By Holly Giles | Florida , Great Outdoors , homeschooling , popular , Recipes
In my book, Blaze New Trails, I devote a chapter to U-pick farms. I share how food can teach math in a hands-on way. Two families joined us and we jumped right into strawberry math at Oak Haven Strawberry Farm. Our goal is to find out how many strawberry plants are on the farm and […]
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By Holly Giles | Family , Florida , Great Outdoors , Mama's Musings
Our family took my two nephews and Cindy, my sister in law on a jet ski ride. Curtis, Crockett and Cowboy acquired this new toy free of charge, for towing the owner to shore after sinking it in the river. I will save that story for another day. This day, our plan was to ferry […]
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By Holly Giles | Field Trips , Florida , homeschooling
We met up with a few families to tour the Sanford Armory last week. The sergeants told us they don’t really do field trips, but would give it a whirl. By the end of our tour, my boys decided this was the BEST field trip ever! I am ashamed to tell you that the armory […]
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By Holly Giles | Boy Crafting , Florida , homeschooling
The Gift My husband came home with a FREE car one Sunday afternoon, after helping a friend move. What has transpired from there is a family adventure in the lessons of trading up! We are an outdoor family. We love to spend time hiking, kayaking and the boys love to fish. We have not had […]
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By Holly Giles | Family , Florida , Great Outdoors , Mama's Musings
Camping Trip As we head out this weekend on another camping adventure, I thought I would continue our adventures from last year. In part one of camping, I talked about the truth of family camping. Now I will share our run-ins with critters and nature as we venture on exploring the outdoors. This time last […]
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By Holly Giles | Florida , Great Outdoors , homeschooling , Nature Study
We just finished reading The Last Egret, by Harvey Oyer. I was not prepared for the fascinating true accounts of Charlie Pierce, a native of Florida in the late 1800’s. History has become a favorite subject for us all in our homeschool, especially Florida history. I am a fourth generation Floridian with roots from the […]
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By Holly Giles | Field Trips , Florida , florida vacations , Great Outdoors , homeschooling , Nature Study
Florida Manatee Florida manatee show up in the springs of Florida from December through March. During the winter months, manatee move to warmer waters and a large number of them find their way to Blue Spring State Park. We have been taking Grayson and Grant to the park to see Florida Manatee since they were […]
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By Holly Giles | Florida , Great Outdoors , homeschooling , Nature Study
Backyard Science Around here, backyard science need not be planned. On any given day, it falls from the sky or slithers by for us to take notice. Why not seize the opportunity. On this day, we were reading on the couch when a loud thud hit the back window. As we searched the deck, we found […]
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By Holly Giles | Florida , Great Outdoors , Mama's Musings , popular
Family Camping The anticipation of cooler days is approaching. Our annual fall family camping trips come to mind. This past spring, we seemed to hit a camping marathon, three trips in five weeks, that left me pondering the idea versus the reality of family camping trips! Just the word “camp” sounds fun doesn’t it? Nature hikes, trail mix, campfire stories, […]
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By Holly Giles | Boy Crafting , Florida , handicrafts , homeschooling
There is more to the county fair for the family than candied apples, fried Twinkies, and the Ferris wheel! It can be used to educate your children and learn a new skill! As a child, I loved going to the fair. My grandparents lived very close to the property where the Central Florida Fair took place […]
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