Top 10 Posts of 2012

It's the last day of 2012.  I want to thank each of you so much for visiting Living and Learning at Home over the past year.  It is always fun at this time of year to look back and remember...so here is a look back at 2012 for Living and Learning at Home.  Enjoy!

These little guys are my 'viral' post on Pinterest.  They are super cute corner bookmarks.  They are a great project for you and your kids!  Check them out...

Cute Corner Bookmarks  

This year I started creating copywork to use with my son, so I decided to make up ebook packs to sell.  This copywork pack for McGuffey's Eclectic Primer was my first and most popular so far.  You can check out all of the packs I have made at my new site Classical Copywork or check out the post dedicated to this pack....

McGuffey's Primer Copywork

This post was written in 2011, but it is my 3rd most visited post of this 2012...so does that count?  I'm going to count it =)  Here it is...

Cleaning Schedule Pages






 

This next one is a topic that is near and dear to my heart and I really enjoyed writing it.  I would love it if you would take a minute to read it if you didn't earlier this year...

Ultimate Guide to Keeping Young Children with you at Church

Here is a look at the curriculum we are using this year.  I'm happy to report that we are still using it! Ha!  We read a bunch of books that are not listed here, but these basic books are all still the same...

2012-2013 Curriculum

We do not use FIAR as our curriculum, but I know a lot of people do!  Some on you must like it since it made it into the top 10 posts of the year!  Here is a look at the FIAR lesson for The Story About Ping that we did with our homeschool group earlier in the year...

Five in a Row - The Story About Ping

This one is perfect if you are planning ahead for Valentine's Day.  We made a cute wreath out of popcorn and cranberries to feed our bird friends =)

Valentine's Wreath for the Birds

This is another one for this time of year (if you live anywhere like I do!)  This was a fun science activity that we did last year to learn about how much water is in snow...

Science Activity - Melting Snow

At the end of this past summer, my family moved into a new home.  We are so thankful to be here and it has been fun setting up house, including our school room!  Well, it's more like a half of a room, but it works for us right now...

A Peak into our School Room







The last one is from a series I have been doing since summer called the Early Grammar Stage Series.  The post that made my top 10 is about discipline.  Check out the whole series while you're at it =)

Early Grammar Stage - Discipline



I hope you enjoyed this look back at 2012 as much as I did!

I wish you all a very HAPPY NEW YEAR and I look forward to learning and growing with you in 2013!

April Recap

We had a nice April.  We celebrated my husband's birthday and my daughter's second birthday!  And of course there was celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the Easter parties that go along with it.  I feel like every day is so busy lately, not in a bad stressful way, but in a way that leaves me wishing I could get to more things I'd like to do.  Do you feel that way too?  Mostly I'm just thankful for this particular (momentary) stage in life where I have the energy to be busy and children who are old enough to easily cart around (well, easily enough anyways =)

Here is my blog recap of the month of April...

Top 3 Referring Sites:

1. Homeschool Creations
2. No Time for Flashcards  
3. ABC and 123

Once again, I am thankful for the great learning-related link-ups on these great sites!  If you are looking for some inspiration for teaching your little ones, go browse their blogs =)

Top 3 Posts Here at Living and Learning at Home:

1. Paper Hats and Cute Corner Bookmarks
2. McGuffey Copywork
3. Painting with Markers

#1 continues to be a favorite thanks to Pinterest =)  I am thrilled to see the interest in my McGuffey Copywork e-book!  Thank you to each of you have bought it (only $1.00!) If you are teaching beginning reader/writers and would like a great resource, check it out!


Featured Blog Post:

This month, my favorite post comes from a new blog I have recently discovered, Homegrown Learners.  It isn't actually a post that I love, but a series she recently did called 10 Days of Teaching Music.  She covers everything from piano lessons to teaching music using living books.  She offers so many resources and recommendations, you'll keep going back to discover new things!  I've been thinking about how to incorporate more music into my (almost) 4 year old's day, so this series was perfect for me to come across right now.   Thank you, Homegrown Learners, for a great series! 

Hope you had a...Happy April!

March Recap

I can not believe that it is April already! Where did March go?  Looking back, I was a little slow on the blogging front...sorry about that =)  I am grateful for each and every one of you who takes the time to come and read!  I am also grateful for other websites who direct others to this blog.  On that note, here is the February recap!

Top 3 Referring Sites:

1. Pinterest
2. No Time for Flashcards  
3. Homeschool Creations

 

I normally skip over sites that are not personal blogs when I'm noting my top referring sites, but this time I wanted to include Pinterest.  If you have a blog and do not yet utilize Pinterest, I encourage you to get on it right away!  Add a pin-it button to each of your posts and soon you'll people pining your work (make sure you have a picture on each of your posts!)  Then people will re-pin their pin and so on and so forth.  It's a really neat thing!

Top 3 Posts Here at Living and Learning at Home:

1. Paper Hats and Cute Corner Bookmarks
2. Five in a Row - The Story About Ping
3. Reading and Writing in Action

#1 is a testament to what I said about Pinterest.  It has been my most visited post since the day I wrote it!  Now if only I could come up with another post idea like that one....  ;)   Anyways,  if you missed any of these posts, take a minute to check them out!


Featured Blog Post:

This month, my favorite post was The Why and How of History in My Home from Homeschooling While Living the Life of Easier.  This post piqued my interest because I have been thinking about school for next year and history is something that I want to start.  This post details what I would love our history studies to look like, so it was great encouragement to read that it works for another family.  Check it out!  What do you think?  Does your history study look anything like theirs?

Hope you had a...Happy March!

February Recap

Well, February flew by, didn't it?!?  I am thankful for all the seasons that God blesses us with, but I am extra excited to think that spring is right around the corner!  On the blogging front, here is the recap of the month thanking the top three sites that referred visitors to Living and Learning at Home, highlighting the three most popular posts on this site (in case you missed one!), and my favorite post from another blog.  I hope you enjoy!

Top 3 Referring Sites:

1. Preschool Powol Packets (Teach Me Tuesday Link-Up)
2. Homeschool Creations (Preschool Corner Link-Up)
3. Serenity You (Featured on 52 Weeks of You)

Top 3 Posts Here at Living and Learning at Home:

1. Paper Hats and Cute Corner Bookmarks (#1 again! Thank you Pinterest =)
2. Science Activity - Melting Snow
3. Marshmallow Snowflakes

If you happened to miss any of these posts, takes a minute to check them out!  I hope you won't be disappointed =)


Featured Blog Post:

This month my favorite post was Rhythm and Movement over at Train Up a Child.  The post highlights ways that you can help your child with their fine motor skills, coordination, rhythm, and more!  All you need are a set of sticks.  We have two sticks that go with our musical instrument set so Trevor used those, and I grabbed two mis-matched sticks that we use to prop up our windows =)  So, grab anything you've got and give this a try!  Trevor couldn't get enough of this.  Some of the suggestions were easy for him, while others proved quite challenging.  The post gives about two dozen different movements/actions to do with the sticks, and I'm sure they will inspire you come up with more ideas of your own!  Writing this is making me want to do this again...off to get my son and some sticks =)

I hope you had a ....Happy February!

January Recap

It's a new year and I thought I'd start doing something new.  Each month I plan on doing a little recap by thanking the top three sites that referred visitors to Living and Learning at Home, highlighting the three most popular posts of the month (in case you missed one!), and sharing a post from another website that either encouraged or inspired me in some way.  I hope you enjoy!

Top 3 Refering Sites:

1. Homeschool Creations (Preschool Corner Link-Up)
2. Preschool Powol Packets (Teach Me Tuesday Link-Up)
3. No Time For Flashcards (Link & Learn)

Each of these blogs has a great link-up party each week where bloggers from all over share great ideas.  If you're not familiar with one of them, check it out!  I am sure you will leave inspired =)


Top 3 Posts here at Living and Learning at Home:

1. Paper Hats and Cute Corner Bookmarks
2. Valentine's Wreath For The Birds
3. Science Activity: Frozen Fruit

 If you happened to miss any of these posts, take a minute to check them out!  I hope you won't be disappointed =)


Featured Blog Post:

Now for a post that encouraged me this month, I encourage you to head over to Lizzy's Nest and read her article The "Me Time" Lie.  As homeschooling moms (and really any mom!) by definition we don't naturally get very much "me time."  I was greatly encouraged my Lizzy's perspective on this and hope that you will be too!

I hope you had a.....Happy January!