DIY: Turn Any Blanket into a Carseat Canopy

Today's post is a quick fix to turn any baby blanket into a carseat canopy by sewing on two little loops. 

What you'll need:

• One baby blanket that's a good size to drape over your infant carrier
• two scraps of fabric, 6" x 10" each
• two big buttons
• velcro

Tracy's Treasury of Picture Books for Toddlers & Young School-Aged Children

I hope you're ready for more of our tried-and-true, family-favorite books! Today's books are our favorite stories for little ones. They fit the following criteria: 

• They're picture books with real pages. (This is a step up from our Sturdy Books for Babies & Toddlers.)
• They're quality children's books (twaddle-free, well-written & well-illustrated). I'll try not to go off on a tangent about all the sub-par kids books available today which I'd liken to a junk food diet in book form. If  it's annoying or lacks redeeming qualities, it gets the boot.
• My boys love them. These have been tested, tried and true by my boys, who have read them to pieces. They're keepers. 

Ready for some great picture books? Here we go.. 

Picture Book Read Alouds... 

The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter - This is a classic picture book that both of my "big boys" love and have listened to over and over and over again. It provides good opportunities to talk about various lessons learned too, which is always a bonus. The story is also available in large collections with other Beatrix Potter stories, but the small, hardcover book is the way to go. It's how it was originally published, and is an ideal size for little hands and includes all the original illustrations. I think picking a couple of the little individual books (like The Tale of Jemima Puddleduck, The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies, or The Tale of Samuel Whiskers) is preferable to a large volume of all of them that won't get read as much. 

Draw With Your Kids!

If you have kids in your life, you need to bookmark this fabulous resource! My sister-in-law shared it with me and I just love it. There's an artist who makes you tube videos with his kids as he gives them a step-by-step drawing lesson. There are some simple ones, good for younger kids (his youngest is age two), and others for more advanced drawers. Here's the stegosauruses we made on our first lesson (mine, my 3 yo and 6 yo)...

And here's a more recent pictur we made for groundhog day (mine, my 4 yo and 7 yo)...

He has instructional videos for drawing, painting, sculpting, and even origami with kids. The subjects range from animals to star wars to plants to zombies to Frozen characters. I just love it! Thank you Mandy for sharing it with me!! :)

Here is a link to his website, Art for Kids Hub. And here's a link to his you tube channel. Enjoy!!

My Favorite Charlotte Mason Resources

Here's A Peek at Charlotte Mason Education, for those who aren't familiar with it already! There's an abundance of great Charlotte Mason resources available to homeschoolers. Here are my favorites...

Living Books...

• Living book search  - This is a great resource! Use it to find living books by subject and reading level. 
• The Ultimate Living Book List for History Studies! I arranged living books (recommended by Sonlight and Simply Charlotte Mason) chronologically, by level, to supplement our history studies. These could be used with any history study.  

How We Use Victory Drill to Build Reading Speed

Have you ever heard of the Victory Drill Book? I heard about it from another home school mom while we were both stuck waiting in a doctor's office waiting room. It's a basic, no-fluff book you can use in a variety of ways, over and over again for multiple children to strengthen their reading skills. The bulk of the book amounts to a series of word lists, generally grouped by a common phonics or spelling rules, and the lists progress from simple (including at, sat, mat & rat) to advanced (awkwardly, Americanism, extraordinary & Mississippi). Victory Drill may be used to build reading speed and fluency for students in any grade. It can also be used when teaching reading, spelling, or phonics rules. 

Since I taught my son to read without using a traditional phonics program (here's how), we used Victory Drill to reinforce spelling and phonics rules while building his reading speed. After using it for over a year, we've settled into a routine with it. 

Here's how we use it...

Easy DIY Infinity Scarf / Nursing Cover

Today I'll show you how you can turn one yard of fabric into an infinity scarf. If you happen to have a baby, it can double as a nursing cover. 

All you need is a yard of fabric (plus yarn and preferably a sewing machine). I chose a t-shirt type knit material which doesn't fray. This is fabulous since I don't have to hem the edges, and it's light and breathable. 

DIY Laundry Sorter Baskets

We recently changed up our laundry sorting system, and this is what we ended up with... 

The baskets were each $1 from Dollar General, and we mounted them with these double hooks from Home Depot which were $3 each...