Back in 2011, my daughter Lara who was about 9 years old and I created a Nativity puppet play. I would love to share our narrated play as a wonderful family activity to enjoy during the this festive season. We created rod & wire puppets, but simple hand puppets or finger puppets would work just as well. There are animals, props and backdrops patterns, templates, instructions and suggestions. The script is written in rhyming couplets so that it is easier for young children to memorize. A parent or older child who is good at reading aloud acts as narrator. You can view all our photos and de ..read more

Revisiting archives ~ Offering a FREE Sight Words sampler Teaching sight words is a very important and helpful tool to make reading easier for young students from pre-K to Grade 3. Sight words are words read from memory and often cover almost half the reading material on a page.  By memorizing sight words, a child can quickly recognise and read these words without sounding out every letter of each word, making his reading process easier. “Sight words = often also called high frequency sight words, are commonly used words that young children are encouraged to memorize as a whole by ..read more

Revisiting a tutorial from my archives ~ A wonderful hands-on activity that displays beautifully as a mobile: “Another mobile?” you may ask.  Here’s a tutorial on how we made our Solar System Mobile: While browsing a large crafts store in a big city, I purchased some polystyrene balls especially packaged to form a solar system mobile. When we started our Exploring Creation with Astronomy by Jeannie K. Fulbright, we launched (yes, pun intended!) into our theme by creating the solar system mobile. We referred to printouts of the planets to correctly select the appropriate-sized balls ..read more

A post from my archives ~ To form meaningful connections with your children, it helps to focus especially on the two ‘book ends’ of your day – the waking moments and the bedtime moments. In this post I share some ideas and tips I found useful in seasons of our homeschooling lives. Bedtimes are a good time to build relationships, deepen our understanding of each other and to even cover some of the reading in our homeschool schedule.  Here’s some of our bedtime activities ~ Read alouds at bedtime – Often this was with just one child, but in the seasons where my daughters shared a room, th ..read more

Revisiting a post from the archives ~ I started Practical Pages with the aim of  encouraging moms,  and although I love to share what works here on Practical Pages, I admit that I often showcase the best sharable moments. Of course, I am not supermom and things are often less than perfect! In another Getting Real post I will widen my exposure lens and share some of the real nitty-gritty realities of our homeschooling lives ~ Tantrums First, let’s look at a definition ~ tantrum  ~ˈtantrəm/ noun an uncontrolled outburst of anger and frustration, typically in ..read more

Revisiting an earlier post ~ Looking back at my innocent young children in these pictures, I can see how fast time flies. My daughters are all grown up, married, with darling little babies and children! Nowadays, families are stressed, often rushing from activity to activity, with over-full schedules and lots of pressure.  Parents are anxious to keep their children entertained and hate their children to “be bored”.  May I encourage you to make free play a priority?  Charlotte Mason said,  “Children should be free in their play.  Boys and girls must have time to inven ..read more

“What Works!” post from the archives~  After tutoring my daughters through from kindergartner through high school maths, all the way to graduation, I know that maths matters … but it also can bring tears and the mutters! Here’s 12 maths principles that I’ve seen work ~ Maths needs daily exercise – much like having to walk the dog!  My kids do 2 pages of maths exercises every day except for Fridays. We mix it with maths drills, times tables practice or word problems. Use manipulatives. Maths comprises of abstract concepts. Young children especially need to ..read more

A reset is a wonderful way of restoring rest in our lives. Our days are a rhythm of routines that form resets; waking and sleeping, eating and working. When homeschooling and raising young children, it is vital to reset throughout the day and especially, I find, the most importantly, at the end of the day. Make it a habit to clean up and pack away at the end of each day. Involve everyone, even toddlers, as they pack away the toys, books and papers, clear tables and surfaces, tidy up and move furniture back into place. My young kids loved to sing Barney’s clean up song, “Clean up, clean up, ev ..read more

Hi there! It’s been a while since I have posted here. My blog began in 2009, and many of you have followed my homeschooling journey as I taught my three daughters from kindergarten to graduation. But I am currently no longer teaching nor working on developing educational materials. This year I began a new career as a freelance artist on Fiverr. As an avid art teacher and art journaler, I often said that I would love to do art every day, and now I am! I spend much of my time painting and illustrating Christian art for clients, and I absolutely love it! Recently I noticed that there are se ..read more

My homeschooling days are finished. All three of my children are now married and are mommies of their precious children. I had to sort through about 23 years of homeschooling boxes stacked in my garage as I wanted to bring all the books, puzzles and educational games back into my study for my grandchildren to enjoy when they come to visit. Life seems to be working in a full circle. I spent days looking through the boxes of school books, notes and projects, to sort and keep those books for my daughters who may plan to homeschool their children. After asking my children if they wanted any of th ..read more