Blog - The Learning Basket

Virtues in Focus

September 18, 2012 by The Learning Basket 10 Comments

Being the primary influence in our children’s lives is one of the benefits of homeschooling for us. As parents, we are in a great position to teach our children good behavior and positive attitudes. But we thought that it would all just come easily and naturally. We never really thought much about how we would go about it. After all, my husband and I strive to be good role … [Read more...]

A (Field) Trip to Little Tokyo

September 10, 2012 by The Learning Basket 2 Comments

Tok-tok-tok-tok-tok go Little T’s and Little Sir’s clogs, or bakya in Filipino. My children are wearing their kimonos – an orange-and-yellow hand-me-down costume for my girl and a white bath robe for my little boy. We’re having fun, we’re learning, we're delighting in Masako Matsuno's “A Pair of Red Clogs." First published in 1960, it was recently reprinted by Purple … [Read more...]

Harold and the Purple Crayon: Creating Your Own World

September 7, 2012 by The Learning Basket 4 Comments

See the pun?Little T had been drawing houses, flowers, and whatever she could think of, for several days in a row. Her MegaSketcher was hardly out of her lap, so I thought we would read the perfect book to support this fervor in drawing.Harold and the Purple CrayonWritten by Crockett Johnson and published in 1955, “Harold and the Purple Crayon” celebrates the creative process … [Read more...]

Enjoy and Learn from Philippine Picture Books – Free Downloads!

August 21, 2012 by The Learning Basket 12 Comments

For the past two years, we have been using “Five in a Row” to homeschool our preschool-aged daughter. It is a literature-based program that uses some of the best children’s books out there, using story elements as a jumping point for all kinds of learning. We’ve had countless hours of reading, talking, playing, and exploring. We love the wonderful memories we are creating as … [Read more...]

Kerplink! Kerplank! – Onomatopoeia for Preschoolers

August 15, 2012 by The Learning Basket 3 Comments

“Blueberries for Sal” by Robert McCloskey was one of the first books that we read when we started following Before Five in a Row two years ago. It is about Sal, a little girl who goes blueberry-picking with her mother. As her mother picks the succulent fruit to be canned, Sal munches her way through the bushes. On the other side of the hill, a baby bear is also eating … [Read more...]