 Hey everybody, welcome to the Waldoch Way. I'm Jessica. And today's video is going to be our winter homeschool favorites. So I don't know about you guys, but I have found in our homeschool, we have things that just really stick out each season. So like every two to three months, each season that we're in, there's like some books or some games or some really awesome resources that just really stick out. They've really added some extra joy or enrichment or whatever it is to our homeschool. And so I've been coming on here for about two years, I think, to share every season of what we have been really loving. Now, if you want to see some of our past favorites, you can do that right here at the Eye in the Sky. But today, I'm going to be sharing with you everything that has really been like really prominent in our homeschool over the past three months. Like always, I have a stack of books, so we'll start there. The first ones I have to show you are Emily's picks or the things that Emily's been really gravitating towards. She's actually read through this series twice and is on her third read through of it. And that is the Billy Bee Mysteries. Now, these are a step up from the Billy Bee Brown books. These are from Usborne, but like I said, they're like a step up. So they have the same characters that your kids will probably already love if they've read Billy Bee. There's about a hundred pages in each of them and the reading level is just a little bit above the Billy Bee. Now, is this reading level beneath Emily? Yes, probably, but I don't really care because she's enjoyed them, she's been loving them. And like I said, she's reading through them now on her third time. She's on book four for the third time around. So maybe she likes the fact that she knows the outcome of it, and that's okay with me because times have been kind of rough lately. So if your kids are wanting to read the same books over and over right now, let them. Maybe there's some comfort in knowing the outcome of them because we're living in unprecedented times, you guys. So I have no problem with her reading something a little beneath her level or something she's already read. That is not, I don't dictate what she has to read. If she's loving to read, then yay, more power to her. And that is what she's been loving to read lately. Like I said, she's on her third read through. So if your kids love Billy Bee and maybe you didn't know that those existed, they do, there are six in the series and you should get them because they're, you know, along the same lines, they're just a little bit older. Now our family favorite read aloud, the one that we all loved and we agreed that we would probably even read again is the Pages and Co series. Now I just shared about these in the favorite books that we've ever read. So you guys know that these were one of our favorites, but we just really love them. We read through them as a read aloud. Emily immediately wanted to read them again. So I got them on audio for her. And of course it's kind of funny because we are still listening to them as a family again. Like we're all kind of all engrossed in it all over again. So it's definitely when you could read again and again and it's one that everybody in our family loved, which is not the easiest thing to do. We kind of have different tastes in everything. So finding something we all equally love is not an easy task and we all loved those books. The last book I have is the one that I have read multiple times and really stood out to me in this last season. And that was Adventuring Together by Greta S. Gridge. Now this book is wonderful, but it's not that the book is wonderful per se why it's my favorite. Although like I said, the book is wonderful. It's what the book did for and in me that made it wonderful. So the past year really I've been like, oh what was that, it's boo-hoo. Because of the pandemic we can't go on any real adventures. We can't do this, we can't do that. And I've been, I mean we did a few things but we haven't been able to go to Yellowstone which is our dream or any of these things. And I've just been kind of like, pity party in it if we're being honest. And reading this book made me realize that number one, an adventure doesn't have to be grand to still get all of the adventuring things out of it. And number two, sometimes smaller adventures are more meaningful anyway. And it also opened my eyes to what an adventure could be. Like even just going to the library can be an adventure. Even just camping in your backyard. So while it is an amazing book and it is an amazing book, it's the switch that it flipped in me, the mindset change that I had because I read it that made it one of my favorites. And like I said, I read through it twice just to make sure I got everything I could possibly get out of it. I'll probably even read it a third time. When I start feeling like those little adventures don't count because they do. So if you're one of those mamas, if you are feeling like, oh, we can't go and do anything, then just read that. It'll make you feel better. If nothing else, it'll make you feel better. And it'll probably make you want to start adventuring today. So be ready for that. Because you'll be like, oh, we need to go do something right now, even if it's small. Okay, the next thing I have is games. Surprise, surprise. And this game has been a long time favorite of ours. Why? It hasn't been played as much recently. I don't know. But that is sleeping queens. So this game is so cute. You have these adorable little queens that are all asleep and your job is to wake them up. There's a few different ways you can wake them up, but they're asleep and you have to wake them up. Whoever gets a certain number of queens, depending on how many players are playing is the winner. What I love is this game is super simple. It doesn't take like a whole lot of, I mean, it's mostly kind of luck. You know, it's not totally like strategic. I mean, Kevin's been enjoying playing it. My mom comes over once a week and she's been enjoying playing it with us. It's just a cute, fun game. Now there is some math in it. We actually now have a house rule because it lays a little bit older. You can discard your cards based off of a math problem. So the rules say you could discard two and five and seven because two plus five equals seven. We now have a house rule and we've stepped it up to if you can make it into a math problem, you can discard it. So I don't care if it's like two plus three equals five minus four equals one. If she can make it work as far as mathematics go, I'm all for it. Because we were playing a game, we're having fun, we're laughing together and she's doing some math. So hey, whatever works. But it is a really fun game and has been getting a ton of play at our house lately. I mean, like it has literally been staying out right there on the desk behind me because it's been getting that much play. We haven't even put it up. Emily has really been loving some single-player games lately too. I had screwed them about two months ago and she just keeps pulling them out over and over and over. And that is the Cat Crimes and the Dog Crimes from Think Fun. Now these, like I said, are single-player games but sometimes she'll do one and say, hey mom, that one was really hard. I bet you can't do it. And then we'll kind of like go back and forth competing over who can either do it the fastest or who can do the hardest card. Because there's 40 crimes to solve and each one gets harder as they go. Basically, one of the cats did something like knock something over or broke something and there's clues on the cards that tell you how to logically figure out who the culprit was. Same thing with the dogs. They got into some mischief and you have to try to figure out who is the dog that got into the mischief. Probably doesn't hurt that it's cats and dogs. Emily loves cats and dogs. So she's been pulling it out over and over and over because she's like, oh, I wanna know what cat or what dog did it. And then she'll, oh no, ginger, how dare you? Cause she's attached to the cat or the dog. But I love that it's logic and that she's getting a little bit of extra school in by playing the game and that it's single player. So we can kind of be like, hey, why don't you pull cat crimes out when we just need a minute to breathe. So if you're looking for some single player games, I believe they are eight and up. Emily's been playing them since she was probably about seven. So that's got a little bit of wiggle room. The lower level cards, they're fantastic. You should get them. The quality is great. The gameplay is great and they're really fun. And the other game, the last game that I have that we have really been enjoying is Prime Climb. This is one that you guys, honestly, I waited forever to buy because I tried to think like, is it really worth it? It doesn't go on sale a whole lot. When it finally did go on sale, I bought it. I believe during one of Amazon's two by two get one three is when I bought it and it just kind of sat. We just didn't play it because I had a ton of new games to learn the rules to and I was like, I just can't learn the rules to another game. Yes, you guys, that even happens to me. Anyway, once I finally watched the video and I was like, oh, that's not so hard. We started playing it and it has been one that has been pulled out multiple times a week for the past few months. We all really enjoy it. Even Kevin enjoys it and he's a really hard one to sell on games. So it has kind of been our go-to for math. The past probably two months, we've just been pulling it out three and four times a week and we're like, hey, let's just play Prime Climb after dinner or whenever because we are all about sneaking in some math right now. So it is not only great for math, it really is a fun game too. Like we enjoy playing it, not just for the math. So that is one that has been getting a lot of play here. Now, if you follow me on social media, you know that I put together a multiplication fact basket for Emily, probably about a month and a half ago for her to just kind of practice her multiplication facts. There was quite a few things in there, wrap-ups and workbooks and just manipulatives and whatever I could come up with. And don't worry, you guys, there is a multiplication math fact blog post coming soon. Right now I only have an addition, subtraction one. But if you need that, I will link that in the description box. But her all-time favorite multiplication tool, the one that she pulled out the most, the one that even after I kind of put the basket away, she's still kept pulling out and asking for is the multiplication slam by educational insights. So if you can see down here, there are multiple different games to play within this. Skip it, fast facts, factors, pairs and sequence. It's probably gonna be really loud, but let's see. So it talks to you and all of these things light up and you press the button and then you get to pick. So like if we were to say one, you're gonna multiply by one, it gives you a problem in the window and then you pick the answer. So the problem here is one times four and then you would hit the one that has the four on it. But like I said, there's multiple different games within it. So she really liked that. I think the skip counting and the fast facts were her two favorite in that, but she's been pulling that out a lot. So if you have one that you're trying to get to work on multiplication, this is a great tool because it has so many different features that you can use it for. Okay, the last two things I have are from our science kit department. Kevin has taken over. Once a week he does a science subscription or science kit box experiment with her. That is something Emily wanted more of and mommy was just not a huge fan of cause I don't like messes or the prep for that matter for being honest. It's just not my thing. Let me just read aloud or play a game. But daddy has been doing a box or subscription or something with her every week and she's been loving it. And the two that they have done the most that they have loved more than anything has been one of the National Geographic. So this happens to be the volcano. They've done the volcano. They've done the air rocket. They've done the glow in the dark crystal. There's probably a handful of others, but they have not done any of the National Geographic kits that they haven't loved yet. So this has been a favorite. Pretty much anytime they go on sale or I find a new one, they immediately tell me to buy it and they're doing it that week. So this has definitely been, like one of the National Geographics has been a favorite. There's not been one yet that hasn't been a hit. The other one that they have really loved is the Kiwi Co, specifically the Tinker crates. They, I mean, there's not any that they don't love, but the Tinker crates have just been really, really fun and the perfect kind of age for them where Emily can do them and he can help just a little bit and they're really fun and they're just not quite as baby-ish. Some of the others that we were getting that she could do independently, she was like, this is kind of baby-ish. So the Tinker crate really stepped it up for her and gave her the ability to be challenged a little bit. He still has to help a little bit, but they challenge her in a fun way. So this is definitely a winner if your kids like STEM. So that is everything that has really been amazing in our homeschool the past three months. These are all of the things that made a huge impact in our homeschool in the winter season. And I would love if you would tell me in the comments, is there something that stands out? Do you find that your homeschool has ebbs and flows with the seasons? And if there's something that did stand out, let me know what it was. Cause if I haven't checked it out, I'm gonna wanna do that.