Julie Naturally
natural self-reliance for Christians
As I discuss in my guide to Christian unschooling, one of the necessary ingredients to successful unschooling or natural learning is resources. While I have done the urban homesteader thing, my kids weren’t always active participants. They also had interests of their own that didn’t involve vegetables, herbal remedies, or fermenting. And that’s where monthly …
Are you searching for toys that aren’t just fun, but educational too? If so, STEM toys could be exactly what you need. STEM toys started to become popular back in 2013, but in recent years they’ve really risen in popularity. Short for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, STEM toys are designed to give kids the …
Well, autumn is here and you know what that means. Lots of time indoors again, as if we haven’t had enough of that this year. Very often, we resort to spending our hours watching too much television and depression sets in. All the disturbing, bad news affects our mental health and relationships. Sometimes, we need …
Family game night is a great way to bond and have fun together, especially during the holidays. However, with so many different games on the market, it can be difficult choosing the best ones. When selecting which family games to invest in, you need to consider the age range of the people playing, along with …
Knowing how to preserve food is a bit of a lost art and it’s a shame. What do you do when you come across a great deal at the grocery store or the farmers market? How about when you’re offered a deal on a bushel of produce that you can’t pass up? What happens when …
Trying to find great toys for boys in the 8 to 10-year-old age group? As trends change seemingly every two minutes, it can be difficult keeping up with what’s hot right now in the world of toys. It doesn’t help that there are literally thousands of toys available to choose from either. While it’s great …
Around the holidays, we often lots of food gift baskets available at grocery stores. Public and private schools often pass around fund-raising catalogs with these offerings as well. Why not go beyond the norm with some fresh food gift basket ideas designed for the health-conscious person? After all, many of the readily available ones include …
I love filling gift baskets. It’s super fun to design and build that personalized little package. I get to add unusual items that would seem a bit goofy all by themselves. I mean, who wraps a body brush, right? But, in a healthy gift basket, it makes sense. In this post, I’ve put together some …
Trying to unschool upper level math requires a lot of thought and sometimes, work, on the parent’s part. And, if you live in a highly regulated state, the challenges become even greater. It’s often time to look at homeschool math curriculum, especially if you don’t have the time or inclination to try to piece together …
When I was a kid, I hated social studies. I struggled to keep myself awake. The teacher always taught from a textbook and homework consisted of answering comprehension questions at the end of the chapter. Boring. When I began homeschooling, I determined that I would do it differently. Biographies and narrative non-fiction such as Our …
Immersion learning is often affiliated with learning a new language. You learn how to speak the language by living among those who are native speakers. This is how infants learn to speak. But, immersion learning also occurs in other settings. We learn to cook by cooking. We learn to drive by driving. And, so on. …
Because unschooling is so contrary to the public school mindset, it’s necessary to renew our minds about education if we choose to pursue this style of homeschooling. One of the ways we can undo all the brainwashing to which we’ve been exposed is by reading the best unschooling books out there. Very few of these …
If you are new to gardening, you may not be familiar with advanced techniques like tilling the ground and digging for certain types of drainage. In this case, a good method to use is called lasagna style gardening. This type of gardening is often referred to as layer gardening. This style of preparing the soil …
Unlike a lot of parents, I don’t think every kid should go to college. In fact, for many kids, it’s not the best choice. They should consider alternatives to traditional college. Why? Because some kids just don’t have aptitude. Some kids have aptitude but lack other necessary skills for success. And, a lot of teens …
If you intend to grow your own vegetables in your backyard or on your patio, you can always start from seeds or use plants that have already been started by the local nursery. Another option is to regrow vegetables from kitchen scraps. Kids love this! It’s an opportunity to show them some of the amazing …
Whenever I write Bible studies, I always use a variety of authoritative sources to help me. These usually include a Bible commentary, a concordance, a Bible dictionary, and study notes from other established sources. Some of these sources pose challenges for me. For one, the writing is almost always super tiny. Second, flipping through huge …
One of the most common questions I hear is, “How does unschooling work? I mean, on a day-to-day basis. Do you just let kids do whatever or…?” Well, Christian unschooling acknowledges that foolishness is wrapped up in the heart of a child. So, our unschooling looks a little different, but many of the same principles …
A writer is a person who writes about stuff. In order to write about stuff, you have to know stuff and do stuff. That sounds really basic and juvenile, but it is the reason why I am against writing programs for children under twelve years old. Most of the writing prompts for younger children aren’t …
Now that we can get outside and enjoy nicer weather, our spirits rise. But, what do we do outside? There are many benefits to outdoor play, but what if your kids are older? What can they be learning outside? Farmers and gardeners might not have this problem because there’s always something that needs to be …
As you begin to learn more about growing your own food and starting a vegetable or herb garden, you will find that composting is high on the list of recommendations. With composting, you are using organic material to improve your soil naturally. This helps those vegetables and plants to grow faster and with higher quality. …
When growing your own fruits and vegetables, the first thing you need to know is when to plant different vegetables. Planting at the right time can make all the difference. But, many times this is the one hurdle that keeps us from planting at all. Let’s take a look at these tips for determining the …
When the seeds of fruits and vegetables develop tiny roots and their first true leaves start to show they are considered microgreens. This means they are in between the growth stages of sprouts and baby greens. It also means that you can harvest microgreens within two to three weeks after you’ve planted them in the …
Sometimes taking a look back through history helps us better understand our present. This isn’t just true for politics or economics, but also for cultural traditions. For most of history, the spring equinox meant a spring fast. When people were bound to the earth’s natural cycles of abundance and scarcity, springtime brought scarcity of food …
Some of the natural remedies for seasonal allergies are not safe for children and so we need to learn how to treat children’s allergies naturally by other means. I hate watching my sons suffer with puffy eyes and hot, dripping noses, sneezing their heads off. They feel exhausted and irritable. I feel terrible watching them …
