At RunPlayExplore, we help homeschooling families create their own unit studies! Join our group! I’m Kaitlyn, a former teacher and homeschool mom of three.
I’m married to Andrew, and we live in beautiful South Carolina. I overuse emojis and exclamation points! Our three kiddos were born in 2015, 2018, and 2020. The oldest two live with Type 1 Diabetes. If you hang out here long enough, you’ll learn more about it than you ever wanted to know! We live for our weekly field trips and are always up for new adventures, the most recent one we tackled was te
nt camping with three little kids! I blog about our life as a homeschooling family, especially our unit studies, which are the foundation of our homeschool. And I create learning resources for our family, and share them with the hope they will make other families’ homeschooling journeys just a little bit easier. Thanks so much for visiting!
Just like that, our sweet baby is 4! Yes, I still call her the baby, maybe always will 😄. She is the sweetest little caregiver and helper, my little shadow/snuggler, and always entertaining us and making us laugh with her silliness. We love you!!
Last week was packed full of friends, fun, & learning! We started our new homeschool year, had a splash day with cousins, a Harry Potter party in the park with our friends, did a Civil War tour of James Island, and rounded out the week with a super fun birthday party with water slide! What a fantastic start to our school year!
Our middle-born is fierce, tenacious, and has major flair. You know the old saying that children should be seen and not heard? It’s her life mission to be in direct opposition to that. If she’s around, you’ll hear her AND see her 😆 Even as a brand-new six-year-old, she has a huge sense fairness and justice and I can’t wait to see how she uses her passion to change the world one day. 💕 Happy Birthday to our not-so-little princess!
This week…celebrated our last day of school with our annual photo shoot & first pool day, saw Kung Fu Panda 4 at the theater, drew with sidewalk chalk, and volunteered at our church’s spring work day to spruce up the parking lot area. We are officially on our “summer break” for the month of May and looking forward to having lots of fun with a little bit of learning thrown in here and there!
This week…dealt with some sniffles early in the week, watched the eclipse in pjs, rounded out our 180 days of homeschool by completing some journal entries and visiting the South Carolina State Museum for our last day! First outdoor water day on Saturday, and girls’ shopping afternoon with ice cream today while the boys watched Liverpool! 💕
Random happenings from the week before Easter 🐣
This week…school, learning about the American Revolution, and visiting Fort Moultrie to become Junior Rangers!
🍓 Enjoyed strawberry picking with Grammy this week, learning all about the life cycle of a strawberry plant, and making lots of delicious strawberry treats.
Nice lazy week after the fun festivities of Dr. Seuss! I was super excited to start The BFG with them. My 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Anderson, read this aloud to our class, and was so expressive and made the book so enjoyable!
What a week(end)! Exploring Providence Canyon State Park, becoming Junior Rangers at Ocmulgee Mounds National Historic Site, hanging out with Grammy, Papa, and Uncle Taylor (missed our Rachel so much!!!) at Lakepoint State Park in Alabama.
It was a core memory kinda trip 💕
Also I turned 36 this week and celebrated with brunch, and my favorite: cookie cake 🎂
A great week learning about the colonization of South Carolina, visiting Charlestowne Landing with our homeschool besties, and celebrating finishing The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. Today we got to attend a birthday party for one of our sweet friends’ little girls and we all had a blast! We also all got to break in our new hiking shoes for our upcoming hiking trip!
An absolutely perfect homeschool week, if there ever was one! Got through all our book work, enjoyed the beach with friends, and a great weather week that let us spend a lot of time outside!
We celebrated Groundhog Day, did puppet shows, and generally just had a nice, calm week!
Last week we settled back into our school routine (FINALLY) and did lots of journaling, reading, math, and learning all about South Carolina regions.
We are about halfway through The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, and everyone is just as into it as I am, which makes my heart so happy. Best of all, they don’t know there is a movie, and I’m dying to surprise them with it!
We visited the library and the Aquarium this week, played outside, and enjoyed the warmer weather that arrived later in the week.
Swipe through the photos to see where our oldest practically wants to live. It’s so hard to drag him away. 🦈❤️
We are ready to jump back in to our regions this week, we have a pretty exciting field trip planned with our homeschooling besties. Can’t wait!
What is the name of the teacher who had the biggest impact on your life? How did they impact you?
A super full week of potty training, Charleston adventures, and homeschooling!
This week we visited the Santee National Wildlife Refuge, Sunrise Park, and spent a ton of time “minimizing” our home! We are excited to get back into the school swing of things Monday. We will be beginning our South Carolina history curriculum, learning about Native American tribes that lived in our state before Europeans arrived.
Well. My kids have had a wonderful last week and half or so with their dad while I hid in my bedroom with stupid Covid to avoid giving it to anyone else. Andrew was unbelievable at having fun with them and bringing me food & anything else I needed. He did several diabetes device changes & kept everyone healthy and happy! My mom cooked us a whole bunch of food, and my dad came over and jumped not one but BOTH of our vehicles that had dead batteries. When it rains it pours, y’all. 🤣🤣🤣
The kids enjoyed s’mores, switch game days, bike riding, tons of playing outside, helping build a custom Lego desk for our oldest, and watching lots of movies with special snacks.
I watched a LOT of TV, read a couple of books, obsessively tested trying to get a negative, batched some social media stuff, and when I was at the height of cabin fever I literally took up knitting 🤣
I’m ready to get out of this dungeon and snuggle my babies again, and looking forward to a routine and some fun field trips soon!
My age-old plea to PLEASE STAY HOME if you’re sick. I’m pretty confident of where I caught it and the person very obviously should not have been in public.
When in doubt, test & mask up!! 😷
I’ve decided to focus on QUALITY over QUANTITY in 2024 as we keep track of our outdoor activities. Counting hours is great! But it often leaves me feeling anxious that I missed some or we aren’t getting “enough”. I’m hoping this year we will focus more on having lots of new and different experiences together in the great outdoors! You can get your own copy of this tracker here: https://runplayexplore.com/our-2024-outdoor-activity-tracker/
When I looked back over 2022, I was really proud of how much time we spent outdoors. We had used an hourly outdoor tracker to track our progress. When I was thinking about what would help us continue that great momentum, I realized I was struggling with the goal I set to track a specificRead More
All things nutcracker this week along with the yearly nutcracker week! We also had fun checking off some things on the scavenger hunts in several , like Charlestowne Landing, Goodale, and Poinsett. Thursday was my very favorite day of the year…when I take each kid individually with their lists to shop for their family members. More on that later next week!
We spent last week celebrating our new 8 year old with a trip to Legoland Florida. We had tons of fun despite all the rain, and are glad to be home and ready for our routine again!
Our incredible, meticulous, compassionate & brave firstborn is EIGHT! He is a delightful, wonderful little boy who is so funny and creative and such an amazing big brother to two sisters who love him fiercely. We are so in love with this sweetie who made us parents 8 years ago!
Last week we…
-enjoyed the new high-tech book return at our new library
-worked hard on some “typical” school stuff
-enjoyed walking through the Holiday Festival of Lights with Grammy & Papa
-shopped for and packed a shoebox to match each child’s age/gender
-wrapped up our mini unit on frogs & toads
-finally told the kids where we will be celebrating our oldest’s 8th birthday
-dedicated our last “baby” at our annual “praise & play” in the park service. So special to have their Papa pray over each of them during their dedications. 💙
This week we learned about Día de Los Mu***os, played tons of board games, had some Halloween fun, listened to lots of audio books, and visited Old Santee Canal Park. As you can see from the last photo, it was a fun and exhausting week…our littlest barely made it in the door from our field trip before falling right to sleep!
We are looking forward to getting back to our long-forgotten living things/biology unit next week with a look at amphibians and exploring Frog and Toad stories!
We should have finished up our unit in September, but the beauty of homeschooling is that we can take breaks to enjoy learning different things and exploring places outside our plans whenever we want!
One day left for the TPT back to school sale! Here are some things that are trending now! (Plus a few for those who like to plan ahead, like me! 😉)
Enter code BTS23 at checkout to get your discount!
Our tiniest explorer is THREE today! She is so brave and compassionate, and she makes us laugh basically every minute of the day. She’s currently referring to herself as “Hiccup” from How to Train Your Dragon, and wearing rain boots everywhere she goes. She’s also named herself the “diabetes helper” and loves to set up site changes with all the things her siblings need for new Dexcoms and Omnipods. Happy Birthday to the little cherry on top of our sundae! 💗
🌞 Last week: the second grader started his measurement unit, littlest started some fun letter activities, and kindergartner finished her level 3 book for Hooked on Phonics. All three are working & playing hard! We covered plants in our unit study this week so we took two field trips to look at some…Edisto Memorial Gardens and Lake Warren State Park, then we had an awesome opportunity to take a tour of the Water Mission International facility! To wrap up the week, the 7 year old finished his very first set of Star Wars legos and is SO proud. 😍
Check out some of our zoo fun! And read all the way to the end to get some free printables to add excitement to your next zoo trip!
Our family membership to Riverbanks Zoo is a great way to add to our homeschool unit study lessons and spend a fun day together!
Our second week of homeschooling was focused on microscopic life. We took samples of our neighborhood pond and looked at them through our microscope. We also visited the library, the Summerville-Dorchester museum, and Azalea park!
This week on the blog: a blast from the past with our Reptile Unit Study from 2020!
We completed a reptile unit study as part of our preschool year. We loved learning about snakes, sea turtles, and alligators!
We had a fabulous first week of our 2023-2024 school year! Starting at the beginning of June allows us to learn at a relaxed pace, say yes to every adventure, and truly enjoy our time together!
Our unit study approach has been awesome at allowing us to connect as a family and enjoy what we are learning together!
Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Run Play Explore posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Send a message to Run Play Explore:
We spent our morning doing a little spring spruce up on our church campus. It’s impossible not to have fun while working with this crew! @m.e.g.h.a.n.w @harris_adrian19 @gabyz99 @tonyakwolfe @riverbluffchs
We spent an absolutely gorgeous day with our homeschool friends for our SC Coastal Zone field trip this week! We visited the Lighthouse Inlet Heritage Preserve (known by locals as simply “the Morris Island lighthouse”). This off-the-beaten-path secluded beach area gives sweeping views of all kinds of Charleston icons. On a clear day like today, we could see all the way to the Charleston Light - the lighthouse on Sullivan’s Island that replaced the Morris Island lighthouse in 1962. The original Morris Island Lighthouse was built in 1767. This is the third lighthouse to stand in this location, and it is the tallest lighthouse in South Carolina. In 1889, jetties were constructed to protect the shipping lanes into the Charleston Harbor. These jetties actually altered the ocean current, which led to rapid erosion, and as you can see, the complete disappearance of the island (at low tide you can still reach it by boat!) There is so much more fascinating history surrounding this lighthouse, from who commissioned it, to its status during the Civil War, so definitely check it out to find out more! #hereisourhomeschool #homeschoolersofinstagram #homeschoollife #howwehomeschool #unitstudyhomeschool #unistudyhomeschoolers #runplayexplore #southcarolinahomeschoolers #schomeschool #lowcountryhomeschoolers #scdaytrip #itsagreatdayinsouthcarolina #southcarolinaadventures #southcarolinafieldtrip #homeschooladventures #homeschoolfieldtrip #homeschoolfieldtrips #homeschooltravel #wildandfreechildren #wildandfreemama #morrisislandlighthouse #follybeach #follybeachsc #discoversc #discoversouthcarolina
We hiked the Sewee Shell Ring Trail today with our homeschooling besties! Beautiful, sweeping marsh views combined with ancient history and educational signage made the perfect field trip for our Native American week of our Passport to South Carolina curriculum! Special thanks to @diydarlinmom for teaching us lots about the marsh & Spanish moss! The trail is an easy one mile loop and you’ll get to enjoy the forest, marsh, and views of the intercoastal waterway! The trail markings are a bit confusing, so you might want to download a map before you visit! #seweeshellringtrail #francismarionnationalforest #seweeindians #hereisourhomeschool #homeschoolersofinstagram #homeschoollife #howwehomeschool #unitstudyhomeschool #unistudyhomeschoolers #runplayexplore #southcarolinahomeschoolers #schomeschool #lowcountryhomeschoolers #scdaytrip #itsagreatdayinsouthcarolina #southcarolinaadventures #southcarolinafieldtrip #homeschooladventures #homeschoolfieldtrip #homeschoolfieldtrips #homeschooltravel #wildandfreechildren #wildandfreemama #passporttosouthcarolina
Hiking with kids doesn’t require special equipment, driving for hours, or need to last all day. As a matter of fact, the less stress you put on yourself to get it “just right”, the more you’ll probably enjoy your experience and want to do it again. Hikes can be great for family bonding, but there are lots of other reasons to start hiking with your kids, too. Here are just three of them. 1. Outdoor activity is beneficial for health in general, but spending time in natural outdoor spaces also allows kids to work on balance, agility, and gross motor skills as they scramble over boulders, tree roots, and cross streams or puddles. 2. Interacting with new places and the natural world can boost cognitive abilities as kids use their critical thinking and problem solving skills to navigate, give the task their undivided attention, and discover new plants, animals, and their habitats for themselves. 3. It can set them up for mental health success into adulthood! We know that time spent in nature can lower stress levels, but new studies are showing that there is a correlation between time spent as nature as children and improved mental health as adults! While much of the country is covered in snow this week, we are just finally getting out of the too-hot-mosquito-infested-trail time in our area. So if you’d like to see where we hike next, follow along! #hereisourhomeschool #homeschoolersofinstagram #homeschoollife #howwehomeschool #unitstudyhomeschool #unistudyhomeschoolers #runplayexplore #southcarolinahomeschoolers #schomeschool #lowcountryhomeschoolers #scdaytrip #itsagreatdayinsouthcarolina #southcarolinaadventures #southcarolinafieldtrip #homeschooladventures #homeschoolfieldtrip #homeschoolfieldtrips #homeschooltravel #wildandfreechildren #wildandfreemama #hikingadventures #hikingwithkids #southcarolinahiking #kidsmentalhealth #familytogetherness #familytime #familyadventures
We spent the day exploring some of the Santee National Wildlife Refuge in Summerton, SC. This 13,000 acre preserve is made up of several “units” with unique features. Some of the natural elements you’ll find here: 🌿 Carolina Bays 🌿 Forested Wetlands 🌿 Carnivorous Plants 🌿 Grassland Fields 🌿 Hardwood + Pine Forest 🌿 Freshwater Marshes 🌿 Open Water Observe nearly 300 different bird species, alligators, deer, wild turkey, and many other fascinating native South Carolina animals! Different times of year will offer opportunities for viewing different plants and animals, and certain areas are closed seasonally. The visitors center is packed full of interesting displays of taxidermied wildlife and facts about the area. There’s a massive touch table for children with all sorts of interesting specimens to observe. There is also a small display about the Santee Indians who first called this area home over 1,000 years ago. On today’s trip, we drove through the Cuddo Unit and saw white-tailed deer, wading birds, ducks, and many smaller birds. We then headed to the visitors center located in the Bluff Unit. We visited the Santee Indian Mound and hiked the Wrights Bluff Nature Trail in the Bluff Unit as well. Even spending all morning and into afternoon here, we never made it to the Dingle Pond or Pine Island Units, so those will be adventures for another day! #hereisourhomeschool #homeschoolersofinstagram #homeschoollife #howwehomeschool #unitstudyhomeschool #unistudyhomeschoolers #runplayexplore #southcarolinahomeschoolers #schomeschool #lowcountryhomeschoolers #scdaytrip #itsagreatdayinsouthcarolina #southcarolinaadventures #southcarolinafieldtrip #homeschooladventures #homeschoolfieldtrip #homeschoolfieldtrips #homeschooltravel #wildandfreechildren #wildandfreemama #santeenationalwildliferefuge #visitsantee #summertonsc #santeesc
Weekly field trips are my jam and definitely one of my top reasons to homeschool. Learning from real things around us takes everything to the next level! #homeschooling #homeschool #homeschoolmom #homeschoolcollective #homeschoolfieldtrip #homeschoolfamily #homeschoolperk #homeschooltravel #homeschoolteacher
I’m counting down our favorite things about homeschooling for the 12 days of Christmas this year! And day 2…it’s all about outside! We love enjoying the great outdoors, whether it’s in our small backyard or one of our great nearby county or state parks! Homeschooling means we don’t have to wait until “recess” time to go out and play! We can bring our lessons outdoors with us, enjoy meals on the back porch when the weather is nice, and even shift our schedule around to enjoy nature whenever we want! Our three year old had a spider crawl on her over the summer, and was terrified of playing in the yard for MONTHS after that. Thankfully, she’s given it another shot and the three of them are playing on our playset together almost every morning after breakfast! I’m so glad I can let them enjoy this time together without stressing about getting ready to go places or fitting everything in…it will get done when they come inside…or…tomorrow! #tcb12daychallenge #homeschooling #outdoorhomeschool #wildandfreechildren #homeschoollife #unitstudyhomeschool
@legolandflorida now has a Peppa Pig Theme Park right next door! This was a a great way to spend a half day while we visited. The highlight was getting to go on Daddy Pig’s Roller Coaster all together, which was the first roller coaster for all three of our kids! It’s a pretty gentle coaster, and built their confidence for some more extreme rides at Legoland the next day! The awareness/accommodation for sensory needs at this park is like nothing I’ve seen, so it’s a great place to check out if anyone in your family gets really overwhelmed in a typical theme park environment. I would say for the under-six crowd, this is a must visit while you’re at Legoland, but even older siblings will find something to enjoy! #legolandflorida #peppapigthemepark #travellinghomeschoolers #unitstudyhomeschool #homeschoolpreschool #homeschoolkindergarten #southcarolinahomeschool #homeschoolfieldtrip #legoland
Passport to South Carolina is a complete South Carolina history and geography curriculum with 36 weeks of exciting projects, interesting facts, and a look at the historical context of events that took place in our state. Designed for families to complete together, you’ll absolutely love digging deep into state history as you explore off-the-beaten-path locations and hike beautiful places you may have never heard of. South Carolina has a fascinating history that’s waiting to be uncovered. We can’t wait for you to start exploring it with us! #hereisourhomeschool #homeschoolersofinstagram #homeschoollife #howwehomeschool #unitstudyhomeschool #unistudyhomeschoolers #runplayexplore #southcarolinahomeschoolers #schomeschool #lowcountryhomeschoolers #scdaytrip #itsagreatdayinsouthcarolina #southcarolinaadventures #southcarolinafieldtrip #homeschooladventures #homeschoolfieldtrip #homeschoolfieldtrips #homeschooltravel #wildandfreechildren #wildandfreemama #schistory #southcarolinahistory #southcarolinahistoricalsites #visitsouthcarolina #exploresouthcarolina #scnature #passporttosouthcarolina
Museums sometimes have the reputation of being old, stuffy, and boring. But it doesn’t have to be that way! Our seven year old says museums are the best places in the world! Maybe you could argue he’s never been anywhere fun, but the child had been to Disney World 4 times when he was 3, so that’s definitely not it! Here are three things we did to introduce museums to our kids, and how they can help your kids love museums, too! 1️⃣ Make sure the first few museums you visit have plenty of hands-on exhibits and things to touch! Allowing kids to explore with multiple senses engages them in what they’re seeing and learning. And who wants to go anywhere and get constantly told “don’t touch that!”? 2️⃣ Try to tie museum experiences to other fun activities nearby. If you can visit locations that have small museums or interpretive centers in addition to things like nature trails and playgrounds, the museum becomes part of a really fun experience and gets associated with happy memories! 3️⃣ Try to visit at off-peak times so that you don’t have to stand and wait to get up close to the exhibits, and you don’t feel rushed to move out of the way for the people behind you. For homeschoolers, we have found that just after lunch time when the school field trips head back to school are great times to explore our local places. *BONUS* 4️⃣ One more tip! Don’t underestimate the power that your enthusiasm can have to get your kids interested in what they’re looking at! Share a personal connection or an anecdote about the things you’re looking at that will interest your children. If you have children who look forward to museum visits, what tips would you add? #homeschoolfieldtrip #homeschoolmuseumtrip #homeschoolhistory #unitstudyhomeschool #unitstudy #familyhomeschool #daytripswithkids #museumsarecool #runplayexplore #happyhomeschool #roadschooling #learningthroughplay #fieldtrip #familyfieldtrip
We loved learning about Día de Los Muertos a little early yesterday! We watched some educational YouTube videos to learn first, then we visited @elmolino_supermarket to see the huge altar they’ve created. We found Pan de Muerto there, as well as papel picado, both of which we had learned about, so we had to bring some home! We watched Coco on Disney+ and made sugar skull cookies to enjoy with dinner. If you’re in Charleston, make sure to stop into El Molino on Rivers Ave before the altar is gone! It was such a unique experience that really helped my kids understand this sweet celebration of loved ones! #charlestonhomeschool #southcarolinahomeschool #unitstudyhomeschoolers #diadelosmuertos #homeschoolfieldtrip #iteachtoo #homeschoolersofinstagram #secondgradehomeschool #kindergartenhomeschool #homeschoolpreschool #homeschooltogether #lowcountryhomeschoolers
There are all kinds of skills to practice while navigating the corn maze this fall! Hand your kids the map, then ask them questions to see if they can figure out which way they need to go. Ask questions like “what will happen if we turn right”? And “what’s at the end of this path” to get them thinking a step or two ahead. Other important skills to highlight: 🤲 left vs. right 🗺️ holding and reading a map 📍 following directions 🤝 teamwork We had a great time exploring the small corn maze @westfarm_cornmaze today! #fallhomeschoolactivities #cornmaze #westfarmcornmaze #monckscornersc #homeschoolhalloween #unschoolingfamily #southcarolinaoutdoors #southcarolinahomeschool #southcarolinaagritourism #scpumpkinpatch #unitstudyhomeschoolers #iteachtoo #homeschoolersofinstagram #homeschoolkindergarten #homeschoolsecondgrade #homeschoolpreschool
We spent a ✨MAGICAL✨ morning at the Columbia Marionette Theatre today. On every third Monday of the month, you can watch the current show and do a Q&A with the director & puppeteers. They also offer a $5 puppet making lab afterward. The current show is Hansel & Gretel, and the way they adapted this was so cool! It’s done in the style of old black & white cartoons, and it is truly mesmerizing. In addition to their Marionette Mondays once a month, they have weekend shows as well- every Saturday at 11 & 3! My kids (and I) were absolutely enthralled the entire time. If you’re in South Carolina, run, don’t walk, to catch this show before it closes! For my SC homeschooling friends, they’ll have another Marionette Monday for this show on October 13 and November 20. Thank you so much to the puppeteers & other staff who made this such a fun experience for us. We will be back! #schomeschoolers #southcarolinahomeschool #homeschoolersofsc #lowcountryhomeschoolers #columbiamarionettetheatre #columbiaarts #columbiascevents #discoversc #discoversouthcarolina #unitstudyhomeschoolers #marionettentheater #homeschoolersofinstagram #secondgradehomeschool #kindergartenhomeschool #homeschoolpreschool #homeschoolfieldtrip #thisishomeschooling #charlestondaytrip
We love having a membership to Riverbanks Zoo, and it includes membership to the Botanical Gardens across the River. You can ride between them on a tram, or park at either location. Last week, we stopped here to stretch our legs and run around a bit on our way to Greenville. The kids LOVED the giant treehouse and dinosaur playground. During the summer months, they also have a fun splash park here to enjoy! #homeschoolersofsc #homeschoolfieldtrip #homeschoolfieldtrips #unitstudy #unitstudyhomeschool #riverbankszoo #scdaytrip #discoversc #scexploring
A quick stop at Paris Mountain State Park rounded out our epic Friday field trip in Greenville. The kids loved all the stone steps and, of course, the playground! I think we will definitely be back here soon to explore more! #ultimateoutsider #ultimateoutsiderchallenge #homeschoolfieldtrip #scstateparks #parismountainstatepark #homeschoolersofsc #lowcountryhomeschoolers #homeschoolsecondgrade #homeschoolkindergarten #homeschoolpreschool
Want your business to be the top-listed Media Company?
