Answering your questions

I just wanted to thank all of you that have commented on my posts. I'm not the best at responding to them, but I really do appreciate all you have to say. You have asked me some questions I thought I would answer here.

How do I create the papers I used for our scripture stories?

I actually use a program that I purchased this last summer called StartWrite. I knew I would use it quite a bit to do custom writing pages, so to me it was worth the money investment. If you aren't sure that you would use it that often, and would only be doing it for the scripture stories a cheaper option would be just using a font.  Print Clearly Dashed Font is free to download and would work great. You wouldn't have the writing guidelines or any of the fancy stuff, but it would be free and you could just type out the chapter, verses and synopsis for them to still trace.

If you have older children I ran across these great ideas for studying scriptures and keeping a scripture journal at Noggins and Nonsense.  I love this idea and love how it helps them learn how to ask their own questions, ponder what they're reading and getting in the great habit of writing down what they learn. She also had some great resources that I've been using lately in my own gospel study. They are exactly the way I think and has helped me quite a bit in improving my scripture study lately and getting excited about it again.  The Scripture Journal Ideas and the Scripture Journal Pages.  She also talks a lot about the Red Headed Hostess which is another blog I've come to love. She is a seminary teacher and shares a lot of great things about the scriptures, themes to study and ideas she uses with her seminary students.

My sister in law was also asking me about simple things she could do with her preschooler at home.  I ran across 2 Teaching Mommies a little bit ago and love their little preschool packets.  They are free and they have a good variety of themes that would work for the seasons or the personality of your preschooler.  I've printed out a couple for Isaac and Caitlyn to do and they have had fun with them.  Each kit has basic activities and games directed to helping them learn skills needed for Kindergarten. Skills such as letters, numbers and counting, pre-writing, patterns, size recognition, etc.

They recently had a great time playing Monster Mash from this kit practicing their letters.  Isaac also loves the game of rolling the dice and graphing how many of each monster he rolls.  You could do some extension activities to make these a great unit. Art projects, some cooking activities, etc.  They just released a pumpkin  and forest animal themed kits recently.

Another resource I LOVE is the book Playful Learning.

It is a great resource for learning how to turn your home into a great learning environment for your children.  With simple activities and physical areas that can be set up, you can help your kids have a love for learning. I love her ideas and have slowly started to implement some of them into our own home. I have loved watching them naturally just pick up something and start playing with them and learning, rather than just wanting to watch a movie.

I have honestly loved doing school with my kids, and finding ways to learn and explore together. There are so many great resources out there that you can use to fit to your own personal situation, but help your children grow, as well as spending quality time together.  I'd love to hear about anything you do with your own kids right now. Please share!