Clearly, I've completely dropped the ball on this blog. It's been over a YEAR since I've gotten on here! Between homeschooling while also teaching a set of classes, a cross-country move, then adding my youngest into our daily homeschool schedule -- this completely fell on the back burner. That said, this whole quarantine situation has given me a little extra time and with all the new temporary homeschoolers out there, I figured I might share some of the activities we've been working on...






So...my boys aren't exactly huge fans of fairy tales. Are yours? I have all sorts of versions of them -- some from my childhood, the Little Critters set that I had bought my boys during one of those Kohl's Cares promotions, and others I've randomly collected at garage sales. Sadly, when given the option, they're still not what either boy opts for when choosing a book. However, as part of our homeschool curriculum, we use the Jot It Down program by Brave Writer. This awesome program includes a fairy tales project that my boys have loved! (Though they won't admit it, ha...) Along with this program, I've also added the Evan Moor Literature Pockets: Folktales and Fairy Tales workbook to the mix for additional activities.

People approach this project in all sorts of ways, but this is how it has worked for us...

It has been a slow, ongoing, project for awhile now. So far, we've completed 3 fairy tales over the course of several months, but my goal is to complete 10 before putting them all together. I've seen some families make their collection into a book, but we have chosen to make large crafts for each fairy tale (some on 12x18 paper, etc.) so that won't work. My goal is to put them together with loose leaf binder rings when we're all done.

With each fairy tale, we read as many versions as we can get our hands on -- this is usually just from my own stash, but I'll go to the library if I need to. For today's fairy tale, we resorted to ABC Mouse. Social distancing prevented us from utilizing the library, but it still worked out wonderfully! Did you know ABC Mouse is FREE right now due to the pandemic?!?! We had used the app with my oldest when he was in preschool, but so much as changed since then! As it turns out, they have a TON of digital books on the app now. As luck may have it, we found out today that they had two different versions of Goldilocks and the Three Bears on the app! Score! Between those two and my Evan Moor workbook, we had 3 different versions to compare!

After my boys read all three versions of the story, we compared each version. How were they different? The same? Which version did they like more? Why? Etc. We talked about the history behind the original story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears and then worked on a sequence activity in the Evan Moor workbook. The best part came next...

The boys LOVE painting! Any excuse to paint will win them over. That said, I let them paint a scene from their favorite version of the story. This brought joy in the midst of the craziness going on right now. They loved it!


After they completed their paintings, they presented them to me and explained the scene that they chose. They each retold the whole story in their own words as well. As part of the Jot It Down program, you are encouraged to dictate what they say. I adjust that to fit our style...



I then have him do a small piece of copywork based on his retelling of the story. Here's his finished product (with the dictation on the back). I love the look on his face after he completes any project -- beaming with pride. Hard work pays off!



At this point, we haven't had a chance to do it yet, but we usually end each fairy tale with a movie. I have yet to look up a Goldilocks and the Three Bears movie, but that will be on the list of things to do over the weekend.


We've been alternating between working on that and working on the fairy tales. (Perhaps I'll try and write about that next.) Once we finish these fairy tales, I'm probably going to let them pick a new theme and go with it. I have no doubt my youngest would pick super heroes and their origin stories if I let him, ha!

I love these types of projects. They incorporate so much! My boys willingly do more reading, writing, and discussion on both when we do these projects than with anything else. Having fun while learning in the process is all we can ask for, right?!

Have you done any projects like this? I'd love to hear about them!