December 10, 2017
It’s time to head back to Hogwarts for Harry’s fifth year in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. This year Harry has a lot on his plate. The Ministry of Magic is actively working against him, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor is taking over the school, and school work as … Continue reading "Unit Study: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix"
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December 3, 2017
When we began writing the lesson plans for Build Your Library, we adopted the “standard” public school style naming conventions, such as Kindergarten, Grade 1, Grade 2, etc. Of course, there is no “standard” in homeschooling, but those grade levels seemed appropriate at the time. Appropriate and familiar. But then we started to get some … Continue reading "Levels vs. Grades vs. Ages"
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October 2, 2017
When my teens were very small, every morning we had Circle Time. It was our favorite part of the homeschool day. We would literally sit in a circle on the floor and I’d read them picture books, we’d sing songs, work on our letter of the day activities, practice memory work, and play games to practice … Continue reading "What’s in our Morning Basket?"
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September 11, 2017
I remember when I first started homeschooling. My oldest was four, and I excitedly poured over dozens of homeschool catalogs. There were so many options and all of them seemed necessary if I wanted to have a well-rounded student. So, I bought way too many things and didn’t even use half of them. This same … Continue reading "Homeschooling: Keeping it Simple"
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June 19, 2017
Do you have a child who just doesn’t like to read? Maybe they had a hard time when they were learning to read and it burned them out, or perhaps they had a bad school experience with boring reading material. Whatever got them to this point, we need to take a step back and help them … Continue reading "How to Hook a Reluctant Reader"
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March 27, 2017
“I would have children taught to read before they learn the mechanical arts of reading and writing… A child does not lose by spending a couple of years in acquiring these because he is meanwhile “reading” the Bible, history, geography, tales, with close attention and a remarkable power of reproduction, or rather, of translation into … Continue reading "Learning Vocabulary in Context"
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March 20, 2017
Many homeschool parents have asked this question, so I thought I would do a blog post to further explain my usual answer. I have often found that our easiest school years were those when everyone was studying the same historic period and the same science topic. It makes planning easier, we can do group projects, read … Continue reading "Can I Combine My Children in One Program?"
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March 13, 2017
From the beloved Kermit the Frog to the wacky Oobi, kids love puppets. It can be a full-blown puppet show with a whole cast of characters or a single puppet assisting during a read-aloud. Puppets are a great way to enhance your child’s literary experience while completing their homeschool lessons. Our first family puppet was … Continue reading "Homeschooling with Puppets!"
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March 6, 2017
bibliophile – noun | bib·lio·phile | \ˈbi-blē-ə-ˌfī(-ə)l\ Definition : a lover of books; one who loves to read, admire and collect books. “Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.” — Emilie Buchwald I saw a meme the other day that said that if you read one book to your child every day, you would have read … Continue reading "Bibliophile Training 101"
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March 2, 2017
[Original: March 2014] It may be March, but in many states it’s still very much winter. If you are anything like me, you are dreaming of the day when you can throw open your windows to let in a warm breeze and see green grass and budding flowers again. Alas, it will be at least … Continue reading "Nature Study When It’s STILL Winter"
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