News, Reviews, and Recommendations!

Feed your mind

Can you create the best crew to sail the 7 seas and get you the most gold?
Captain Flip is a lightweight, family-friendly game for 2–5 players, aged 8 & up, with a typical playtime of around 20 minutes. 

For homeschoolers, games like these are a powerful tool - not just for learning logic or practicing reading, but for building perseverance, confidence, and a lifelong love of learning.

Because homeschooling isn’t just about ticking curriculum boxes or getting perfect test scores. It’s about raising curious, capable kids who know HOW to think - not just WHAT to think.

When all the focus is on results, kids don’t learn to love learning - they just learn to fear failure.

And that’s the opposite of what we want.

Games like these teach kids (and adults!) that success rarely happens on the first try - and that’s totally okay. Getting it wrong the first time isn’t failure - it’s part of the process. 

Learning that genuinely feels like play!

If you’ve played Spot It! before and loved it, you’ll jump straight into these with no learning curve at all - because Super Genius uses the same gameplay. 

It’s fast-paced, fun, and perfect for kids who love a little competition… and all the while, it sneakily builds real learning while everyone’s too busy trying to win!

This week’s pick might not sound as exciting as some of the fun activities I usually recommend - but I genuinely love these books and suggest them to everyone!

Whether your child is struggling with maths or does it for fun, these workbooks can be a great little addition to your daily routine.

They’re simple, structured, and confidence-boosting - and actually kind of fun!

I believe that every child is beautifully and wonderfully unique - each with their own passions, strengths, and way of learning. 

But when a child starts to fall behind in reading, and everyone else around them seems to be picking it up easily, it’s heartbreaking how quickly their confidence in so many areas of life can start to fade.

At that point, it’s not just about reading anymore - it starts to affect how they see themselves.

I am occasionally asked why an “education store” would bother selling magic tricks.  It seems that not everybody feels positive about this entertainment art.  Some even see the hobby as a little immature or dishonest.

I have a few things to say...

Science is an incredibly inspiring subject. However, when you're first putting together a homeschool Science program, it can be an overwhelming experience. 

Science is incredible! It's hands on! It's fun! It's exciting! Which is why it's so easy to get too excited, and buy anything and everything so that you can teach your child everything in a fun and exciting way! 

Unfortunately when you do that, more often than not those resources will then likely sit in a cupboard collecting dust, because you will have so many amazing ideas and resources - you won't know where to start. Either that, or your child's schedule will be so full that it won't leave room to follow where their natural curiosity would lead them. 

Which is why, when first starting out, I suggest starting simple.

Have you ever looked through a Where’s Wally book? Would it be as fun if there was a giant, bright yellow arrow pointing to Wally on every page? No. The challenge is what makes it fun!

It’s the same with all puzzles.

Puzzles are a great way to remind your brain that when you’re faced with a challenge, you don’t need to freeze. You don’t need to feel overwhelmed. You don’t need to give up.

Just think of it as a puzzle!

Maths is an entire subject devoted to solving puzzles. So why do so many students dread maths lessons? 

Well, it may not actually be the maths that they're not enjoying - it may just be the way it's being taught.

Here at Brain Spice, we believe that the brain loves learning. You just need to make it fun! And what better way to make maths fun than to practice maths skills through play!

The most helpful thing you can do to prepare for a moderator meeting is to take photos throughout the year and write yourself notes of all the activities your child has done, all the places you’ve visited, and any programs you’ve used.

You’ll be surprised how much you’ve done that you forget about! 

Then before the annual moderator meeting, I like to write a simple report, listing everything my kids have done for each subject, and making sure I’ve got proof of my child’s work from throughout the year. 

Then I go through it all with the moderator at my meeting. 

I've created some example reports below, which you can view if you'd like to see an example of the sorts of things that can be included in a home education report.