Keeping kids engaged can sometimes be difficult. Staring at textbooks all day can have an effect similar to a tranquilizer on a student. That’s why, for years, teachers have used activities, projectors, and other supplemental materials to keep students entertained while they learn. But what about homeschoolers? It can be difficult as a homeschool parent […]
This is the third and final time I will be homeschooling 6th grade. I am surprised how much things have changed with each child’s needs, and as I find new things which seem to fit the bill! 6th Grade Homeschool Curriculum English/Language Arts We are switching things up big time in the English/Language Arts department, […]
I am so excited to be trying something new with my up and coming middle schooler! We have always favored doing unit studies for history, and as the kids have gotten older we have used a few various curricula. For the first time this year I am going to try Timeline Based Middle School History. […]
As a homeschooling parent, you may sometimes get anxious that your child doesn’t have the same access to study groups as children at regular schools do. If you do get anxious, then you don’t need to, because there are many positive aspects of studying independently. Let’s examine the pros and cons of Self Study vs. […]
I honestly do not remember doing sentence diagramming as a kid in school. When I saw it in my kid’s homeschool curriculum it was completely new to me. After spending years doing it with my children, one of the things I love most about sentence diagramming is that it pulls so many grammar skills and […]
I am an off the chart, type-A personality. I love schedules, plans, lists, boxes to check, etc. When I started homeschooling many moons ago I brought this rigidity with me (I was definitely not flexible homeschooling). I was hard and fast to follow curriculum and adhere to schedules, even if it meant stress and misery […]
Fidget Spinners seem to be all the rage right now. Kids are loving them and teachers are loving to hate them. As homeschoolers we don’t have the kind of main stream pressure that public school kids do. Nonetheless we have seen the adds, watched them be given as birthday gifts, and heard all their friends […]
I hated history in school. It felt dry and boring, and I couldn’t relate or connect with it. One of my goals as a homeschooling mom is to help ensure my children will feel differently about their history studies, even if just a little bit. Middle school history builds on the blocks you stacked in […]
This year we have participating in a book club during the day with a few other homeschool girls. We meet weekly to discuss the book of the month, do projects related to things in the book, and complete art projects related to a topic in the book. I have been organizing all the art projects […]
Teaching a foreign language can be difficult if you don’t speak any. Having great resources, especially video resources where you can hear and see the new language in action can be very helpful. When teaching (or learning) ASL (American Sign Language) books can easily fall flat. It is much easier to learn if you can […]
While I have always enjoyed supplementing our history studies with the use of historical fiction. I have recently decided to trying enhancing our studies with movies too. Teaching History Through Movies is another great way to bring a time period, historical moment, place or person to life. While most movies aren’t totally historically accurate, they […]
I am art challenged. I need step by step instructions (and video is even better) to help my kids complete art projects. One of the resources I have been using are the Mixed Media Art Courses from Flourish. I am happy to say she is putting out a new one this month – Kids Create […]