bible

Two books by Colleen Kessler: Electricity and Magnetism and Raising Creative Kids. Colleen actually suggested cutting the binding off “Raising Creative Kids” and then laminating them as activity cards, so I’m going to do that!   Our science kiddo specifically picked out the Electricity and Magnetism book and the ideas in Raising Creative Kids looked right up my kiddos’ alley.  We’re excited to dive into both!

Like I mentioned, Mistakes That Worked, was recommended by two speakers!  The kids are loving it!Mistakes That Worked

Exploring Dinosaurs with Mr. Hibb was sold by Creation Ministries International and is designed for middle school.  It appealed to our oldest, so we purchased it.Exploring Dinosaurs with Mr. HibbAnother vendor we spoke to, but did not purchase from, was The Color-Coded Chef.  She had a great product for getting your kids cooking, especially kids who need step-by-step instructions.  She created it for her son with special needs, so he would be able to cook independently as an adult.  For those who need a product like this, it is fabulous!

Giant Cow

Our kids loved the Giant Cow program.  It was affordable and fun!  They also took lots of safety precautions which is reassuring for parents!

Have you been to a GHC?  Any tips here to add?  Please comment below!

 

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Preparing for a Great Homeschool Convention

Hey hey hey…. did I happen to mention, we’re heading down to the Great Homeschool convention?

We’ve been to two homeschool conventions in the past.  When I calculated it, I realized our last homeschool convention was 5 years ago.   So we are pretty excited about going, especially since we’ve never done a Great Homeschool Convention.

Since we now live in WI, we do have to travel a bit further to get to a convention.  This year we will be heading to the Great Homeschool Convention in St. Charles, MO.   This is the first time we will be taking kids with us (just our older two, the youngest gets a weekend at “Gramma Camp”).

Why go to a convention?

You don’t NEED to go to a homeschool convention, but they definitely are an oasis for the weary homeschool mom.  A time to re-charge, re-focus and get your hands on tons of different homeschool curriculum.

While I appreciate the internet and all it has to offer with connecting with other homeschoolers and checking out curriculum online,   it pales in comparison to “in the flesh”.

This blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through these links will result in a small commission for me (at no cost to you!) 

Packing List

As with any trip, going to a homeschool convention requires some preparation.

Here are some of the staples we are bringing:

Audiobooks for car – I’ve been stocking up on a bunch, but we’ll probably start with On the Banks of Plum Creek ( the Little House Audiobooks are just amazing!)  If you’re curious where we find audiobooks without breaking the bank, check out this post.

Money – One of the coolest things about homeschool conventions is the exhibit hall where you get to check out all sorts of homeschool resources and curriculum, and often there are discounts.  At our last homeschool convention, we discovered one of our favorite devotional books – Long Story Short.

Comfy shoes – For all the walking around from “to and fro”.

Water bottle – Save $$ and bring your own!

Backpack – Leave the purse behind!  Put it all in your backpack!

Journal & Colored Pens – I have to take notes in order to remember things I’ve learned.  And I love using these journal planner colored pens to do so!

Cooler and snacks – The hotel provides breakfast and an evening “reception” each day, but we have to provide our own food beyond that.   We stocked up on cold cuts, cheese, and lots of snacky stuff from Aldi.   Our family likes to eat, so we want to be prepared!  🙂

Who I’m Excited to Meet and Hear

Colleen Kessler -I’m probably most excited to hear (and meet!) Colleen Kessler from Raising Lifelong Learners speak.  She is an expert on differently-wired kids and her podcast has given me great encouragement.  I’ve also been doing her “Crash Course for Homeschooling THAT Kid” which has been very helpful.

Kathy Koch – I first heard Dr. Kathy speak in South Korea in 2003.  The next time I heard her was at a Hearts at Home conference in 2015.  She is one of the most encouraging and motivating speakers I’ve heard.  With a combined passion for children and a degree in educational pyschology, she is a (positive) FORCE to be reckoned with.  As many of you know, I was also on her recent Book Launch team for Start With the Heart, which is an invaluable resource about motivating your kids, with loads of practical tips for parents.

How to Prepare for Homeschool Convention

Sarah Mackenzie – I’m not sure we’ll make it to one of Sarah’s sessions, though my son specifically asked if we will meet her (I told him it’s likely!) 🙂   Her website – Read Aloud Revival,  is an extremely helpful resource for finding great read aloud selections.  I hope to at least visit her booth in the exhibit hall.

Concerts

We’ll be going to two concerts while we’re there.

Andrew Peterson – Andrew Peterson has grown to be one of our favorites.  We have his Behold the Lamb of God Christmas album and have been listening to his Resurrection Letters, Vol. 1 album too.   This past fall, we devoured his first novel On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness and LOVED it.  Yeah – he’s a writer AND a musician, a true creative soul.  We’re all pretty stoked to see him in concert.

Slugs and Bugs – We have listened to Slugs and Bugs since the kids were itty bitty, so they do not remember a time without Slugs and Bugs in their lives.  This concert is sure to be a treat. We love the way Slugs and Bugs fuses the silly and the serious in a sweet, sweet way.  The kids are really hoping to hear some songs from the Under Where? album.  We also love his Sing the Bible albums, where he puts scripture to music.

Other Highlights

I mentioned the exhibit/vendor hall which is a big draw to any homeschool convention.  With modern technology and the internet, you can research a lot of curriculum online, but seeing it and getting your hands on it is SO much better!

Last but certainly not least, the kids will be going to day camp type event Giant Cow while we attend the sessions, which they are pretty pumped about!

You can find my 5 Takeaways from the Great Homeschool Convention here. 

C

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Compromising With Your Creative Child to Create Calm in Your Homeschool

I recently read the book, Homeschooling Gifted and Advanced Learners by Cindy West.    Lots of great stuff in there.  Perhaps my biggest takeaway was her advice regarding creative children.  She advised to include your creative child when making plans.  Let them play a part in the planning process

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Lists, Schedules, and Plans… Oh my!

Some kids love being given a list or a schedule, and will diligently AND happily go along with your plans.  Some will not.  Especially, if they are creative.  This has been a dilemma for us since the beginning of our homeschool. When you have an outside the box kid, you may need to approach things differently.

I’ll be honest, I read Cindy’s book a few months ago and haven’t implemented the “include your creative kid when creating plans” idea yet.

However this past week, I was creating a “to do” list for myself.  Actually, in an effort to tame the technological beast, I was just moving said list from my phone to a pen and paper checklist I could tape to the fridge and not have to rely on my phone as much.  (Because, inevitably when I go to check my list, I end up distracted and forgetting why I got on my phone in the first place!) 

I digress.  As I was making my list, I thought for the kids’ writing assignment that day, they could make their own lists and design them to their liking.   They obliged and enjoyed it! 

For my creative child, there were pictures and colors.  And laminating.

There was also pushback after this list was done and taped to the fridge.

Creative Compromise or Big Mistake

For the first few days of using the list (which BTW were the same core tasks that already had to be completed every day – but at MY prompting), there was unhappiness and even some anxiety.  I wondered if I had made a mistake.   I mean the list was pretty long.  Maybe we bit off more than we could chew.

But on day 3, low and behold I heard the words, “I like the list.”

GASP!

SUCCESS!

And can I just say it’s been amazing not to need to nag?  It’s been delightful actually.

The novelty may eventually wear off, and that’s ok.  The point is to remember to bring my creative child into the planning process.  And also to remember that sometimes the kids who hate structure the most, still want/need it.  Their structure may just look different than we think it should.

How do you work with your creative child to create more calm?

 

Photo by Skitterphoto from Pexels

 

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3 Easy Ways to Cultivate Compassion In Our Kids

How do you make a child more compassionate?

I think compassion comes much easier for some people than others.  For many, it is an innate quality. For instance, I’m naturally compassionate toward the elderly.  I just have a soft spot for them, and always have. I also am a highly sensitive person in general and can’t even watch the news without getting upset.  (I was pretty much a soggy faced mess throughout each of my pregnancies!)

However, until I had a child with developmental delays, another child with anxiety, and another kid who has a will of IRON,  I did not have empathy towards moms in similar situations.   It wasn’t that I didn’t care, it just wasn’t even ON my radar.

But now, you better believe that I feel for that mom who is exhausted from having to cart her kid around to therapy, or for the mom whose child’s anxiety manifests as anger (and always in public), or for the mom at the grocery store whose toddler is having an EPIC meltdown.  I have grown in my empathy for these moms due to MY OWN life experiences.  It has been cultivated in me.

Our kids are young and have limited life experiences.  Some will naturally be a little more compassionate, and some don’t seem to have an ounce of compassion about them.  But there ARE things we can do to cultivate this important quality of compassion in our kids.

Like soil that needs to be tilled for planting, we can provide experiences to till our child’s ability to grow in compassion.

This blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through these links will result in a small commission for me (at no cost to you!) 

STORIES

Books have a way of transporting us to other places and also give us windows into the lives of people whose life circumstances are different than our own.  Reading aloud together creates great opportunities for discussion about what life may be like for others different than ourselves, in an unforced, organic way.

Two of our most recent read-aloud books are great examples of this.  We listened to the Audiobook Crenshaw which was about a 5th grade boy whose family was under great financial hardship and was even homeless for a time.  And our most recent read-aloud – In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson, we were introduced to Shirley Temple Wong, a Chinese Immigrant girl who is new to the country and learning a new language and culture.

Since my kids have never been homeless or the new kid in another country, this allowed them to have a small taste of what this might be like.   Both of these books led to great conversations and helped us see things from a unique perspective.

I believe books are a powerful tool to cultivate compassion in our kids.

 

SERVING OPPORTUNITIES

Last week, we had two opportunities to serve others.   We played BINGO at a local Nursing Home and also served some homeless families dinner at our church one night.  I believe serving others is probably the best antidote to selfishness, and another great tool for cultivating compassion.

This one may not be as “easy” to implement depending on the age or temperaments of your kids.  So, if the thought of getting your family out of the house to serve right now seems like an altogether insurmountable task (I get it, I’ve been there!), here are a few other ideas:

  • Write letters to family members that live alone or can’t leave their dwelling.
  • Send letters/care packages to people serving in the military.
  • Make a meal for someone going through a tough time.

Those are just a few ideas, obviously.   Opportunities abound!

CREATE A CULTURE OF COMPASSION IN Your Home

I think the way we view others and talk about them is probably one of the biggest ways to teach our kids compassion.  After all, “more is caught than taught.”

How do we talk about others?  Are we quick to judge, or do we point out that there might be more going on under the surface?

I see this quote occasionally pop on Facebook and I LOVE it:

“Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.”

Acknowledge that we don’t always know what’s going on in people’s lives, and kindness and compassion are always important.

“Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience”  Colossians 3:12

Finally, we can and should remind our kids DAILY of God’s grace to us and His work in us, and extend that same grace to others as well.

 

Would love to hear from you!  What do you with your children to cultivate compassion?  

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Chapter Books for Advanced Young Readers

What do you do when you have a younger child who is a voracious reader?  When they still can’t tie their shoes yet can read a novel a few years above their grade level.   When they’re capable of reading and understand bigger words but still need a relatively innocent storyline.

I can tell you what I did.  I went SEARCHING for books that would be appropriate for their maturity level but still challenging enough to keep them interested.  Which by the way, is not the easiest task.

My daughter taught herself to read at the age of 5 and sped through books.  It became apparent that she needed more than basic picture books (though she still liked them!)  My son was a little bit later (started reading around age 7) but went straight from hardly sounding out words like c-a-t and d-o-g to reading chapter books.

This post is all about the books my kids read (and LOVED) in their early years of independent reading.  There were plenty of other books that I did not include here.  These were the ones that were read over and over and OVER again – our time-tested, and well-loved favorites!

This post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me (at no extra cost to you).

The Littles by John Peterson

Chapter Books for Advanced Young Readers

New to me, these were our daughter’s favorite first chapter books and were read countless times by her independently.  Telling the story of tiny 6-inch people living within the walls of a family’s (The Bigg’s) house, “The Littles” are delightful and fast-moving chapter books full of adventure.  The books are relatively short.  This picture does not include all the books.

The Ramona Books by Beverly Cleary

Chapter Books for Advanced Young Readers

Ahhh Beverly Cleary.   The name alone brings a smile to my face. Takes me back 30 years… The Ramona books were some of MY favorites when I was a kid.   Really anything Beverly Cleary is good.   Other books not listed here that would be perfect for young advanced readers are The Mouse and the Motorcycle and Socks.  (Ramona Forever is missing from this picture)

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald

Chapter Books for Advanced Young Readers

I recently discovered Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is part of a whole series!  Oh how I wish I had known that when my daughter was younger!  Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is an entertaining character who uses imaginative techniques to engage children and help them correct their attitudes and deal with responsibility.

When our oldest was 6 she came bursting into the room telling us her brother was being impudent.  When asked what the word meant (which she knew) and how she knew, she replied simply, “I learned it from Mrs. Piggle-wiggle.”  Fun times.  🙂

**Make sure to get the ORIGINAL Mrs. Piggle-Wiggles (linked above)

Charlotte’s Web, Stuart Little and The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White

Chapter Books for Advanced Young Readers

My son gravitated towards these novels.  Obviously, Charlotte’s Web is a beloved classic.  Stuart Little and The Trumpet of the Swan are lesser known but still well-loved.  All of these novels have lots of heart.   (Stuart Little not pictured… I couldn’t find it when I was taking the pictures.  We have books all over the house and they’re not as organized as I’d like!)

Magic School Bus Books

Chapter Books for Advanced Young Readers

These Magic School Bus books were pored over by our science-loving daughter for a couple of years.  What I love about them is the pictures combined with bite-sized, yet highly informative, pieces of text.  The characters all have unique personalities which definitely creates more interest than your typical non-fiction book.  These were a great investment!

These are our tried and true chapter books for young independent readers.  I’m looking forward to pulling these out for my youngest eventually.  He’s not quite there yet but I am prepared for when he gets there!

What are your favorite books for advanced young readers?  Are they on this list or not?


                                                                           

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Video: 4 Places We Find Audiobooks

Read Aloud Revival post on how to use audible without a subscription!

This blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through these links will result in a small commission for me (at no cost to you!) 

Further Helpful Information

Library Apps

The library apps I mentioned in the video are Hoopla and Libby (by Overdrive).  Some libraries use both.  Our library only uses Libby.

Audible Free Trial:
  • 2 Free books (you keep them even if you cancel after the 30 days is up!)
  • After 30 days, you get 1 audiobook a month for $14.95/month
  • Receive 30% off the price of additional audiobook purchases
  • Cancel at any time. A member’s books are theirs to keep, even if they cancel

Check out audible here. (affiliate link)

**Audible books can only be purchased using Chrome or Safari, so not from the audible or Amazon app on your phone.  They are on your phone immediately after purchasing.

Simple Homeschool always has a list of audiobook deals.  Find the list here.

Librivox

Librivox has an app AND a website.

A few thoughts on Scribd

I have never used Scribd, but I did a little bit of research on it, and it also looks like a great choice for audiobooks.  It is cheaper than Audible and has many choices.  It doesn’t have as huge of a selection as audible (for instance 2 of the last 3 audiobooks we purchased on Audible were not available on Scribd.)

I found this article to be a pretty comprehensive comparison of Audible and Scribd.

Happy Reading!  May your ears be filled with the wondrous sounds of great books!  🙂

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Creating Custom Cards with Basic Invite (Sponsored Post)

I recently was asked to do a sponsored post for the company Basic Invite.

Writing sponsored posts is new territory for me.  Initially, I thought Basic Invite didn’t align with my mission here at “Outside the Box Learners” since I have an “education” blog and Basic Invite is a stationery company.

However, I perused the website and discovered that you can make your own cards from scratch (something my daughter has been wanting to do anyway), so I thought, sure why not?!

My daughter is an outside the box, creative kid and a huge part of the reason I started this blog, so I was excited to give her this opportunity.   She was delighted to be able to design cards that she would then get to actually use!  It was a pretty thrilling experience for her. 🙂

Creating Custom Designed Cards

Little Miss used Procreate (drawing app on the iPad- yes I know, a strange name, but a fabulous app) to make 5 designs that we uploaded to Basic Invite to create her own custom cards.

Some were notecard style (zero fold) while the others had a single fold.  They all had different finishes because I wanted to see what they looked and felt like.

The velvet finish was ah-maz-ing.  There was a slight upcharge so I would probably only choose that if I was ordering cards for something really special!

Here are the designs she came up with:

Easy and Pleasant Website Navigation

Confession:  I typically am the kind of person who gets my custom cards at Wal-Mart.

However, I would strongly consider using Basic Invite for custom Christmas Card or Birthday Invites in the future just because it was that pleasant an experience and I found their website to be aesthetically pleasing.

And although it would be slightly more moolah than Walmart or Shutterfly (the other place I typically get my cards), the price point was not unreasonable, especially considering the customization capabilities. They also deliver a quality product.

Customization Capabilities with Basic Invite

The extensive customization capabilities are what sets Basic Invite apart from other online stationery companies.

Besides being able to choose between different shapes and finishes on the cards, they have over 180 different colors to choose from, which pretty much covers any color you could think of.

And you can customize down to the tiniest of detail.  I had a lot of fun playing with this.  They also have 40 different colored envelopes to pick from.

Custom Invitations

Because I was writing this post, I wanted to experiment with other elements of their site so I could give more info to you.  Therefore, I created a birthday invitation from their designs.

This was easy and fun!  I picked out the style I liked and then I was able to click on all the different parts of the card and customize it with the exact colors I liked.

Personally, I’m a fan of bright colors for birthday invites so this is what I came up with!  You’ll also notice the polka dots on the back side which is also completely customizable by color and design (other options are collage, text, a single photo, etc.)

I opted for the shimmery red envelope here too (again, slight upcharge.)

Baby Shower Invitations

Baby shower invites are what they are currently featuring on their site, specifically baby boy shower invitations, monkey baby shower invitations, and baseball baby shower invitations. 

I’m not currently throwing any showers, but I imagined I was, and picked out one design and then customized it two different ways in order to show some of the customization capabilities

Like I said, the extensive customization is what sets Basic Invite apart from other stationery companies.

baby shower invitations

baby shower invitations

Other Features of Basic Invite

Besides the 40 different colors of envelopes to choose from, the envelopes are peel and seal.  They sealed up easily and also nice and tight.

Basic Invite has an address capturing service.  I can’t speak to its ease of use since I didn’t use it.  But it allows customers to share a link on various social media locations (facebook, Instagram, etc.) to request their family/friend’s address which is then stored on their Basic Invite account.

They also include recipient address printing at no additional cost for Christmas card orders.

While creating and ordering the cards, I noticed a chat window pop up if you needed help.  I did not need help, but it was nice to know it was there if I got stuck.

There was a printing mistake on one of the cards, and customer service was great to deal with.  Had to send a quick email and they got back to me within 30 mintues.  And I had my new card in 3 days. 🙂

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All in all, I think Basic Invite is perfect for people who want to be able to customize their cards to be exactly how they want them, down to the tiniest detail.  That is really their defining feature.

**Right now Basic Invite is offering 15% off with coupon code: 15FF51

 

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How Letting Our Kid Dive Into His Passion Helped Him Bloom

Inspired by a 60 Minutes Episode

Many years ago, in 2012, I was watching an episode of 60 minutes about a mom whose son had been diagnosed with moderate to severe autism and was therefore put in many therapies.  Seeing him make little to no progress, she opted to pull him from his therapies and instead focus on his strengths and interests in hopes to draw him out of the world in his head.  Her goal was to mainstream him by kindergarten, which she was able to do.

Through allowing him to pursue his interests it became apparent that this kid had an intricate brain and many of the behaviors they were trying to fix in his therapies were symptoms of his brain working in such complex ways. 

**CAVEAT: Now I realize it’s not generally wise to drop all of your kid’s therapies (though in his case it was) and also that his story is a small percentage of autistic kids (I mean hello, he is a savant with an IQ higher than Einstein’s) but I do think it holds true that when you focus on what someone is good at, rather than only trying to strengthen what is weak, they will blossom! 

This 60 Minutes episode would have a deep influence on me, though right then it was just an inspirational story.  (I recently had the chance to read the book about this incredibly moving story called THE SPARK by Kristine Barnett, which I recommend for ANY parent!) 

This blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me (at no extra cost to you).
Our Story

At the time of watching this episode, I had two beautiful kids ages 1 & 3. Our 1-year-old son was not yet talking but we were waiting for a language explosion just as we had seen in our then 3-year-old.  Delayed talking runs in the family.  I personally didn’t talk until after age 2, and my daughter learned to both walk and talk at 18 months.  We told ourselves, he’s a boy, a 2nd born, it will come soon enough…

Well, when our son neared closer to his 2nd birthday we decided to move forward with an evaluation done by the Birth to 3 program.  We soon found out he was 50% delayed in speech along with a slew of other delays.   Speech therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Developmental Therapy were all recommended.

Early Childhood Program

We proceeded with a year of all the therapies, which thankfully were mostly done in our home.  And at age 3 he qualified for and started school at the Early Childhood program in our district.  Since therapy is automatically included in the program, we thought it would be the best option, instead of doing private therapy and working through insurance.

He still was not talking at this point, so we really had no idea what he thought about school, though he seemed happy to go.  He went for one year.  I was less than thrilled with the Early Childhood experience because 1) I had PLANNED on homeschooling and this felt like the loss of a dream to me and 2) It didn’t seem to help him with the areas he really needed help in (mainly expressive speech.)  He did have a wonderful OT while at school, but he only worked with her for 15 minutes 2x/week, and that was within a group.  It wasn’t anything like the 1:1 attention he had before for 1 hour each week.

However, I was pregnant with my youngest at the time and it was my first year of homeschooling my oldest, so I welcomed the break I received by having him in school each day for a few hours.  I was very tired due to pregnancy and now what I know was undiagnosed thyroid issues.  I look back and see that year of Early Childhood as God’s provision during that time.

Brain Balance and Beyond

Shortly after his 4th birthday, we pulled him out of school and put him in a program called Brain Balance.  Brain Balance is pretty intense and to do that AND school just seemed like too much.

When Brain Balance was over we made the somewhat scary decision to keep him home and put him in private speech and occupational therapy. I say scary because this meant the responsibility of his education rest completely on my shoulders.

While it was certainly “easy” to send him to school, and I felt less of a load because I could say “Hey, he’s in school, getting the services he needs”, the reality is it (school) hadn’t done much to help him and I knew in my gut we could accomplish more at home.  I also had that 60 Minutes episode in the back of my mind which influenced my decision.  And while I was unsure of that decision at the time,  I’m so glad I took the leap of faith to home educate him.

**Another caveat here: Early Childhood can be hugely beneficial for some kids, but it just wasn’t for mine. Every kid is different!  

Passion for Weather

It was around this time, at almost 5 years old, that it became obvious that this little dude was a little bit crazily preoccupied with the weather.   He would talk about it all the time which his therapists referred to as “perseverating”.  This immediately took me back 10 years to my very first year as a classroom teacher when I had differently wired 2E (Twice Exceptional) kid who was OBSESSED with roller coasters.  This was another way God was preparing me for my own kids. 😊

It bothered me that my kid perseverated about the weather.  I thought it necessary to help him NOT be fixated on the weather. So for a short-lived time, I would always re-direct him when he got going about the weather.  However, again, because of that 60 Minutes episode, I had this nagging prompting that this was a passion of his and it was ok and good, and even necessary to let him DIVE DEEPER into this.

So soon we would start buying weather books (that we would read to him) and instead of trying to redirect him to another topic, we allowed him to dive deep into his interest of weather.

And now?  This kid’s almost 9 and this obsession with weather is NOT. GOING. ANYWHERE.  He’s graduated from kid weather books to adult weather books and is an avid reader of fiction, non-fiction… you name it!

I attribute a lot of that to not spending so much time focusing on his weaknesses and rather, letting him lean into his strengths and watching him “grow” from there.

 

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