The Monkey and Mom

My June printable pack is available in the membership for $5 but the price will go up in July! If you get the membership before then you’ll be paying $5 for as long as you keep the membership.

Check a free June sample here:

Free June Homeschool Printables For PreK–8 Download a free 18-page June homeschool printables sample featuring butterflies, lynx, crocodiles, horseshoe crabs, and a bonus Coral Reefs Micro Unit inside the full pack.

New June printable is ready! 🧩

I made a June Sudoku Puzzle Pack for kids, teens, homeschoolers, classrooms, and puzzle-loving families.

It includes 27 printable sudoku puzzles across 9 pages, with:

☀️ 12 beginner-friendly 4x4 puzzles
☀️ 12 classic 9x9 puzzles
☀️ 3 challenging 16x16 puzzles

I created this after my son became completely hooked on sudoku. He can handle 9x9 puzzles now, but I wanted a pack that felt colorful, seasonal, and easier for kids to grow into without jumping from “too easy” to “way too hard.”

This one works well for summer learning, homeschool logic practice, quiet time, travel activities, classroom early finishers, brain breaks, and screen-free family fun.

And if your child is new to sudoku, I also have a free sudoku strategies printable for kids on the blog to help them get started:

https://monkeyandmom.com/sudoku-for-kids-printable/

You can find the June Sudoku Puzzle Pack here: https://shop.monkeyandmom.com/b/june-sudoku-puzzle

Have your kids ever found a baby bird or injured animal? What happened?

So we were out walking this week and spotted a blackbird fledgling sitting on the ground in the park. Everyone was stepping around it, and I instinctively thought we shouldn't touch it because of that old rule about birds rejecting babies if you handle them. So I took a photo of it and got home to read more.

Turns out that's a myth. Birds have a very weak sense of smell. Touching a baby bird won't make the parents abandon it.
But there IS a real difference between a fledgling and a nestling and knowing which one you're looking at changes what you should do.

A fledgling (feathered, hopping around) is supposed to be on the ground. A nestling (mostly bald, eyes closed) is not.

It's fledgling season right now and kids everywhere are going to come across baby birds in the next few weeks. I made a free printable page about it which includes a QR code that links to a short video explaining what to do step by step.

I'm thinking about expanding this into a full wildlife rescue pack... baby birds, hedgehogs, stranded bees, what to do and what not to do. Would your kids find that useful?

👍 Like this post
🐦‍⬛ Comment BIRD and I'll send you the link to get a full resolution PDF ready to print.

Skills covered:
— Reading comprehension (informational text)
— Science vocabulary (fledgling, nestling, wildlife rehabilitator)
— Critical thinking and real-world decision making
— Cross-media literacy (answering questions from both text and video)
— Writing (open-ended response questions)

Grades 2–5 (younger kids can do it with a parent reading along)

High school homeschooling has made me much more open to outside help.

I can plan curriculum and organize resources, but there are subjects and exams where Marc needs someone who knows the material better than I do.

I recently tried Wyzant because finding online tutors on my own had become stressful. I was tired of paying upfront, worrying about time zones, and feeling like every new tutor was a gamble.

We used it for two SAT diagnostic sessions, and it gave us what I needed most: a clear starting point and a plan.

I wrote the full review, including what worked, what I’d watch for, and why I’ll probably keep using Wyzant for high school subjects and exam prep.

Link to my review in the first comment.