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Family-Friendly Hiking in Orange County
If you’re looking for something more adventurous than a walk around the block, here are three great locations for you to visit with your family. My kids are 3 and 6 (and sometimes lazy) but these are some of the adventures that inspired their legs to keep moving! Bommer Canyon – I knew there was a trail near Turtle Rock Nature Center, I just wasn’t sure where. So we parked at Turtle Rock and followed the trail signs. We ended up taking the paved pedestrian path, the Shady Canyon Trail, to the Bommer Canyon Trailhead in Bommer Meadow. There is a small parking lot there at the trailhead near…
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Education :: Studying the 13 Colonies
I started homeschooling my first grader this year and I heard a lot of good things about unit studies. A unit study is picking a topic and including lessons or activities that span multiple subject areas. I researched a few different styles and ended up plotting my own unit study path. You can download my checklist below: Unit Study Development Checklist PDF Filling out the Checklist I use the checklist as a guide – it isn’t necessarily the definitive course, but it helps me plan and, if something else comes up, I’ll add it in. Here’s what my list looks like for the 13 Colonies Unit Study: Topic…
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Super Bowl Recipes Everyone Will Love
The Super Bowl is this Sunday and most of America will be sitting around, chowing down with friends and family enjoying the game! The Super Bowl is not only the biggest sporting event each year in the U.S. but is one of the largest television events. In fact, the three most watched TV broadcasts in U.S. history, in order, were Super Bowls XLVI (Giants beat the Patriots), XLV (Packers beat the Steelers) and XLVII (Ravens beat the 49ers) – each broadcast had over 100 million U.S. viewers. (Source: Sporting Charts). That’s a lot of people! We are headed over to our in-laws for their annual party and I wanted to…
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Latest & Greatest :: The Boxtrolls Review & Giveaway
FROM THE CREATORS OF ACADEMY AWARD®-NOMINATED FILMS CORALINE AND PARANORMAN COMES THE MAGICALLY ANIMATED MOVIE EVENT OF THE SEASON! NOMINATED FOR 13 ANNIE AWARDS! THE BOXTROLLS Heroes come in all shapes and sizes in the family event movie The Boxtrolls. When I saw previews for this movie, I seriously couldn’t wait to see it! The characters are so adorable, yes, the Boxtrolls are cute! And I loved what the this animation studio did with both animated films Coraline and ParaNorman so I figured I would love this movie as well! I hadn’t been that excited to see an animated film in awhile and I absolutely love The Boxtrolls. Starring,…
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Musings :: Making Memories Our Kids Will Treasure
Last night I was reminded how all that our kids really want (or need) is our time. Yes, our undivided time without interruptions – from other people, pets, gadgets, the phone, etc., etc. All those things that pull at us and are easy to get wrapped up into and take away our attention and focus from the here and now. I am at fault with this as anyone. It takes several mental reminders throughout the day to be in the moment. I constantly feel like I am being pulled in a million different directions throughout the day and I think other parents feel the same from time to…
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“A Path Appears” Tackles Human Rights Violations in the U.S. and Abroad
Last week I had the opportunity to attend the PBS TCA Winter Tour as part of their PBS Kids Blogger Program. It was such an interesting two day event that showcased some of the new and upcoming programs such as “Last Days in Vietnam,” “American Ballet Theatre at 75” and “Being Mortal” that will air on PBS in 2015. One of the programs that really stuck with me is a three part episode series called “A Path Appears” by Independent Lens and premieres January 26th. Nicoholas Kristof, Malin Ackerman, Mia Farrow, Jennifer Garner, Ashley Judd, Blake Lively, Eva Longoria and Alfre Woodard uncover gender oppression and human rights violations in the U.S.…