5 Creative Tips To Prevent Homeschool Burnout Plus Free Worksheet Printable

Spring is finally here! Everyone needs a little break come spring right? After a long winter we all feel a little cooped up and ready for a break from the regular routine. Changing up your regular homeschool routine can be exactly what everyone needs! 

I have some great ideas to share with you on how you too can change up your daily routine to prevent homeschool burnout and give everyone a little "spring break"!

5 Tips To Keep Your Homeschool Schedule Fun & Prevent Burnout

This post contains affiliate links which means if you make a purchase I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. For more information please read my Disclaimer page. Thanks!

#1 Change of Location

It is easy for us as a homeschool family to pack up our books and take our school on the road. Sometimes just doing school in a new location like the library, grandparent's home or a coffee shop is all we need to feel like we took a break. Even though the kids are still doing their lessons, a change of venue can be just the thing they need to shake things up. 

#2 Arts & Crafts

Spring is an inspiring season reminding us of new life, new colors and the end to a long winter. Harness this spring energy and get out your craft supplies! Let the kids take a day off from their regular lessons to have an all day arts and crafts day. Need some projects to inspire you? Check out these great ideas. 

1. DIY Simple & Easy Bird Feeder
2. Little Hoot Owl Craft for Kids
3. Super Cool Recycling Art Project for Kids


Also, check out my ebook Secret Garden Crafts: 10 Nature Inspired Craft Projects for even more craft projects. 

Amazon

#3 Fun School Tools

Surprise your kids by starting off your homeschool day with a word search! Educational and fun your homeschool child(ren) of any age will love finding the hidden words while you read aloud to them. Education.com* has graciously provided a FREE Spring Word Search worksheet for me to share with you!  

The flowers are blooming with this spring word search. Education.com is full of learning activities and games for every age group! 

My son, who is a beginning reader LOVES word searches. Word searches are a great tool to help a new or beginning readers learn how to sound out words. As he is circling letters he is sounding out the words. 

Click HERE for link to word search. 

 

Click HERE for word search answer key.

If your kids love this word search make sure to check out this post that offers a FREE super cool math worksheet my son just loved!

click HERE to read more

#4 Field Trips

Kids of all ages love going on field trips! Get creative and find some interesting places to visit. Maybe a local coffee shop would be willing to show you how to make fancy coffee drinks or how about a local radio station tour. Exposing your kids to "real world" places beyond a museum can inspire them in the long run to think about what they want to do when they grow up. Think of this as future career field trips. 

#5 Plan A Garden

Taking a day or two to let your children plan out a garden whether it is a raised bed garden, potted container garden or a large plot of space is a great way to take a break from your regular school schedule. 

There are so many educational activities that can be incorporated into planning a garden. Learning about seeds and how things grow is science. Measuring spacing and learning how long it takes for a seed to grow is all about math. Writing out the plan for a family garden can be a great writing exercise too. 

Check out my post on making your own mini greenhouse HERE

click HERE to read

I hope these tips help give you some inspiring ideas to keep your homeschool days fresh and new this spring! 

Don't forget to PIN this post and share with others who might benefit from these ideas. 
Do you have any more tips to help keep your routine fresh and new to prevent burnout or keep spring fever at bay? Share your great ideas by leaving a comment. 

* Education.com provided the Spring Word Search to me for free to share with you at no additional cost to you. I did not receive any compensation for this post from Education.com. The opinions are mine and are an honest review of the worksheet provided by Education.com. I only recommend products we love and use. 

Send The Best Care Package With These Inspiring Ideas & 12 Free Printables

Looking for a great way to show someone special that you care about them? Maybe it is your college student who is living miles away at school or a military deployed spouse or child or how about your teen who is away at summer camp? A care package is a wonderful way to send your love, thoughts and a favorite goody to your loved one. Everyone loves getting a special package in the mail full of yummy treats, special notes and pictures to lift their spirits.

My cousin's daughter spends two weeks every summer at a summer camp that is located a few states away from her home. She enjoys the summer camp but like most kids she does get a little homesick. Each summer her mom packs up a box full of special treats, notes and a handmade card from her little brother and sends it to her at camp so she knows how much her family misses her and loves her.  Not only does she feel their love from miles away but she can cherish the memory of these special care packages long after she grows too old for summer camp.

If you don't have time to get creative with your care package don't worry, Gifts.com has got you covered! Gifts.com has created these unique and FREE Care Package Printables so you can dress up your package package. Box flap decorations you can cut to size, cute tags you can decorate and matching stationery are some of the printables you will just fall in love with!

This post contains affiliate links which means if you make a purchase I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. For more information please see my Disclaimer page. Thanks!

Care Package Ideas and Printables

For some ideas of what to put in your care package, check out the themes below. Decorate your care package with these printable camping-themed decorations to spruce up your box and attach to food items. Your college kid, camper, young couple or deployed loved one will appreciate all the detailed work you put into sending them something so special.

Camping Care Package Ideas

Click HERE to download

Even if you felt like you over packed your camper for their week-long stay, it never hurts to send some extra love. Plus, they'll be so excited to receive mail! Use the printable stationery to write a note from home and let them know what you've been up to. Here are some ideas of what to include in a care package:

Foods:

• marshmallows
• graham crackers
• chocolate
• snacks like pretzels and popcorn
• chips
• juice boxes 
• fruit snacks

Activities:

• compass
• flashlight
• frisbee
• jump rope
• coloring books
• crayons
• stickers
• playing cards
• watercolor paints
• glowsticks
• inflatable beach ball
• outdoor scavenger hunt
• decorations for their cabin
• journal with pen
• disposable camera (or two)
• silly photo props like fake mustaches and crazy sunglasses

Other

• sunscreen
• bug spray
• water bottle
• sunglasses
• hat
• funny note from the family pet with a printed picture
• drawstring backpack that friends can sign
• colored permanent markers
• matching friendship bracelets

Have fun making your care package and decorate as much as you'd like! Your camper will be thrilled when they receive a package full of snacks and games at camp. When you pick them up, be prepared for all of the silly camp stories they'll have and enjoy listening to the fun memories they made.

Hopefully this detailed list of what you can send in a care package combined with these great printables from Gifts.com helps inspire you to send an awesome care package to your loved one. Many of the items above could also be sent to a college student, deployed loved one or even a young couple. Here are samples of what each printable package looks like. Click on the link to go directly to the download from Gifts.com.

Military Service:

click to download printable from Gifts.com

Student Package:

click here to download printable from Gifts.com

Long Distance Love:

click here to download printable from Gifts.com

More FREE Printables!

To help you navigate my blog easier I've put together a page dedicated to all of the FREE printables offered on my site. You can check all of them out on the FREE PRINTABLES page.

Thanks to Gifts.com for letting me share these great ideas with you and creating such cool printables!

How To Make A Wood Growth Chart

Kids grow up so fast! Those milestones we parents track like their first tooth, rolling over, crawling, and walking happens in the blink of an eye, or so it seems. 

As a mom, I wanted to treasure these moments forever knowing that the next growth milestone is just around the corner! I just don't want to forget any of them! 

DIY Wood Growth Chart

Keeping track of how much your child has grown from year to year is just another great way to treasure their childhood. We have been tracking all four of our kids' annual growth with a cardboard growth chart we got from our pediatrician when our first child turned one. Every birthday I get out the chart and measure the birthday boy (or girl) making a mark in pen with their name and age on our growth chart. The kids love to see how they "measure up" to the height of their siblings when they were that age. 

So far my two boys are growing at about the same pace when I compare how tall they are at the same age. My second-born, however, is clearly the shortest and slowest grower compared to her siblings.

I love our growth chart but since it is cardboard I worry about its durability. So far it has done a good job serving its purpose for our family but I recently was inspired to make a wooden growth chart for two of my little nieces. The youngest is turning one in a few weeks and I thought this would make a great birthday gift. I am also making one for her sister who is 3.

I decided to make the growth charts from wood so they are durable as well as movable just in case someday my sister and her family move. This way they can take these special memories with them.

This project is super simple and fun!  Let me tell you how I made my wood growth chart.

This post contains affiliate links which means if you make a purchase through a link I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. For more information please see my Disclaimer page. Thank you!

Easy DIY Wood Growth Chart

Materials:

• 1 .25" x 5.5" x 48" poplar wood board ( I found mine at Home Depot)

• Paint (I used Behr brand interior paint) or wood stain

• Paintbrush

• Ruler

• Fine grit sandpaper

• Sawtooth picture hanger

• Spray on sealer

• Newspaper or drop cloth (to keep the surface you are painting on clean and paint free)

• Silicone wall protectors

DIY Wood Growth Chart Step-by-Step Tutorial

I really wanted a thin board for this project since it will be hanging on a wall in a child's room. The Home Depot has a ton of options for boards that vary in length, width, and thickness. I ended up choosing a .25" x 5.5" x 48"poplar board.

After you gather all of your supplies you are ready to begin. 

Step #1

• First step is to cover your work surface with newspaper or a drop cloth so you don't get paint everywhere. It is up to you whether or not you want to paint or stain your wood board but both methods look great. 

The board I got from The Home Depot was poplar which is a light-colored wood that has beautiful wood grains visible throughout the entire board.  Staining would have enhanced the natural wood grain and looked lovely however I decided to paint the board.

• Apply one coat of paint to each side and along the edges of the board allowing for the paint to dry before flipping it to the other side.

TIP - When you apply paint to wood the wood soaks up the paint resulting in a rough surface. After the paint has completely dried use a fine grit Sandpaper and lightly sand the painted wood. I liked the way the painted wood had a bit of a rustic look to it after I sanded it so I did not apply a second coat of paint. If you don't like a rustic look you may have to apply a second coat of paint to all sides of the board. 

Again, after the second coat of paint dries you will have to lightly sand the board so that the surface is smooth and free from rough spots.

Step #2 

• Once the board is painted it is time to mark out the ruler measurements lightly in pencil. You will want to take into consideration that the wood growth chart will be hung on a wall that probably has baseboards. I chose to start my measurement markings at the height of 1 foot (12"). This means that when the growth chart is hung on the wall the bottom should be 12" from the floor.

Here is a graphic to show the steps I followed to paint the measurement marks. Below the picture are the written instructions:

You can choose any starting point that you want for your growth chart. The reason why I chose 12 inches was so my growth chart measurements had the height of my nieces as newborns. Both happen to be 19 inches tall as newborns so I thought it would be cute to include that measurement as their first growth milestone on their growth chart.

• I placed my ruler along the edge of the wood board with the bottom of the ruler even with the bottom of the board. I then lightly marked one inch increments in pencil along the board until I had the entire length of the board marked and measured.

• Next, I grabbed a 2 x 4 Lego block ( hey, don't judge it was just laying on the counter next to me and it worked great!) to use as a template for how long I wanted my finished inch markings to look. I used the short side of the Lego to mark the length of the lines at the 1", 2", 4", 5", 7", 8", 10", 11"  measurements. 

• For the 3", 6" and 9" I used the long side of the Lego piece so that these markings would stand out. 

• Then at every foot (2 foot, 3 foot, 4 foot and 5 foot) I measured and marked a 3 1/2" line. You can get a better idea of how this looks from the pictures above.

• After I finished marking the inch and foot lines I used a fine tip paintbrush and painted over them with black acrylic paint. Go slow and steady so your lines stay straight and don't get wobbly! Let the paint lines completely dry before you do any more work on the growth chart.

• Now that the measurement lines are dry it is time to add the numbers at the long 3 1/2" marks to show the "foot" measurements. I used a stencil and traced my numbers lightly in pencil first. 

If you don't have a stencil just print off a number in the font you like at the size that fits your project. Lay the printed number on your growth chart in the spot you like next to the appropriate "foot" marking and then with a pencil trace around the printed number pressing hard on the pencil so that the pencil leaves a mark on the wood. Lift the paper up and lightly trace over the indentations. 

number & letter stencils Amazon

number stencil from Amazon

• Once all of the "foot" measurements have been penciled in grab your fine tip paintbrush and whatever color acrylic paint you want to use and paint fill in the numbers where you stenciled in the markings. I chose to use black acrylic paint which is the same as I used for the line measurement markings. Let the paint dry completely.

Step #3 

• Because I was making these growth charts for my nieces I wanted to include their names on the growth charts so they know whose is whose. I followed the same steps I used for stenciling in the numbers but this time with letters to spell out their names. Once I was happy with the placement and had traced the letters onto the wood I used my fine tip paint brush and painted in their names. I chose a complimentary color in acrylic paint to paint their names and I really love how it turned out!

Step #4

• I chose to decorate each of these growth charts with cute animals, flowers, and simple shapes because it would match the theme my nieces' playroom is decorated with which I knew is where these cute little growth charts were going to be hung. The options for decorating your custom wood growth chart are endless! Let your imagination go wild. If you don't feel comfortable free-handing the drawings you could always find a great stencil and trace it.

Or how about hot gluing some cute painted wood animals 

Amazon

Amazon has a big selection of these cute critters!! 

Step #5

• When I was Pinteresting to get some good ideas and inspiration for wood growth charts one of the steps I found missing in a lot of tutorials was how to hang your finished wood growth chart. I wanted to make sure you weren't left in the dark with this step so here is what I did! 

• Since the wood I used was fairly thin I was limited to the type of sawtooth hanger because most have long nails that would pop through the front of the wood if I used them. However, I did find one type of sawtooth hanger, a no-nail sawtooth hanger that wouldn't pop through the front of the growth chart when I attached them. They were super easy to attach requiring only a hammer to pop the edges of the hangers into the wood. Here is what I used:

No Nail Sawtooth Hanger from Amazon

These little hangers are awesome! If you have never used them you have to give them a try! The portion that gets pounded into the wood is serrated so it won't pop out once it is hammered into the wood. 

Step #6

• The last step for this project is to add a couple of clear rubber bumper pads to the bottom corners on the back of the growth chart. Once again here is what I recommend using:

clear rubber bumper pads

That's it, you are all done! Just remember when hanging the growth chart to measure from the floor up to the required height to start. I hung these growth charts starting at 12" up from the floor. Don't they look so cute! I can't wait to see how quickly my nieces grow over the next few years. 

Don't forget to PIN this project for later so you can use this tutorial to make your own wood growth chart. Oh, and please share your ideas, finished projects, and questions with me in the comment section. 

Thanks for stopping by - see you soon!

8 Life Lessons Learned From Classic Children's Books

My children, from a very early age, have always loved being read to whether it be right away in the morning or just before tucking them into bed at night. 

Many of the books I've read to them have become an important part of their childhood memories that they will remember far into adulthood.

Children's book pictures, whether they are colorful or just black and white drawings, breathe life into the characters. 

When I was a little girl my sister and I loved the story of Ping the naughty little Chinese duckling who gets separated from his family as they sail away on a river boat. The drawings transported us directly to the small boat sailing down the Yangtze River in China where we first met Ping. This little duck left a lasting impression on both my sister and me. Not only did little Ping teach us about the consequences of disobeying but we got a small glimpse into the far away distant country of China through the pictures. (Oh, and to this day my sister affectionately names little baby ducks "Ping".)

Life lessons are told through these stories, teaching children so many important things but at their level. Below is a great graphic from Invaluable highlighting some of the life lessons taught to children through some of the most beloved children's books. 

8 Children’s Book Illustrators Who Brought Picture Books to Life

So many times the author who wrote the story receives all the accolades but have you ever wondered who is behind the pictures and illustrations in a book? Who are these artists and illustrators and what inspired them to create these lovable characters?

Here is a fabulous behind the scenes look from the Invaluable.com blog into eight children's book illustrators and artists who brought these lovable classic stories to life. Their stories are fun to read and I'm sure you will enjoy them as much as I did. 

Next time your little one crawls onto your lap to snuggle up for a bedtime story take a little extra time to explore the illustrations and artwork and remember the great artist who created it. 

Ever wonder why it is so important to read to your child? Here are 10 Reasons Why It Is Important To Read To Your Child

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