Teaching Kids to Read {TIPsters}

Make sure you visit Kristin & Christy for their thoughts on today’s topic. 

Okay, right off the bat, let me tell you that none of my children are full fledged readers. So today I'm simply going to share some ideas, tools, and posts that have been helpful for me as I help my children on their journey to reading.

In a nutshell, the journey to reading starts with learning to identify the letters of the alphabet and the sounds that they make. Be sure to check out all of our Alphabet Ideas. If you're looking for an easy way to help kids learn letters and sounds, you may also want to check out the Letter Factory DVD, all of our kids love it! Also follow our Alphabet Activities board to keep up with all the great ideas we come across on the web.

Once children know the letters and the sounds they make, they begin to work on combining letters to make different sounds and words. This is where our oldest, Emahry, is right now. She loves sounding out words and has started reading though Set 1 of the Bob Books.

We've also been working on the Pre-Primer and Primer sets of Dolch sight words to help her develop into a fluent reader. I've been making some fun printable pages for sight words that I hope to share soon.


Here are some other activities that we've tried and enjoyed:

:: Sight Word Cube and Magna Doodle from Life With My Giggly Girls

:: Phonics Flip Book from Kids Activities Blog

:: The You Can Read Program from 1+1+1=1


And here are a handful of posts that give lots of great ideas for teaching kids to read:

:: What to do After Kids Learn their ABC’s: Next Steps to Reading from Teach Mama

:: Teach Your Child to Read from A-Z from Playdough to Plato


:: 10 Ways to Learn Sight Words through Play from Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas

:: 10 Steps to Teaching Your Child to Read from I Can Teach My Child



Also, be sure to follow our Teach Me To Read board for a lot more activities and inspiration.

Check out the blog parties we like to join

This Post is Sponsored by:

Learn Your Letters, Learn To Serve Complete Curriculum Kit

This 240+ page downloadable or hard copy kit includes thorough lesson plans, games, crafts, recipes, memory verses, Bible story suggestions, vocabulary stimulation and discussion, play, books to read and so much more…all while encouraging service to God!

Please visit my fellow TIPsters:

Kristin @ Bits & Pieces from my Life and 

Christy @ A Living Homeschool

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Schooling Kids of Different Ages {TIPsters}

Make sure you visit Kristin & Christy for their thoughts on today’s topic. Also hop on over and see what Suanna, our guest TIPster has to say.

Are you homeschooling with more than one child at home this school year? If so, I bet the thought of how to juggle the different needs of your little (or not so little) learners has crossed your mind. How can we, as moms, effectively meet the needs of children of multiple ages? I'm definitely not an expert here, although I may be by the time everything is said and done.

This school year I will be teaching a 5 year old, 4 year old, 2 1/2 year old, and 1 year old. My head is already spinning :)

My plan is to implement 3 main practices.

Schooling Kids of Different Ages

1. Learn through real life. While I'm not officially labeling our family unschoolers, I do believe that children can learn so much by being involved in the ins and outs of normal life-- math in the grocery store, art at the kitchen table, science in the backyard, health at a dental appointment. At least in the younger years, most of the subjects we're required to teach can easily be incorporated in a hands-on, literacy-rich environment, as long as we're aware enough to make them teachable moments.

2. Do it together. The majority of our learning will happen with all the little ones present. While the baby may not be fully involved she'll definitely be close by. Of course, some of our studies (mainly Reading and Math) will be geared towards our oldest, but there are simple ways to include younger siblings.

For other subjects like Bible, History, Science, Art, Music, Health, and Physical Education we'll all easily be involved in the same activities. For example our "official" Bible studies will be continuing with breakfast readings from 365 Read-Aloud Bedtime Bible Stories. We'll also be walking through the Bible with the What's in the Bible? DVDs and the My Bible Coloring Book. We'll be continuing to focus on prayer with our Prayer Pail and we'll keep memorizing scripture with this simple Scripture Memory Box system (which, by the way, we love). For more ideas check out our Raising Children for God Pinterest board.

3. Have fun, hands-on learning tools ready for younger children. Younger sibling don't want to feel left out, so make them some special "school time" toys of their own. We have a selection of preschool appropriate busy bags, craft supplies, and manipulatives ready for our little learners. If you like to sew you could always make an oh. so. sweet quiet book for your littlest ones. (We'll be sharing some of the busy bags we've put together soon.)

So, what will our typical day look like? Well, I'm guessing anything but typical, I've been a mom long enough to know that things never run as planned and that children are not predictable.

But, our little ones will be learning some of the most important lessons of all, how to love God, get along with others, love learning, and put their toys away. Really, what more could we want? :)

Check out the blog parties we like to join

Please visit my fellow TIPsters:

Kristin @ Bits & Pieces from my Life and 

Christy @ A Living Homeschool
and visit Suanna, our guest TIPster.

Coming Soon:

August 21: Teaching Kids to Read

(Remember if you'd like to guest host an upcoming TIPster post, just let me know.)

Be sure to click the link in the first email to activate your subscription.

Tips for Taking Family Photos {TIPsters}

Make sure you visit Kristin & Christy for their thoughts on today’s topic.

I am by no means an expert photographer. In fact, although I dream of having a fancy DSLR, my only camera is a Canon point and shoot. 

But I don't think that has to stop me from taking pictures of my family. I love taking pictures of our daily lives. I love capturing the ways our children are growing and the interaction between family members.

So here are my Top Ten Tips for Taking Family Photos

Be sure to check out my Photography Inspiration Board for lots of great ideas.

1. Use natural light. Take pictures when and where you don't need to use the flash. Also, make your subject's eyes sparkle by having them look toward a natural source of light (like a window).

2. Take lots of candid shots, but sprinkle in a few posed ones, too. Candid photographs tend to capture personalities and emotions better, but it is nice to try to get a photo of everyone smiling at the camera every once in a while.

(Yes, Amelia was this pink when she was a newborn.)

3. Realize that with small children, having someone not looking at the camera is better than having someone crying :)

4. Take lots of pictures. This is the huge benefit of digital photography, you can take 50 pictures and only decide to pay for printing the very best one or two.

5. Capture the same event every month or year. Since Amelia was born last August, we've been taking a photo of her in the same location (and onesie) each month. I love seeing how she's growing! I had a friend growing up whose parents took a picture every year of their children's expressions when they first came down the stairs on Christmas morning.

6. Take pictures of the messy. Don't just fill your albums or scrapbooks with the beautiful, staged, cleaned-up-for-a-photo shots, but let your children remember life how it actually was. Pictures of laundry mountains and cookie-baking kitchen disasters could bring back wonderful memories for them. This also goes for simply taking pictures in general. Looking back, your kids won't care if you didn't have the best camera or didn't really know how to take good pictures.

7. Don't always be behind the camera. I'm actually really bad at this one, but find ways to get yourself into pictures with your family. Ask someone else to take a picture or use some of these creative ways to photograph yourself with your kids. And don't worry, they won't care if your shirt has a spot on it or if your hair is a mess, looking back, they'll just love seeing you involved in their childhood.

8. Edit your photos. Even with free online editing tools (my favorite is picmonkey.com) you can make a photo look much better than it did straight-out-of-the-camera.

9. For the posed family shots it helps to have a photographer's assistant. Recently our extended family got together for Father's Day and decided to take a new family photo. Unfortunately, the only time we could take one was after the older kids woke up from a much-too-short nap and before Amelia went down for a much needed nap. Having a family friend there to dance and act silly was so much better than just telling the kids to smile.

10. Your turn...What are some of your tips for taking family photos? Please, share your ideas in the comments section.

Check out the blog parties we like to join

Please visit my fellow TIPsters:

Kristin @ Bits & Pieces from my Life and 

Christy @ A Living Homeschool

Coming Soon:

August 7: Schooling Kids of Different Ages
August 21: Teaching Kids to Read

(Remember if you'd like to guest host an upcoming TIPster post, just let me know.)

Be sure to click the link in the first email to activate your subscription.

Quick & Easy Summer Meals {TIPsters}: Summer Salad Inspirations

Make sure you visit Kristin & Christy for their thoughts on today’s topic, as well as our guest TIPster Jillian from Hi! It's Jilly.

As I've mentioned before, our family eats very simply, so almost all of our meals would be considered quick and easy. I love how planning and preparing the same simple meals frees up some time for making more food from scratch. 

If I spent more time making dinner every night I'd probably be overwhelmed by the thought of cooking my own dried beans, preparing fresh milk kefir daily, picking a year's worth of blueberries to freeze, making vegetable broth, and baking soaked whole wheat sandwich bread. Most definitely, I'd be discouraged about trying to find time to tend to our own organic, pasture raised chickens. So for our family the trade off is very much worth it (and my husband agrees).

But, during the summer my dinner plan gets even easier. Most nights during the summer our family enjoys a delicious main dish salad. I try to add some type of protein, which for our family typically means cooked chicken or beans, although nuts and hard boiled eggs are sometimes scattered on top of our fresh veggies. 

While I love salads at restaurants, sometimes eating a salad at home can get a little boring. We've found that having lots of different veggies and a variety of toppings and dressings can help break up the boredom. I've been experimenting with homemade dressings and I'm dreaming of having several dressings mixed up in mason jars and stored in the fridge for salad duty rotations.

A few years ago we hosted a blog link up for salad recipes, but recently I've been turning to Pinterest for some ideas to freshen up our salads. So today, I'm sharing my top 10 Summer Salad inspirations.

Now, let's face it, some salads require a lot of chopping which cuts down on their quick and easy label, so I often pre-chop a large number of veggies at one time and store them in the fridge. At the very least I like to get everything chopped up during naptime so the before dinner scramble doesn't catch me by surprise.

And remember these are inspirations, salads aren't an exact science, so feel free to substitute what you have in the garden or already in your fridge to make these salads work for your family.

50+ Homemade Salad Dressings

Grilled Chicken Corn Salad

Pizza Chicken Salad

Cilantro Lime Chickpea Salad

Green Bean Summer Salad

Grilled Chicken & Fruit Salad (with homemade poppyseed dressing)

(Our kids love when we add fruit to our salads, in fact we add some apple slices to most salads. We cut the apple in quarters, cut out the core and slice the apple very thinly with a mandolin slicer. We use half of an apple divided among all of us.)

Rainbow Asian Slaw

Chicken, Avocado & Black Bean Salad

Cranberry Avocado Salad

and my personal all-time favorite Asian Noodle Salad

Check out the blog parties we like to join

Please visit my fellow TIPsters:

Kristin @ Bits & Pieces from my Life and 

Christy @ A Living Homeschool, and 
our guest TIPster, Jillian @ Hi! It's Jilly.

Coming Soon:

July 17: Taking Family Photos
August 7: Schooling Kids of Different Ages
August 21: Teaching Kids to Read

(Remember if you'd like to guest host an upcoming TIPster post, just let me know.)

Be sure to click the link in the first email to activate your subscription.

Television Viewing: What & How Often {TIPsters}

Make sure you visit Kristin & Christy for their thoughts on today’s topic, as well as our guest TIPster, Sheri @ Traveling the Narrow Road.

My husband and I have not owned a television since before our oldest daughter was born five years ago. Even though we don't have a TV, with a computer in the house we still have had to make a conscious choice about what our kids can watch and how much screen time is allowed.

Please, know that we are not saying that we have this all figured out. We're simply sharing what is working for our family.

First off, I think it's easier for me to start with the what our kids don't watch.

Emahry, our five year old, is very sensitive about anything scary or suspenseful. Instead of trying to push her past these fears, we simply don't let our kids watch anything that would be scary to her. We feel that there is plenty of time for her tender heart to become desensitized and we, her parents, don't want to be the ones responsible for it. That being the case, our children do not watch any Disney movies since the villains are just too much for our daughter to handle. So Emahry, our princess loving little girl has never seen any of the princess movies whose characters she enjoys.

As a side note, even Veggie Tales is off limits in our home as several episodes have been shut off part way through because Emahry has been scared. This isn't too uncommon from what I've heard, in fact I know of a little boy who had nightmares about a giant pickle after watching a certain episode.

So what do our kids watch? Well, since we like to limit the amount of time our children spend on anything screen related, we tend to lean towards DVDs that are under 30 minutes or that are made up of several shorter episodes. This makes it easier to let them watch something for a shorter amount of time without having to shut it off right in the middle. These are some of our kids' favorites:

What's in the Bible? (Have you seen our free review flashcards for Volume 2 and Volume 3?)

The Berenstain Bears (We own Always Look on the Bright Side and Bears Get a Babysitter which each contain 6 episodes)

Letter Factory
Number Land
Word World Rocket to the Moon (4 episodes)
Curious George Sails with the Pirates (8 episodes)
Mister Rogers (full length episodes free to watch at PBSkids.org, there are a few topics that we don't let the kids watch)
Usually our kids watch about one or two of these episodes each week. Recently this has been even less as our two oldest have really started enjoying books on CD. Of course, during bouts of sickness or times that require survival mode (like right after a new baby) this number definitely increases.
Typically, our kiddos only watch a full length DVD when we're all sitting down for a movie night. This usually happens two to three times each month depending on the season. A few of our recent favorites have been: 
Mr. Popper's PenguinsWinnie the PoohMary Poppins
Sometimes if we want to watch something as a family but we don't have time to watch a full movie we'll sit down and enjoy an episode of Mr. Ed for free at hulu.com, our kids think a talking horse is hilarious! (Although you do need to be careful about some of the commercials.)
Since our kids' screen time is fairly limited, whenever something is turned on it really holds their attention. For this reason I'm able to use short videos to keep them out of mischief when I need to complete an important task quickly, like when I need to schedule an appointment over the phone or deal with another sibling without interruptions. For these situations I've started making some kids' video boards on Pinterest. Here's what I have so far:
Kids' Bible VideosKids' Book VideosKids' Preschool Skills VideosKids' Music Videos
They also enjoy lots of the clips at JellyTelly.com.
(And if your kids are a little older, I've started pinning some good art and history videos, too.)
What do your children watch on TV? What types of movies are you okay with them seeing? How do you choose to use screen time in your home and do you set limits for your kids? Please, join the discussion. Check out the blog parties we like to join

Please visit my fellow TIPsters:

Kristin @ Bits & Pieces from my Life and 

Christy @ A Living Homeschool, 

and our guest TIPster,  Sheri @ Traveling the Narrow Road

for more tools, tips, and tricks of the trade.

Coming Soon:

July 3: Quick and Easy Summer Meals
July 17: Taking Family Photos
August 7: Schooling Kids of Different Ages
August 21: Teaching Kids to Read

(Remember if you'd like to guest host an upcoming TIPster post, just let me know.)

Be sure to click the link in the first email to activate your subscription.

Feeding Picky Eaters {TIPsters}

Make sure you visit Kristin & Christy for their thoughts on today’s topic, as well as our guest TIPster, Mindy @ Sweetness in the Small Stuff.



Let me just start with a disclaimer, okay?  Most people would not consider any of our kids picky eaters. However, we have experienced seasons when our kids displayed picky behaviors, so we do have a little experience. Here are our Top Ten suggestions for feeding picky eaters: 1. Try to build your meal plan around the healthy foods they will actually eat. Everyone likes to feel that their opinions matter, including your kids. Give them a say by having them list all of the foods they do like. Then try to incorporate tried and true favorites along with new foods. 2. Get your kids involved in preparing meals. Our kids all love to help in the kitchen! And taste testing is a great way to let your kids try new foods in a non-confrontational way. 3. Make mealtime fun. Sit down together and give your kids your attention. Talk about their day and enjoy your time together. (Young kids also love pretending they are animals as they gobble down their food; chew your carrot like a rabbit, eat your meat like a T-Rex, you get the point.)
4. Offer variety, but don’t fix separate foods for your child. You are not a short order cook, but kids will continue to do what works for them. If you’ve catered to their demands in the past it’ll take a while to convince them that you’ve changed your ways—wait them out. Eventually, they’ll eat (more of) what’s offered. 5. Have them eat the less desirable foods first. Our children will generally all eat a green salad, but I don’t know many children that would choose a salad over pasta. So, the whole family eats our salads first, before the pasta is even brought to the table. As a bonus it also feels like we’re having a fancy meal :) 6. Help them eat it. This rule only really applies to toddlers, but we’ve found that many times when our toddlers have refused to eat a certain food, a little extra attention and help from Mom or Dad was all it took to get the food in their mouth. 7. Realize that your child will eat when they are hungry. I think, for the most part, children are very aware of their own need for food and will eventually eat when they are hungry. On occasion we have sent children away from the table hungry, but it’s only happened a handful of times and our kids have always been ready to eat what was prepared at the next meal.  8. Don’t give snacks if they haven’t eaten what’s offered. This goes along with the last point, but really, if I knew I could skip the peas but still have cookies after dinner, I’d probably do it, too. This also goes for healthy snacks.  9. Set an expectation of what they will eat—and stick to it! Decide with your spouse or with your child what they will need to eat at each meal. This may be a certain number of bites, trying everything offered, or eating a serving of at least one vegetable, whatever it is, set up your expectations and then stick to them. This Dinner Adventure Sticker Chart might be a good place to start if you’re dealing with a really picky child. 10. Present new foods several times. Children will often “dislike” a food simply because it’s new. Keep offering it until you’re convinced they simply don’t like it. Then come back to it after a while to see if their tastes have changed. linking to Top Ten Tuesday...and check out all the other blog parties we like to join

Today's Questions: What tips do you have for feeding picky eaters?

(Any advice for kids with the opposite problem, who eat everything in site, even three-day old crumbs out of their little sister’s booster seat or peanut butter off of their sibling’s face?)

Please visit my fellow TIPsters:

Kristin @ Bits & Pieces from my Life and 

Christy @ A Living Homeschool, 

and our guest TIPster,  Mindy @ Sweetness in the Small Stuff 

for more tools, tips, and tricks of the trade.

Coming Soon:

June 19: Television Viewing (What & How Often)
July 3: Quick and Easy Summer Meals
July 17: Taking Family Photos

August 7: Schooling Kids of Different Ages

August 21: Teaching Kids to Read

(Remember if you'd like to guest host an upcoming TIPster post, just let me know.)

Be sure to click the link in the first email to activate your subscription.

Summer Learning Plans {TIPsters}

Make sure you visit Kristin & Christy for their thoughts on today’s topic, as well as our guest TIPster, Jenna @ Delighting in Today. We worked out some kinks during our first year of homeschooling and we’re looking forward to homeschooling for kindergarten in the fall. But just because it’s summer, it doesn’t mean we’re going to put learning on hold!  Here are our Top Ten suggestions for summer learning: 1. Read, read, read. Whether your child is 2 or 12, we’d suggest to read to them daily. Even kids who are more than capable of reading to themselves can learn a lot from being read to. (When I taught 5th grade, I didn’t meet a single child who didn’t like being read to, as long as the topic was interesting to them.) 2. Get your kids involved around the house. Summer can be the perfect time to teach your kids some real life, home-ec. skills. Get them involved with cleaning, laundry, or preparing meals 3. Do a nature study. Our family has decided to do a plant and garden nature study since we spend a lot of time in the garden during this time of year. This relaxed study or observation and reading is a great way to keep kids learning. 4. Learn a new skill together. Use your time together this summer to learn a skill your child is interested in whether it’s archery or baking. Build wonderful memories by learning together.  5. Focus on a few skills you want your child to master. I really want Emahry (5) to learn how to tie her shoes and to learn her phone number and address this summer. My goal for Jonathan (3) is to learn all the letters of the alphabet and how to get his shoes on the right feet. Obviously these goals will be unique to each child. 6. Continue (or start) making the Bible a priority. With a little bit of a breather from the traditional subjects, the summer is the perfect time to up your focus on the Bible. Our family is using The Jesus Storybook Bible and the What’s in the Bible? DVDs (and LOVE them both). 7. Use trips as learning experiences. Whether you’re traveling cross-country or simply going to the beach, make the most of every opportunity to show your children how all of life is learning. 8. Take advantage of free summer programs. Most areas have at least a few free summer programs sponsored by the local public library or the 4-H extension office. Take advantage of these for free learning. 9. Partner with other families to spice up learning. No one ever said you have to be your child’s only teacher. Get together with a couple other families and choose topics to share. Then prepare and meet together once a month during the summer. 10. Encourage your child to work on an interest led study. Maybe they want to learn more about constellations, Abraham Lincoln, or how a telephone works. Whatever it is, help them make goals and construct a plan of how to learn about it.  linking to Top Ten Tuesday 

Today's Question: How do you plan on encouraging learning this summer?

Please visit my fellow TIPsters, Kristin @ Bits & Pieces from my Life and Christy @ A Living Homeschool, and our guest TIPster, Jenna @ Delighting in Today for more tools, tips, and tricks of the trade.

Coming Soon:

June 5th: Feeding Picky Eaters

June 19: Television Viewing (What & How Often)
July 3: Quick and Easy Summer Meals

July 17: Taking Family Photos

August 7: Schooling Kids of Different Ages

August 21: Teaching Kids to Read

(Remember if you'd like to guest host an upcoming TIPster post, just let me know.)

Be sure to click the link in the first email to activate your subscription.