Forgetful Momma

Secular Homeschooling in Canada

Books

Cozy Reading Days on Cold Winter Days

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After seven years of living in Saskatchewan we are back in the Maritime’s and there are a lot more rainy, gloomy days here than we are used to. We just wanna curl up and have cozy reading days when the sun isn’t shiny. There is something about a good book on winter days that makes everything better.

Cozy Reading Days

Cozy Reading Days on Cold Winter Days

This post contains affiliate links, see my disclosure policy for more information.

Pillows and Blankets

Pile up the pillows and blankets and make yourself a nice, comfy cozy “fort” space to spend the day reading. You pile them up on the floor, as my kids like to do, or pile them up on the couch or in a chair as a I prefer to do.

Have everyone grab their sleeping bag and a pillow and lay in front of the fire reading. You just might get a relaxing nap there too.

Light a Fire

We have an electric fireplace that is perfect for reading and drinking hot chocolate, tea or coffee in front of. We don’t have to turn the heat on, just the lights of the flames is enough to make it feel super cozy while you read. Though it is nice to have the heat on just a little sometimes to make it feel even more cozy.

Hot Chocolate and Snacks

Hot chocolate and treats make everything better. Bake cookies and eat them hot from the oven. Nothing is as great as curling up on pillows, drinking hot chocolate and snacking on cookies.

Read Aloud

While curling up together to read books yourself is pleasant on a grey afternoon, don’t forget how great it is to listen to stories together. Pull out your current read aloud or turn on an audio book.

Invite Friends Over

Instead inviting friends over to the park invite them over for a cozy reading afternoon at home. Have them bring sleeping bags, pillows, and favorite books share. This is a great time to pull out some fresh baked cookies or muffins to have as a treat as well.

Cozy Reading Days on Cold Winter Days
Cozy Reading Days on Cold Winter Days

10 Books for Young Entrepreneurs: Kidpreneurs

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My oldest daughter has an entrepreneurs’ spirit, or as kids can be called “Kidpreneurs”. I haven’t had a clue what to do about it teaching a young entrepreneur, but I am stepping out of my comfort zone and we are going to start working on a plan, a plan for her to start her own little business. My go to as always is books. I am getting books to make sure we do this right and I support her as best as I can. The young entrepreneur that she is already planning a lemonade stand for the summer.

The world has changed and a lot of adults are looking to become entrepreneurs and create their own work and lifestyle. Why shouldn’t kids and teens do the same.

10 Books for young Entrepreneurs
10 Books for Kid and Teen Entrepreneurs

10 Books for Young Entrepreneurs: Kidpreneurs

*This post contains affiliate links, see my disclosure policy for more information.*

This list might be a little overwhelming but the majority are available on Kindle which is a big help, not so many books laying around. Pick one and start there. The two books for teens are at the end.

Jasmine Launches a Startup – Want to spark curiosity and arouse your little one’s leadership skills? Inspire your future entrepreneur to follow its passion and introduce him or her to the world of entrepreneurship with the story of Jasmine. The first perfect business book to share with your child to ignite interest in starting a business or launching a start-up.

Kidpreneurs: Young Entrepreneurs With Big Ideas! – Even children can be introduced to basic business principles and the rewards of entrepreneurship. Our goal with Kidpreneurs is to outline some basic tools and strategies kids can use to gain some valuable experience in starting, managing, and growing a successful business venture.

Kid Start-Up: How YOU Can Become an Entrepreneur – You can try one of our ten kid-friendly businesses, including timeless ventures like starting a lemonade stand to more modern-day endeavors like launching an Etsy art store, or create your own.

Kid Millionaire: Over 50 Exciting Business Ideas – Learn the skills you need to do what you love and profit from your passions! Follow dozens of kid entrepreneurs and learn from business pros with Kid Millionaire! In this fun and inspiring guide.

Better Than a Lemonade Stand!: Small Business Ideas for Kids – Filled with delightfully simple business ideas, Better than a Lemonade Stand! is a fun guide packed with creative ideas that show how to start a business with little or no start-up costs, attract and retain customers, develop negotiating skills, and more.

Project Profit: An Income and Expense Ledger for Aspiring Entrepreneurs – Perfect workbook for lemonade stands, bake sales, and any other roadside business! Project Profit: Lemonade Stand Workbook! This ledger is the perfect introduction to profit and loss, income and expenses, and bookkeeping.

The Amazing Kid Entrepreneur –  A story: As a leader, Zohra teaches by example and inspires individuals to “believe and they shall achieve,” and helps people turn obstacles into energy and focus. Zohra is committed to teaching the formula of success, one person at a time.

This one is more for entrepreneur parents raising entrepreneurs:

Entrepreneur School For Kids: Parent Guide For Grooming Your Child To Be A Future Entrepreneur – This book contains proven steps and strategies on how parents who are entrepreneurs can set their children on the path to becoming entrepreneurs themselves someday.

For Teens:

Be a Young Entrepreneur: Be Inspired to Be a Business Whiz – Calling all business-minded kids: this book is for you! If you’ve ever dreamed of starting your own business but have absolutely no idea where to begin, we’ve got good news for you. It’s easy to succeed–as long as you’ve got a game plan.

Become A Teen Boss: 20+ Ways To Make Money Using Your Electronic Device! – To say that a child doesn’t have what it takes to be successful in this world would be lunacy. Child prodigies and child entrepreneurs from all over the world have proved that you don’t need to be an adult to be respected for your ideas.

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Teaching Photography to Younger Kids

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I take a lot of photos, of everything, be it blog related or my kids are being silly/cute/a pain in the butt, I take pictures. With me always taking pictures my kids have naturally taken an interest in photography, an interest that I love letting them explore. Teaching photography to them no matter their age seems natural, and a fun way to spend time together.

Have you ever let your child play with a camera and seen the photos they take? Some can surprise you.

Teaching Photography to Younger Kids

Teaching Photography to Younger Kids

*This posts contains affiliate links, see my disclosure policy for more information.*

Cameras for Kids

The first step is finding the right camera for your kids. You don’t have to give you kids a fancy camera. Basic ones for their age levels are best. This is the one my 5 year old is using because she is hard on stuff. I mean, hard, worse than my (boy) 3 year old. So she needs something to stand up to her. This camera is not going to give great pictures.


VTech Kidizoom Camera Connect

My 8 year old has this camera, which works great for her. This one is quite basic, but not a “kid” camera. She has learned a lot about positioning, focus and more with this one. Plus, while it is not a high priced camera, it is a brand you can trust, and is known for cameras.


Canon PowerShot Digital Camera

Let It Happen

Let them take photos of anything they want and learn from it. They’ll realize, or ask you why, their photos are blurry and discover how to correct themselves – slowing down to start.

Make a list of things that you all can photograph together, taking turns.

  • a flower
  • a rock
  • a book
  • a pet

Learning Books and/or Courses

There are a lot of books that you can check out. This is of course, the routine we have gone so far. I think my middle girl will be getting a new camera for Christmas at which point we might look into getting this project-based beginner photography course that is specifically for children aged 4-13. A fun course we can all do together in our homeschool.

National Geographic Kids Guide to Photography

Photo Adventures for Kids

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Curriculum Reading – Do Your Kids Love or Hate It?

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We have found the perfect language arts program, it has spelling components, writing styles, and reading. But not all books are meant for everyone, different tastes and likes for different people. I know I can’t read just anything, I need to be interested in the topic and story line. Why do we expect children to read every book we tell them to read?

Curriculum reading - Do Your Kids Love or Hate it?

Curriculum Reading – Do Your Kids Love or Hate It?

*This post contains affiliate links, see my disclosure policy for more information. This post was written as part of my ambassadorship with BookShark, but my opinions are 100% my own and honest.*

When you think back to your own school days, did you love every book you had to read for class? Are there a few books that still stand out to you that you loved? In grade four, my teacher read aloud to us, while I don’t recall all the books read that year I remember loving both Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little. Charlotte’s Web is included in Reading with History Level 1, and I was so excited to read it to my children and to see them enjoying it as well.

Curriculum Books Reading Options

There are a number of different ways you can make sure that you are reading the books in your curriculum. One option is for you to read the book out loud to your child instead of them reading it themselves. Another option is to see if you can find the audio version of the book. There are many different options for finding audiobooks now, whether it’s a book on CD, from Amazon’s Audible or from your Hoopla, which you may have access to through your library.

BookShark Curriculum

When to Move On from Curriculum Books

There are books that just aren’t for everyone. I handed Austin, my nine year old, a book before and had a feeling it wasn’t going to be a book she would be interested in, but I kept all opinions on that to myself. After each chapter, I ask her to tell me what happened, to summarize what she read, and ask a question from our language arts instructor’s guide. She couldn’t. A quarter of the way through the book, she had little to no idea what the book was about. I called that book quits.

Why do I let her stop reading without finishing a book? If she isn’t understand what is happening then we’ll go through it together, whether I read it out loud or we find an audiobooks version. I feel like having a lack of interest in a book is going to block her learning from it. With so many great books available I know there is another one that she’ll enjoy more, and learn from just the same.

I have a lack of interest in learning anything about hunting, knowing that the food in my freezer is delicious is enough information for me. When my husband or kids put on a television show or pull out a book on the topic, I feel myself drifting off into another world. Why should it be different for our kids?

For every books that isn’t a fit, there are many more on our curriculum reading list that are big hits. We’ve found amazing new to authors to explore past our curriculum reading list.

Finding Other Book Options

Hit your local library for books similar in topic that might keep your child’s interest more. Ask your library for suggestions or search Google for book suggests. Another great resource for books on a topic is other homeschool parents. Facebook groups are a great way to ask for book recommendations on a specific topic.

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Summer Reading Challenge

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Summer is full of sunshine, playing outside, going swimming, and all that fun. But we want to prevent the summer slide where kids lose reading levels and math skills setting the back each year. Not all kids love to read, sometimes it’s a struggle to get them to read, so I thought maybe coming up with a different way of finding books might help spark their interest. A summer reading challenge just might be the thing to keep them reading this summer.

summer reading challenge

Summer Reading Challenge

*This post contains affiliate links, see my disclosure policy for more information.*

Just having books around your house can go along way towards encouraging them to read, but why not find some more way to encourage them to try out new books. We head to our library at least once a week, I don’t limit what books my children can bring home which I think has gone a long way towards encouraging their love of reading.

Let’s keep our kids reading this Summer when the sun is shining too hot to stay outside. My first piece of advice would be to let them choose the books. I know you want to pick out of some great books for them, but you choosing just might lead to them not reading.

Summer Reading Challenge books

Every day, your child picks a reading square to complete, and when it’s completed, mark it off with a marker or sticker. When they get Bingo, they get a fun prize! They’re not anything big–just fun things that I know the kids will like. Candy, stickers, staying up late to watch a movie, etc. The dollar store is a great place to get little prizes.

They can then work on another row to get Bingo again. If they fill up the whole card, they get a special prize!

Click here to download the Bingo Card.

Click here to download the book ideas.

Click here to download a reading certificate.

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