Have you read anything by Maya Angelou? She left as an amazing body of work, something for everyone. As part of the Literary Life 20 for 2020 Reading Challenge I read "And Still I Rise" a book of her poetry. Her poetry is poetry I understand, poetry I could relate to, and poetry that made … Continue reading New Book List – Fearless Female – Maya Angelou

Every morning after breakfast, my husband announces he's going to work (all the way upstairs) and both our girls charge at him for hugs and kisses. When I saw this book I immediately thought of our morning ritual and had to have him read it to our girls. The Story: I Love You Like, by … Continue reading I Love You Like…

Like Zora in Zora's Zucchini by Katherine Pryor & Anna Raff, we have a zucchini problem this year. We planted our zucchini in the same bed we did last year, and when little squash plans started popping up all over I didn't have the heart to rip them out. In Zora's Zucchini, Zora ends up … Continue reading Zora’s Zucchini

Did you know there are between 70,000 and 100,000 people in the US who have Sickle Cell Disease currently, and millions more who carry the trait? We’ve been getting a crash course on Sickle Cell Disease recently. My husband, who has always worked on blood disease treatments, recently started working at Aruvant, and is currently … Continue reading Sickle Cell Disease

We've been having so much from with these Learning Seashore Animals lessons from Simple Studies that I haven't had enough time to keep up with the posts, so I'm smashing these together. Here's a little more about each of the books we used to go along with the lessons. Lesson 7 - Clams: When the … Continue reading Learning Seashore Animals – Lessons 7-10

Although we didn't get to go blueberry picking this year (it's too peopley out there), we have been blessed with tons of blueberries from our local farm through our farmshare. We all sat down to heaping bowls of blueberries for snack time today and read these wonderful books to immerse ourselves in the true blueberry … Continue reading Blueberries

If you walk past our house in the evenings there's a good chance you will hear the polka blasting from our Alexa. We recently discovered our nearly 1 1/2 year old, who has always loved to dance, has a thing for the polka. She gets so excited when it comes on, and her little feet … Continue reading Miss Juju and Her Tutu

Have you ever had a seagull swipe something from you while sitting on the beach? It happened to me when I was a teenager. I had a bag of snacks sitting next to me one minute, the next minute it was gone! They are smart and opportunistic little critters. Big Kid loves birds, so she … Continue reading Learning Seashore Animals – Lesson 6

Have you ever watched a child play tag with the waves? They generally have a look of pure delight on their faces. Last week Big Kid said to me "Mommy, sometimes the ocean jumps up and kisses my face". I'm still thinking about it. It is such a poetic way to think about the ocean … Continue reading Wordless Book Wednesday – Wave

Since reading chapter 5 of The Burgess Seashore Book for Children, and reading some of the books recommended in the Learning Seashore Animals Simple Study (more about that here) we have been on a hermit crab kick. When I was younger there were jetties on our beach, and the beaches closest to us. Due to … Continue reading Learning Seashore Animals – Lesson 5

Anyone feeling crabby? We finished up lesson 4 of Learning Seashore Animals from Simple Studies with The Burgess Seashore Book for Children yesterday and learned all about crabs. After we practiced walking like crabs, we did some crab symmetry puzzles and looked at the anatomy of a crab (I learned a lot from that one) … Continue reading Lesson 4 Learning Seashore Animals

After reading chapter 3 in The Burgess Seashore book for Children we looked at some reference books to find out more about shore birds and tattlers in particular. We are having so much fun using Learning Seashore Animals from Simple Studies as a guide for our seashore learning. You can check out more about how … Continue reading Learning Seashore Animals – Lesson 3

Do you have a favorite shore bird? Sandpipers are definitely one of my favorites to watch scamper along the shoreline. Today we did lesson 2 in Learning Seashore Animals which corresponds to Chapter 2 in The Burgess Seashore Book for Children. In this chapter Danny Meadow Mouse encounters a sandpiper and tries to get his … Continue reading Learning Seashore Animals – Lesson 2

What seashore reference books are your favorite? These are the ones we are keeping handy as we work through Learning Seashore Animals with The Burgess Seashore Book for Children. I chose these for our study because of their beautiful, detailed illustrations, their appeal to young children, and their "fun fact" style. They are not dense … Continue reading Learning Seashore Animals – Nonfiction

Has anyone else been looking forward to heading to the beach? We cannot express how excited we are to finally be at the seashore for a few weeks. Even Little Kid at 15 months, screamed "beach" as only a little one can, the morning I told her we were leaving. There's just something about the … Continue reading Learning Seashore Animals