CAYUGA—There’s a lot to learn about the world around us, and Sarah Uren is hoping to help inspire families to continue that learning.
Uren, a Cayuga resident, has “always worked with kids” as a nanny, teacher, and – for over a decade – as a homeschooling parent.
In August 2024, she released her first book: Windy Acres Workshop: Art, Nature and Literature Edition.
“It’s one of three,” Uren said. The second in the series will focus on science and math, and the third will dive into history and geography.
As a homeschooling parent, Uren said, “I wanted a resource on my shelf so that I could just take it off and figure out what we were doing and have some fun projects for the day. So I created it for myself, and then I ended up polishing it, thinking, ‘Okay, I could probably publish this.’”
Art was one of the focuses of the first book, because that’s a big part of Uren’s own background. However, she noted, “As a homeschooling parent, there’s lots of research. You’re always learning new things.”
Which is why she’s covering a range of disciplines within her series.
There are 50 different core projects in the first book, with suggestions on how to adjust the approach to suit older and younger learners.
While this could be used as a supplemental resource for other homeschooling parents, as it is project-based learning (which Uren noted is “a bit of a trend” in that community right now), “I wanted to make it a bit more loose, so we could also be open to families that just like creating and doing things together after school hours or on the weekends.”
Ultimately, “it’s projects for families to help with hands-on learning for children.”
At the beginning of the book, there is a list of supplies; Uren said she tried to “to keep everything environmentally friendly and low-cost so it’s available to all families.”
The former was particularly important to her, as she and the rest of her family are “strong nature lovers.”
Most of the projects include a book recommendation section, with titles of picture books and novels that could be incorporated into a lesson based around the project.
Children and families will be able to experience one of the projects in Uren’s book firsthand on the Family Day weekend at Ruthven Park National Historic Site. As part of the Family Fun Day on February 15 (which runs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.), Uren will be hosting a make and take workshop from 11 a.m. to noon.
Attendees will also be able to purchase a copy of her book at that time. For those who miss this event, Uren will be back at Ruthven on March 8 for another workshop, also at 11 a.m. to noon.
Her book can also be purchased online from Amazon and Indigo.
