Vanilla Joy - Family * Motherhood * Me

Mobi Math Game

Finding ways to make practicing math facts fun is the best thing I’ve been able to do for my kids’ math education. Playing games using math makes it relevant, puts it into context, and encourages kids to WANT to get good at it. Kids want to excel and improve and do well, sometimes we just […]

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Grandpa Beck’s Games ANTIQUITY QUEST

Games

Have you heard of Grandpa Beck’s games? We LOVE every one we’ve played, and we really love how each character in his games represents a person in his family. The illustrations are so fun and I love how their whole family is involved in making these amazing games. As an aside, Skull King is a […]

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Tiny Dot Preschool Math/Numbers Game

Games

My younger kids (6, 4, and 4) are loving number games right now, so we’ve been playing Tiny Polka Dot every day. It’s a whole bunch of games/activities for varying ages and abilities all in one cute box. The box includes 6 “suits” of cards with numbers 0-10 in each suit. The cards are big […]

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Lonely Planet Science Books

Book Talk

As a homeschooler, BOOKS are everything. They are our hobby and curriculum, they are the center of family time, leisure time, they are in every room in our house, we LOVE books and we REALLY love high quality, beautifully illustrated/photographed science books. There’s just no substitute for beautiful pictures/illustrations. Science is a visual subject, we […]

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Colorama Board Game for 3+

Games

Toddlers love board games too! Ravensburger makes fantastic games for the 3, 4, and 5 year old crowd, which is a tough market to serve. The games have to be simple, mostly cooperative, but colorful, fun, and engaging, all of which describe Colorama. We have a special game table just for the toddlers, and one […]

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Gameschool Game Fun Make’N’Break

Games

If you’re new here, you might not know that I have 6 sons between the ages of 13 and 4. It’s a lot of boys, a lot of energy, a lot of noise! We are a homeschool family and love everything about homeschooling, especially the freedom it gives us to include everything we love in […]

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Gameschool Game: Impact by Ravensburger

Games

We spent time with extended family over the weekend and played tons of games, but everyone’s favorite was this one: Impact by Ravensburger. Impact is great for playing on the go, in the car, at the park, at parties or reunions (up to 5 people can play), and especially with grandparents. My kids have […]

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Ocean Unit Study and GIVEAWAY

Book Talk

I am beyond excited that there’s a new addition to Julia Rothman’s anatomy collection and it is every bit as lovable as the other titles in the series. I love to use these books as a spine to build a science study unit around. The books are organized by topic so it’s easy to pull […]

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Trekking the National Parks BOARD GAME REVIEW

Games

National Parks and board games are two of our favorite things, so finding a game all about the parks?!? Score!! We’ve visited 14 of the 61 National Parks and I hope to visit them all in my lifetime. It’s exciting to have that much adventuring ahead of me. Trekking the National Parks is the perfect […]

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Prime Climb Game Review

Games

Math games get a lot of table time at our house because we use them as a supplement to our homeschool curriculum. Playing math games is something my kids look forward to every week, and it’s real life math so it really gets into their developing brains and motivates them to get better and faster […]

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