family life: time together, traditions, parenting, organization, foundations, and more
It’s been busy here for the last few days, with our insane weather and with FutureCity, Toy Fair, and National Center for Families Learning Summit all in the last week. But somewhere in between all of this …
It’s been snowing a whole lot over here for the last few weeks, and in fact, this week, about 15 inches of the white stuff were dumped on us. So this mama has had to pull out the stops when …
The following guest post is written by A.J. Juliani, an author, teacher, and ‘learning addict’.  A.J. is a K-12 Technology Educator who believes in #20time and #geniushour. He’s a father and blogger, and you need to check him out. He’s …
I love the idea of doing some sort of service project for the community to honor Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy. Â Imagine how great the world would be if every family did something small for others to celebrate Martin Luther …
The following guest post is written by Natalie, of Afterschool for Smarty Pants.  Natalie shares ways she enriches her daughter’s learning at home, after school. Check it out. —————————— As you can guess from my blog title, Smarty is a …
Join over 5,000+ subscribers who receive fun, free ideas for making learning FUN and meaningful each week! In our little space in this big world, Rainbow Loom bracelets are all the rage. They’re everywhere. They’re all around. Boys, …
It has been such an amazing summer. I am desperately, terribly, incredibly sad to see it go. But here we are. Marching forward. At my kids’ request, I whipped up another batch of lunchbox love notes. This time, they’re silly, …
We’re week three into our tabletop surprises, and this week, we rocked some sneaky math, literacy, and creative thinking. The kids woke up to some easy activities and ones that required more thinking—and two that required more movement. Sign language …
Summer is kicking us hard over here. Actually, swim and dive are kicking us hard over here, like always. And at five weeks in, between meets, practices, relays, pep rallies, and team events, our family has run a …
We are big into managing our kids’ screen time over here, and that’s no secret. Though we truly value all they can learn with the help of technology, and we also know that they need a whole lot of time …
Totally new-for-us this last month was something that I wish we would have done sooner, but I think our kids are finally at just-the-right age. Just like the ole days (at least for me!) we spent a recent, wintery Friday …
Ever have one of those days when you need a serious pat on the back? A hug? A gold star? Ever wish that at the end of the day that you’d get a high-five from anyone for being a half-decent …
Halloween is over, so our joke notes are pushed to the wayside. Our wordless riddles are taking a break, and the troops are ready for someserious lunchtime fun before the holidays hit. When I asked Maddy, Owen, and Cora what …
Every day is a little bit different in our house—and everyone’s house. But deep down, we all thrive on consistency, on patterns, on schedules. I’ve always been a big fan of implementing a daily schedule for kids, even when parents …
One of my first, most distinct happy, happy memories was when I was six years old. I was eating my very first lunch out of my very first lunchbox, in my first-ever time in the cafeteria, on my very first …
One of our most favorite parts of summer is making our Summer Fun Cards. We’ve made them for the past three years, and each year I’m thrilled that each year the kids really seem to get into it. Summer Fun …
We were on a major word search kick a while back, but we’ve taken a good long rest from them. So in honor of our upcoming Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, I decided to bring back this oldie but goodie …
disney fun fact lunchbox notes | fun facts about disney world that will get kids ready for the trip or remembering fun times | walt disney world | lunchbox
Who knows what happened to winter this year? I am convinced that we had absolutely no snow this year because this was the first time I ever–ever!–bought snow boots for Maddy and Owen (because lucky Cora has Maddy’s hand-me-downs) before …
I’ve been waiting for two years now to bling Owen’s backpack like we did when Maddy started Kindergarten, but I knew I couldn’t make felt flower pins for him. He needed something cool, something quick, and something totally big-guy. And …
