Sparkle Schoolhouse
The Story is Only the Beginning! With the inspiration of each Sparkle Story as a beginning, the corresponding Sparkle Schoolhouse lesson continues the journey with wholesome enrichment, inspired tutorials and a welcoming community for our homeschooling Sparkle Parents, Adults, Teachers and Children.
Screen-Free Week Ideas
Screens are part of our world now, but that doesn't mean it has to be our whole world.
FIFTY Study Page: Guam- "The Radioman"
This story from the FIFTY collection uses historical fiction to explore the history of the people of Guam from Chamorro to Spanish to American.
Sparkle Weekly Wonderings: Speaking Out
Today's young men and women want change - and they are willing to do the hard work of researching what is needed, they are brave enough to speak out, and they have the grit to keep going until they are heard, met and answered.
FIFTY Study Page: Puerto Rico- "Hoy Vieques"
This story from the FIFTY collection uses historical fiction to explore the history of Vieques and Puerto Rico.
Sparkle Weekly Wondering
This week we revisit and add to the collection of stories that has transformed me as a teacher, storyteller, and citizen of the United States - "FIFTY: the Stars, the States, and the Stories".
FIFTY Study Page: Washington, D.C. "The Dress"
This story from the FIFTY collection uses historical fiction to explore the History of the United States capitals. We also cover the history of the White House construction, burning, and rebuilding, as well as the biography of Dolley and James Madison.
Exploring the Dry Gables Series - “This is Our Moment”
The stories in this collection, Dry Gables: Good Neighbors, give us insights into how we resolve conflict and strive to get our needs met — and what we do when they are not met.
Storybox Playlist: When Kids Clash - Stories and Suggestions for Conflict Resolution
Conflict exists everywhere — even within households. Since this is natural and normal, the question is not about how to avoid clashes, but how to address conflicts with integrity. Here are some stories that use tactics and hold context for authentic conflict resolution.
Magic at the Heart of Sparkle Storytelling
In this season of birds and blossoms and so so many spring fairies, may we all pause to notice the thickness in the air, the wonderful tension of magic as it attracts the impossible to your door.
Sparkle Weekly Wonderings: Maple Syrup
Stories of maple syrup: collecting sap, boiling it, and tasting it — but if you listen closely, you’ll hear the other kind of sap running, too. The magic transformation of spring manifests not only in the natural world … but also in our children.
Sparkle Weekly Wondering: Dry Gables - Good Neighbors
Today we launch a third Dry Gables collection: “Good Neighbors.”
Exploring the Dry Gables Series - "Get It Done!"
The Enneagram is a complex and meaningful model of human personality. It offers us a road map in helping us to identify who we are at our best and what blocks us from a place of happiness and greater ease. Here we explore it through one of our own Sparkle Stories collections.
Dry Gables: The Stories and How to Use Them
Dry Gables is a unique series of stories centered around the people who live and work in a Victorian era small town in South Dakota. Each of the nine characters embodies a way of being in the world — with unique behaviors, motivations, and fears.
Why Storytelling Is Way Better Than Lecturing Your Kids
There is an alternative parenting technique that is hardly new. It has been used since our species could speak, and it is not only effective, it is delightful: storytelling. We are wired for it — literally. The neuroscience is conclusive — we use stories to build our realities and make sense of them.
Sparkle Weekly Wonderings: Strength
In addition to celebrating warrior women, powerful queens, and defiant girls, let us also celebrate the kind of strength that is currently transforming this country and the world: the total strength of the feminine.
The Nurtured Heart Approach (and Junkyard Tales stories for Parents!)
In the fall, I came across a parenting tool that deeply inspired me. It's called the Nurtured Heart Approach.
Sparkle Weekly Wonderings:
This past year, 2017, has highlighted an American practice that is central to who we are as a country- activism. This nation was born out of activism. Every major transformation of our country has had activism at its root. Our FITY collection helps celebrate this.
FIFTY Study Page: Tennessee — "One of Us"
This story from the FIFTY collection uses historical fiction to explore the history of Country Music and the Grand Ole Opry.
FIFTY Study Page: Missouri— "Rainbow Bridge"
This story from the FIFTY collection uses historical fiction to explore the history of St. Louis as the Gateway to the American West and the history of the Gateway Arch Monument.
FIFTY: Minnesota— " This House"
This story from the FIFTY collection uses historical fiction to explore the relationship between geography (noting the presence of flint) and biography.
