As always, summer flew by and it’s already time to head back to school. As much as I want to be a year-round schooling family, our rhythms just don’t stick throughout the precious summer months here in Michigan. By August, we’re all feeling ready for a routine and to get back to the books!
This is the first year I’ll have all four at home and I’m so excited for our year of learning and growing ahead!
I’ve had our core curriculum picked and planned for months now but the really fun stuff is all the extras and enrichments.
Whether your kids are heading back to the classroom or learning at home, there are so many great tools that encourage hands-on play, creativity and curiosity without adding more screen time.
I rounded up some of my favorite finds on FOX 17 for learning through games, music, language, geography and more. Come back this week to checkout the video!
(P.S. If you like this kind of stuff, I share more about analog childhood, homeschool and raising children in my book Mama Bear Survival including interviews from some incredible home educators like Ginny Yurich, founder of 1,000 Hours Outside, Jennifer Pepito, Bethany Hamilton, and others).
Interest comes before learning with OIOIOOI
I have a real love for beautiful wooden toys. And these blocks from Oioiooi aren’t just beautiful, they’re functional learning and phonics tools!
Oioiooi is a Korean children’s design brand founded by a mom and former brand designer who first created wooden alphabet blocks for her own child while on maternity leave. The philosophy behind the brand is that “interest comes before learning,” and you can really see that in the way these are designed for kids to naturally explore and play.
Their wooden alphabet set has letters that pair with corresponding picture and sound blocks, so kids can make that connection between the letter, the object and the sound. Some of the pieces are magnetic, which makes them really fun to manipulate and build with, too.
They also have a number set that can be used in so many ways—from calendar work and hands-on math learning and even cute cake toppers! Plus, they offer the entire alphabet kit in a magnetic version and have really cool coordinating playing cards.
The design behind these is genius, but it’s the quality I really love. They’re the kind of beautiful, tactile learning toys that feel worthy of handing down for generations.
Music for the whole family with Playful Pitch
Playful Pitch is such a fun way to get the whole family making music, even if you have no musical experience, which is a big win for our homeschool!
Founder Kelly has more than 12 years of teaching experience, and through her advanced studies in child-led music learning, she combined Montessori philosophy with music education to create Playful Pitch.
They make beautiful ukuleles, pitch bars and recorders with a built-in color-coding system. The colors match their song cards, so kids can start playing intuitively on their own without needing to read music first or take formal music lessons.
They offer different bundles and song sets, including Christian hymns and Christmas music. I love that it gives kids an easy entry point into music while building confidence and independence. And it really saved our homeschool plan this year for music! You can checkout a back-to-school giveaway they’re running right now, too.
Dive into Spanish & more with Homeschool Languages
Homeschool Languages is designed for families to learn a language together. So whether you homeschool or you just want to reinforce language learning at home, the idea is that you don’t have to already know the language to teach it!
We will be working our way through Spanish 1 (little kids) and 2 (big kids) this year. I have another popular language program already but it just hasn’t been easy to start. I love how open-and-go Homeschool Languages is… truly just open up the scripted lessons with the corresponding games, books and activities, and you’re off!
They offer Spanish, French, German and Brazilian Portuguese, and now they have an American Sign Language program on presale right now that was created in partnership with deaf creators and it looks amazing!
Reinforce learning with Yoto Player
And I always like to weave audio learning into our day, so another really easy way to reinforce language is with the Yoto Player.
Yoto is my favorite screen-free audio player, and they have language-learning cards in Spanish, French and other languages. There are cards that teach vocabulary, songs and even story-based language learning.
So if you’re introducing Spanish, for example, you can have the hands-on curriculum at the table and then reinforce it with Spanish audio on Yoto in the car, around the breakfast table or during quiet time.
It’s one of my favorite ways to sneak a little more learning into parts of the day that otherwise aren’t “school.”
Learn through play with The Fidget Game
When it comes to making reading and math practice actually feel fun, The Fidget Game has some really clever options.
The company grew out of a teacher’s experience in a classroom where more than 90% of her students were reading below grade level. She started developing tools to make reading more engaging, and by the end of the year, more than 90% of those students had reached grade level or above! Eventually, she turned that idea into The Fidget Game, with a whole lineup of super fun games for grades K-5!
They’re hands-on, and even my older kids didn’t notice or care that these were learning games. They’re popping, rolling dice, moving pieces and playing a game, but at the same time they’re practicing the skills we actually need them to master.
You can grab extension cards to go with most of the popular sets, and I know these will be on repeat this year for our homeschool!
Create learning spaces withGathre
Gathre makes gorgeous wipeable mats that bring learning into your everyday spaces. I’ve owned Gathre mats for years in motherhood and have used them for everything from changing pads to play mats. Gathre recently gifted us this National Parks map and it’s perfect for our focus on learning the states and U.S. geography this summer.
You can put it right on the floor as a play mat, use it as a tablecloth over the art or school table, hang it up for geography and learning, or fold it up and take it with you.
The mats are wipeable and water-resistant, so they’re made for family life. Gathre has an entire collection of mats in different sizes and educational designs, including maps, flowers, the solar system and more. I recently added and love their arched chalkboard in our school room this year. They’re having a big sale right now, although I haven’t seen the chalkboard included in their sales before. I paid full price for ours and still think it’s worth it.
Connect