Curiosity Inspired Learning

11/25/2023

Fall decorations are getting tucked away to make room for Nutcrackers, angels, and greenery. But these hand-sewn turkeys the kids made can’t help but make me smile. Each stitch lovingly placed, the eyes glued on to show silly expressions… such treasures to me.

05/14/2023

Happy Mother’s Day!!!
🌸💐🌼

My kids know I love a good homemade card 💕

03/27/2023

Our tea times are definitely more rustic these days and mostly outdoors. But this is a fun memory!! We love Hearth Magic guides!! Thanks for sharing ❤️

“Spring was moving in the air above and in the earth below and around him, penetrating even his dark and lowly little house with its spirit of divine discontent and longing.”
― Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

Although I know were not quite out of the woods, here in Michigan, I can feel the stirrings of Spring weather!

As you make your plans for April, consider visiting the world of Mr. Toad, Mole, Rat and Badger. Perfect for lazy days of drinking tea, messing about in boats and enjoying the changes in nature that Spring has to offer.

For 6 more days, you can get this guide and receive any other Book guide for free!!!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/686035061/the-wind-in-the-willows-family-learning

Lovely image by: https://www.instagram.com/curiosityinspiredlearning/

03/24/2023

Every single time we head outdoors I am thankful. Thankful to breathe the fresh air and to see my kids play in natural landscapes and appreciate nature. It isn’t always easy to get outside, though, as we have a toddler who is constantly testing boundaries and our patience. 😂 But, it’s worth it every time.
Recently, I read “The Open-Air Life” by Linda Åkeson Mcgurk. It really reiterated my beliefs on creating a family culture of enjoying time together outside. Typically, we go on night walks together after dinner. But as the days lengthen, we’ve been able to do more activities like flying kites, riding bikes, and climbing trees. What are some of your family’s favorite ways to enjoy the great outdoors?

11/07/2022

The kids turned boxes into a castle a few weeks ago. 🏰

In my undergraduate studies, I read the book “Engaging Children’s Minds: The Project Approach” by Lilian Katz and Sylvia Chard. It forever impacted the way I look at education and shaped the way I teach today in the classroom as well as at home. It’s a great read if you haven’t read it already.
I love the natural discussions that took place over the course of the project. I heard my children discussing how “a real medieval castle would have had a proper portcullis.” And “just like we read about, the straight walls help eliminate blind spots.” This project was kid-inspired and as you can probably tell by the finished product, completely child-led. 😆 It was a fun project to complete after our in-depth study of castles.

10/31/2022

You may have already exchanged happy halloweens with your friends, but did you know that today is also reformation day?! Incase no one has said it to you yet, happy reformation day!
We are thankful that in 1517, Martin Luther posted The 95 Theses. ❤️

10/01/2022

We thoroughly enjoyed the Old English Faire at Stronghold in Oregon, IL. It made my homeschool momma heart SO happy to see my kids making connections with what we’ve been studying about the Middle Ages. They appreciated the demonstrations, performances, craftsmen, and merchants.
THIS is one of the reasons we homeschool! If you live in the area, we highly recommend checking it out! The faire is going on tomorrow as well! ❤️

09/30/2022

We’ve been learning about the Middle Ages this year as we continue to incorporate timeline, geography, as well as some history memory work from . The kids drew and painted these castles while I read David Macaulay’s book “Castles”. We also played a new favorite timeline game: get the timeline cards back in order while the timeline song plays. The challenge— little brother’s curious toddler hands will continue to grab and mix up cards to thwart your efforts 😅

09/28/2022

📬 🧚‍♀️
Fairy mail has quickly become a new favorite part of our homeschool! Every Monday, we receive a letter from a fairy. Each fairy also brings 4 letter poems, or poems that go along with the motions on how to form both the uppercase and lowercase letters. The fairies use the poems in all sorts of different ways. My kids love taking the wands that they made to practice the letter motions in the air while reciting the letter poems. It has been such a fun way to review letter formation! Here’s a quick summary of how we have incorporated fairy mail into our homeschool:
Monday- read fairy mail! Draw a picture of the new fairy. Learn letter 1 wand motions with poem. Write letter 1 on paper.
Tuesday- learn letter 2 wand motions with poem. Write letter 2 in sand tray.
Wednesday- learn letter 3 wand motions with poem. Write letter 3 in rainbow colors.
Thursday- learn letter 4 wand motions with poem. Write letter 4 in sensory table.
Friday- review this week’s letters in sand tray. Write letters on special paper to hang in our classroom as we create our word wall.

✨ Background story:
My left-handed daughter was struggling with letter formation. She always wanted to form the letters her own way, and although they looked neat, she wasn’t forming them correctly. And I’m a STICKLER for correct letter formation. I knew we needed to work on that this year. So I was beyond thrilled to discover Fairy Mail!!
I found this homeschool block on Etsy in shop! This post is not sponsored, I’m just sharing something we have been enjoying 😊

09/23/2022

We practiced some of our fall Spanish vocabulary at the pumpkin patch today! Language learning is so much more effective when we can provide real, meaningful input for our kiddos. 🍁 🎃

08/20/2022

Our dried sunflowers are missing their petals, but our lemon sugar cookies happened to be clumped in a flower-like shape. 🌻
It’s funny how things we are learning about seem more apparent and visible during our studies. Does this happen to anyone else?! 😂

08/11/2022

🌻Sunny Sunflower🌻

Sunny sunflower yellow and tall
turning toward the August sun.

Sunny sunflower golden and full
dropping petals on the ground.

Sunny sunflower drooping and dry
sharing seeds to critters’ delight.

Sunny sunflower goodbye for now
closing summer in cheerful glory.

🌻
We visited last week and admired their beautiful sunflower fields! I’m having the kids write poems about sunflowers. We are also going to dry and harvest the sunflower seeds from the sunflowers we cut!!