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How We Build Unit Studies

How We Build Unit Studies

Unit studies are a fun way to pick a topic that your child is interested in and base all your schooling around that. Some families exclusively do unit studies as their way to home educate. As you might be aware, we typically use the Charlotte Mason method of education (though we aren’t purists). We have found a wonderful curriculum that works well for us. However, sometimes my daughter becomes so…

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My Favorite Books of 2021

My Favorite Books of 2021

One of my favorite things to do at the end of the year is look back on all of the books I read. It’s fun to reflect on what I loved reading, what I didn’t, things I learned and ways I grew. I read a lot more than I thought I would (Goodreads says 190 books, but that incudes books I didn’t finish and short stories, so those numbers are certainly skewed).  I tried to branch out and read more varied…

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Our 4th Grade Curriculum Choices

Our 4th Grade Curriculum Choices

Remember how I previously mentioned that I would blog a lot more after we had moved? Apparently I lied. Normally I would do a post before the beginning of the school year with all the curriculums we plan to use and subjects we hope to cover. Three months later, I am finally making the time to talk about it. Hopefully you can excuse my lateness.  (This post contains affiliate links. I may earn a…

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Homeschool Year in Review - 3rd Grade

Homeschool Year in Review – 3rd Grade

It’s been a while since I blogged about our specific homeschooling plans. Normally I would do a wrap of the year in May or June, but a move put me a bit behind. So, here is a recap of our homeschool year … better late than never! If you’d like to read more about why we decided to homeschool, check out this post. (This post contains affiliate links. I may earn a small commission at no extra cost…

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Catching Up with the Doyles

Catching Up with the Doyles

In my last post, I promised a life update. A lot has changed for our family in the last couple of months! If you’re mostly here for book reviews or homeschooling posts, this might not interest you as much. If that’s you, normal content is coming soon! If you’re interested in hearing about what our little family is up to, read on! The biggest news is that we moved! In case you didn’t know, we were…

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June 2021 Reading Wrap Up

June 2021 Reading Wrap Up

Hey, friends! Long time, no talk. Life has been really crazy lately (I will do a life update blog very soon!), so I haven’t been blogging very much. Now that things are starting to settle down a bit, I’m looking forward to getting back into the blogging groove. I have remained fairly active on my YouTube channel, where I primarily talk about the books I’ve been reading, but that’s pretty much all…

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March 2021 Reading Wrap Up

March 2021 Reading Wrap Up

I’m a little late sharing my March reading wrap up, but life has been a little crazy lately! March was a very busy reading month. I ended the month by reading 20 books! I participated in a reading challenge during the first week of the month and also enjoyed participating in Middle Grade March. A lot of the books I enjoyed this month were middle grade or YA books, which is why I was able to get…

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Curriculum Review: The Good and the Beautiful Science

Curriculum Review: The Good and the Beautiful Science

Science has always been a subject that we have struggled to find our footing in. That’s a little odd, because I have always loved science, but apparently I prefer learning about it to teaching it? It’s been difficult to find a curriculum that fit my teaching style, Claire’s learning style and combines good books with experiments. The Good and the Beautiful is a newer curriculum that has become…

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February 2021 Reading Wrap Up

February 2021 Reading Wrap Up

It’s that time again! Time for another reading wrap up! February was a busy reading month for me, despite the fact that it was a short month. I finished 15 books! Most of them were pretty enjoyable, but there were a few duds as well. As normal, I will be including the highlights in this blog post, but if you’d like a full rundown of everything I read, you can watch my wrap up video below. I…

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January 2021 Reading Wrap Up

January 2021 Reading Wrap Up

It’s that time again! Time to share what Claire and I have been reading this month. It’s been a few months since I’ve posted a reading wrap up. In December, I was busy and then I decided to post 2020 reading recaps in lieu of a monthly wrap up.  Check out my 2020 reading recap post here Check out our 2020 read aloud reading recap here I also have an exciting announcement! I have started a YouTube…

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Helping Your Child Cope with the Loss of a Pet

Helping Your Child Cope with the Loss of a Pet

2020 was difficult for a lot reasons, but the hardest part for our family was losing two pets. Both animals were young and their deaths were very sudden and unexpected. The most devastating loss was my daughter’s favorite cat, Henry. Up to that point, she had never experienced any sort of death in her life. While I’m grateful for that, it didn’t make Henry’s passing easier to bear.  I’m not an…

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2020 Reading Recap

One of my favorite thing to do at the end of the year is look back on my reading. In 2020, my goal was to read 100 books. As of this blog post, I have completed 171 books! It was pretty fun to see my stats on Goodreads. Don’t be too impressed, as a lot of the books I completed were middle grade. Some of them were pre-reading for Claire, some of them were reading with Claire (yes, I count read…

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The Best Beachbody Programs for Beginners

The Best Beachbody Programs for Beginners

I’ve been meaning to write this post for a while, but with New Years approaching, the time felt right. Many people make New Years resolutions to exercise more and eat better. Whether you overindulged during the holidays, aren’t feeling great, want to take better care of yourself or want the healthy outlet of working out, it’s always a great decision to take better care of yourself. But it can…

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2020 Reading Recap - Read Aloud Edition

2020 Reading Recap – Read Aloud Edition

As 2020 is coming to a close, it’s always fun to assess our reading over the year. I keep a log of all the books Claire and I read together – whether it’s for school or just for fun. I tallied up the chapter books we read together in 2020. Our grand total was 34! Most of them fell into the classic or fantasy genre, but we also read some mysteries, contemporaries and funny books. Claire and I…

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The Ultimate List of Kids Chapter Books

The Ultimate List of Kids Chapter Books

It’s so exciting when your child starts reading independently! Before you know it, they’re on to beginner chapter books. But what about when beginner chapter books are too short or babyish? 

Check out our favorite beginner chapter books here.

There’s another category of chapter books called middle grade. They’re supposed to be for ages 8-12, but many of them offer up more mature themes (divorce,…

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October Reading Wrap Up

October Reading Wrap Up

These reading wrap ups are some of my favorite posts! I absolutely love talking about books (in case you haven’t noticed). I’ve been considering starting a booktube channel on YouTube solely to discuss books. For right now, though, I’m going to continue writing about them. Maybe someday I’ll do both.

I read a ton of books this month (26!) and a huge reason for that is that I participated in my…

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10 Bible Verses When You're Feeling Anxious

10 Bible Verses When You’re Feeling Anxious

It feels like there are so many reasons to live in anxiety, especially in this day and age. But as Christians, God tells us not to fear or be anxious. He promises us that He is with us. How do we know what He has promised? We have the Bible – the God-breathed, inspired word of God. When the world is spinning out of control and everything seems gray, His word is black and white. Though it was…