There are tons of great places in and around Santa Cruz, California. Here are some more wonderful places to take kids on field trips: The Museum of Art and History (MAH) in downtown Santa Cruz. We scheduled a field trip there with a group of kids for the Art Gallery Tour and Printmaking workshop. Our tour guides were wonderful, patient, and very … [Read more...]
Monday Matters- Hopes Closet, Helping Families in our Community
Welcome to Monday Matters! Spread awareness to help important causes and start your week off right by making a difference each Monday, even if that is just to pin, tweet, or share to pass this information on. Since 2007, Hopes Closet of Santa Cruz (HCSC) has provided support to thousands of children and families in our community. "We … [Read more...]
Best Road Trip Books for Kids
If you've ever traveled with kids, you know you need something to entertain them such as the best road trip books you can find. I like to torture my kids with good old fashioned road trips like I had when I was little, as in, no screen time. Sure, my siblings and I fought, wined, and asked, "are we there yet?" till my parents were ready to throw us … [Read more...]
Inside the New Circus Out of This World
This post was sponsored by Feld Entertainment, all opinions are my own. We went to the circus! The lights, loud music, many people, smell of popcorn, yes we were definitely at the circus. But this is the new circus? Was it just as wonderful? Just as awe inspiring? Definitely! Even without elephants. We're so thrilled Ringling Bros and … [Read more...]
Best Family Beaches in Santa Cruz California
Want to have some fun without spending a lot of money? There are plenty of things to do with your family in Santa Cruz, California on a beautiful day, but one of the top destinations in California is our beaches. I list here some of my favorite family friendly beaches in and around Santa Cruz County. Enjoy a family vacation or just a day out with … [Read more...]
Education at a Family Theme Park?
Gilroy Gardens Family Theme Park is one of my favorite theme parks in California. It's the perfect size to spend a day and get to see almost everything. It's beautiful with all the trees, flowers, and fascinating circus trees. It's also a great place to learn! Throughout the park are many educational stations where you can learn about bees … [Read more...]
Discount to Gilroy Gardens
Gilroy Gardens is the home of the Circus Trees We enjoy Gilroy Gardens not only for the fun rides, but for the beautiful setting. My husband is disabled, so unable to go on most rides when we visit a theme park with our kids. Zipping around in an electric scooter at most theme parks while waiting for others while they go on ride after ride is not … [Read more...]
Homeschooling Resources and Recommendations
I recently spoke at the first Santa Cruz Un-Conference and thought every homeschooling family could benefit from the resources I shared; homeschooling books of inspiration, learning styles, homeschool methods including unschooling and TJed, math games, reading games, online resources for educational videos, free homeschool curriculum, online … [Read more...]
Homeschool Conference in Santa Cruz Aug 23
The Santa Cruz Homeschool Conference On August 23rd the Discovery Learning Center (DLC) in Santa Cruz, California will host a homeschool conference, or rather, UNconference, especially for area residents. What is an UNconference? "In true homeschool style, we'll be using a special format called an Unconference, in which … [Read more...]
Train to Christmas Town Experience #XmasTown
We just had an amazing evening riding the Train to Christmas Town! I was given tickets in exchange for an honest review. This Train to Christmas Town is in Watsonville, near Santa Cruz, California, but there are other locations. We barely made it there in time, but were greeted with smiles under a large white tent. The … [Read more...]