I’d never seen The Magic School Bus before—I was a bit past the target demographic when it came out in 1994—but as a science geek, when my son started watching it on Netflix, along with the reboot The Magic School Bus Rides Again, I fell in love with the show. The way they interweave science knowledge and facts into the show and make it age-appropriate and fun is really neat, and who doesn’t love all of the dresses the Friz wears that complement whatever lesson she’s teaching? There was just recently an article by Lauren Mechling in The New York Times about finding her “inner Ms. Frizzle” while getting ready to supervise her children’s remote learning again this fall. While I am homeschooling my son and not doing remote learning, I realized that the Friz was exactly who I hoped to emulate in many ways. I love homeschooling, but I tend to hit a creative wall sometimes…when all I really need to do, in the words of the Friz herself, is to “Take chances, make mistakes, get messy!” But thanks to the Friz, I’ve sought out ways to bring some unexpected approaches and colorful creativity to our homeschooling journey. While we do some workbooks, book work, and general preschool work, I also make it a point to incorporate hands-on, sensorial activities that we can integrate into each subject. I found a ton of books to help with this, and these are some of my favorites. I’d like to think the Friz would approve of my picks.
