My Educational Gift Ideas

I hope everyone had a good Christmas! We did, but I have to say that I'm ready for break to be over and get back to school. We're not starting back until January 5th, so another whole week. It's crazy how much smoother our days run when we're in school. The kids are stir crazy and all they want to do is play their new video games, eat candy, and run wild! I'm ready for some order back in our lives!

Around Christmas time every year I see tons of posts from homeschool moms asking for educational gift ideas, or gifts that the kids can use for school. My kids own more toys than we know what to do with and while they still ended up with a lot of toys (mostly doll things,) I tried really hard this year to find some gifts that would be useful for school or educational. Here are some of my favorites:

Boo is still struggling to learn to read. She wants to be able to read her Bible so bad, but she's just not there yet. She goes into her room occasionally to "do her devotions." It's so cute, she hangs a sign on the door that says "Do not disturb," I can hear her in there praying and singing songs. She told me she wanted a new Bible for Christmas. I found this Bible by Zonderkids on sale Black Fri and I love it. I wanted to get something that she will be able to read on her own soon and with pictures. The added bonus though was that this bible comes with audio CD's of all the stories. So until Boo is able to read it well on her own she can try to follow along as she listens. I'm hoping this will help her learn to read it quicker. In addition to that it's really cute and girly. The pictures are adorable and it has "sweet thought and words for little girls" thoughout the stories. She loves it! Success!

Keeping Baby Bear busy during school is one of my biggest challenges during this season of life. I'm buying

her her own workbox for school time and my goal is to come up with enough things that I can switch the activities out and put something different in her box everyday.  She ended up with several puzzles, coloring books, and a magnetic doodle board, which is great because she has been known to use 10 sheets of paper in 2 minutes so she can just erase and start over whenever she wants. They're cheap yet keep her entertained for a long time, and she feels like she's doing school with her sisters.

Grandma wanted to get the girls something they could use for school too. So she got them an art easel. This is also going to be good for keeping Baby Bear occupied. We ended up with the Melissa and Doug Deluxe Standing art easel. One of the features I love is that this can easily be adjusted to 3 different heights. It can get taller than Sis or low enough that it's perfect for baby bear. I will keep the messy supplies put away until we need it for a project, but one side has a chalk board and the other a dry erase (for their dry erase crayons.) So, baby bear can play with this during school time. It may seem like this is a gift more for the younger ones. However next year for 5th grade HOD has a year long poetry/art study that Sis is so excited about. Every week we will have a poem to study and a watercolor painting to create that goes with the poem. She will be learning how to use real water colors and is getting her own adult watercolors for this course. She loves art so she can't wait to learn to use them. This new easel has clips at the top to hold her painting paper so she can paint her watercolors like a real artist.

I think the biggest hit this year was MP4 players and headphones. We decided to buy the girls these not only because it was the number one thing they asked for, but they can be useful for school too. Dad already has over 100 songs on his own, so he loaded them up with worship songs that the girls already know. One of my favorite parts of Sis curriculum is the weekly scheduled "Quiet time with God." I'm sure this schedule continues into next school year. Here's a pic of what it's suppose to look like. We do it a little differently. Sis usually goes into her room alone and reads the assigned verses, then she spends a few mins in personal prayer and worship. We don't do the hand motions or CD, she just prays and worships however she wants. She always wishes she has music to listen to though, because we didn't purchase the CD with the curriculum. She doesn't have a place to play music though without distracting Boo from her work (we have a very small house.) Now they can both have something to listen to during their quiet time without bothering everyone else (well unless you're Boo and like to sing at the top of your lungs with headphones on unaware that anyone can hear you!) We got headphones with volume control for kids so they don't go very loud. Also these have plenty of space for audio books and other school related things the girls might need them for. Right now, Sis is listening to The American Girl Rebecca series on audio. This gift was a huge hit and they haven't taken them off in days.


Finally, my #1  favorite of all time choice for educational toys...Lego!  Somehow they never get old! Yes I play them too! At least sometime throughout the day everyday my girls head for the Lego table. They will play with them for hours. Lego is education in so many ways: the building, constructing, following directions, and imaginative play, which is what makes them the perfect educational toy. Plus no matter how many years go by you never out grow them, right? That's what I keep telling myself anyway. Seriously though building Lego bricks is one thing that I like to do with my girls that we can all work together and have fun. I like helping them put the pieces together, they have names for all their little people and know who does what and lives where.We always get excited when we are able to get a new set. It counts as quality time, they're learning and having fun! That's a winner in my book!