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Geronimo Stilton Books

March 7, 2019 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Are you looking for engaging readers for your middle to upper elementary kids? It’s hard to find books that get reluctant readers interested and finding Geronimo Stilton books was like finding buried treasure in the library (Geronimo would really appreciate that simile).

You’ll love the craft and book ideas here on Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus for the Geronimo Stilton series.

These books are a favorite in our house.

It took me a while to find books that my son looked forward to reading without nagging or prodding from me.

When we stumbled upon them, I was thrilled to have found something that kept his attention and motivated him to read on his own.

It’s a big milestone when your kid finally grabs a book of their choice and plops down to read it. These were those books for us.

He plowed through them. In fact, these were the first books he asked to buy. One year his wish list was full of Geronimo Stilton titles. How sweet, right?

What Reading Level is Geronimo Stilton

Recommended for ages 7-10, grades 2^nd-5^th, these chapter books are sure to please even the most reluctant reader.

They are the perfect introduction to chapter books and each one is filled with entertaining jokes and engaging illustrations.

About Geronimo Stilton

Geronimo Stilton is an editor in chief of The Rodent’s Gazette, the most “famous” newspaper in New Mouse City. He’s also the author of his own best-selling book series.

He’s a timid single guy afraid of new adventures yet finds himself reluctantly traveling the globe with his friends and family solving mysteries and completing research for his next big story.

Because Geronimo is always finding himself in the middle of adventure while traveling the globe, the series is perfect for adding to any unit study I have.

Top 5 Reasons to Love Geronimo Stilton And Geronimo Stilton Book List 1-20

A Simple Geronimo Stilton LEGO Tutorial For Mouse Loving Kids

4 Reasons to Love Geronimo Stilton Series

Visual. Each book is full of colorful and inviting artwork. Great for keeping focus and grabbing the reader’s attention.
Fast-paced. Short chapters jam packed with adventure.
Amusing. Each page is full of silly jokes and fun facts.
Vocabulary builder. New vocabulary is brought to life with word pictures.

Words jump off the page through the witty illustrations. New vocabulary stands out and kids remember it.

And look at my post here 10 Things to Learn From The Fun Geronimo Stilton Chapter Books.

Geronimo Stilton List of Books

As we read each book and do a hands-on activity, I’ll list them below for you.

The Curse of the Cheese Pyramid (Geronimo Stilton Series #2)

Barbie Mummy

The Journey Through Time (Geronimo Stilton Special Edition) (Geronimo Stilton Journey Through Time)

This first book in the series takes you through prehistory with the dinosaurs, and through Ancient Egypt and the Great Sphinx of Giza, and finally into Camelot.

The Journey Through Time #2: Back in Time (Geronimo Stilton Special Edition)

Next, we learning about Mayans, Rome and King Louis.

Stilton List of Books

The Race Against Time (Geronimo Stilton Journey Through Time #3)

Learn alongside this adventure seeking mouse Geronimo Stilton as we learn about Ice Age, Ancient Greece and The Renaissance.

Lost in Time (Geronimo Stilton Journey Through Time #4)

This book of the Geronimo Stilton series takes us through Cleopatra’s Time, Genghis Khan and Queen Elizabeth.

No Time To Lose (Geronimo Stilton Journey Through Time #5)

In Geronimo Stilton No Time To Lose The Fifth Journey Through Time Geronimo jumps from Napoleon’s Time to the Vikings’ Time and finally to King Solomon’s time in the Whisker Wafter time machine.

Build an Edible Eiffel Tower

Time Warp (Geronimo Stilton Journey Through Time #7)

Also, we travel to Greece, Mythical Atlantis and learn about Stonehenge.

Lost City of Atlantis Diorama

Out of Time (Geronimo Stilton Journey Through Time #8)

In this book, Geronimo visits Alexander the Great, Queen Cleopatra, Mozart, and Sir Francis Drake.

Learn About Mozart
Sir Francis Drake Ship Craft

Mouse in Space! (Geronimo Stilton #52)

More Geronimo Stilton Resources

Also, look at some more resources below:

Who Is Geronimo Stilton Rodent Notebooking Page

You’ll love these other reads and tips:

Are you looking for engaging readers for your middle to upper elementary kids? It’s hard to find books that get reluctant readers interested, but these books will do it. CLICK here for 10 Fun Things You Can Teach Using Geronimo Stilton Books!

10 Fun Things You Can Teach Using Geronimo Stilton Books

How to Easily Garden Plan With Kids Using LEGO

March 3, 2019 | 1 Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

How to garden plan with kids using LEGO is a way to sneak in some learning. Check out more ideas too at Easy Seed and Gardening Unit Study for Kids (Middle – Upper Elementary).

If I can take a subject or unit of study and apply it to LEGO creations it is going to be a big hit.

My kids, like so many others, love to create and build with LEGO so it is just a great hands-on natural extension to learning.

How to Easily Garden Plan With Kids Using LEGO

This time I applied it to a study on Garden Planning.

This application gave us science, math, handwriting, fine motor skills development, critical thinking, and so much more.

We will definitely be using LEGO again as the core of our learning.

You don’t even have to be planning a real garden, this is still the perfect way for them to dig a little deeper into the concept of gardening no matter what size space you live in or grow in.

After determining how many feet your real garden will be and whether you want it square or rectangle you are ready to move on to designing it with LEGO.

We worked on our garden planning with LEGO in two different ways and I am going to share both of them with you so you can choose one or do both!

1 LEGO GARDEN SUPPLIES How to Garden Plan With Kids Using LEGO

Gardening Activities For Kids

If you haven’t started your LEGO journey yet this, LEGO Classic Medium Creative Brick Box is a great box to begin with!

For this one, it was a fun fully hands-on activity that required no writing from the kids (my sons favorite).

I love how it gets their creativity flowing and provides them with a 4D visual of how our garden might look.

2 lego garden planning 1 LEGO GARDEN SUPPLIES How to Garden Plan With Kids Using LEGO

To begin, gather up a flat LEGO base plate in whatever size you like.

I had two kids doing it and needed to display them for a while in our classroom so we used 5 x 5 base plates in the interest of space.

LEGO Garden Activity

Then, grab a bunch of LEGO in all different sizes and colors, we opted for 2 x 2 bricks and smaller, as well as LEGO plants.

If you don’t have many plants LEGO and want to include them you can purchase a poly bag with a variety of plants.

How to Easily Garden Plan With Kids Using LEGO | Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Single round studs and square 1 peg bricks can be used to create many items for your garden.

You can see on our garden that we mixed in both and it still looks great. 2 x 2 bricks make great pumpkins, eggplants, tomato plants, etc..

Explain to the kids that while planting it is especially important to leave room for your plants to grow.

Use the pegs on top of your base plate to represent square feet, you can use however many you like but just keep it throughout to represent the scale.

We chose to use 3 x 3 to equal one square foot. Now as you “plant” with the LEGO keep that in mind, research how large space each of your intended plants’ needs.

Once you know your square foot and the needs of each plant you can begin constructing your lego garden.

Work in rows.

Place the plants you create, remember to check for plants that should and shouldn’t be placed next to each other.

4 LEGO GRAPH FINAL How to Garden Plan With Kids Using LEGO

Now when you are done you have a fun visual for your real garden.

And a pretty display piece for your school room, living room, or wherever you would like to put it!

This version combines the fun of LEGO and some writing and graphing skills in a mixed media approach to creating a garden with LEGO.

I like this one because it gives the kids a chance to develop other skills and also it is so easy to change up and if you laminate your graph paper once colored it can be used again and again with LEGO to create new spaces.

GRAPH How to Garden Plan With Kids Using LEGO

Grab some graph paper, smaller lego pieces, and something to color with.

We used 1” graph paper because the large squares are perfect for representing 1 square foot.

LEGO Bricks for Kids Learning

Choose your desired garden size and color in those squares, brown of course is best for creating “soil”. We created a 5×6 plot to make our graph paper vegetable garden plan on.

You can do the whole page if you wish, and use as many squares as you want to represent your one square foot.

Decide what crops you will plant and choose small LEGO bricks accordingly.

Demonstrate to your child how to place the rows, explain the placement and how to allow room for growth.

6 LEGO GRAPH ROWS How to Garden Plan With Kids Using LEGO

Let them design a garden that they would like to help build and once they are done have them label their crops.

7 LEGO GARDEN FINAL How to Garden Plan With Kids Using LEGO

Our little red studs are radishes which can be crowded together a little more than something like say… squash plants which need a lot more space around them.

Leave some blank rows for paths.

Both of these ideas can be photographed and added to your garden journal or used as part of your end of the year evaluation in your homeschool portfolio.

You’ll also love these other hands-on ideas:

Essential Life Skills – A Homeschooler’s Other Curriculum

March 2, 2019 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

More and more parents these days are dropping their kids off at the front door of public school and are expecting teachers to do it all — teach the three Rs and life skills necessary for kids to live as functioning adults in society. As homeschoolers we have an advantage; we know that essential life skills are a crucial part of our curriculum.

With the growing concept of adulting – when young adults are learning life skills for the first time as they move out on their own – it would seem that the formula public school tends to use which is an academic approach isn’t working. And homeschoolers aren’t immune to this problem.

Essential Life Skills a Homeschoolers Other Curriculum @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

No matter in what form they educate their children, parents who try to do and be all things for their kids are doing them a great disservice. Additionally, if parents are trusting (aka hoping) that life skills will be caught, rather than taught that only seems to work out when they pick up something we don’t want them to, right?

As homeschooling families we have not only the privilege, but the responsibility to teach our kids these all-important life skill sets that make for a well-rounded and capable grown-up.

Too, we all know that skills taught like this should begin early. I focus on the teen part of life in this article because really it’s the time to maximize what we’ve been teaching them all throughout the years.

From the mouths of homeschoolin’ mommas who have been traditionally schooled comes this list of skills they didn’t learn in school. The teen years are a great time to make sure your kiddo gets these skills down while still living under your roof. And even if they’re in high school, it’s never too late for a crash course.

And they will thank you for it down the road!

And if you’re looking for curriculum to help you teach life skills, you’ll love Skill Trekker. There are 500+ skills (and counting) in the program.

Domestic Life Skills for Homeschooled Kids

basic cooking and cleaning bathrooms, vacuuming, grocery shopping (online and in real life)
how to sort laundry properly
basic and advance home maintenance
basics of human anatomy and well-being
how to access home services
how to garden or at least grow and care for one plant
how to care for pets, their health and animal CPR
how to sew is not a lost skill about homeschoolers and basic alterations
how tos of basic couponing
how to change a diaper
lawn maintenance
simple electrical and plumbing know how
how to menu plan

Auto Care Skills for Homeschooled Kids

how to buy a car and basic car care (oil and filter changes, how to check oil, change a tire, etc)
determining the value of a car using the Kelley Blue Book
how to keep an auto compliant with local law
how to pump gas

Workplace Skills For Homeschooled Kids

learn how to fill out a job application
learn how to prepare a resume
prepare for a job interview
understand how to work with others in a workplace environment
how to be on time for a job

Small business management, which is so relevant to many of today’s entrepreneurial homeschoolers, was and still is often reserved for college, or at least specialized trade school programs.

Your entrepreneurial kids may enjoy the boxes from Boss Club which teach kids how to be entrepreneurs. You can click on the picture below to see how they build skills for helping your kids.

Health Care Skills for Homeschooled Kids

basic hygiene
understand how to take care of their basic health
understand differences in how food is grown or processed
how to give consent for procedures
CPR and basic first aid
understand how to use medicine versus natural remedies
how to notice and be caring when others have special needs like dementia, seizures, or panic attacks
how to give basic elder care

Financial Education for Homeschooled Kids

Last, but certainly not least, many homeschool moms failed to receive an adequate, or sometimes any, financial education while in school.

how to handle and maintain a checking account how to prepare and file taxes
how to create and stick to a budget
how credit works
the basics of a mortgage and how it works
value of saving and preparing for retirement
how to apply for insurance and discern what’s necessary

So there you have it, skills that haven’t been taught in school in the past, and most likely aren’t today.

As homeschoolers we have an advantage; we know that essential life skills are a crucial part of our curriculum. Click here to grab this list!

These aren’t fluff topics; these are concepts and abilities that will enable your teen to be a fully functioning adult and even perhaps put him ahead of many of his peers.

Don’t make your teen fumble with adulting when you can arm him with these basic essentials!

You’ll also love these other tips:

Hugs and love ya

Easy Seeds and Gardening Unit Study for Kids (Middle – Upper Elementary)

February 27, 2019 | 1 Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Are you as excited for spring as we are? You’ll love this easy seeds and gardening unit study. Also, look at my page Best Homeschool Unit Studies for more unit studies.

So we are always excited to get some seeds sprouted indoors.

To kick off a garden unit study I pulled out an old favorite activity to introduce again.

Easy Seeds and Gardening Unit Study for Kids (Middle - Upper Elementary)

When the kids were preschooler age I loved to let them open and explore inexpensive seed packets (4/$1 at Dollar Tree).

It was such a simple introduction to gardening, parts of a flower, and grasping where flowers, fruits, and veggies begin. A great simple hands-on science activity that engaged them for a long period of time.

Easy Seed and Gardening Unit Study for Kids (Middle - Upper Elementary). You'll love these tips for an easy gardening unit study! Click here to grab them!

I haven’t done it in years and wondered if it was kind of a babyish activity for them.

However with spring right around the corner I wanted to give it a try.

And I am so glad I did, although my kids are almost 8 and almost 11 this activity was still a hit.

I also added a few additional challenges to make it more age appropriate.

2 seed tray Easy Seed and Gardening Unit Study for Kids Middle - Upper Elementary @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Set out an artist pallet with small wells or another divided container for exploration,

I grabbed this divided serving platter from Dollar Tree.

Pour your seeds out among the divided sections and add items for exploration like magnifying glasses, tweezers, a small knife for older children, and the seed packets themselves.

Let your child(ren) spend a little time exploring and studying the seeds and see what observations they make.

3 supplies for seed investigation Easy Seed and Gardening Unit Study for Kids Middle - Upper Elementary @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Easy Seeds and Gardening Unit Study Activities For Kids

If you have younger children joining in you can have them sort by size or by color. Let them match the seed packet to the seeds in the tray.

After they got a good look at each seed, seeing how they varied so much in size, shape, and color we cut open a few and looked side.

We talked about how some seeds that are hard to sprout can be helped along in their germinating process.

Just crack the seed coat gently with something like fingernail clippers.

4 cut open seed Easy Seed and Gardening Unit Study for Kids Middle - Upper Elementary @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

We also investigated seeds still in the apple, let your kids dig them out with a pair of tweezers to get a real firsthand look at them.

5 Apple seed investigation Easy Seed and Gardening Unit Study for Kids Middle - Upper Elementary @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

I had the children investigate the seeds and compare as we did when they were younger but this time we dived even deeper into studying them, adding in some journaling, handwriting, spelling, reading, and more as well.

Gather all the books and gardening magazines you have on gardening and place them in a basket or scattered about the house.

More Hands-on Gardening With Kids Activities

How To Make Plastic Bottle Little Greenhouses | 5 Plastic Bottle Craft Ideas

Use them in your morning time or as your science book during your garden study, this really helps give a little “meat” to your seed exploring time.

6 Seed packets and books Easy Seed and Gardening Unit Study for Kids Middle - Upper Elementary @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Kids Garden

Make a list of spelling/vocabulary words associated with seeds and gardening that is age appropriate for your child.

Younger children can use simple words like- seed, grow, and dirt while upper middle school children might learn heirloom, organic, and germination.

These words can be used for spelling, vocabulary, or as journal starters.

My daughter is learning how to alphabetize so for practice I had her put the seed packets in alphabetical order, a practical hands-on application will sink and stick much better than a worksheet will for most children. Also alphabetizing books and magazines is great practice as well.

We also did the planting a seed and watching it grow we documented its progress.

Have them draw a picture of what they see each day from seed to full-blown plant. Even older children can really get a lot out of watching the process firsthand, seeing the seed pod germinate and spread its tender little leaves out and roots down.

Radishes, lettuce, broccoli, and sunflowers are quick-sprouting seeds if you are looking for more instant gratification for the kids.

Next, I had the kids log seeds in a garden journal that was just a basic composition book.

They listed our seeds and then added seed to a little dab of school glue next to it to compare and remember what each seed looks like.

This gives the kids an opportunity to practice handwriting and spelling. Go a little deeper and use garden topics to kick off journal entries as well

7 Easy Seed and Gardening Unit Study for Kids Middle - Upper Elementary @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

More Seeds and Gardening Activities For Kids

Finally, we used our gardening books and magazines that we had on hand to find and learn more about the seed packets we had.

Research is an important skill to learn and children can gather information from the back of the seed packet.

But get even more in-depth information from books, living books that act as textbooks contain a lot of information to beef up a gardening study.

We used these books to plan our garden, deciding what we would plant, plot size and shape, as well as some crafty ideas.

Supply List For Gardening and Seed Activities

Seed packets of various varieties and sizes
Magnifying Glass
Tweezers
A divided tray to hold everything
Gardening books and/or magazines
Composition book
Glue

Seeds and Gardening Unit

18 Amazing Kids Subscription Boxes to Try Right Now

February 21, 2019 | 2 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

A homeschool subscription box has a way of bringing learning to life.

There are several advantages to using subscription boxes in your homeschool, so let’s take a look at the benefits and the types you can choose.

One/Convenience
Subscription boxes are convenient because they are mailed right to your doorstep at a predictable time every month. Most everything you need for the lessons are included right in the box, other than some common household items you already have, depending on the type of box.

Two/ Hands-on learning
Most subscription boxes are designed to be very engaging and hands-on with experiments, projects, maps, and more. These get the kids excited and involved with the whole process of learning.

Three/Variety
Subscription boxes make it easy to include a variety of learning activities in your homeschool without all the fuss and muss of planning them on your own. You get a box, you do the activities, and then you can look forward to something different next month. That kind of learning variety can really perk up your homeschool when you’re in a slump.

Benefits of Educational Subscription Boxes

Did I mention that some of the boxes can be used like a unit study approach?

You know that the unit study approach works for relaxed homeschoolers, unschoolers, and child-led homeschoolers.

Also, subscription boxes are a great way to keep the kids learning while you’re sick or even if you need a break from teaching.

Here is a list of homeschooled kids’ favorite subscription boxes, divided by subject, and where possible I added ages that each company recommends for their subscription box.

STEM and SCIENCE Subscription Boxes

Amazon STEM boxes available in three age ranges (3-4 years, 5-7 years, and 8-13 years). I love these boxes. Right now we’re using them for preschool with Munchking and love the monthly boxes.

Science Expeditions from Little Passports (elementary). The Science Expeditions subscription is recommended for children 9+ years of age.

Academics in a Box (elementary to middle school) physics and chemistry projects a/k/a Groovy Lab in a Box. Stem learning and Groovy Lab in a Box is for children ages 8+.

Steve Spangler science (elementary to middle school). Great for ages 5 to 12 years old.

Mel Science (elementary to middle school) for practical chemistry experiments. Aimed at children ages 10 to 14 years old.

Tinker Crate crafts and STEM projects for middle school to high school. Ages 9 to 16+ years old.

Magic School Bus science club through (The Young Scientist Club) has 12 kits with the program and each kit has a 12 page colorful manual. For ages 5 to 12 years old with younger kids needing some supervision.

ToucanBox preschool crafts and activities. For ages 3 to 8 years old and encourages STEAM.

Geography Subscription Boxes

Little Passports, both World and United States geography. Recommended for ages 3 to 12 years old.

Top Secret Adventures Book Club from Highlights, world geography and critical thinking skills. Join Highlights Hidden Puzzle Club and Receive a Free Book and Tote with Your Order Today! From the site: Your child can explore the world, capture a villain, solve a mystery and still be home in time for dinner. For ages 7+. Visit a new country with every kit . Each kit is a kid’s world travel guide, puzzle challenge and detective game all rolled into one.

Creativity and Crafts Subscription Boxes

Kiwi Crate crafts and activities for ages 0 to 16 years.

Look What You Can Make Craft Books 4-Book Set Vol. 1

Radish Kids crafts and activities for elementary. Teach weekly thematic cooking lessons that incorporate math, science, nutrition, geography, and culture. For ages 4 to 14 years old.

Green Kid Crafts for preschool through elementary. Different theme each month to emphasize STEAM. For ages 2 to 10 years old.

Booster Bricks from LEGO for preschool through elementary. From the site: Each one of our famous Challenge Boxes includes over 250 LEGO® pieces as well as at least 5 unique Build Challenges and LEGO® Story to bring it all together! We recommend our boxes for kids ages 4-12, but LEGO can be enjoyed by anyone 4 and up!

Foreign Language, Craftsman, and Arctic Subscription Boxes

Boss Club for entrepreneurial kids

Your Boss Club box comes with everything you need to start and launch a real business. From raw ingredients to advertising materials, this box has it all. You won’t believe how much fun starting a business can be!

Polar Pen Pal (elementary) to learn about the Arctic with crafts, videos, and more. Includes educational postcards, stickers, northern gifts, and access to online content including videos, printable activities, craft suggestions etc. For ages 5-12 years old.

TalkBox immersion foreign language for the whole family. Each talkbox has a theme.

CraftsmanCrate with tools and ideas for building.
From the site: You’ll get the tools you need to learn the skill and they’ll be tools you can keep using. You’ll get quality supplies that will let you produce a real project. Boxes are designed for ages 12 and up, due to the complexity of the tasks involved.

Kids love to get mail, right? They’ll look forward to getting a brand new subscription box in the mail every single month. Use that excitement and eagerness to your advantage while homeschooling to bring a spark to their learning.

You’ll love these other ways to keep the fun in learning:

As you can see, there are lots of great options to bring subscription box learning into your homeschool! If you want the benefits of convenience, variety, and hands-on learning in your homeschool, try one of these subscription boxes to get started!

Hugs and love ya,