"They're here! They're here!"

Mud-coated feet ran down the steps to our house, little hands cupping over-flowing bouquets of blossoms.

Daffodils, violets, dandelions. First gifts of Spring. 

As the seasons change, one of our family traditions is to read about the fairies of the season- who work so hard to help things grow. 

(They had to work overtime this Spring, due to unexpected snow!)

Our favorites are by Cicely Mary Barker who wrote: 

• Flower Fairies of the Spring
• Flower Fairies of the Summer
• Flower Fairies of the Autumn
• Flower Fairies of the Winter

And an assortment of others! I splurged and bought vintage copies when our oldest was a toddler. Now you can purchase The Complete Book of Flower Fairies and have them all in one place! 

To celebrate our blossoms, we looked through our books for inspiration and created some fairies for magical play. 

Related: 25 Nature Books You Need to Read to Your Active Kid

Magical Clothespin Fairy Dolls

When the Spring solstice arrived weeks ago, it snowed. 

Our kids pressed hands against the window & voiced concern,

"But it's Spring! It's supposed to be Spring! And what about the flowers?"

Daffodils & paperwhites had just emerged from the ground, only to be covered with a blanket of white. 

Little hands wanted to pick them all "before the snow harmed them"! But they trusted us as we explained that spring flowers are designed for spring- for frosts & thaws that happen over and over (and over) again. 

The flowers are fine and our kids have learned a little more about Nature's design. 

The Marvelous Egg

It's amazing that a daffodil can start in a bulb, and that life can start in an egg. 

And it's amazing how many different kinds of eggs there are! 

A wonderful book about eggs for kids is An Eqq is Quiet by Dianna Aston & Sylvia Long. 




With pictures that jump off the page, it's a gorgeous introduction to the world of eggs. And not just birds' eggs- there are frog eggs, iguana eggs, butterfly eggs and lots of other creatures too. 

Our 3rd grader loves it as much as our preschooler!

Related: 25 Nature Books You Need to Read to Your Active Kid

Free Egg Nature Bingo

It began with a yell up the basement stairs. 

"Come now! You have to see this!"

I glanced at the untouched cup of coffee on the counter, then moved towards his voice. Arriving at the bottom of the stairs, I was thankful that the kids were still in bed. 

The basement floor was slowly covering in stinky water, with half-drawn masterpieces and uncapped markers floating on top. 

It was the middle of the week anyways, and now this. 

Since my husband was leaving (in minutes) for a mandatory conference, I saw my productive morning sailing away & capsizing into a sea of plumbers and insurance phone-calls. 

Then I sighed, And what about homeschool?

Talk about parenting difficulties: We just lost our basement homeschool space, two kids & a toddler were ready to wake up for the day, and the house was filling with sewer gas. 

Why is Parenting Hard?

Your child will follow your example, not your advice. -Unknown

The time before our oldest started writing is hard to recall. For years, our house has brimmed with notes: requests, dinner suggestions, advice on raising her siblings. 

Since she's a voracious reader- who's read & reread Harry Potter since she was seven- words are not a problem for her. 

But always having the right words?
Or having them always do what she wants? 

That's a problem for every writer. 

Unlocking creativity and guiding her writing in a positive direction- emphasizing strengths and building on weaknesses- was something her editors (us) could use guidance for, too. 

The Necessity of Good Writing

Open and Go Writing Skills With WriteShop

Disclosure: I received WriteShop Junior in exchange for a review, but all thoughts and opinions are my own. I only share resources we would use as a family and believe other families would also enjoy. 

Start at the level that best fits your student's thinking skills, not his grammar, spelling, or writing skills. When a child struggles in one of these areas, you want to slow down, not dumb down. A child's ability to physically write things down often lags behind his intellect and vocabulary. 

• A list of needed materials 
• Pre-writing games to explore new concepts
• Skill builders for particular writing skills
• Suggested dialogue for modeling and teaching
• Brainstorming activity
• Writing project, including pre-writing and editing
• Helpful tips from other parents & kids
• Final draft publishing ideas

Enjoying a writing game: Can you match all the pieces of the invitations?

WriteShop books are divided into two groups, Primary and Junior. This wide range of levels include an incremental approach, so previously taught skills appear again in later levels. 

• Constructing sentences
• Basics of story writing 

WriteShop Primary Book C, 7-9 year olds, includes: 

• Planning out a story
• Who, what, when, where & why? to add story details
• Summarizing short, familiar books & research information

When our daughter's decided something, it's not easy to change her mind. When mastering the crow pose in Yoga, she worked on it several times a day until finally hovering above the ground. 


So when she decided she was bad at Math, it broke our heart. 


We don't know where this came from. Whatever the cause, it's been impossible to change her mind. Whenever she couldn't understand something right away:

I'm no good at this. 
I should just stop trying. 
Nothing's going to help. 

After trying different math programs, we realized the issue didn't lie in curriculum. It was her mindset. 

But how do you change a mindset? 

Creating a Math-Loving Attitude in Kids

"Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't- you're right." Henry Ford

We're concerned about this mindset affecting her studies or her career path. There's a huge range of Math-heavy careers including: