Hi friends! I hope you are staying safe and well at home. I am an introvert at heart, but I also don't like being told what to do.  I get depressed when I feel trapped at home. It's a constant struggle between needing space and wanting to go out and explore the world, ha ha! And that is a normal daily struggle, so this social distancing thing is really messing with my sanity! But, like most of you, I'm just trying to make the best of it. One day at a time, right?

I thought I'd pop in and share a few more resources that may be useful if you are tired of hearing, "I'm bored!" for the eight millionth time. 

Wild + Free is offering a Homebound Activity Kit for young learners. They have a wide array of content bundles to buy and download - everything from gardening and homesteading to outdoor adventures, art, music and more. If you click the link to the Homebound kit ($29 for the full set), there are 4 FREE activities to download and try.

Big Life Journal has put together a free downloadable Stay at Home Care Package with Indoor Games and Activities. Check out their website for additional activities and a podcast for kids.

Many artists are jumping online and offering free courses and downloads, which is fantastic. Be sure to check out your local small businesses to see what they are offering. It's a great way to give back to your community and help support entrepreneurs. For example, a local Virginia Beach muralist is offering free coloring pages at OnieTonie.com, and AR Workshops in our area have created Take and Make craft kits for curbside pick up - great for all ages!

If you are looking for something a little more active, Wonder and Wildness has a great tutorial for learning how to juggle.

Further, if you find yourself cooking at home more than usual, or just in need of some new recipe ideas, my long time pal, Gina at Kleinworth and Co, has an amazing blog full of delicious recipes in easy to find categories. You are sure to find some inspiration! While you're there, you might also check out her printables, like these cute spring coloring bookmarks, or these cursive writing pages. 

For many more ideas, check out my previous post of educational activities for home learning here. 

Hang in there friends! We'll get through this together!

By the way, none of these are affiliate links or ads (not that there is anything wrong with that). But I am currently just sharing a few favorite resources.  :)

Resources for Learning at Home

Making the Best of It

Resources for Learning at Home

Hey friends! I hope you are well and staying safe at home. As I promised in my last post, I've put together some no-nonsense learning resources for kids and teens (and even adults) to help get you through this new school-at-home reality. 

As a homeschooler for the past 12 years, I know first hand how frustrating and overwhelming it can feel to school at home (it's no walk in the park). But it is also full of unexpected joys, and can be richly rewarding. 

Be patient with yourself and your kids, and do your best to have fun by keeping your sense of humor along the way. You don't have to be a perfect teacher or a perfect parent. Just keep showing up. Find unique ways to navigate the ups and downs together. Sometimes plain old perseverance, or compassion in the midst of struggle, is the greatest lesson for the day. Those skills are often more important than grammar or algebra anyway. 

Without further ado, below are my recommendations by age group. Please review each site and use your own discretion as to appropriateness for your individual child's needs and maturity level. 

Early Childhood:

Starfall - free language and math activities for Pre-K - Grade 1. Greater access with paid subscription but there's plenty to get you started for free.

PoissonRouge - A site we loved when my kids are little, they have reduced their free activities to online painting only, but offer a free trial for 24 hours and have dropped subscription prices to only $14 per year if you wish to sign up. They have expanded their language, games and creativity exercises to include a STEM section. Worth checking out if you have exhausted your usual go to sites.

SwitcherooZoo - for animal lovers! Free games, videos and activities related to animals. Plus teacher resources and lesson plans if you wish to dig deeper. 

Highlightskids - like the magazines from your youth. Online games and learning activities for free. Hidden Pictures were my favorite. How about you?

Tumblebooks - online books for kids grouped by reading level, plus a few games and activities. You can choose to read along or read on your own. 

Mark Kistler - Free drawing lessons for kids.

Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems.

ReadingEggs - reading and math lessons for kids ages 2-13. Free 30 day trial. 

ParticleMen - Quirky educational songs by They Might Be Giants - try Seven, Roy G Biv and Seven Days of the Week
BrainPopJr - video shorts for littles. Some free resources and more by subscription.
Teach Your Monster to Read - monstrously fun reading adventures online and on their app.

Elementary - Middle School:

Kahn Academy -amazing free math and coding resources and more. They are currently offering free daily schedules for ages 4-18 to help keep your kids learning at home. 

Liberty's Kids - Cartoon episodes of American history.

Crash Course Kids - fun science episodes online.

SciShowKids - bite sized science episodes. Fun and free.

BBCEarthKids  - nature and science videos for kids. 

Or a little Origami might just be a nice change of pace?
BrainPop is offering a free 30 day subscription - we love their video shorts, quizzes and games grouped by subject.
The Kid Should See This - a collection of interesting video from around the web, organized by subject.
Generation Genius - science lessons grouped by grade level (mostly K-2 and 3-5, but a few others). They are offering a free 30 day trial.

Middle School - High School:

Thought Cafe - promotes education and critical thinking through video shorts.

Crash Course - thoughtful, entertaining and informative videos series by subject.

SciShow - edutainment for science-minded curious kids.

SciShowSpace - add on to the above. 

Kahn Academy -amazing free math and coding resources and more. They are currently offering free daily schedules for ages 4-18 to help keep your kids learning at home.

LifeNoggin - explaining the mysteries of life one video at a time.

BBCEarth - celebrating nature and science through breathtaking video.

Socratica - biology, chemistry, Python, SQL, study tips and more.

MinutePhysics - cool physics videos and other sweet stuff.

Be sure to check the websites or social media pages of your local libraries and museums. Most are offering free online resources for at home learning and virtual field trips! Support local where you can! For example in our area, Nauticus, The Mariner's Museum, Colonial Williamsburg and others are offering educational resources online. National Parks and Museums have offers as well.

Also check out apps - Stack the States, Mathmateer, WordScapes and Kami are a few of our faves.

You can also find lots of freebies and lessons for sale on Teachers Pay Teachers. Most are well worth the nominal price and you can read reviews and view sample lessons before you buy. 

Adults/family:

Yoga with Adrienne - free yoga lessons and meditation lessons.

TedEd - something for everyone. Check out the various channels to narrow down search results. 

CreativeLive - streaming free courses in photography, creativity and more. Learn something new!

This is by no means an exhaustive list - just some of our favorites. I'll post more resources as I can, but I hope you find something interesting here to get you started. 

Be well friends!

Friday Photo Journal, July 12, 2019

Hey Friends! Welcome to this edition of I'm Late to My Own Party Again. I know it's Saturday and I've missed the boat. But here I am. I hope your weekend is off to a great start. It's my birthday weekend, so I'm already soaking up some much needed family time and eating way too much good food!

Last week we took a field trip to Jefferson Lab (Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility). If you aren't familiar with it, Jefferson Lab is a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science national laboratory, which houses a Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF).  It's a place where way smart people do way cool stuff with high tech electronics and matter, and stuff. We had front row seats to some awesome experiments and a hilarious scientist presenter. It was fun!

Also, I shot more beach sessions and our dogs did some modeling. What have you been up to? 

Thanks for visiting! Link up your posts below and have a super weekend! 

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Little Things Thursday - Little Minds at Work

My little thing today is watching those little minds at work. Even though they sometimes drive me crazy, I know it is a privilege to watch them grow and learn.

Thanks for stopping by!

Linking up with Kim for:

Back to School Photo Session

Happy Wednesday friendly people!  Today I'm sharing some images from the back to school shoot I did over the weekend. I plan on offering these sessions to local homeschoolers, who generally don't have school photos taken. These were shot in my back yard, but I'm in the process of scoping out other locations and props. I had a lot of fun with this, and was thankful for this sweet little model ;)

If you are in the Hampton Roads area and would like to book a session, contact me at melissabrich(at)gmail(dot)com.

What have you captured lately?

Communal Global - Trip to the Museum

I thought I'd share some photos from our visit to the museum last week. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time exploring. There was a Smoky the Bear exhibit and the kids had lots of fun playing in the campsite and learning about renewable energy and earth-friendly living. We also enjoyed the giant fish tanks and water fowl, but the river otters stole the day! As I mentioned in my Eleven, Eleven, Eleven post, f I hadn't gotten lost on the way, we would have had even more time to enjoy it ;-P

Wordless Wednesday - PE

We have found the best Homeschool P.E. class this year. Three mornings a week we head to Meyer Fitness for a dynamic, fun-filled adventure. Kids from ages 4-12 race, climb, chase, swing, balance, throw, dive, bounce, and and twist themselves to their hearts' content (there's a separate class for older kids too). Coaches Bill and Lauren Meyer are the most positive, encouraging, patient and creative mentors I have found in all of our homeschool activities. Their love for the kids and genuine passion for fitness and fun shine through every day. Starting our days this way has really helped my kids to be more positive and ready to focus on their school work.

 When I was a kid, we did some calisthenics, then played dodge ball, kick ball, softball and ran track in PE. This class is so much more lively and interesting. The kids help plan many of the activities and problem solve, collaborate and put their creative minds and negotiating skills to the test.

We also participate in organized sports, which the kids enjoy, but I could not be more thankful for the awesome activities at Meyer Fitness.

What do your kids do for fun and fitness?