Mail Order Mystery: Treasure Hunt! Details

Product: Treasure Hunt!
Company: Mail Order Mystery
Website: https://www.mailordermystery.com/
Recommended Age Range: 6 and up
Price Range: ~$100 for all 6 installments

Review

I was imagining this “experience” to be more about solving puzzles than it actually turned out to be. There were a few codes to decipher, but that was it in terms of puzzle-solving. Also, they all used the same solution method and the information needed to break the code was provided in the second letter. Additionally, it wasn’t actually necessary to solve the codes in order to get the treasure. Unlike escape rooms and Hunt-a-Killer boxes, solving puzzles is clearly not the point of this mystery.

The main point of these boxes is for kids to get cool stuff in the mail. There were a lot of novel items, like letters from various people, a treasure map, a newsletter, a key, and eventually an actual treasure chest which I will describe in more detail below. The newsletter in particular was full of fascinating factual information making this experience somewhat educational. However, all in all, I would say each letter provided about 20 minutes of entertainment most of which was just me reading aloud to the kids from the contents.

I chose to purchase the kit as a whole and then disperse the letters one at a time on our family vacation. This sort of took away from the “getting something in the mail” thrill, though none of my kids would have believed it was real anyway. It might have been fun to try and pretend this was real, but I don’t think my older two kids would have bought it, plus I have a weird hang-up about any sort of lying. I’m not even a parent that does Santa Claus. Needless to say, my kids all knew it was just for fun.

One thing that I wish the letter to parents would have said is that you should hide the treasure chest. I do wish I had known this, but I didn’t. I think part of me thought we would get the treasure chest with the first letter, then the point would be to solve puzzles to figure out how to open it, but that was not the case. The first letter informs you there is a treasure and sends the key. You get letters from a series of interested parties, then in the end they send you the treasure box whether or not you solved any of the ciphers. Also, one of the letters asks you to make a call. It is worth calling and hearing the answering machine, but you do not need to leave a message. No one is getting back to you.

My kids were over the moon when they were able to open the treasure chest. There was basically a collective gasp when they were able to see the treasure. I could see how this would be a particularly joyful moment for single children. However, my kids immediately broke into squabbling over who got what. In the end, this is how they divided it and everyone was satisfied:

12-year-old: All the old-looking coins, which were actually pretty neat looking and are made of metal.

10-year-old: A squid or Kraken necklace, a couple pretty shells, and the lock and key to the treasure chest.

8-year-old: The coveted metal necklace with neat symbols on one side and a skull and crossbones on the other. Everyone initially wanted this. After the agreement was made, he also asked for and received the treasure map from one of the letters, which only caused mild grumbling.

6-year-old: The treasure box with a shark tooth necklace that seemed to be made of plastic and a metal ring. He also got all the remaining shells in the treasure box.

I am too embarrassed to admit how long it took them to come to this agreement, but in the end, everyone was satisfied.

Overall, I do not think I will be buying any more of these mysteries unless they are significantly discounted. Personally, I think the escape rooms from ThinkFun and Usborne and the Hunt-a-Killer experiences offer more family fun for less money. However, if you want a mail order experience like this that is extremely kid-friendly, I don’t know of any better options. The company clearly works hard to put out quality material. It might make a great gift to ask for from indulgent grandparents.

Related Links

Best Books for Kids
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Code Your Own Games! Details

Title: Code Your Own Games!
Author/Illustrator: Max Wainewright
Publication Year: 2020
Age Group: Elementary, Middle School
Amazon Product Page (Affiliate Link)

Comments

This book has been a life-changer for my family. My oldest child wanted to learn to code for a while, but I really didn’t know how to help him. To start, I got a few Scratch books from the library. While the others were not particularly child-friendly or engaging, this one captured his interest immediately. At the time, he was even using an edition of the book for a previous version of Scratch. This is important to note as technology improves rapidly. Even this most recent edition will likely soon be out of date when Scratch updates to a version beyond 3.0.

However, I think the fact that my son was using a version that was slightly outdated was actually helpful. Rather than just mindlessly following the instructions in the book, he had to really understand what the instructions were telling him to do. That way if the website did not exactly match the images in the book, he could still figure out the next steps. I am not advocating seeking out an old version. I am just saying that if the version you can get ahold of does not match the most recent version of Scratch, don’t let that stop you!

What I love most about the games in this book is that they are short and provide immediate gratification. From the very first tutorial, within 20-30 minutes, the child has a game that they actually enjoy playing. Not only that, it will spark ideas in their minds for how they can improve the game. This leads to a lot of added-on learning, particularly if your child is willing to explore.

My younger kids saw my son having so much fun working through this book, that they have all been eager to start. To make sure they didn’t steal his thunder, I told them they had to wait until he finished the book. Now that he has finished it, my 9-year-old is currently working through the book. She has only done maybe the first 3 or 4 tutorials, but she spends several hours a week making her own little games and videos based on what she has already learned. My oldest, meanwhile, who is currently 12, made several of his own games and is now teaching himself how to program in Python, a language that is widely used in scientific communities.

I am so grateful to the author for writing this book and for the rabbit holes he has inspired my kids to follow!

Included on Lists:

1. Best Gifts for 10 Year Olds
2. Best Gifts for 11 Year Olds

Click here for more Best Gifts for Kids ideas.

Related Links

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Being extremely frugal, the Read Aloud Revival premium membership is a subscription that I choose to pay for off and on. I had my first 3 months of RAR Premium from May to July of last year so that we could participate live in the Writers on Writing (WOW) workshops (replays are available). I let it lapse over the summer since we were not doing as much structured learning. However, I signed up for another 3 months recently so we could watch a featured author event. When my subscription ends, I will likely let it lapse again until I find another pressing reason to sign up. In the meantime, I have been making the most of my membership. Read on to hear the pros and cons I have found using this subscription membership service.

First off, I should say that I am a huge fan of the Read Aloud Revival website and podcast. Sarah Mackenzie’s bubbly personality is delightful. Also, I use the RAR free booklists all the time when I’m trying to find awesome read-alouds for my family. I trust Sarah’s judgement when it comes to selecting books that will be enjoyable and meaningful. Building a family culture around books is a goal I am 100% behind. I belive that reading aloud is a fantastic way to connect with your kids.

It might just be my personality type, but my favorite part of the membership is the masterclasses. I love learning new things, especially from experts in their field. Frequently I find the masterclasses inspiring. They help me find fun ways to get my kids excited about some aspect of literature or learning. As a mother with several children of varying ages, Sarah’s general homeschooling advice is also extremely valuable.

I have currently listened to all of the master classes. My personal favorites were the ones on Shakespeare and nature journaling. I liked Kristin Roger’s nature journaling masterclass so much, I also purchased and completed her course off the Wild and Free website. At the beginning of this school year, I bought Ken Ludwig’s book, How to Teach your Children Shakespeare after watching his masterclass. We have been working through it off and on for several months. Even my four year old has parts of passages from A Midsummer Night’s Dream memorized. My kids are all proud of their accomplishments learning and understanding Shakespeare.

In addition to the master classes, my second favorite part of the RAR membership is the Writers on Writing (WOW) workshops. They are the reason we signed up in the first place. I have one aspiring writer and one reluctant writer (and a couple pre-writers as well). I think these classes benefit all of my kids. Maybe the advice does not all sink in immediately, but they are being exposed to the work and advice of actual authors and they soak it up. I love the idea that these tips are percolating somewhere in their subconscious.

Although we have never participated live, we have also watched a few author events to go along with our read-alouds. I even got to watch interviews with some of my own childhood favorites like Lois Lowry and Tomie dePaola. I really love letting my kids see that authors are real people. This was actually the main reason why we re-signed up a couple months ago.

Our family was reading the Vanderbeekers of 141st Street. I *loved* it. It has been one of my favorite recent read alouds. My younger kids were all enjoying it, but for some reason, my 10 year old son was not a fan. I think he felt the story featured too many girls. I decided to sign up so we could watch the author event on the RAR premium membership. After seeing that there was a real life person behind the book who had worked hard crafting this story, my son completely changed his tune. Not only did he then stop complaining about the book, but he asked if we could get the sequel.

There are a lot of other features of RAR premium which I personally have not taken advantage of at this time. Sarah does more informal “Circle with Sarah” chats. I listened to a couple of those and while the chatty tone is friendly and encouraging, I haven’t made the time to listen to more. There are also book club guides for reading with your kids that include extension activities and conversation starters. While I love the idea of celebrating books beyond just the read-aloud, in practice this is something we only do with friends. When we start easing up on social distancing, I may try out the book guides.

There are also forums and Mama book clubs where members can engage with each other directly. I have not participated in these, but I am sure they are a great place to find helpful information and a supportive community of like-minded moms that understand the importance of books in the lives of children.

Bottomline

If you value the goal of creating a family culture around books, you MAY want the Read Aloud Revival RAR Premium membership. You will undoubtedly want to check out free the RAR booklists and will likely find the RAR podcast helpful and inspiring. The premium membership contains extra support and information outlined below for developing a book-centered family. Personally, I like to sign up for a 3 month membership every 6 months or so to save money.

Pros

Here are some of the benefits of RAR membership.

• Master Classes – I am the nerdiest of nerds. I love learning and setting goals for myself. Not all personality types will appreciate the master classes the way I do. However, if you are eager to find out more about ways to broaden your homeschool experience, these master classes are a wonderful place to begin.
• Writers on Writing Workshops – Who better to teach our kids writing then actual published authors? Not only are they authoritative sources on their craft, but they show our kids that what we are asking them to do is not pointless. Writing can be meaningful, life-changing, and fun if approached with an open mind.
• Author Events – Along similar lines, showing our kids that authors are real people is an effective way to help them form deeper connections to books.
• Family Book Clubs – Sarah is fantastic at selecting books that your family will enjoy. She has never led me astray. You can get a lot of her recommendations for free, off her website, but if you would like additional support in turning these read-alouds into memorable experiences, the premium membership provides curated guides packed with doable and valuable suggestions.
• Mama Book Clubs – I have not participated in any of these, but if you are looking for a virtual community to discuss books with, this might be a great option.
• Forums – This is also not a feature I use, but if you have questions about books, schooling, or parenting, there is a community of moms here that are available to you.
• Downloadable – All of the classes are available for you to download as audio or video files if you choose. This way, your content is available to you even when you are offline. Many of the classes also have helpful PDFs that you can save. For example, I recently saved the Christmas Guide and will be able to pull it out next year even if I am not a member at that time.

Cons

• Time – The main problem with all website memberships, I find, is that if I am not disciplined about making time to take advantage of them. Weeks will pass while my membership goes unused. This is why I prefer to sign up for just a month or 3 months at a time. That way I try to get all my value up front and don’t push it off for later.
• Cost – The first time I saw that membership was $150/year, I thought “no way.” Yes, I am cheap. However, later when I wanted to sign up for a specific weekly workshop series and saw that it was $15 per month or $40 for 3 months, that felt more reasonable to me. Thinking of it in terms of one hour long class per week made it seem like a great deal.
• Religious content – Like Sarah Mackenzie, I am Catholic, so the religious content is not an issue for me. However, just know that it is there, so it might be a turn off for some. I find most of the content to be non-sectarian, but the Circles with Sarah in particular seem to feature praying and references to God.
• Entertainment varies – My kids have really enjoyed some of the workshops. My son in particularly liked the Hero’s Journey class and the fill in your own adventure assignment. However, there have been other classes that, while undoubtedly valuable, don’t seem to excite my kids as much. It is always easier when I have their willing participation, but know that your kids may not be 100% on board with watching the workshops or having to write, especially if it seems like something added onto their normal workload. Whenever possible, I like to do these classes in lieu of other work to make it appear more like a treat.

If you are considering a RAR Premium membership, I hope this information has been helpful to you!

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Now I know what you are probably thinking. “My biggest hurdle is TIME. If I had time to take a course, I would have time to play a game with my kids! And if I did somehow make time to take a course, wouldn’t it be better to just use that time to play some games instead?”

What this makes me think of is how some of most productive people in the world take time each day to meditate. Sometimes by surrendering some time up front to get your mind in order, the pieces of the goals you are trying to achieve fall into place. (Full disclosure, even though it sounds like a lovely idea, I personally don’t meditate. I haven’t found the time, LOL.)

Also, a lot of what Cait teaches in this course is how to find the time by helping you reframe your outlook on homeschooling in a way that relieves pressure. She uses scientific studies and expert advice to help you justify making gameplay a priority so you can let go of some of the guilt. Lastly, the course makes it so easy to listen to these lessons while you are doing the dishes or folding laundry. As an added bonus, listening to Cait explain why playing games with your kids is such a valuable use of time makes those tasks more enjoyable too.

Before I get into what I learned from having taken this course, first, some background. I am a big fan of the podcast Cait and Kara put together, The Homeschool Sisters. I started homeschooling in 2015 and stumbling across their podcast about a year in was a breath of fresh air for this tired homeschool sister. At the time, I didn’t know many other homeschooling families and cherished their support. I am a huge proponent of their hygge-filled, low stress outlook on homeschooling and life in general.

In particular, I identified with Cait as I am a nature and book loving mama who grew up enjoying tabletop games. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to make these values cornerstones of our family life, but sometimes reality does not always live up to the vision.

Listening along with The Homeschool Sisters podcast and taking Cait’s courses have helped me to be more intentional about making our homeschool and family life match my vision. In a world filled with hustle and bustle, it is so refreshing to find a community, even if it is a virtual one, of like-minded people who prioritize relationships and developing kind, well-rounded individuals over academics.

Before I begin describing the course, I should state that while I am an affiliate of My Little Poppies and will make a commission if you decide to purchase this course using my link, I paid for this course with my own money and do not know the course creator personally. These opinions are unbiased and entirely my own.

What’s Included?

This course is overflowing with valuable information. It took my several hours (divided up over about a week) to go through all the information in this course. Cait kindly provides the material in video format (which is how I consumed it) along with a written transcript and audio files. All of these versions are downloadable allowing you to access them even when you are away from an internet connection.

Additionally, each module contains helpful downloads, including printables for taking notes, resource guides including game lists, summaries of information covered, bingo and other games for playing with your kids, and more. I particularly appreciated the game suggestions based on the 8 play personalities and the questions to ask and decision tree for helping to decide which games to purge.

Many of the sections also include links to outside resources such as Ted talks, book recommendations, and online articles. As a lifelong learner, I happily followed these rabbit trails and learned a lot of bonus information in the process.

What Do You Learn?

If you have a question about gameschooling with children, I can pretty much guarantee Cait covers it. She answered questions I didn’t even know I had. Here are some of the main points and topics that she covers

• What is Play – First, she answers all of your questions about play. How do you identify an activity as play? What are the different types of play? And most importantly, why is play good for children? She backs up the answers to these questions with quotes from experts and scientific studies. If you were feeling unsure about whether or not it was even worth making time to gameschool, this section leaves no doubt.
• How to Prioritize Play – After convincing you why you should prioritize play, she offers some helpful advice on how to make space in your day for play to occur.
• Understanding Gameschooling – What is it? Why should you gameschool? What do you need to start gameschooling? All of your questions are answered. My big takeaway from this section is that gameschooling gives your kids the chance to practice new skills without the fear of failure. Also, all you really need to gameschool is a deck of cards and an internet connection.
• How to Work with What you Got – Some families, mine included, have a lot of games already. How do you figure out what you have, purge what you don’t need to reduce overwhelm, and store your games in a way that makes them more likely to be played. I found her list of questions to consider when deciding whether or not to keep a game particularly helpful.
• How to Gameschool on a Budget – I can attest to the fact that acquiring a large collection of games can be expensive. This section makes it clear that even if you only used a deck of cards or a set of dice, your kids can get all the benefits of gameschooling. Also, if you do decide to purchase games, Cait helps you to choose wisely.
• Gameschool Recommendations – The section in which Cait makes recommendations for games based on the child’s interests, age, type of game, and subject is one of the most valuable parts of this course. Many of these same recommendations could also be found on her blog or through the My Little Poppies Amazon store, but she narrows down her favorites in these lists.
• How to Personalize Gameschooling for Your Unique Situation – Cait helps you choose games based on your family situation and offers suggestions for modifying rules to make them work for your unique kids. She also offers tips to make the experience more enjoyable.
• How to Document Gameschooling – Ours does not, but if your charter homeschool requires documentation, she has several tips to keep track of which skills kids are learning and turn a game play experience into an educational sample. She also recommends apps for logging your playtime.
• FAQs – Cait has a section that covers common stumbling blocks, such as how to gameschool with a baby or toddler or how to choose games for kids that have a wide age range. She also offers tips for kids with learning challenges, parents who don’t enjoy playing games, or what to do when you can’t figure out the instructions.
• Bonuses – Cait has also included a number of bonuses such as bingo games that will encourage your family to play more games.

What Could Be Improved?

Just to be clear, I do not know the author of this course personally. Therefore, I have no qualms about laying out my unbiased opinion on what could be improved.

• One of my biggest complaints is that Cait provides SO MUCH information that it is kind of a pain to download it all. She has a page that links to all the lesson handouts, but even on that page alone there are over 25 individual files to download. I realized later that this page does NOT include all the bonus material in each lesson like resource guides, check lists, and bingo board games. It would be great if there was a way to download all the material at once.
• Many of the files are not ideal for printing. Given that there are so many files and many of them include a cover page, if you were to print these files, you would want to specify which pages to print to avoid printing duplicate pages and an excess of color, which might get annoying. Also, the same helpful resources are listed in many of these files, which would be redundant if you were to print it all. Maybe it is just because I am an eco-friendly minimalist, but especially with the lesson handouts, it would be great if there was a way to print all the note-taking material at once without all the repetition and color images.
• Speaking of the lesson handouts, there are a lot of blank spaces for people to fill in their answers as they listen. This is a great option for people to write their own personal takeaways, but as I did most of the course while folding laundry or washing dishes, I opted not to take notes. It sounds like cheating, but I would have loved if there was an “answer key” so that when I look back through my material in a year, I can quickly remember what I learned without having to re-watch the videos.
• Maybe she is already planning on creating this, but I think ultimately what needs to happen is Cait needs to write a book to accompany this course. I’m not sure if it should be included with the course or available to purchase separately, but there is SO MUCH information included in this course that it deserves to be presented in a coherent, unified piece of writing.

Bottomline

If you keep meaning to incorporate more games into your homeschool, but it isn’t happening to the degree you would like, then this course is worth the price of admission. It is an investment, but it will give you the knowledge and confidence to make playing games a priority while teaching you how to do it inexpensively. This empowerment will help you achieve your vision of kids playing and learning together in a fun, relaxed environment. Not only will kids benefit academically, but they will grow socially and emotionally as well, all while fostering strong family bonds.

If you decide that you would like to invest in Gameschool 101, note that there is a special discount price through Dec. 31, 2020. This is my affiliate link.

Happy gaming!

Related Links

Best Tabletop Games for Kids
Favorite Homeschool Resources
A Guide to Homeschooling

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Before I begin, please note that while I am an affiliate of this program and will make a small commission if you decide to purchase using my link, I have never accepted any free products or merchandise from Raddish Kids. I made this decision primarily because I wanted my review to be completely unbiased.

First, some backstory. My daughter (who is nearly 9) started using this service when she was 6. We paid for a year subscription using charter school funds. While she greatly enjoyed doing the boxes, I fell behind in doing them with her and they started to pile up. When the year ran out, I cancelled my subscription to give us time to catch up.

In each box are 3 recipe cards, which feature child friendly, mostly healthy recipes with natural ingredients each printed on a laminated, kitchen-proof trifold. The recipe cards are heavy on the illustrations which makes them perfect for the pre or early reader (and fun for older kids as well). Personally, I love the recipes and many of them, such as the pot pie, chili, baked macaroni and cheese, turkey noodle soup, and several desserts have made it into our family’s regular rotation. Some of them have been hit and miss, but even in those cases, I am glad they are expanding my children’s palette and getting them to try new things. The recipe guides are the gold in my mind with this service.

Now you might say, “But, Michelle, the boxes are $20-$24 per kit (depending on the length of subscription). I would NEVER pay $7-8 per recipe when there are so many great free recipes on the internet!” I hear you. That was my thinking at the time too. I thought, “This is fun, buy my charter school is paying for it. I would never pay out of pocket for this.”

Before I finish the story, let’s quickly go over what else the box includes. With your first box, you get an apron. Each month, you also get a kitchen tool. I can affirm that these tools are high quality and will last, but this is not a selling point for me, as I’m a minimalist and already own the tools I need. I will say that when I do our yearly purge, I almost always end up keeping the Raddish Kids version of the tool and donating the version I already had.

Each box also comes with conversation cards, which my daughter likes using with her siblings now that she can read. There is also some sort of creative project, which my creative kiddo enjoys, such as a game or a craft suggestion. Each month you also get a grocery list and a guide for learning a new culinary skill.

As you can see, the box is packed with bonuses. The recipe guides are still the dominant high value item in the box in my opinion (unless you are in need of kitchen tools), but all the extra add-ons are a nice touch.

One last item included that I didn’t mention before is an iron-on patch to celebrate your completion of the box. I have very mixed feeling about this little patch. My daughter loves having patches ironed onto her apron. However, I feel that this patch is the primary reason we fell behind in our boxes during our first year of subscriptions. I felt pressured to complete every item in the box before we “earned” the patch. I felt like the box needed to become an event where we made all three meals in the same day or at least in the same week. I didn’t want to move onto a different box until we completed the box we were on.

Now, to be fair, my child didn’t feel any of this pressure. Whether she gets the patch right away or waits until later to have the patch ironed on, it’s all the same to her. All my sweet little kiddo wanted was to cook with me. Speaking of which, that was another source of pressure I was attaching to this box. I felt like to really deserve the patch, she should be involved in all the steps of the cooking process. It took me awhile to let go of that limiting point of view.

At some point, after our subscription had run out, but before we had completed all the boxes, my daughter started asking if she could make Raddish Kid recipes for dinner. She would pull out recipes we had already done or ones that she found in the stack of boxes gathering dust. I would say sure and she would start gathering ingredients from the pictures. She would look at the steps and do what she could on her own while she waited for me. When I came to help with dinner I would choose which steps seemed the most natural for me to assist with, like chopping onions or cutting meat, and we would work side by side.

I started to realize that these recipes were helping my daughter to identify herself as a cook. It didn’t need to be a once a month event in which she felt she had complete ownership of the meal. It could be a two or three times a week habit that we did together as a team.

After several months and as her reading skills have grown, she now finds recipes she thinks she will like off the internet, prints them, and makes them almost entirely on her own. We still frequently make dinner together just due to efficiency, speed, and the bonding we get from the experience, but at 8, going on 9, she is a fully capable cook. There is no area of the kitchen in which she does not have as much confidence as I do.

A few months back, having realized what a blessing Raddish Kids has been to our family, I asked my charter school to get her another year long subscription. It turns out they are not currently on the list of approved vendors we can use to spend our funds.

At that point I really had to decide, is this something we want to pay out of pocket for? I consulted with my extremely frugal husband and was surprised to find him 100% supportive of the purchase. He has seen the change and in our daughter as well, and recognizes what a large role Raddish Kids has played in that growth.

We are once again happily receiving Raddish kits, this time spending our own money. My daughter is keeping up with the boxes as much as she wants each month and I am not worrying about checking off every item in each box.

Bottomline

If you have a child who is interested in cooking, or you can see this is a fun family bonding experience, Raddish Kids is an invaluable service which will help your child gain confidence in the kitchen. What started off as seeming like extra work for me has led to having a completely independent mini-chef in my house who has now relieved a lot of the burden and stress associated with daily cooking for our large family. Personally, I am extremely grateful to Raddish Kids for the skills and self sufficiency in the kitchen it has given my daughter.

Just to summarize, here are some of the pros and cons if you are considering a membership

Pros

• Laminated recipe guides are golden. They are indestructible, feature yummy recipes with a nice balance of natural ingredients, and are extremely child-friendly. Several of them have made it into our weekly rotation.
• Promotes family bonding. Making the time and space in your life to cook with your kids promotes connection.
• Teaches valuable life skills. Cooking and following a recipe are skills that will serve children throughout life. Each box contains a guide for learning a culinary skill. Additionally, all the practice kids get from making these recipes helps them master valuable kitchen techniques.
• Promotes confidence in the kitchen. The more your child practices, the more confident they become. What starts off difficult such as peeling potatoes or dicing tomatoes, eventually becomes effortless.
• Develops a self-sufficient cook. While my child still loves Raddish Kids, she has transferred these skills over to recipes she finds on the internet.
• Kitchen tools. Each kit comes with a quality kitchen tool.
• Bonus add-ons. From creative craft ideas and games to conversation starters and grocery lists, each box contains a wealth of supplemental information.
• Sibling kits available. I am frugal and don’t want the extra tools, but just know that if you would like an extra tool and patch for additional children, that can be added on for the reasonable price of $5. Additional aprons can also be purchased separately.
• Recipe Binder. For $20, you can purchase a Create-a-Cookbook binder to store your favorite Raddish Kids recipes. Even though I am extremely frugal, I purchased one and it gets used all the time. I may end up purchasing another one in a few months as we love certain recipes so much that they are part of our weekly rotation.

Cons

• Price. Let’s be honest. If you look at this box as simply a box of 3 recipes, it will seem expensive. However, I choose to look at it as a developmental experience that promotes independence as well as bonding. I feel it to be $20 each month well spent.
• Patches. See my discussion above, but the patches are not my favorite. I feel that it adds extra pressure to “completing” the box and makes it less straightforward to do the box with multiple children. My recommendation: Set them aside and don’t make a big deal about them. If you have multiple children, you can iron them on the apron or aprons if you choose, but don’t make them feel like they are “earned,” that way there will be less fighting over which child gets which patch and you won’t feel pressured to check off every recipe and activity in the box.
• Kitchen Tools. While the kitchen tools are high quality, I personally don’t like to buy more than I need and I already have many of these tools. If there was a way to opt out of the tools and save a few dollars each month, I probably would. However, even if you give away the tools away as gifts, I still feel the box is well worth the price.
• Overwhelm. If you’re anything like me, then you want to maximize the experience that is associated with kits such as these. You want to grocery shop and get all the ingredients beforehand. You want to set aside time to have the culinary lesson and supervise the child doing most of the work prepping and cooking the meal. You feel the need to do every suggested activity that comes in the box, whether it is a geography lesson, a craft, a game, or the conversation starters. It can be overwhelming. In fact, it can be so overwhelming that you let the box sit, waiting for the perfect time that never comes in our busy lives. My advice? Accept imperfection. There is a lot of value in each box. Take it in bits and pieces as it fits into your life and understand that while it may not be picture perfect, your child is learning and enjoying the experience. Finally letting go of perfection is what made these kits become the joyful, valuable part of our lives that they are today.

I hope this overview of my family’s experience with Raddish Kids was helpful to you! If you decide this subscription kit might be a good fit for your family, and you would like to try it out, this is my affiliate link. Note that for a limited time, as of December 15, 2020 (the day I am posting this), you can get $20 off a 12 month subscription using the code Chef20 and $15 off a 6 month subscription with the code ATHOME.

Have fun cooking!

Related Links

Favorite Homeschool Resources
A Guide to Homeschooling
Subscription Service Reviews

The post Raddish Kids Review appeared first on ResearchParent.com.

Third graders typically no longer need you to sit and read them the instructions for every assignment. Now you can put a worksheet in front of them and say, “Please work on this.” Not that I assign independent work very often.

Personally, I prefer to be very hands-on in the part of my kids education that I specify. We do as much as possible as a family. This often involves me reading aloud or doing projects with my children ranging from 3 to 10 years old. However, it is nice being able to give the third grader work to do on their own occasionally.

I still like to limit my child’s formal school work to 2 hours a day 4 days each week. This leaves plenty of time for their own interests. Below are my third grade curriculum choices based on what our family has done in the past.

Language Arts

As in all of elementary school, Language Arts in 3rd grade consists primarily of reading in our house. I let my kids stay up as late as they want in their beds if they are reading. If I have to invest in something for my child’s education, I consider books to be worth it. I always try to purchase items from used book stores or off Ebay. A used book is still a new book to a child. I think it’s important for kids to feel like at least some of the books they read are their own.

I also read A LOT to my children. We listen to audiobooks in the car and I typically read aloud as part of almost every meal. I want to expose my kids to as much good literature as possible. By third grade, they usually have the attention span to enjoy really good books. When choosing books to read aloud to your child, remember you can always choose above a child’s reading level.

By third grade, I try to work on my child’s spelling a little more than in previous years. We also spend a little more time working on writing projects. Here are the Language Arts resources I use in third grade.

• To find good books for your child (both or read-alouds and read-alones), you can check out my list of the best books for early elementary and mid elementary. I also recommend trying to get your child hooked on a book series at their reading level or just above. A love of reading is the cornerstone of a solid education in my opinion. Therefore, helping my kids find books they enjoy is a priority.
• I also like using our read-alouds to have my kids do copywork. We use this practice to learn the mechanics of writing like grammar, spelling, and punctuation. I frequently try to choose read alouds that have a Bravewriter Arrow Guide that goes with them. Although you don’t need a purchased product to get the benefit of copywork, the Arrow guides help maximize the benefit of copywork with the minimum of effort. Not only do they cover the mechanics of writing, but they help kids learn to be better writers. Depending on the guide, they teach concepts like opening hook, vivid verbs, literary devices, dialect, and much, much more.
• This is not included as part of the Arrow guides, but I frequently will type out the passage they copied and make some mistakes for the child to find. In third grade I will make them fix capitalization, ending punctuation, quotation marks, apostrophes, and some simple spelling mistakes. This fancy word for this practice is reverse dictation.
• Starting in third grade, I usually try to do dictation a couple times a month using their copywork. I will read the first sentence of the copywork passage after they have copied it and found mistakes earlier in the week. They will do their best to write the sentence as accurately as possible. Then they will get to check their work to see how well they did on things like punctuation and spelling.
• As in second grade, I use the Logic of English’s phonogram flashcards with all my kids as a group to make sure they are familiar with all the common letter combinations in the English language and the sounds they make. I feel like this helps a lot with spelling. At the very least, it makes it easier for me to give my child clues for how to spell unfamiliar words rather than just telling them. I think this makes them more likely to remember how to spell the word in the future.
• I admit that I am not the best at getting through these workbooks, but so my kids have some familiarity with the spelling of common words, I occasionally use, Evan Moor’s Building Spelling Skills: Grade 3. We definitely do not do every worksheet, but I try to at least show my kids each of the spelling words and explain to them how they are spelled. First we break the word apart into syllables. Then we “Say to Spell” by pronouncing the word wrong if it makes it easier to spell. Next I give them clues for the uncommon spellings using the Phonogram Flashcards mentioned above. We underline any multi-letter phonograms in the written word and double underline silent E’s. This is a modified version of a spelling technique we learned the year we used Logic of English’s curriculum. We don’t follow this procedure exactly, but the official Logic of English guidelines can be found on this spelling bookmark.
• For handwriting, I have my third grader use Handwriting Without Tears: Cursive Handwriting. However, this is one of those things which I am not super strict about completing. Rather than ripping the pages out of the book and put them in my homeschool crate system as I have done in the past, this year I am experimenting with writing dates on the top of the pages. These “due dates” let my kids know where they should be to finish the book by the end of the school year. That way the child can have all their work in one place, and if they fall behind they can catch up without me having to hunt down skipped sheets from our folders.
• To give my child an introduction to grammar, in the past I have had my third graders complete this Grammar Lapbook by Undercover Classroom from Teacher’s Pay Teachers. Some of it is a little advanced, so it is also a good option for fourth grade instead.
• In our house, we are big proponents of the Bravewriter Lifestyle. We follow many of their recommended practices such as Poetry Tea Time and Friday Freewrites. I have used their Jot It Down guide as inspiration for getting my kids doing 2 or 3 writing projects throughout the year. If your child is comfortable writing, you might want to thing about the Partnership Writing guide instead which is a very similar, but a little more advanced.
• Our family really enjoys Mrs. Wordsmith’s Storyteller’s Word-a-Day for ages 7 to 11 which features a bunch of really great vocabulary with fun visual imagery to help kids remember the meanings. Definitely not necessary by any means, but it is a fun way to get kids learning cool new words to use in their writing.

Math

As in all of elementary school, I have a minimalist’s approach to math. I want my children to understand math concepts, but I am not rigid about having my children do math daily. Rather, the only requirement is that they do 10 problem each week that I have chosen based on looking through a number of different curricula. We play games to practice math facts when we can fit it into our schedule. I also occasionally have them do a supplemental math or logic worksheet, but on busy weeks, these get skipped.

Here are some of my recommendations for third grade.

• The cornerstone to my approach to math is my homemade free minimalist math curriculum for third grade. These worksheets cover the same math concepts found in a traditional curriculum without all the repetition.
• I like to make math as visual as possible while kids are learning to regroup (what used to be called carrying and borrowing). Therefore, I recommend using either a place value set, interlocking cubes, or both. I made my own set of Montessori style beads to teach this concept. It definitely took a considerable amount of time, but I use these beads with my kids in third grade and younger all the time.
• A teaching clock is very helpful when you are teaching your child to tell time. Alternatively, I recommend doing this carefully, but you can get a cheap clock from a store like Target, break the glass, and move the hands yourself. This is what I did for a couple years and it had the added advantage of automatically moving the hour hand when you manually moved the minute hand, which shows how the two are connected.
• Every year, I put a logic puzzle worksheet in my homeschool crate system for each week. My kids love these puzzles and I feel like they help them develop the right attitude toward math. They get them thinking critically while having fun.
• To help my kids memorize their multiplication facts, we like to play the games in Multiplication Facts that Stick by Kate Snow. This is a 10 week program, but we spread it out over the full year. I always intend to have my kids do one review worksheet per week, but about halfway through the year, we usually stop doing the worksheets entirely.
• Clumsy Thief is a really fun game for third graders that helps them get more comfortable adding to 100.

Science

It is important to me that our whole family study the same subjects for science and history. I would probably lose my mind if all my kids were doing different things. Therefore, if you have an older child, choose the same subject that your older child is learning for your third grader.

If your third grader is your oldest, here are our family’s choices for science in third grade:

• My kids love Sassafras Science. It is a living book curriculum that follows the adventures of two pre-teen twins named Blaine and Tracy. We listen to the story and do the lapbook that goes along with it. My kids each choose information that they find interesting from the story to write in their lapbooks. I write the sentences for them on a separate sheet of paper. Then they copy the sentences into their lapbooks. (You can find a more detailed review here.) If you have been following the Sassafras twins since 1st grade, then in third grade you will be on Volumes 5 and 6, Geology and Astronomy. Our family has been waiting over a year for Volume 6 which was just released. This coming year I will be doing Volume 6: Astronomy with my 1st, 3rd, and 5th graders. If you have not done Sassafrass before, I recommend starting at the beginning of the series. They do not need to be done in order as they always do recaps of previous books. However, the story line will make more sense and be more enjoyable if you do them in order.
• When we run out of Sassafras, or sometimes just to supplement, I personally really like the REAL Science Odyssey curriculum from Pandia Press. Their curricula cover a wide age range, so feel free to choose the one that most appeals to you. Their recommended third grade curricula is Chemistry. I just completed this chemistry curriculum with my kindergartner, 2nd, and 4th graders and I highly recommend it.
• I like to make science as hands-on as possible. If you are going to be studying geology and astronomy with the Sassafrass curriculum, I recommend investing in a mini-rock collection. A pair of binoculars are useful for star-gazing and wildlife viewing (we have several pairs and these are our favorite). Geodes are also fun. If you can afford it, a telescope is great to have for looking at the moon, planets, and comets.
• I also really like Prof. Noggin games for reinforcing science learning. There are games on a wide variety of topics such as Earth Science and Space. (Check the price on Rainbow Resource as well as their prices are often much cheaper.)

Social Science

So far, we have only ever done Story of the World for history. After completing the whole series, I think it is a great curriculum to introduce kids to history. Since we just completed the four year cycle, this year we are planning to try History Quest for variety. However, at present, Story of the World is our social science curriculum choice.

If you have an older child, choose the same era in history for your younger child (Ancients, Middle Ages, Early Modern, and Modern). If your third grader is your oldest and you started the cycle in 1st grade, then you will be on Volume 3: Early Modern history in third grade.

Here are my recommended resources for Social Science in third grade:

• If you started Story of the World in first grade, you will need Story of the World Volume 3: Early Modern Times book and Activity Guide in third grade. Please note that even though the activity guide is filled with several wonderful suggestions, we do not do it all. Pretty much all we do in third grade is read the chapter, talk about it, do some map work, a little coloring, and copy a sentence related to the reading. I would love to make history come more alive for my kids. However, fitting that into our schedule hasn’t always been the easiest thing to accomplish with busy schedules.
• If you choose, you could switch out the physical book for the audiobook which is narrated by Jim Weiss. Even though Jim Weiss is one of our favorite storytellers, personally I choose to read-aloud instead. That way I can make sure my kids are paying attention and I can talk to them about the chapters afterwards.
• I do not use them, but there are also tests that you can purchase to go along with the curriculum if you choose.
• You will likely want either a globe or world map to refer to throughout the year. I’m sure not everyone has the space for it, but we have a laminated dry-erase wall map we got at Costco that we use all the time. It is great being able to write on it to circle locations and show paths.
• Third grade is about the age that I start watching CNN10 with my kids every morning. This is a 10 minute non-partisan look at the day’s news. Technically, the younger children in our family are welcome to watch too. They frequently watch with us, but third grade is about the age I start having interesting conversations with my kids about current events.

I hope some of these third grade curriculum choices are helpful to you! There are so many wonderful options to available, you pretty much can’t go wrong. Enjoy your year with your third grader!

Related Links

Homeschooling Articles
Favorite Homeschool Resources
Learning Activities for Kids

The post Third Grade Curriculum Choices appeared first on ResearchParent.com.

Product: History Pockets
Company: Evan Moor
Recommended Age Range: Elementary
Time Required: about 20 minutes per week for 36 weeks
Difficulty: Prep work is time-consuming, but easy. Most of the activities have little or no writing (especially for the Grades 1-3 options), so not very difficult for kids either.
Cost: $11-$16 per book depending on the topic. At least 10 editions available on different topics. Literature pockets are also available, though we haven’t used these. (Note that it might be cost effective to get a subscription to Teacher File Box for $13 for one month or $100 for a year. This gives you digital access to ALL Evan Moor products and allows you to print as many copies as you need. I am not affiliated with Teacher File Box. Just a regular subscriber.)
Amazon Product Page (Affiliate Link)

Bottomline

History Pockets might not be for everyone, as they involve a lot of preparatory work. I cannot imagine using these for an entire class. However, if you don’t mind either getting all the activities ready for your students or guiding your students through creating them themselves, then they can be a really fun, hands-on way to learn. The final product is something the child will be proud of and will revisit again and again.

How We Use It

So far, I have used the Ancient Civilizations, Native Americans, Life in Plymouth Colony, and The Civil War history pockets with at least some subset of my kids. This year we will be doing Ancient Civilizations again, as my oldest is the only one that has done it so far.

Four years ago, when I first used History Pockets with my oldest, I did not have a plan. We just tried to complete an activity or two each week, but we didn’t make it to the last pocket by the end of the year. The following year, I implemented our homeschool crate system. Now that I plan our schedule out before the school year begins and prep all the material over the summer, we make it through everything.

Here is my process for planning and implementing History Pockets:

1. First, I choose which History Pockets I want to do by searching on Amazon. Then I go to Teacher File Box and locate the one that I want. Although Teacher File Box is a very affordable way of accessing a ton of resources, they do not always make it easy to find what you are looking for. However, EVERYTHING is there. Below I searched for “Ancient Civilizations History Pockets.” All of the pockets are separate links, instead of there being one link for the whole book. Thankfully, the first search result is the first pocket of the book I want.
   
2. I open the first pocket in the book I am looking for. In this example, it is “Pocket 01: What is History?” If you select “Print,” you can see everything that it is possible to print for this pocket. (Note that most computers nowadays will let you “Print to PDF.” This allows you to save a copy on your computer for easy access later.) I will look through that pocket and figure out which activities I want my kids to include in their book. Usually I include almost all the activities, but I might leave out 3 of 4 from the whole book that I feel are either not age appropriate, or I don’t think my kids will enjoy. I write down my list on a separate sheet of paper. This way I know how many activities there will be in total at the end. I also print a copy of each activity for each of my kids.
3. If you scroll down on the page mentioned above, you will see links to ALL of the pockets in the book. It is under the tab called “Original Title.” I repeat the above process of saving, reviewing, deciding on activities, and printing for each pocket.
   
4. The pockets are made out of 12″x18″ construction paper. I order that if I need it.
5. Next, I go through my list and figure out how many activities I printed. There are 36 weeks in a traditional school year and 36 weeks of folders in our homeschool crate system. I divide up my activities among the 36 weeks. Usually I have more than 36 activities, so I see which related activities are fairly easy and combine them to the same week. The cover of the pocket book and the pocket labels I leave out of my folder system. I like to have my kids do those before the school year starts while so that their pocket books can be assembled and ready to go when the school year begins.
6. After I’ve decided which activities go with which weeks, I put in my earbuds, put on an audiobook (see my Scribd review), and spend a few hours cutting out all the pieces and gluing construction paper onto the back of the ones that I want to have a backing. I have 4 kids, so this process usually takes a few days.
7. After my 12″x18″ construction paper arrives and my kids have finished coloring the cover and pocket labels, I assemble the books for each kid. Now we are ready for the school year.
8. During the school year, once a week, I pull out all the coloring sheets my kids have to do from that week’s folders (usually part of their science and social science). Then I let them watch a movie while they complete their coloring for the week.
9. On a different day, we will read over whatever needs to be read for their history pockets. If there is any writing for the activity, we will complete that by the end of the week. All the completed work goes in the appropriate pocket of our history pocket book. The kids can go look back through their book anytime they want.

To summarize, here are some pros and cons I’ve found using History Pockets with my kids.

Pros

• A really fun format. Rather than just do worksheets, kids do writing activities with flaps, write postcards, make masks, puppets, pop-up books, and more.
• Makes a great final product that the child will want to look at again and again.
• Quality activities that provide a lot of educational value.
• Activities can be prepped in advance.
• Does not require very much time on child’s part to complete.
• Coloring helps with child’s fine motor skills.
• Writing activities are usually creative.
• Great for a wide range of ages. I have used the Grades 1-3 books with my 4th/5th grader and the 4th-6th grade curriculum with kids as young as kindergarten.
• Personally, having a final product to strive for helps keep me on track. I am less tempted to skip activities when I know we are going to add them to our book that we will be saving for awhile.

Cons

• Requires considerable prep time to get all activities ready, especially if you have more than one child.
• Would not be great for a child who does not like coloring. (Though even my kid that is less enthusiastic about coloring likes History Pockets, because I let them watch a movie while they complete the coloring.)
• The final product seems too nice to throw away, which can feel like a problem when you have four kids and not a lot of storage space!

Overall, if you have the time and patience to give History Pockets a try, I have found it to be a very fun, effective way to get kids excited about history!

Related Links

History Activities for Kids
A Guide to Homeschooling
Curriculum Choices by Grade

The post Evan Moor History Pockets Review appeared first on ResearchParent.com.

Product: The Story of the World curriculum
Author: Susan Wise Bauer
Company: The Well Trained Mind
Recommended Age Range: Elementary
Time Required: about 30 to 90 minutes per week (depending on how many activities you do)
Difficulty: Written in an easy to understand way even for early elementary. Activity Book contains so many ideas that it would be overwhelming if one were to try to do all of them, so realize that this isn’t expected.
Cost: $40 to $75 per volume depending on whether you choose to purchase digital or physical copies and how much supplemental material you intend to include. (My personal preference is a physical book (~$13) and a digital copy of the activity guide ($27). I did not use the tests or audio versions.)

Bottomline

As someone who did not retain much of the history I learned in school, I found this series to be very approachable and made history easy to learn. The author wrote in a way that would be entertaining to children while still being historically accurate. I feel that my fourth grader and I now have a fairly solid foundation in all eras of history. I also think that this curriculum is a great value for the price, particularly for the main history text and the accompanying Activity Book. While I have no experience with other history curricula to compare it with, overall I am very satisfied with this Story of the World curricula.

How We Use It

I like to prepare for our 36 week school year over the summer using our homeschool crate system. To prep Story of the World, I print out a copy of all the mapwork and chapter summaries (or timeline labels for Volume 4) for each child. For this reason, I recommend purchasing the digital version of the curriculum from the Well Trained Mind website. I like to print two pages per sheet of the maps so that they fit better in a composition book.

I then cut out all the pieces for each of my children and divide them into the 36 weeks of social science folders in my crates. Since there are typically 42 chapters and only 36 weeks of school, I double up on chapters for the first 6 weeks. Week one contains Chapter 1 and 2 , Week two contains Chapters 3 and 4, etc. Week 7 is chapter 13, which leads to the book being complete on Week 36.

If I like them, I also sometimes print out the coloring page for a given chapter (also with the two pages per sheet print option). I include those in the folders as well.

Over the summer, I also get a composition book for each of my children. Then, as we complete the work for each chapter during the school year, I glue it into the composition book. I also have my older children write a sentence summarizing something interesting they learned in the chapter. For my younger children, I either write for them or put some dashed writing for them to practice tracing. For Volume 4, rather than just adding the material to the composition books sequentially, I label each page with a year and glue the timeline labels on the appropriate date.

On any given week, this is how our family typically does a Story of the World chapter. It may vary slightly from week to week.

• Monday: Typically, I like to start our week with our history reading. That gives us the whole rest of the week to be inspired by what we learn in case we want to plan any hands-on activities or additional reading to supplement the lesson. Usually I read-aloud the chapter while my kids eat lunch. Afterwards, I have them tell me one sentence of something interesting that they learned and I write it in a notebook for them to copy into their composition books later. This whole process takes about 30 minutes.
• Tuesday or Wednesday: One day a week, my kids get to take turns picking a movie. While they watch, they complete their coloring for the week. This always includes their history summary or timeline pictures and any additional history coloring pages I want them to do. Sometimes this includes lapbook material for language arts or science as well. My kids think this is a treat.
• Thursday: While the kids are sleeping, I set out their map work for the chapter and colored pencils on our kitchen counter. I also glue all the history coloring they did into their composition book. I write their copywork sentences that they choose onto a post-it note for each one to copy into their composition books. At some point between breakfast and lunch, we will do the mapwork as a group. I will then glue the maps into their books and they will copy in their sentences. This process takes about 20 to 30 minutes.
• Friday, Saturday, or Sunday: If there is some fun activity we want to do to supplement our learning, we will typically do this at the end of the week or on the weekend. This might include an art project, reading related picture books, or watching a documentary. This definitely does not happen for every chapter. Often times we will use these days to catch up on our map or copywork if we ended falling behind during the week.

To summarize, here are some pros and cons I’ve found over the past four years of using the Story of the World curricula.

Pros

• Very thorough
• Easy to understand
• Highlights entertaining, interesting, or amusing aspects of history
• Works well for a wide variety of ages
• Geography map work reinforces history lesson
• Activity Book is a treasure trove of information: Contains review questions, narration exercises, additional reading suggestions for various age groups, map work, coloring pages, and suggestions for hands-on activities to bring the learning to life.
• Audiobook is narrated by Jim Weiss who is a fantastic storyteller. We didn’t use this option often, but my kids enjoy so many Jim Weiss stories that when we did, they loved listening to the familiar voice.
• A book of tests can be purchased separately. We didn’t use these, but it is nice to have the option.

Cons

• The Activity Book is so amazing, it can make you feel like you are not doing enough. We only completed a small fraction of the activity books.
• There are some sections that my younger kids in particular thought were boring. I’m not sure another curriculum could have covered as much information and made it more entertaining, just be aware that not all kids will find all of history thrilling.

Other Factors to Consider

• This is neither a Pro nor a Con in my opinion, but the text is written with a slightly Christian emphasis, particularly in Volume 1: Ancient Times. However, it is so slight that we are allowed to use samples from this curriculum with our public charter school. Note that various world religions are discusses from a fair and informative standpoint.
• Also, be aware that this book does describe tragic events in history. The author is sensitive to the young audience, but just know that she does not gloss over events completely. For this reason, Volume 4 is recommended only for kids in fourth grade and older. (I chose to read it to all my kids, but there were definitely some topics like the Holocaust and nuclear bombings that seemed a little heavy for my younger kids.)

Overall, I am extremely pleased with our first attempt through a four year history cycle using The Story of the World. Next year I am planning to try out Pandia Press’s History Quest. However, I will happily return to The Story of the World curriculum if I am dissatisfied with it in any way.

Related Links

History Activities for Kids
A Guide to Homeschooling
Curriculum Choices by Grade

The post The Story of the World Review appeared first on ResearchParent.com.

A lot can be accomplished in a short amount of time. This leaves plenty of room in their lives for playing outside, expending physical energy, and following their passions. Even as my kids get older, I like to keep the time we spend “schooling” each day to under 2 hours. Here are some of my main recommendations for second grade based on what our family has done in the past.

Language Arts

Ideally, by second grade your child will be well on their way to becoming a reader. I make sure to give my kids plenty of time to read for pleasure. My kids are allowed tostay up as late as they want after bedtime as long as they are reading. It helps to get them hooked on a book series to increase the chance that reading will become a habit.

I also encourage my kids to write as much as possible. Sometimes I write them notes and encourage them to do the same. I act like I’m busy and ask them to write lists for me or leave notes for their dad. Most importantly, I NEVER criticize their spelling. If they ask me to spell something, I will only if they insist. First, I encourage them to just sound it out. I tell them that if I can read it, that’s good enough for me.

I do have some tools and strategies for making sure my kids become better spellers and learn grammar skills. However, at this age, none of it involves critiquing their original writing. I want them to feel confident and unafraid when it comes to putting their ideas on paper.

Here are some of my recommended language arts resources for second grade.

• As I mentioned, enjoyable books are my primary language arts resource. Here is my researched list of the best books for early elementary and mid elementary. Be sure to read aloud to your child in addition to encouraging them to read on their own. Remember they are able understand and discuss books far above their reading level.
• Our family uses Bravewriter Arrows for copywork in order to teach the mechanics of writing. Note that you don’t NEED a purchased product to incorporate the copywork method into your homeschool. You can pull arbitrary sentences from your current read-aloud. However, the Arrows are handy if you an afford them. They provide well thought out lessons to go with the chosen passages including topics like figurative language.
• I also use the “find the mistakes” method of teaching things like punctuation, capitalization, and spelling. To start, I take our copywork passage from the week, type it out and then make mistakes on it. I print out a different version for each of my children making more mistakes for older kids. For a second grade child, I will un-capitalize the first letter of the sentence and remove some ending punctuation and quotation marks. I will also sometimes misspell simple words (like sez for says or thay for they). Occasionally, I take out apostrophes for some possessive words and contractions. The child will already be familiar with the passage from having copied it. I will have pointed out these grammar elements and had them notice spellings earlier in the week. This “talk about, copy, then fix mistakes” method allows me to teach my kids grammar and spelling without ever having to criticize their own writing.
• To help my kids with spelling and reading, we also use these phonogram flashcards from Logic of English. When they are younger, we use the corresponding Doodling Dragon book series to teach the same concepts. I don’t think learning the phonograms is necessary, but it makes teaching spelling in particular easier. For example, if my child asks me how to spell fight, I can just say, “Use three letter ‘i.'” They will know to use ‘igh’ and be more likely to remember it for next time.
• I do not have my child do anywhere close to every activity in this workbook, but we also use Evan Moor’s Building Spelling Skills: Grade 2. Mainly, I just try to make sure my kids know how to spell the words on the lists. I like using a simplified version of the method I learned from Logic of English to teach spelling. First, I say the word broken apart into syllables to make double letters easy. While doing this, I “say to spell,” which means that I pronounce the word in a way that will make it easier for a child to remember. For example, ‘letter’ would be ‘let’ – ‘ter,’ emphasizing the syllables and the ‘t,’ not ‘d,’ sound. I also use clues based on the phonogram cards. For ‘letter,’ I would say, “use the ‘er’ as in ‘her.'” (Note that there is also an “ur as in hurt,” an “ir as in bird”, and an “ear as in search.” The English language is complicated!)
• Since I want my children to learn cursive, we have used this Handwriting Without Tears: Cursive Kickoff book in second grade, but honestly, I have not been as rigorous about follow through as I would like.
• In order to get my kids writing creatively, we do something called Friday Freewrites. I set a timer for 10 minute and have my kids write on any topic they choose. They sounding out words they don’t know how to spell. In second grade, usually not much goes on the page during this 10 minutes, but I just want them to get used to the practice.

Math

None of my kids, at least through fifth grade, spend anywhere near as much time on math as other children their age. However, I spend more time planning and prepping math than any other subject. Personally, I love math and I want my kids to love it too. I do not want them to ever think of math as tedious or boring. Therefore, I hand chose 10 problems for my child to do each week based on researching a number of different curriculum. Those 10 problems are the only math they are required to do throughout the week.

However, I also try to incorporate a number of other math resources to get them thinking critically and practicing math skills in a more enjoyable way. Here are some of the math resources that I have used with my kids in second grade.

• My second grade minimalist math curriculum is the foundation of our math for the year. This free printable includes 10 problems for each of the 36 weeks of school. The problems cover a wide variety of topics and get progressively difficult throughout the year. I frequently provide a lot of support when my children complete their math to prevent frustration.
• Montessori-style manipulatives are great for teaching kids place value. Here is a set on Amazon and here is the DIY set that I made several years ago and still use with my kids. I love all of Montessori’s hands on learning material. You can find more free Montessori math material that I created here.
• Interlocking cubes are really helpful when you are teaching kids to carry and borrow (now called regrouping).
• A teaching clock is very helpful in teaching your child to tell time.
• Kumon Geometry and Measurement Grade 2 is a thin workbook that provides worksheets with a very thorough and concise overview of what a second grader should know. Occasionally in the past I have supplemented my homemade curriculum with this workbook. However, we have never completed all the problems.
• To practice subtracting numbers less than 20, we have used Subtraction Facts that Stick by Kate Snow. This includes both games and worksheets. I typically plan to have my kids do one worksheet each week for practice. However, we usually drop this by about Christmas. The games are such a great way to get the kids exciting about practicing math.
• For a fun way to practice adding to 20, try the game Clumsy Thief in the Candy Shop.
• In second grade, I like to continue using this Mind Benders book that I started using in first grade. Logic puzzles are so fun and help kids think critically. If you’ve already finished this book, check out the Lollipop Logic or Logic Safari series instead. Of you could move on to the next Mind Benders book. Please note that in order for you child to learn to find these enjoyable, they may need considerable assistance in the beginning until they get the hang of them.

Science

In my opinion, if you have more than one child homeschooling, all your kids should be learning the same ares of science and history. This makes like SO much easier. Therefore, if you have a curriculum you are planning to use with your oldest child, just adapt that curriculum to be appropriate for your younger kids.

If your oldest homeschooling child is in second grade, here are my recommendations based on what our family has used.

• My kids adore Sassafras Science, a Charlotte Mason style living book curriculum revolving around the adventures of 12 year old twins named Blaine and Tracy. Their second year curriculum is Botany and Earth Science, but if you haven’t already used them, you might want to start with the first two volumes. It isn’t critical that you read the books in order, but since it is a story, it does make things slightly less confusing. Personally, I choose to use the lapbook option instead of the Scidat logbook as it involves less writing and makes a nice finished product. You will still need the teachers guide in addition to the living books.
• Sassafras is a complete curriculum including experiments and scientific demonstrations. However, if you would either like to supplement or would like a choice that doesn’t require such a time investment in reading, I also love Pandia Press’s REAL Science Odyssey curriculum. Their recommended curricula in second grade is Earth and Space, but any of their Level One curricula would be appropriate for a second grader.
• To make science as hands-on as possible, I recommend investing in a pair of binoculars and a magnifying glass. If you are studying botany, a plant press is also nice to have.
• Prof. Noggins card games are a great way to reinforce science and history. Our family likes to play these games over dinner. There are games on a wide variety of topics, such as Prof. Noggin’s Earth Science Card Game.

Social Science

So far, our family has only used Story of the World for history, which I am very satisfied with. However, we will be trying a different curricula from Pandia Press next year for variety. There are four main areas of history: Ancients, Middle Ages, Early Modern, and Modern. If you have an older child, as I mentioned before, it’s best to have the whole family learning about the same time period at the same time.

If your oldest is in second grade, just study whatever time period comes next in the sequence for them. Here are some resources I recommend for social studies in second grade.

• If you are planning to use Story of the World, choose whichever one makes the most sense for your family. For us, that was Story of the World Volume 2: The Middle Ages.
• If you use Story of the World, you will also want the Activity Guide that goes with it. For us, that was Activity Book 2: The Middle Ages. It has a wealth of information including chapter summaries, geography, additional reading for a variety of age levels and hands on activities. There are FAR more ideas in this guide than you could ever possibly do with your child. The only thing I was fairly consistent about doing with my kids in second grade was the map work.
• If you think you will be listening to your history in the car, then I highly recommend the audiobook version. It is narrated by Jim Weiss who is a fantastic storyteller. Personally, we don’t drive very much. Rather than try to listen to an audiobook in the house, I prefer to read-aloud. I like to read the chapter to my kids over breakfast or lunch so I know they are listening and we can talk about it after.
• I choose not to give my kids tests at this age, but be aware that there is also a Story of the World Test and Answer Key for each volume of the series. Even if you choose not to give them tests, it could be useful for summarizing what happened in each chapter. I have a friend who would go over the tests together with her kids as a family at the end of each chapter.
• If you are studying the Middle Ages, I recommend Prof. Noggin’s Medieval Times Card Game. Once or twice a week as we eat a meal, we take turns rolling the dice, and then I read the questions. If the person answers the questions correctly, they get to keep the card. Whoever earned the most cards at the end is the “winner.” This is a fun way to supplement what we are learning.

I hope some of that information was helpful to you! There are so many fantastic options on the market, you pretty much can’t go wrong. Even if you chose to do basically nothing structured at this age, you can’t keep your kids from learning. Have a wonderful second grade year!

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The pressure can affect children. I encourage you to take a step back and relax. What your child fails to accomplish in first grade is not going to seriously impact the trajectory of their life. Especially if they are homeschooled, kids are able to come into to their abilities on their own timetable without any issues. Enjoy your 6 or 7 year old. They will only be this little once.

Also, skills that are difficult for a child to learn at a certain stage often come easily if you just give the child a little time. Don’t stress if your child does not seem to be retaining what you are trying to teach. When my daughter was in first grade, she had trouble remembering information like days of the week or the name of our hometown. I eventually gave up trying to teach them to her and now, a couple years later, she just knows them. Whatever it is, don’t worry, it will come!

Below is a summary of our family’s first grade curriculum choices by subject. Please note that we never fully complete any curriculum. While I tend to finish books that I’m reading aloud, I frequently choose just the activities that I think sound most interesting and beneficial. If our curriculum suggests activities or written work which doesn’t fit into our schedule, I have no problem skipping them. Leaving my kids plenty of unstructured time to play is a priority for me.

Language Arts

The most important language arts goal in first grade is continuing on the path toward becoming a reader. Some kids will be ready to start deciphering real books. Others will be through the first Harry Potter novels. Still others will have trouble remembering that “the” says “the.” Wherever your child is, don’t fret. To grow a reader, the most important skill to promote is helping your child learn to enjoy stories. Read alouds and audiobooks are more than sufficient.

Here are some resources that will be helpful to round out your child’s Language Arts education in first grade. You will not need all of these suggestions. While I have done all these activities with my children, I have not done them all with the same children all in the same year.

• Try to get your child hooked on a book series at an appropriate level. This will give them regular practice reading for pleasure.
• Also, be sure to regularly read aloud to your child. Choose both plenty of pictures books and longer chapter books. In first grade, my kids have enjoyed books like The Prairie Thief, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, and Ramona the Pest. Here are some more book suggestions for early elementary.
• Invest in a couple poetry books for kids. Our family likes Where the Sidewalk Ends and The Random House Book of Poetry for Children. Use the books to regularly hold poetry tea time.
• Whistling Whales is a great book for teaching kids multi-letter phonograms, like “ch,” “sh,” and “ck.” Learning phonograms is not necessary, but basic familiarity makes both reading and spelling easier. Once they have mastered these, Knitting Knights is the last book in the series with more advanced phonograms. (If they are still working on single letter sounds, start with Doodling Dragons.)
• Check out Jot it Down for fun, creative ideas to get your kids writing. Here is some free illustration paper and lined paper I created for new writers.
• Practice printing skills with the first grade level Handwriting Without Tears workbook.
• If you would like a complete first grade language arts curriculum for children who are not yet confident readers, I recommend either The Wand or Foundations curricula. Foundations begins at teaching children letter sounds. The Wand assumes children are fairly confident with letters and moves straight into multi-letter phonograms and grammar rules. While at different times I have used both curricula as loose guides and like them, I have never felt the need to complete either.
• For children who are already reading and are ready for handwriting, copywork using A Quiver of Arrows is a great way to teach grammar, spelling, and writing skills.

Math

I take a very low key approach to math in elementary school. While I love math and fully intend to have my kids studying calculus by the time they are in high school, I don’t rush it. Especially in first grade, I would rather my kids maintain an open mind and a positive attitude towards math than have them experience math as drudgery.

In first grade, my child spends about 20 minutes per week on math. I have created my own minimalist math curriculum for my elementary-aged kids by looking through various purchased curricula and using them to create 10 problems for my kids to do each week. We work on them together using hands-on manipulatives if needed.

Here are some math resources that you might find helpful.

• The cornerstone of my first grade math plan is my free printable first grade minimalist math curriculum that I created for my kids using problems from various traditional curricula. If nothing else, we always be sure to do these hand-selected 10 problems each week.
• I like to use Montessori-style manipulatives to help kids learn place value. Here is a set on Amazon and here is the DIY set that I made several years ago and still use with my kids. I love all of Montessori’s hands on learning material. You can find more free Montessori math material that I created here.
• Interlocking cubes will be more helpful in second and third grade when kids learn to regroup, but can be useful for simple addition and subtraction in first grade.
• A teaching clock is very helpful in teaching your child to tell time.
• To practice adding single digit numbers, we have used Addition Facts that Stick by Kate Snow. This includes both games and worksheets. My kids LOVE the games, but since I haven’t been overly concerned with their adding skills, we only play them about once a month. We don’t do anywhere near all the worksheets. My kids do about 2 of the worksheets per month. I have also used these resources on my Addition and Subtraction page to help my kids gain fluency with basic math facts.
• For a fun way to practice adding to 10, try the game Clumsy Thief Junior. For adding to 20, try Clumsy Thief in the Candy Shop.
• Logic puzzles may not be exactly math, but they are so fun and help children learn to think critically. I make them a regular part of our homeschool for all my kids and include them in my math folders in my homeschool crate system. For first grade, I use this Mind Benders Level 2 Book.

Science

As is my general approach with all science and social science, if you have an older elementary-aged homeschooling child, plan your science around them. Whatever you decide to do with your older child, find a way to include your younger children. You would be surprised what young children are capable of understanding. This past year, since my fourth grader studied chemistry, I had my kindergartner and second grader filling out electron shells as well. Will they retain it all? Probably not. But when they’re older and presented with terms like nucleus, protons, and molecules, they won’t be intimidated.

If your oldest child is in first grade, here are some science resources I have used and recommend:

• My kids LOVE Sassafras science, a living book based curriculum supported by written work and activities. It is an adventure story following a set of twins who learn all about different areas of science. While not necessary, the story line will make the most sense if the books are read in order. Secondary characters reappear in later novels, though they are always reintroduced. The first year of curriculum includes Zoology and Anatomy. If you decide to do this curriculum, you will need either the book or audiobook, the teacher’s guide, and the lapbook or Scidat logbook. Personally, I choose to have my kids do the lapbook rather than the Scidat logbook as it involves less writing. You can see some of our lapbooks in this review. I cut out all the pieces over the summer to make it easy during the school year. I file them away in our homeschool crate system.
• The other science curriculum we have used is REAL Science Odyssey from Pandia Press. I really like this curriculum. Honestly, I kind of prefer this one over Sassafras, though my kids disagree. I feel like it is very thorough and doesn’t take an excessive amount of time. The experiments are doable and fun and usually the worksheets can be completed in about 10 minutes. Even when we use Sassafras as our primary curriculum, I like to pull experiments and worksheets from the corresponding Pandia Press curriculum. (They make great samples for our charter school.) Though all of the REAL Science Odyssey curricula is meant for a broad age range, the recommended curriculum for first grade is Life: Level 1. This is a very gentle, but surprisingly rigorous introduction to the field of biology. If you decide to do Sassafras, you definitely do not need this guide, but note that it does include sections on animals and anatomy (the topics covered in Year One of Sassafras.)

Social Science

So far our family has only used one social science curricula in first grade: Story of the World. We just completed the four year curriculum this past school year. Since I like variety, next year we are planning to try the 4 year History Quest sequence from Pandia Press. If I don’t like it, I will happily go back to Story of the World.

Here are my recommended resources for Social Science in first grade.

• If you do not have older homeschooling children, start with Story of the World Volume 1: Ancient Times. It is the most appropriate volume for 1st grade. However, if you have an older child doing a later volume of Story of the World, just have your younger child join in where ever you are in the series. The only caveat is if you are doing Volume 4: Modern Times, it is not recommended for children under 4th grade due to the violent nature of modern history. I disregarded this recommendation and don’t think my young kids were traumatized, but be aware so you can decide what is appropriate for your family.
• When I was doing Ancient Times with my oldest back when he was in first grade, somehow I had no idea there was an accompanying Activity Guide. Since I didn’t know there was an Activity Guide, back when we did Ancient Times, instead I used Evan Moor’s History Pockets: Ancient Civilizations. I think this is a really high quality product and our family has enjoyed several History Pockets. (Just FYI, Evan Moor has a service called TeacherFileBox.com in which you pay $100/year for the ability to print (but not save) ALL of their printables. They have A LOT. Depending on what you decide, this might be well worth the investment.)
• We have used the Story of the World Activity Book for the last 3 volumes. There are way too many ideas in these guides to fit into a school year. All I have chosen to pull from the activity guides are the map work, chapter summaries, and occasionally coloring pages. Very rarely have we done the hands-on activities or supplemental reading, but the activity guide is still well worth having. It is a treasure trove of suggestions.
• There is also a Story of the World audiobook narrated by Jim Weiss (our favorite storyteller). If you do a lot of car travel, the audiobook is great. Since I do not, and my kids and I have trouble paying attention to audiobooks at home, I prefer to read aloud to my kids.
• In case you are interested, Story of the World volumes also have an accompanying book of tests. So far, I have never used the tests.
• I highly recommend investing in a globe and world map. If you have space, a large laminated wall map is nice so you can mark on it. If not, they make relatively inexpensive, foldable fabric maps that are practically indestructible. We got one at Target for just a few dollars.
• Geopuzzles are also a fun way to learn about geography.

I hope our family’s first grade curriculum choices are helpful to you. Whatever you decide, I am sure your child will get an excellent education. I wish you lots of luck on your homeschool journey!

Related Links

Homeschooling Articles
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