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Children’s Devotional How Great Is Our God
I was so thrilled to be blessed with a complimentary copy of Louie Giglio’s new children’s devotion about God and Science. As homeschoolers we are always looking for ways to incorporate great fact-filled learning with our faith. We already have his first devotional, and my kids LOVE the new one as much as the first. We read it as part of our morning basket time. Actually, I often have to go in search of it because my 8 year old tends to take it out of the basket to look at! ⠀ I really can’t blame her. This book is full of scientific facts, adorable illustrations, beautiful photographs and more,…
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Poetry for Kids
This year as I homeschool my daughters for 1st grade I’m being more intentional about including poetry. We’ve always had poetry books and such, but this year I am also displaying a new nature related poem every week and we read it during our morning basket time. The girls really look forward to hearing it each day! We’ve also been really enjoying our weekly Poetry Teatime! I make gluten and dairy free treats, we sip tea, and we read poetry! People often ask which books are currently in our poetry basket, so here you go! Where the Sidewalk Ends A Light in the Attic Sing a Song of Seasons: A…
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My New Discbound Personal and Homeschool Planner
This year I decided to combine my personal planner with my homeschool planner and to convert over to a discbound planner. For a long time I’ve used a bullet journal. As a planner junkie who loves to try out new layouts, it suited me perfectly. More recently I’ve been using a bujo in a traveler’s notebook, which was even better. The one big drawback to both of these options is that you can’t add or remove pages. I knew I didn’t want a ringbound planner because the rings tend to be big and get in my way. I like how you can flip over spiral planners, but like with ring bound planners…
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Flash Cards and Simple Books
One of the things we do with Lily is to select simple books that have the same words repeated throughout the book. As I’ve posted about before, I first make flashcards from all the words in the book. I put the word on both sides of the card, using a different font on each side. Not only does this make it easier to flash the cards, but it also helps her recognize the same word can look slightly different. If we already have a flash card for any particular word I don’t make a new one, but depending on how long ago we reviewed it, I may pull it out…
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Spinach & Artichoke Dip (Gluten-Free, Soy-Free, and Vegan Too!)
I have a really yummy recipe for a restaurant-style spinach and artichoke dip. This is not that recipe. However, this allergy-friendly version is pretty tasty! And even better, it’s vegan, which means of course that it’s free of eggs and dairy. It’s also soy free, which is often not the case with vegan recipes. And, of course, it’s gluten-free too. Not only that, but it contains nutritional yeast. Known for its cheesy flavor, nutritional yeast is a powerhouse of nutrition, packed with protein, amino acids and B vitamins (except B-12 in non-fortified options.) I like Sari brand because it contains no synthetic vitamins. It is also said to be antiviral, antibacterial, and even contain…
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Allergy-Friendly Animal Crackers (GAPS, Paleo, Grain-Free, Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free, Nut-Free, Soy-Free)
If you are on a special diet like GAPS, SCD, or Paleo, you can easily find recipes for crackers, and even pre-packaged store-bought items. However, if you also have allergies or food intolerances, it can be VERY difficult to find recipes that meet your dietary requirements. I have tried a few sunflower seed cracker recipes, and this one is by far the tastiest. My girls love these crackers, and I send them with Lily for a portable and non-messy preschool snack! They are slightly sweet and very crunchy, but not tough or chewy. These are great plain or dipped in yogurt or sunbutter. I think you could reduce the honey…
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Auditory Processing… On-the-Go
I recently read an awesome blog post on the very important topic auditory processing or sequential processing. This is something we have been working on since we began our neurodevelopmental approach to therapy. The organization that we work with is ICAN, and we love our therapist! Auditory processing is quite possibly the single most important skill that we work on. As such, it is on our program multiple times per day. The goal is high frequency, short duration. I keep a bag of Little People toy animals from her Farm and Zoo like these and these on Lily’s dresser so that we think about it (and hopefully do it) when…
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Healthy Homemade Gummy Fruit Snacks
I was looking for an allergy-friendly gummy candy for my girls. I wanted treats for potty training, but a lot of the usual allergy-friendly treats are too messy or just not portable. I wanted something candy-like, which made me immediately think of fruit snacks. Unfortunately, as far as I’m aware there aren’t any store-bought GAPS friendly fruit snacks available. (Someone correct me if I’m wrong because I make nearly everything from scratch, so I’m always open to store-bought options that meet our dietary needs!) There are organic options, like Annie’s, which would be a good alternative for many. However, if you are avoiding all forms of sugar (except raw honey)…
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Peaceful Detox Bath Soak
As part of our detox with the girls we were adding either baking soda or epsom salt to their bath each night. I started noticing my youngest was having a really hard time settling down and was waking up in the middle of the night. I’m not just talking about her stirring and then quietly going back to sleep. She would throw all her stuffed bears and binkies out of her bed and scream until I came and held her and settled her down. And often it took multiple tries. It was bad. One night I asked my husband if he’d been doing the epsom salt baths because he usually…
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Speech and Language Cards and Tips
Lately I’ve gotten a lot of comments and questions about Lily’s speech and communication, and what we have done over the years to help her. While she isn’t keeping up with her typical peers in speech and language, we have seen great progress lately. I think it’s a combination of everything we’ve done over the years, beginning from when she was just an infant. I believe it’s all connected, and you can’t necessarily talk about speech without talking about diet and supplements or the gross motor piece, like crawling and running. However, to go into absolutely everything would make this post way too long. I’ll try to share in more…
