April 7, 2014
When I first began homeschooling, I fell in love with the idea of a book based education. I daydreamed about reading aloud beautiful literature to my serene children as they snuggled close to me on the couch, their little eyes focused on me with rapt attention as I read. But the reality was something quite … Continue reading "The Most Important Thing – Reading"
Read more
March 30, 2014
My birthday is on Monday, and I think this might be the first year that I’m not particularly looking forward to it. Suddenly, it’s hitting me that I’m getting older. I’ve always looked young for my age, but lately, no one has mistaken me for a teenager. It used to be incredibly annoying when the … Continue reading "Birthday Sale"
Read more
February 22, 2014
As you know, up until today we have been using the Paypal buttons for all purchases. This worked nicely, but I had to manually submit all orders as they came in. At first, this wasn’t a big deal, but as our business has grown, it was becoming rather time consuming for me. So, after doing … Continue reading "Introducing Our New Shopping Cart Checkout"
Read more
February 10, 2014
When you homeschool with a living books philosophy, you’re going to need to invest in a good home library. But if you’re like me, you’re probably on a pretty tight budget. Being a living books homeschooler doesn’t mean you have to spend a small fortune or go into debt providing your children with an expansive … Continue reading "Building Your Home Library on a Budget"
Read more
February 7, 2014
I’ve been going through my stacks and ordering like crazy on Amazon – but I think I’m ready to start actually working on writing Level 7 – Discovering the World (tentative title – it’s still very much a work in progress!) instead of just daydreaming about it. I am a big geography nerd, so I’m REALLY … Continue reading "A Little Preview of Level 7 Curriculum"
Read more
January 13, 2014
I’m plugging away at Level 4 – The Modern World and I’m closing in on the finish line! Just a few more weeks and it will be complete! As you can see – I’m a paper person. I’m completely addicted to my spiral notebooks. 🙂 Not pictured are the copious amounts of chocolate consumed, the stacks … Continue reading "Hard at work…"
Read more
December 31, 2013
Every year, I like to keep track of what I read. I used to just jot it down in a spiral notebook, then I had a database in excel for a while. Now I keep track at Goodreads. At the end of the year, I like to reflect back on what I read. Now that … Continue reading "The Year in Books – 2013"
Read more
November 25, 2013
My youngest child, Regina, is 4. I am often asked by well meaning strangers and family members when I’m going to start teaching her. I usually say that I already am – but it might not appear to be true. I haven’t done much in the way of formal curriculum with her yet, and to … Continue reading "Thoughts on Early Learning"
Read more
September 5, 2013
One of the staples of Build Your Library curriculum are the Narration Cards. Narration is really the foundation of my program. Narration builds thinking skills, writing skills, vocabulary, listening skills – it is such an important part of your child’s learning. Build Your Library lesson plans assign narration after both the literature (read alouds) and … Continue reading "History and Science Based Narration Cards"
Read more
September 1, 2013
We’ve organized our books, set up our school supplies and prepared for our first day back to school. But there’s something else we must do in order to have our school year run smoothly. We need to create a daily routine. I’m not a fan of the strict schedule. Every time I’ve created one, I’ve … Continue reading "Back to Homeschool Series – “The Daily Routine”"
Read more
Recent Comments