Here are 7 Super Fun Staycation Ideas for Families Who Homeschool:

1 – Camping in the Backyard – If you have a backyard, you can enjoy the best parts of a camping trip without ever leaving your home.  Pitch a tent in your backyard.  Roast marshmallows over a campfire.  Lay on a blanket and look up at the stars.  Give your kids a jar with holes in the lid and let them catch lightning bugs.  Run through the sprinkler with them.  Try to do as much as possible without entering your house to make the experience as authentic as possible.  Lots of fun memories can be made in this way!

2 – Movie Night – It can get quite expensive to take an entire family to the movie theater.  It’s so much less expensive to rent a movie and watch it at home.  To make the experience special, be sure to pop some popcorn.  Dim the lights.  You can even buy movie theater candy at most grocery stores and offer that to the kids as well.

3 – Game Day – There are all kinds of variations you can make for this one.  Have a Wii U Marathon.  Play a bunch of board games back-to-back.  Play touch football or soccer in the backyard.  When we have a game day around here, we like to accompany it with an All Day Buffet.  I premake some of our favorite foods and set out a delicious spread on the counter.  Then, everyone is allowed to help themselves to food and snacks while we play.  The added benefit to this scheme is that I get the entire day off from cooking.  Be sure to have paper plates and plastic silverware available so that cleanup is also a breeze.

4 – Reading Aloud – Choose a favorite book and have dad read it aloud to the entire family each night before the kids go to bed.  This is a wonderful time for family bonding and it’s a great way to experience some of those books that you meant to get to during the school year… but didn’t.  Another variation on this idea is for the entire family to listen to an audio drama together.  Lamplighter Theatre and Heirloom Audio Productions are some of our favorites!

5 – Biking – Depending on the age of your kids, you can get elaborate with this one as well.  You can take short bike rides around your neighborhood.  Or, you can have everyone wear backpacks filled with food and drinks and make a day out of it.  More and more cities are making bike trails through Rails to Trails and other programs which make it easier to get to various destinations safely by bike.

6 – Hiking – Most areas have vast networks of hiking trails as well.  While hiking, you can learn all about the flora and fauna in your area.  Point out various types of trees and wildflowers to your kids.  Try to walk quietly so that you can observe wildlife as well.  Hikes are also good times to have great conversations with one or more of your kids.

7 – Day Trips – Usually, the most expensive part of a vacation is the lodging.  Rather than taking overnight trips, consider taking several smaller day trips instead.  Try to view your area as a tourist and seek out activities that your family would enjoy doing together.  Are there any festivals or other special events taking place?  Is there a zoo or a museum nearby?  Special events are usually publicized in local newspapers and on the radio.  I know some families who jump in the car and simply go wherever the road takes them.  They read the signs and pull off at whichever destinations look interesting.  If you’re really stuck for ideas, consider driving to a nearby rest area and look at the brochures that are in the lobby.  State Welcome Centers are especially good for this sort of fact finding mission.  You can even make a family adventure out of doing your research!

Whether you have the funds to take a family vacation or not, you can still come up with all sorts of fun and memorable activities to do as a family.  With a little bit of planning and ingenuity, this summer could very well be filled with the most family fun you’ve had in a long time!

The post 7 Super Fun Staycation Ideas for Families Who Homeschool first appeared on True Aim.

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This Week’s Featured Posts…

Summer Reading Bingo

Give prizes for complete these bingo sheets and your kids will be reading for hours!

Fun with Puffy Paint

Make your own window clings!

Make Earth Art

Totally cool things to make with nature. Great for camping or the backyard.

Tessellations

An addicting math & art technique that you’ll want to do along with your kids!

Easy Summer Play Dough Party

You know how much kids like play dough, but this is even better!

Make a Wind Chime

This is so easy and you could use lots of different things!

Flower Art and Crafts

Lots of cool ideas to make beautiful flowers.

Make a Pirate Ship

Anything that has to do with a big cardboard box is fun for kids!

Watercolor Art with Masking 

If your kids like to peel stuff off, this is the activity for them!

Patriotic Busy Bag Ideas!

I like to call it festive fine motor activities!

Fun Snail Mail

This is perfect for summer time! Find a pen-pal or just sent your family members some fun letters.

Shell Art

Or rock art if you don’t have any shells.

Pretend Play Ideas

Set up some play ideas for your kids and let them imagine the day away.  

100+ More Summer Activities!

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Making birthdays special for the man that has everything can be hard to do. Doing little things throughout the day to make your husband feel special will mean more than a big store-bought gift. So here are 10 ways to make your Husband feel special on his birthday.

Some guys aren’t used to getting love notes or specials surprises from their wives, that’s when it is really special to do something out of the ordinary. My Husband just turned 30 and I wanted to do something to make his day memorable.

10 Ways to Make Your Husband’s Birthday Special

Before the big day, I made my plans and went to Walmart. The first thing I shopped for was the cards. Hallmark has a great selection of cards start at 47 cents.

We always get 2 cards. I let the kids pick one out and I select a special one from me. While I was there I got lots of different cards for other occasions that were coming up, that way I would be prepared ahead of time.

1. Breakfast in Bed

Have you ever done this? Sometimes it’s not that easy. Your husband may need to get up early for work. In that case, you can always make a hot breakfast in a bag to go. One of the easiest things to make is a breakfast sandwich with eggs, ham, and cheese on a bagel or English muffin. Wrap it in tin foil to keep it hot and include a side of fruit or yogurt. Don’t forget the birthday note or Hallmark card from the kids!

2. Birthday Notes in the Car

Surprise him throughout the day by hiding special notes or Hallmark cards in his car. Places to hid them; the glove box, visor, center console, on his umbrella.

3. Birthday Surprise in His Desk

What’s your husband‘s favorite snack or candy bar? Get a co-worker to hide his special snack in his desk or locker at work. If he’s not working, you can dress up his snacks in a special way.

4. Skip the Sack Lunch

Have lunch delivered for him at work or go and pick up his favorite take out and deliver it for him. Yum yum!

Also check out Ways to Build up Your Husband:

5. Get His Boss to Make Him Leave Early

This might be difficult, but it would be very special and surprising if his boss said, “Happy Birthday, you can leave early today!” If your husband already has the day off, you can spare him all the housework for the day. Have the kids do his chores, fold his laundry, and make the bed.

6. Balloons

Balloons just make everything more fun! Make a surprise wall of balloons when he comes out of his room in the morning. Decorate the house with Balloons or his car so that when he gets off early he’ll be really surprised!

Source

7. An Adventure

Instead of getting your husband some thing, plan him an experience to remember. Some ideas are: a helicopter ride, balloon ride, tour of fighter jets, a boat or rafting trip, mountain climbing adventure, zip line tour. If he gets off work early to go, have everything he needs ready to go.

8. Dinner

If you’re not having a party or going out to eat, make dinner special by serving his favorite, or something fancy. Have the kids dress up and serve him like he’s in a restaurant. Of course, having a surprise party is always fun too.

9. The Gift

If you do get a gift, wrapping it in an oversize box will help disguise it. Or, make it fun and do a little scavenger hunt. Draw a map and let your husband find it! Offer encouraging clues about how much you care for him to lead him to the gift and make him feel even more special!

10. Your Card

I always like to save my Hallmark card for the end of the day. Just to make it personal and share a special moment.

What do you do to make your husband’s birthday special?

You might also like:

Celebrate fathers with these great movies!

The post 10 Ways to Make Your Husband Feel Special on His Birthday first appeared on True Aim.

Together, we came up with what has been the most fun indoor rainy day activity in our home to date just so that he would get to use that sled.

We simply used stuff that we already had around the house to create a “snow hill” for the sled to race down. The result? Hours of laughter and energy-burning fun despite the pouring rain outside!

Indoor Rainy Day Activity for Kids

For our snow hill, we placed two twin mattresses on the stairs and then placed dufflebags full of clothes (my husband had just gotten home from a trip) at the bottom to keep the mattresses from sliding down and to keep the kids from smashing into the wall opposite the stairs. The kids then slid down with and without the sled!

If you don’t have mattresses to put on the stairs, you can always substitute them with something else somewhat sturdy and smooth, such as gym mats or large pieces of cardboard.

People are always giving away free mattresses on Craigslist! Then you can always pass them on to someone else if you don’t have the space to keep them. That may seem like a lot of work just for this activity, but it will be worth it. SO fun!

The kids eventually got so comfortable flying down the mattresses, that they came up with “trick moves” and didn’t even stop for water breaks…

Climbing back up the mattresses every time burns so much energy, and this activity helps develop gross motor skills as well. The kids loved racing each other to see who could get back up to the top first.

Happy, active kids make for a happy momma. I originally thought that I was going to get a ton done around the house while these shenanigans were going on, but I ended up joining in on the fun and had such a good time giggling with them.

Thus, the photo above has a couch full of clean, unfolded laundry in the background… but my kids will remember the fun they had with mom that day rather than the slightly wrinkled clothes now hanging in their closets.

Have you done anything like this with your kids before? Leave a comment below with more rainy day activity ideas, or let us know how things went when you tried ours!

The post The Best Indoor Rainy Day Activity Ever first appeared on True Aim.

It wasn’t white snow that had miraculously appeared in a single night. I stepped into my garage, with barefeet, and while it did look like it had snowed, the snow was a million tiny black mouse droppings. Only a few days earlier I’d seen nothing and now everything was covered.

There were droppings on shelves several feet off the ground, in my buckets, in my work bench, on my shoes, on my kids’ shoes everywhere. And then out of the corner of my eye I saw a tiny flash dart under a shelving rack and disappear. I grabbed a piece of wood and ran over, but the mouse had vanished without a trace.

The next time Janine was at the store, she bought several mouse traps. I filled them with peanut butter, but the little rodent wouldn’t touch them. I have no clue why. I saw him all the time; I just couldn’t catch him. He’d go under something and “poof,” he was gone.

Until one day, he made a terrible miscalculation. He hid under a pile of rags in a plastic basket. I carefully lifted the bin into the air and set it down into a huge box. Then I peeled back some of the rags and he shot out as usual, only this time he had no where to run. He tried to jump out, but the box walls where too high. He was caught!

I am not a terribly sensitive man. The plan was to grab a shovel and put an end to his mischief. But to begin with, he was baby mouse. Probably only 4 weeks old. It wasn’t his fault he’d been born in my garage.

Besides that, I’d been writing a Bible app. that week on creation, and I started thinking about how God had entrusted us to care for the animals. If God took the time to create mice then why should I treat His creation so carelessly? That led me to thinking about a Bible verse: “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them…” (Matthew 6:26a).

If God cared enough about the birds of air, maybe I could take a little effort to care for this helpless mouse.

While I thought the matter over in the house, my children got wind of the mouse. They wanted to keep him. My 2-year son, Colton, even warned me not to hurt the mouse because it was “HIS” mouse. They’ve watched too much Cinderella and Theo, I think.  So, I decided to let the mouse live.

I bought a tank and wheel, and resolved to keep him for the winter and release him in the spring. I traded out my kill-traps for live-traps. And mice must be pretty smart, because where they wouldn’t touch the other traps, they flooded into my live traps. We now have 9 “pet” mice, 7 babies, a mother and father.

I don’t let my children touch them, just in case, but they are thrilled to just sit and giggle as the silly mice race around their cage. I even used it as homeschooling lesson to teach our kids about compassion for animals. We named all nine mice Mercy Mouse, because we showed them mercy.

I’m not saying that was the right answer to our mice problem. Some mice carry diseases, especially deer mice (ours are house mice, similar to what you buy in a pet store). I wouldn’t judge anyone who did the sensible thing and killed them. This is just what we did.

Have you ever caught a wild animal for a pet and released it?

The post Mercy Mouse first appeared on True Aim.

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When I was little, my aunt gave me a dress that my mother had sewn for her. It was 3 sizes too big for me, but that didn’t stop me from wearing it every time I played dress up. I was amazed that my mom could sew so well. That’s what got me interested in sewing.

My mother taught me a few things, but she mostly gave me the materials and let me experiment on my own. While I’m not the best at it, I have basic skills that give me the confidence I need to create whatever I want with a little help from patterns and a sewing machine.

My daughter started getting interested when her aunt gave her a beautiful sewing basket stocked full of supplies. Now she is excited about everything to do with a needle and thread.

Gifts for Beginning Sewers

In addition to sewing, weaving, crocheting, and knitting all help develop fine motor skills and can be taught at a very young age. I’ve seen children as young as 4 years old knit better than I can and many girls can crochet even earlier. Here are some of my favorite products and resources for beginning sewers!

Sewing Baskets and Bags

1. Simple Sewing Basket – Beginning sewers do a lot of hand sewing projects, so having a sewing basket helps keep all of them organized. All the needles, thread and current projects can be kept in the basket so your little sewer always know where everything is and goes. The one my daughter has was her great grandmothers! So this is a great gift because it will last a long time.

2. Fold Up Yarn Caddy – These are great for all those yarn projects, crocheting or knitting. We have one just like this, but got it from great grandma too. It has definitely gotten a lot of use out of it.

3. Pouch Pattern – Children can make their own bag to carry their knitting and sewing supplies. Bags are very simple to make, although you might have to help with the handles on this bag. 4. Travel Sewing Kit – This little home sewing kit is perfect for all hand sewing projects. It even comes with a free eBook. Perfect for keeping everything together so your children don’t loose needles and get string tangled up.

5. My Sewing Kit – For a younger child, this set has lots of bright colored thread, buttons, and embellishments. It includes 4 projects to sew and all the basic sewing essentials. I especially like the pin holder and needle threader.

6. Singer Beginners Sewing Kit – If you notice, the scissors in this kit are pretty large for a young child, but they cut very well. The kit includes a tomato pin cushion, tape measure, needle threader, marking pencils, sewing gauge, seam ripper, thimble, 8-inch bent trimmer scissors, polyester thread, hand needles and straight pins.   7. Quick Knit Loom – My daughter just got this for her 7th birthday and we love it. If your child has been frustrated by crocheting before, you could try this. It is much easier for young children to maneuver the yarn on a loom like this. Plus, the hats you can make are really fun!

8. Pegloom – I love this brand of looms because of the quality. This loom is a natural wood for making intricate tapestry designs. Definitely for an older child that is really into weaving as it takes a while to finish one project.

9. Potholder Loom – This is my favorite potholder loom because it is sturdier than most and I like the colors of the loops it comes with. This was the first loom that I got for my daughter and is a great tool to teach the concept of weaving. The potholders that it makes are amazing for scrubbing dishes without scratching and last a long time.

10. Multi Craft Weaving Loom – A large loom is great for all ages. I love the fact that you can use all sorts of materials to weave in this larger loom. For toddlers you can set up the vertical strings and allow them to put large ribbon and pieces of fabric through it. 11. Knitting Doll – This cute little vintage knitting doll is perfect for little hands. If you want to teach your child how to knit, I would start with something like this and then progress to regular knitting.

12. Finger Crochet Kit – I’ve always wanted to learn how to do this and be able to make something with just string. Sometimes children don’t have the fine motor skills to use a tool like needles or hooks, but they might be able to crochet with their fingers.

13. Bamboo Crochet Hooks – These hooks feel really good in your hands and are very light so your children won’t get tired as quickly. 14. Home and Heart Cross Stitch – When I was young, this was one of the first big projects I did. There is a one simple stitch and pattern to follow, but the designs can be really intricate so the finished product is very rewarding.

15. 3-Pack Embroidery Sampler – Teach your little sewers that they can make pictures with their thread. Embroidering these simple stamped projects make great gifts for the grandparents.

16. Needlepoint Beginner Project – This technique is similar to embroidery and cross stitching, but it is usually done on mesh canvas or plastic. The image is clearly printed and you just follow the guided colors. 17. Plastic Knitting Needles – Needles are a little scary when you first teach your children how to sew. I like to use these plastic ones with embroidery thread and burlap, felt, old screens, or plastic mesh.

18. Sew Cool Threadless Sewing Studio – How does a threadless sewing machine work? If you are worried about your children stabbing their fingers with a real sewing machine, they can get some practice on this little studio first. It has a protective guard so your children can’t be poked. It works by weaving the thread of felt fabric together.

19. Felt Scraps – I always have felt around for my kids to explore with the plastic needles and thread. When they get a little older, then I move to the regular needle. Plus, you can use this in the Sew Cool machine instead of buying the refill packs. It is much cheaper. 20. How to Crochet – A free eBook packed with tons of crochet patterns from easy to more difficult. Love this!

21. Sewing School – 21 projects that will help children master the basics of sewing. Such cute things to make in this book.

22. Kids Knit – More easy projects and a guide to help you teach your children to knit. What are your favorite things to buy for little sewers? Please let a comment and then visit these other fabulous gift guides!

Follow Erica • What Do We Do All Day?’s board Gift Guides for Kids on Pinterest.

The post Top Gifts for Little Sewers first appeared on True Aim.

Welcome to Mom’s Library!

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Check out last week’s Mom’s Library for 6 Pumpkin Activities for Kids!

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This Week’s Featured Posts…

Exploring Sensory Bottles

Making several different bottles with different colors and types of liquid and items will inspire lots of exploration.

Playing with Felt

Giving your child different felt shape to play with and create scenes and animals is a great idea. They’re like fuzzy reusable stickers!

Solving Puzzles

Puzzles can be a lot of fun as long as they are age appropriate. Try these free Cube puzzle printables for your preschoolers.

Painting With Q Tips

Painting with q tips is one of my favorite painting activities because it is relatively mess free. Try these free letter printables and let them create their own pictures.

Building with Foam Blocks

Blocks are really fun to play with, but they make a lot of noise. That’s where foam blocks comes in. Here is a great messy activity to do with foam blocks.

Drawing on the Windows

Make your own dry erase board by allowing your children to draw on the windows with dry erase markers. Can they trace what they see outside?

Sensory Table Activities

Sensory tables allow children to do lots of different activities with lots of different substances.

Play-Dough Guessing Game

This is perfect for my girls to do together and it involves one of their favorite things.

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The post 8 Quiet Time Activities and Mom’s Library #114 first appeared on True Aim.