Budding Blog Linky

I {Heart} Recess is having a Budding Blog linky. It looks like loads of fun, so I thought I'd join in.  Turns out, I have 4 followers on bloglovin', 11 in google circles (can't figure out what that even means!), and 0 through blogger, so I fall just a wee bit under the 200 followers or less requirement! Oh, and if I'm being honest, I'm actually following my own blog on bloglovin' so really, I'm just talking to myself here!

There are 5 questions to answer, so here goes...

1. Why did you start blogging?

I started blogging because I thought it might be a good way to drive traffic to my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Blatant honesty here. What I later came to realize is that it's a great way for me to share my love for/addiction to puzzles of all sorts. I've been trying to do a weekly feature (falling short of weekly, but still) about different logic puzzles that I have acquired over the years, how amazing and fun they are, and how they can be used to hone critical thinking skills in our young learners. This is my favorite part of blogging!

2. What is your favorite subject to teach and why?

I homeschool, so I get to teach ALL the subjects. So far I've been through K to 4th twice and 5th/6th once. My favorite subject is history! I can't believe how much I never learned (or more likely forgot) in my many years of schooling. For the younger years, we used "The Story of the World".  This is an amazing series of books that takes students from the ancients to modern times in 4 years.  Now we are using K12's wonderful series called "The Human Odyssey". It is packed with fabulousness!

3. Describe your teaching style.

I'm guessing my daily style would be closer to tutoring than any thing else. The overall approach is classical. For the most part, I follow the recommendations in "The Well-Trained Mind".

4. Give three interesting facts about you.

I've lived all over the world, including Japan, Italy, Germany, Panama and, of course, the US. This is what happens when you grow up with a father in the Navy and then marry a man who later decides to join the Army. Who knew?

I love to read. It used to be strictly SF all the time, but I've branched out more and more over the years. My dad got me hooked on a mystery/murder series, and my mom introduced me to Ken Follet.  I've also been rather keen on teen fiction. I've read a ton of that stuff over the last couple of years. Totally addicting...especially the post-apocalyptic stuff like "The Hunger Games" and "Ship Breaker"...oh "Unwind" is really powerful too.

I love puzzles! Did I ever mention that? I've got 3 drawers in my living room full of them and more scattered about my house. These are the logic type-hands on puzzle/games. I also have puzzle books squirreled away in bathrooms, car door pockets and various canvas shopping bags. I think the first logic puzzle I encountered was my parents' cube puzzle. It was kind of like Block by Block with seven shapes that can form into a cube. It came with a booklet full of other shapes that could be formed with the blocks too. I remember spending hours playing around with that puzzle. My love of puzzles might also have something to do with the fact that my mom does the crossword and crypto in the newspaper every morning. She's sharp as a tack with the trivia games too!

5. Do you have a TpT store? If yes, post the link :)

Of course! It has the same name as my blog. The Puzzle Den
I found TpT this past winter when I was looking for activities for my kids to work on over Christmas. I found some nice puzzles there, but not exactly what I wanted, and then it occurred to me that I could make my own! So I did. I'm hoping that teachers and homeschoolers and parents alike will find my puzzles to be fun activities to work on with their students and children.

Hope I didn't bore anyone...I can be rather chatty!
Have a great weekend and don't forget to check out some of the other budding blogs at I {Heart} Recess!