Take a Journey Down the Internet of History with Yo-Yo Ma

Have you heard of the “Silk Road,” the collective name for the many routes that crisscrossed the vast Eurasian landmass between China and Rome more than two thousand years ago? World famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma has.  In fact, he was so inspired by the exchange of ideas and traditions that occurred along the historical Silk […]

Scavenger Hunts: Teach and they Shall Find

I may have mentioned in a previous blog (or five) that my family loves scavenger hunts. We play them all the time in the form of Easter Egg hunts, geocaching, find the constellation, the “license plate game” and “I Spy.” But did you know that scavenger hunts are a fun way to teach your kids […]

Do Something Nice for a Turtle Today

Today is World Turtle Day, a day to celebrate turtles large and small. I’m not going to bombard you with facts about why turtles are so cool and why you should get to know more about them. You can check out the American Tortoise Rescue for that. Instead, I’m just going to share a few […]

Highway to Endangered Zone

Like many little girls, my oldest daughter has always been a huge animal lover. In her case, it goes beyond ponies and puppies – though she really loves ponies and puppies. However, she is equally obsessed with wild and unique animals, the weirder and more unknown, the better.   When she was about five, a […]

The Magic of Motivation

What wakes us up with new hope every morning? What fills our dreams at night? What helps keep us going toward those dreams and goals each day? It’s that little pep-talk voice inside our heads that says, “You can do it!”   Sometimes that little voice becomes a fading whisper. Sometimes duties of the day […]

Helping Fairies Stay Real

There is only a very short time in a child’s life when he or she really believes in Santa, the Tooth Fairy, Dragons, Elves, and other mythical creatures. So when I saw this little journal entry in my daughter’s notebook, I wondered: How can I keep her believing in fairies as long as possible (no […]

Forget Waldo, Where Am I?????

I am quite possible the world’s most illiterate map reader.  And to make matters worse, if I *DO* figure out where I am on a map, I will never be able to direct my way around while using it because I still don’t know my left from my right.*   As any good mom, I […]

Year One along the Silk Road

One morning, a few months ago, I was checking my emails as usual, when I saw one from Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis. I had worked with Elizabeth on several issues of Dig in the past and always enjoyed the experience. Elizabeth always had great ideas – this time, she was suggesting a theme for an issue—Year […]

Little League and The Girls of Summer

See that picture above. Check out the girl in the second row. That’s me as the one and only girl on my Little League team back in the early 1980s. I loved playing baseball back then. That’s even my dad as the coach. I’m not saying I was good at it (I most definitely wasn’t) […]

Starting Mom’s Day Off Right on Mother’s Day

When you are creating that tray with all of mom’s favorite breakfast treats, here are some extras to include that will make mom’s day. First, here’s a link to our beautiful, free, printable Mother’s Day cards. Print these out, have everyone write mom a love note, and include them on the tray for mom’s reading […]