It took us nearly a week to finish, but we finally completed the USA History over Time puzzle Abby got for her birthday. From the moment Timberdoodle offered to let me review this puzzle, I knew my daughter was going to love it. She is crazy about jigsaws and works them routinely. Several other family…
For the past couple of months, I’ve been working my way through a big stack of stuff Timberdoodle sent me to review. They let me pick which products I was most interested in, and one of the ones I requested was a devotional book for families called The Ology by Marty Machowski. I’ve been hearing…
Fifth in my monthly series on celebration-worthy moments, below you’ll find a lengthy list of May Holidays and Quirky Celebrations. I hope these posts will help you make every month more memorable this year. You’ll notice that some items on this list are linked to other pages. Click through for ideas and resources to help…
It’s about time for another Timberdoodle Review. And I mean that literally. Today’s review is all about time, because we’ve been trying out what has rapidly become my favorite new tool: Time Timer Plus. Keeps Kids on Track When I first ordered this chunky, visual timer, I pictured myself using it to keep my homeschool…
I’m back with another Timberdoodle review this week. This time, we tried out their Aquarellum Animal Postcards art set. The kit comes with everything needed to finish eight hand-painted postcards: cards, watercolors, palette, brush, and color-mixing instructions. The postcards feature designs pre-preprinted in nonabsorbent ink. This ensures the finished projects will look good, no matter…
In my closet sits a big box of new products Timberdoodle recently sent me to review. The kids have been testing them for me. So I wasn’t surprised when Gabriel wandered into my closet over the weekend and emerged with this Pix Brix Starry Night Puzzle. He asked if he could put it together. When…
Third in my monthly series on celebration-worthy moments, here is a lengthy list of March Holidays and Quirky Celebrations. I hope these posts will help you make every month more memorable this year. You’ll notice that some items on this list are linked to other pages. Click through for ideas and resources to help your…
In keeping with my promise to publish a wide assortment of celebration-worthy moments each month, here is a lengthy list of February Holidays and Quirky Celebrations. I want to make every month more memorable this year. Are you with me? You’ll notice that some items on this list are linked to other pages. Click through…
If years of COVID lockdowns taught us anything, it’s the value of celebrating the small things in life. Toilet paper. Grocery Pickup. Sunny days. Face time. Birds singing outside your window. That’s not a bad way to live, if you ask me. Sure, I’m ready to ditch the masks, plan a trip, and get back…
My friends at Timberdoodle recently contacted me about reviewing Fischertechnik Mechanic & Static. Of course, I agreed enthusiastically. As I’ve noted before, our family has shopped Timberdoodle for decades, with great results. Doing so has provided an easy way to enrich our children’s homeschool education and develop their critical thinking skills. Timberdoodle curates some of…
Last months booklist looks a little lopsided. I normally gravitate to nonfiction titles. But other than Bob Goff’s Dream Big and a spiral volume of sudoku puzzles, all the books I read in August were novels. The majority of these selections, our family read aloud together. Some for the third or fourth or fifth time….
6 Books I read in July Women of the Word by Jen Wilkin Women of the Word provides excellent, step-by-step training for women who want to study the Bible for themselves, but don’t know where or how to start. In an age where pop-psychology and feel-good phrases comprise much of what passes for “Christian” teaching,…
As I’ve mentioned before, our family has been loyal Timberdoodle customers for decades. Although much of our homeschool curriculum is non-consumable, I supplement our studies each year with art kits, thinking games, and other fun products from Timberdoodle. This year, the Wile E. Coyote Physical Science Genius is among the new add-ons. This 4-book set…
Although our kids are doing a little schoolwork through the summer, their lessons are relaxed enough to allow for lots of extra-curricular reading. That’s why summer book clubs are always popular at our house. Keep reading for our complete list of the best reading reward programs out there for kids, newly updated for 2025. Kids…
Our family traveled a bunch last month, so I got in a lot of extra reading. Below is a roundup of all the most recommendation-worthy books I finished in April: 31 Days to Love Your Husband, plus 9 other titles. Just Sayin’ by Dandi Daley Mackall I got this book free from My Reader Rewards…
Many of you know I’ve been using Timberdoodle’s 3rd Grade Curriculum with my youngest daughter and a couple of my grandchildren this year. I’ve been intending to write an update for a couple of months now to tell you how it’s been going. Unfortunately, I got distracted by several out-of-town trips, a couple of wedding…
Since January is “International Brain Teaser Month,” now is the perfect time to review Little Red Riding Hood, another Smart Game I ordered through Timberdoodle for my little ones. This set is a little more challenging than the Three Little Piggies I reviewed a few days ago. Consequently, you’ll note a slight shift in the…
I’ve been eyeing the cutest collection of fairytale-based smart games in the Timberdoodle catalogue for months and months, but held off on buying them because my own kids had already outgrown the suggested age range of 3-6 years. Now that I’m schooling my grandkids a couple times a week, I went ahead and ordered a…
I’m back this week with another Timberdoodle review. Read on for our impressions of the new Djeco Sweet Nature Felt Art Set: As any mom who’s tried to teach multiple ages at once knows, it’s sometimes a challenge to keep the little ones occupied while going over longer, more involved lessons with the older children….
What follows is another yearly installment in our family’s complete history told via the 2018 Flanders Family Christmas Update. To see a full listing, see Our Christmas Letters. For tips on writing your own family history in this fashion, follow this link. In the meantime, enjoy! The Flanders Family Update: 2018 December 2017 Happenings We…
For today’s post, I am reviewing another great product from Timberdoodle designed to help train children’s emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is of enormous importance in the lives of children and adults alike. However, in our increasingly digital society, it has become increasingly difficult to develop EQ at an early age. Modern children must compete with…
The start of a new school year is just around the corner! Accordingly, this post is chock-full of fun ways to celebrate starting back to school. Even though, as homeschoolers, our family usually does lessons year-round, I still love the fresh start August brings with regard to co-ops and school supplies and new routines. I’ve…
I love reading. I love making lists. I love challenging myself (and my children) to reach new goals. And I love pretty vintage artwork. So this summer, I decided to combine all those likes and create a Reading Challenge that can be easily adapted for any age: Doesn’t that look fun? The kids and I…
Want to encourage your child to develop a consistent daily quiet time? Want to help him broaden his Bible study skills? Do you long for her to discover how rewarding daily spending time in God’s Word can be? Exploring the Bible is a great place to start. Timberdoodle sent me a review copy of this…
I have mixed feelings about the latest book Timberdoodle sent me to review. Entitled Everyone a Child Should Know, this 120-page volume by Claire Heath-Whyte offers one-page summaries of 52 heroes of the faith. I did not immediately fall in love with this book. I thought at first glance it was too simplistic. But in…
Several months ago, I got a call from our local Christian bookstore asking me what I’d recommend for family devotions. A customer with a big family with a broad range of ages was asking. The clerk — a personal friend of mine — figured I’d be able to point her in the right direction. I…
Timberdoodle sent me a complimentary copy of Say & Pray Devotions to review this month. Although my own children have outgrown board books at this point, it was a great fit for my younger grandkids. The four- and five-year olds especially enjoyed reading the book and hunting for the pictures of the “first words” as…
As you know if you follow this blog, I received a big delivery of books and games last month to review for Timberdoodle, including Found, a book I reviewed with my grandkids this week. In this oversized board book, author Sally Lloyd-Jones retells an old favorite: the 23rd Psalm. Although I love the lyrical flow…
Winter never lasts for long in Texas. If we want to enjoy cool-weather activities, we have to act fast. Get cracking on our winter bucket list before things start warming up again. Here are 50 of our family’s favorite things to do when temperatures drop… Our Winter Bucket List: 50 Things to Do for Family…
I took three years of Latin in high school and loved it. I also took Greek for a couple of semesters in college and thoroughly enjoyed that as well. But when it came time to pick a language to study with my own homeschooled children, I opted for… Spanish. Here in Texas, opportunities to converse…
One of the things my husband and I hope to achieve through homeschooling is teaching our children to think clearly and logically. (This is a skill that is sorely lacking in many young people today — especially among those defending politically correct positions online. Their arguments are heavy on emotion and expletives, but light on…
I’ve been using Easy Grammar to teach grammar for more than two decades, but it wasn’t until four years ago (just before we graduated our fifth) that I discovered the Easy Grammar Ultimate Series. It follows the same format as the author’s Daily Grams workbooks for younger students, but with greater detail and more complex…
I’ll admit I was a little skeptical when I first cracked open The Amazing Dr. Ransom’s Bestiary of Adorable Fallacies. I’d taught a logic class for a local co-op several years earlier, and I’d taken a couple of critical thinking classes myself even further back than that, and this book didn’t look very “scholarly” to…
We made it back to Tyler Sunday after a two-week road trip to Florida. Truly, there is no place like home! And we were all so grateful to pull into our own driveway. Getting locked out of our house Unfortunately, we had to stand outside for about 45 minutes when we first got back, because…
While I was busy getting settled into our new house, I fell behind on my blogging, so I’ll be spending the next few weeks catching up. In addition to reviewing some wonderful educational products from Timberdoodle and posting about some of the fun places we visited on a recent vacation, I’ll also be cleaning out…
What follows is another yearly installment in our family’s complete history told via the 2016 Flanders Family Christmas Update. To see a full listing, see Our Christmas Letters. For tips on writing your own family history in this fashion, follow this link. In the meantime, enjoy! The Flanders Family Update: 2016 December 2015 Happenings Benjamin…
Although our family normally schools year round, I try to give the kids a little bit of a break during the summer months by choosing fun and interesting courses that don’t require much homework. So when Timberdoodle offered me a review copy of Physics 101, I gladly accepted, suspecting it would be a pain-free way…
One of the benefits of homeschooling twelve children is that you can really get your money’s worth out of non-consumable curriculum. Some of the things we tried with our older children got replaced as newer, better products came along. But we’ve handed other books down from one child to the next, because we’ve been so…
Our family recently tried out another painting kit from Timberdoodle. This one is called Aquarelle Monet. Since several of our children are budding artists, this kit was right up their alley. They could hardly wait to get started. The box says “Watercolor Made Easy,” which is an accurate description. Except for a few sparse outlines…
Between our recent road trip, starting back to school, and our upcoming move, I’ve fallen behind on reviewing the curriculum and other amazing products Timberdoodle sent me earlier this summer, so I’ll be playing catch-up on the blog this week with three back-to-back reviews. First up, we have a delightful set of activity books featuring…
One of my goals over the summer was to cover a couple of subjects we normally don’t tackle during the school year, including economics. When I first pitched this idea to my children, it wasn’t met with a lot of enthusiasm. At least, not until after they viewed the first lesson of a video series…
I remember attempting a few paint-by-number kits as a child. They were all huge — 16 x 20 or bigger — with infinitesimally small areas to be filled in with smelly oil paints that were easily smudged and took approximately three weeks to dry between layers. By the time my masterpiece was ready for a…
We’ve been taking advantage of our summer break to try out some amazing new products Timberdoodle sent us to review, including this fun Critical & Creative Thinking Activity Book from Evan-Moor: These books come in six different levels, but we started with Level 5. I was impressed with the variety of activities included. They provided…
Two of my daughters are preparing to take the SAT for the first time and have been devoting part of their summer to prepare for it. That’s why I was so excited when Timberdoodle recently offered to let me review a set of vocabulary flashcards called Marie’s Words. NOTE: Although Timberdoodle no longer carries this…
Although we keep the basics of reading and math going all summer, my younger kids take a break from their other school subjects. Unless, of course, I can find a way to sneak some teaching in without them knowing it, like I did last week with this Ravensburger puzzle globe from Timberdoodle. The box says…
I’m back with another Timberdoodle review today. This time, we’re reviewing TENZI, a family friendly dice game that provides hours of fun. True Story: My husband bought TENZI several years ago when he spotted it in a Children’s Museum gift shop. The game has won all sorts of awards, which my husband found most impressive….
Our family decided to take an Early American history tour this winter, so we’ve spent the better part of January on the East Coast. Our travels put us in northern Virginia when “historic blizzard” Juno hit New England. We were far enough north that we got a little snow, but not so far that the…
Choosing curriculum can be a daunting task. There are so many different programs available, and deciding on one is often fraught with difficulties. Whether you do research online or attend a book fair or pick the brains of a seasoned homeschooler, it’s important to choose books that fit both the learning style of your students…
I’ve been using Mondays to clear out my mailbox. This week’s topic: assignment charts for students (especially those who are homeschooling). Question: Got any assignment charts I can use? Hey Jennifer! I have been trying to come up with a new homeschool chart for my kids’ actual school subjects… thought you might have something fabulous!!…
One of the most challenging aspects of home schooling multiple ages is balancing the different needs of each child. This is especially true when there are preschoolers in the home. Keeping toddlers occupied long enough to do lessons with bigger kids becomes a daily challenge. As much as possible, I try to do intensive teaching…
