This post contains affiliate links, and when you purchase anything after clicking them it benefits my family. Thank you for your support of this site!

• Halfway through summer reading :: From contributor Anne Bogel of Modern Mrs. Darcy
• What I learned on my summer vacation :: Vitafamiliae
• Why math instruction is unnecessary :: TEDx
• How to make an upcycled playhouse :: Clean
• When life hands you the too big fork :: Sacred Mundane
• Postcards from De Smet & our Little House Road Trip :: My post this week on Steady Mom

My recommendations this week:

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This post contains affiliate links, and when you purchase anything after clicking them it benefits my family. Thank you for your support of this site!

Trishna attending “school” at the Ingalls Homestead – De Smet, South Dakota

• 14 resources for studying the United States :: From contributor Kris Bales of Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers
• Dear new homeschool mom :: Jen McDonald
• FREE Construction Equipment & Truck BINGO Pack :: Free Homeschool Deals (Looks good for road trips!)
• 5 reasons not to quit after the first year of homeschooling :: Sallie Borrink Learning
• How Finland keeps kids focused through free play :: The Atlantic
• Postcards from Pepin and Walnut Grove & our Little House Road Trip :: My posts this week on Steady Mom

My recommendations this week:

Have you ever checked out the McGuffey’s readers, originally published in the mid-1800s? My daughter likes these illustrated versions, which we downloaded to her Kindle for only $1.99.

I love that they include excerpts from classics with the sweet illustrations as well (the free versions do NOT have illustrations, fyi). You can also get these in paperback/hardcover.

I wasn’t sure if this edition of Anne would be worth the investment since you can get other versions cheaper, but it arrived this week and yay – a total score!

Beautiful illustrations (both color & b/w throughout) and the colorful hardcover make it super-appealing.

We recently watched our first of the Disneynature series and I found it inspiring!

I loved the combo of documentary with a narrative story, beautifully done and slow-paced (as opposed to so many movies these days!) I’d recommend for ages 7 and up.

This was the book I read way back when my boys were still toddlers that gave me a vision for a new way to “do education” in our family! It completely resonated with what I knew to be true in my heart and what I so badly wanted to be true for my kids.

Now several years later we are still on the same path it started us out on, and it has definitely been the right one for us.

Featured sponsors this week:

Katie from Gadanke creates the most beautiful handmade journals for kids & adults, with fill-in-the-blank prompts that help get minds (& hands!) working instead of freezing up at the sight of a blank page.

Check out one of her newest additions – a mother-son journal “Between Mom & Me.” Find the daughter version, travel journals, and tons more at her site.

We swing both ways when it comes to 4th of July around here! ‪#‎Britishhusband‬ ‪#‎Americanwife‬

And check out our Big Ben 3D puzzle from our Little Passports England box! We’re having fun with this tour of the world that shows up in our mailbox each month. 

Julie from Brave Writer has a beautiful approach to writing in the homeschool - using it to strengthen family relationships (as opposed to pulling them apart!) She offers both curriculum to use at home and online classes with direct instruction.

You can even find free writing lessons here to download and sample.

Blessings on you and yours…

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

This post contains affiliate links.

So many Little House trip photos, so little time! This one from the Ingalls’ Homestead, De Smet, SD

• Be here now. (We’ll get there someday) :: From contributor Kara Anderson of Quill and Camera
• Reading aloud imperfectly (A conversation with Jim Weiss) :: Amongst Lovely Things
• I’m not waiting for the next house :: Modern Mrs. Darcy
• I wrote a homeschool curriculum :: Seamless
• The hard work of making your dreams come true :: My post this week on Steady Mom

A special welcome and thank you to the sponsors here on
Simple Homeschool for the month of July!
Take a few moments to check out the incredible resources
they have to offer your family:

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This post contains affiliate links, and when you purchase anything after clicking them it benefits my family. Thank you for your support of this site!

• Poor man’s water table :: From contributor Amida of Journey into Unschooling
• City and country: The school where it all began for me :: BBC News
• Summer writing ideas for kids :: Frugal Fun for Boys
• Why I’m throwing out the bucket :: Quill and Camera
• Scheduling your day without losing your mind :: Life Your Way

My recommendations this week:

Looking for a homeschool resource to teach your kids cursive? This book is what I use with Trishna and we like it.

With short lessons (10 minutes), it starts with the easiest strokes and progresses from there. And it’s non-consumable, so you can use it with multiple kids!

These “first” encyclopedias by DK Publishing are my favs to purchase. I add a couple each year to our home library, and it seems like not a day goes by when I don’t see one of my kids flipping through them.

They are full of colorful photographs, diagrams, and fascinating info. Highly recommended for ages 5-10+!

We just got our Little Passports package from England in the mail this week, but did you know that they also offer another subscription just for the USA?

For ages 7-12, “visit” two states each month with recipes, connect the dots, mazes, and other activities to learn more as you travel the US.

Featured sponsors this week:

Reading Rainbow was a huge part of my journey toward falling in love with books way back when, so I was thrilled to donate toward their Kickstarter campaign to bring it back via the web to homes and give it free to needy schools!

They have just 11 days left of their campaign and about $1 million left to raise – even a few dollars makes a difference.

Oak Meadow’s curriculum goes from PreK-12th grade and their unique approach is both academic yet still infused with a sense of heart and imagination.

You can use their program independently or enroll in their fully accredited distance learning school for support! I’ve been inspired by many of their materials over the years.

Artterro offers a collection of inspirational eco-friendly art kits. I love that they are open-ended–so kids can really let their creativity run wild with them.

We have the needle felting kit and I have to say I enjoyed it as much as the kids–simple and a fun way to spend time together.

These Magic School Bus Science labs on Weather, Engineering, Polymers, and Chemistry look fun to have on hand over the summer for ages 5-10…and for just a few days Educents has them on sale even cheaper than Amazon Prime!

Blessings on you and yours this week…

“Our care of the child should be governed, not by the desire to make him learn things, but by the endeavor always to keep burning within him that light which is called intelligence.”
~ Maria Montessori