Learn

Another year, another spring. Time to begin thinking how your garden will grow. Sharing this with your mini farmer couldn't be more rewarding. Think of all the goodness that comes from teaching kids to garden. From the care and attention paid to planting the seeds to the overwhelming excitement over the first sprouts there's so much to be experienced.

After being chewed on and read through over the past 10 years by our two voracious readers our worn out copy of Margaret Wise Brown's Good Night Moon has earned it's rightful place on our bookshelf.

When it comes to helping our kids have a good night's sleep there not much we wouldn't do...From monster powder to checking the closets three times to extra books at bedtime to lavender linen spray...you name it and we'll try it. And when a fear of nightmares comes into play sometimes we have to do a bit more than just leaving the hall light on for the night.

Mama King of 4 Crazy Kings has shared a brilliant idea for a dream catcher craft for kids.

In honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday and NEA's National Read Across America Day One Pretty thing has put together a roundup of Seuss related projects. It's a nice mix of how-to's, printables and recipes. Most ideas are easy and require very basic materials, most of which you probably already have on hand.

We've got Olympic fever in my house and as to be expected my teeny Peggy Fleming has been sporting her best pair of ice skates (socks) and tutu joining in on the ice dancing competition with her own special living room routine. And the front page of today's sports illustrating a very psyched Yu-Na Kim?...Already been taped to my daughter's bedroom door...That's after she was finally convinced she might want to hang it up before it rips from being over handled.

Johanna Waisley of Create Town has shared this cool idea for creating Olympic masterpieces. I can't believe how easy this project is for kids to whip up and just look at the results...Oh so beautiful...Go watercolors...I love how she's using this art project along with other planned Olympic themed activities to enhance the experience of the Winter Games for her young children.

Johanna:

There's nothing better (or funner) than teachable moments disguised as craft projects. And nothing is cooler than projects that are functional. That's why I love this Instructable by member sassygecko for making a 3 liter bottle piggy bank.

J Otto Seibold's Olive, My Love contains all the best things about the holiday... Love, hearts, friendship, adventure, chocolates and dogs. Such a fun Valentine's Day book we had to mention it twice!

Read more about this fun Valentine's Day story here. Happy Valentine's Day!

Coming off weeks of hype leading up to Apple's newly unveiled iPad, some tech-minded parents and pundits believe the new "magical" touchscreen tablet could have appeal for kids in an educational context. Textbooks on-demand, homeschooling apps, word processing, art and learning tools; the form and function is near perfect, and portable. And at $499, it's a real alternative to a notebook or desktop.

We officially canceled cable last year, the final step in moving to a completely on-demand cinematic lifestyle. OK, "cinematic lifestyle" is a stretch, but since we certainly enjoy movies on the tube, and given the availability of (legal) movie download sources on the web, we thought we'd take the plunge, maybe even save a few bucks in the long run. Last year, as my husband hooked up our Mac Mini to the TV and viola! Who needs live TV? Even our demanding Friday night movie crowd (e.g, our kids) adjusted nicely. Call it an experiment, but it's been a successful experiment.