We switched from Singapore Math to Math Mammoth and It's been a fantastic fit for all 4 of my children, 1st-6th grades.
It's our first year of doing Essentials, and my daughter and I both have been a bit overwhelmed. I love the class, because I'm learning more about English and writing than I ever have before, but it is challenging me more than any of my college classes ever did! Ten weeks in, we're getting the hang of things, and Alathia's writing has improved dramatically. However, we were struggling to find time to do sentence analysis tasks. Alathia also was feeling like Essentials was "hard" and "scary" because I was projecting that attitude, and she was just following my lead. A wise friend suggested that I make "Essentials time with mom" a special time. She suggested misting peppermint essential oils (essential oils for essentials...how funny!) or lighting a candle, having a cup of cocoa or tea together, and making it a special bonding time in the afternoons. I loved that idea! I realized that the corner of the guest room where my girl does her independent work each day wasn't really being used for anything. So, this weekend, I dolled it up and made it my Essentials Corner. It is now an inviting space where we can unwind and review our EEL and IEW homework. She was so excited about it that she started diagramming sentences on the new whiteboards on a Saturday! A visual cue for my art-loving daughter! New whiteboards were imperative, for they have given us a spot to list the week's work and to diagram sentences. I brought in a little glass table that was on my outdoor patio this summer to hold my Essentials bag, our books, our basket of scented pencils and candles, and our portable walls. Visuals gloriously assist us in our quest to be audaciously astounding conquerors of the Key Word Outline. A friend from church gave us these little boxes she no longer wanted. They were just the right size for sentence pattern blocks! An environment to placidly contemplate our Essentials work, where hopefully we will not squander our afternoon, but will be diligent to master the English language! *Underlined words are from our vocabulary words this year. Just for fun!
After 9+ years of trial and error, here's how I teach spelling in our homeschool. See the spelling curriculum we use and the books I read to teach myself how to teach them!
This is a fun worksheet to practice pronouns with your EFL students.
Organized by subject matter, here are over 150 ideas for your next co-op class. There are homeschool co-op classes for all age levels and abilities.
If you're unsure if your homeschool should include Latin, stop by and browse through the reasons why I teach this valuable subject to my children.
Learn how I teach Prima Latina in our homeschool. Use these ideas to teach Latin to your children, too!
Synonyms and antonyms worksheet for first grade and second grade. Students find a synonym and an antonym for each word.
I am excited to partner with Oak Meadow today to bring you this GIVEAWAY and sponsored post on How to Teach your Child to Play the Recorder. A long time ago, when I was freshly out of teacher's college and hunting for that first time teaching job I had an interview for a position as
Kids resistant to homeschooling? Try these 5 tips for homeschooling stubborn kids. Instead of being frustrated, address the problem so you can enjoy homeschooling.
Teach financial literacy early with free printable money worksheets for kids. From preschool to middle school, explore fun learning activities
A bilingual homeschooling plan from a family who homeschool in Spanish and English with resources to help you with your own bilingual homeschool
Section speaking tips. Teaching English online has become more and more popular in recent years. Through the following courses below, we will show you how to adapt your existing skills and knowledge to suit this specific area of the teaching world.
Here are some of my favorite character building resources. These are great tools to help you build Godly character in your children.
Browse through our 7th Grade Homeschool Curriculum Choices for 2021-2022. Latin, Math, Grammar, Science, and more!
Here's a quick and easy way for your kids to practice ch- words. Even if they only have 1 minute, they can still do some quick reading. Pop over to Liz's Early Learning Spot to download this Ch-Words: Word Wheel! I wish you happy teaching and learning!
Enjoy a hands-on curriculum to explore the senses with your homeschool group or co-op and have tons of fun!
Section general grammar tips. Teaching English online has become more and more popular in recent years. Through the following courses below, we will show you how to adapt your existing skills and knowledge to suit this specific area of the teaching world.
Never planned to homeschool, now wouldn't trade it for the world
Welcome to the Thrive Literacy Corner library of free resources for subscribers! I will update this library on a regular basis as I create new resources. These resources are in PDF format and can be
This is not my idea, but I know a good one when I see it, and I had to tuck this away to do this summer with the kids. Some kids at one of our schools did something similar for a science project, and then my friend Michelle, over at Scribbit, detailed the project when she did it with her children up in Alaska. That being said, so that I take no credit whatsoever, this is a really, really cool thing to do with your kids, young and old. Even my sixteen year old daughter was completely engaged for the hours we spent. First, here's what you need for each one: 3 clear 2-liter (empty) soda bottles clear packing tape aquarium gravel water dechlorinator rubber band 4" piece of netting (I used cut up pantyhose) soil fish, snails, or other aquatic life elodea, (which is banned in CA), duck weed (which the store didn't have), anachris, or other aquatic plants crickets, pill bugs, earthworms a few dead leaves and small sticks You can use the link to Scribbit for perfectly detailed directions, but first you get your soda bottles, 3 for each ecosystem, and you begin cutting them up. The bottom one (basement, AKA pond life) gets the top cut off of it. The middle one (AKA coupler) gets both bottom AND top cut off. The top level (AKA earth level) gets bottom cut off, but saved to reattach at the end. Once you have your pieces, you take your basement/pond life level and add an inch or so of gravel. Fill it almost to the top with water and add a few drops of dechlorinator. Then add special friends, like the plants, guppies, and snails. You can use different fish, but guppies are the sturdiest. These snails that the nice fish store man chose for us stay fairly small, and they're beautiful. Each ecosystem got 2 snails, 2 branches of anachris (plant), which they could break into smaller pieces, and 3 or 4 guppies so that hopefully 2 will live. The guppies and snails were happy almost immediately, exploring their new home. Well, except for one of Aiden's that just floated to the bottom. And then swam like a madfish to the top only to float to the bottom again. Aiden named him "Wheeeeeee!" We're not sure how long Wheeeee! will be around for. For the top/earth level, we put the layer of pantyhose over the open mouth of the bottle, secured it with a rubberband and then turned it upside down. Next, we added a layer of gravel, and then some super-soil from our garden. Into this level we planted some grass seed, but rye/alfalfa/mustard would work well too. I just couldn't find my sprouting seeds. Then we added our friends, one cricket (with a small chunk of potato for him to nibble), 3 pill bugs, and an earthworm each. Then a few dead leaves and small sticks went on top. Just for fun, I gave each child a garden tag to use for a nameplate. The bottom of that soda bottle (which is now the top) was taped back on, with the edges tucked just inside the rest of the bottle so water doesn't run out. Then that top level is set inside the coupler level and taped. Both of those two top levels are now set inside the pond life basement level and secured with tape. Now it should be airtight and self-contained, as a proper ecosystem should be. Can you see the little fishies swimming around? Now just set them in front of a sunny window so that photosynthesis can happen, setting in motion the cycle of life. The water will evaporate to the top to rain down on the soil, helping the grass to grow and the dead leaves to decompose, which feed the insects. There will be plenty of oxygen from the plants, and the algae that will grow will feed the fish and snails. Can't wait to watch it all happen! Oh, and by the way, all of the supplies for 3 ecosystems, including the soda bottles came to under $17. Nice.
Enjoy this project with your little one to help teach them address memorization and geography concepts.
We decided to try using a homeschool crate system to organize our entire year of curriculum. The draw for me to try this was that it's beautifully organized, easy to track which week of the school year we are in, and everything is ready to go for the whole year. This crate system took me
My almost 4-year-old boy loves this playdough tool set. It's a great activity to keep him busy while I'm with older siblings.
How we've figured out a daily routine that provides a feast of topics with the freedom and flexibility of a 4-day homeschool week.
We have had so many requests for an in-depth look at how we juggle all our “curriculums” and activities that I finally sat down today to churn out this monster of a blog post. Its long.…
Homeschool room tour with farmhouse inspired updates like a jute rug, farmhouse table, lots of baskets, and natural wood toys.
This post is all about the practical steps to take if you are considering homeschooling. While there are certainly more things you can and will do to prepare, these are my top seven!
This is our second year homeschooling and my first year teaching two kids. I have a first grader, kindergartener, and 3.5 year old. We have been using this weekly binder system for organizing our curriculum for a couple months and it's just simplified the mornings so much for me! I feel organized instead of scattered.
Homeschool / Playroom Tour
It's our official first year of homeschool! If you're a homeschooling family too, then you know how many options there are for curriculums! I was honestly very overwhelmed this summer browsing Pinterest and watching Youtube reviews. And this is just my first year of preschool homeschool! After going back and forth on a few curriclums I chose to use The Gentle and Classical Preschool curriculum because it most aligned with my homeschool beliefs. The Gentle and Classical Preschool is a Charlotte M
I can't believe it is already August! That means summer is almost over and school is just around the corner! I went to Target the other day and as I walked by the school supply
"Every day, every hour, the parents are either passively or actively forming those habits in their children upon which, more than upon anything else, future character and conduct depend."-Charlotte MasonWelcome to my favorite little corner of our homeschool room! I am in love with every tiny detail of this spot. Shout out to Hobby Lobby for always having the cutest cork boards and wall decor! I always display the Letter of the Week and our Art of the Week here. It's also where I display our da
A recent study reports that more than fifty percent of Americans would homeschool their children if they could. When I would mention that I would like to homeschool my kids to anyone, rolling eyes …
How to Set up a Homeschool Corner for Kids when you are limited on space. Remote Learning Classroom Set Up At Home.
Spice up your room with this BIG list of Homeschool Wall Ideas! Ideas for a variety of ages and subjects.
Are you homeschooling this Fall? We've been homeschooling for 4 years now and I always love looking at homeschool room ideas for inspiration! That's why I decided to compile some of my absolute favorite homeschooling
we turned our craft room / home office into a homeschool room keeping the vintage industrial farmhouse vibe and bringing nature in throughout our setup for our kindergarten + 2nd grade classroom! shop our homeschool room ideas homeschool 2020 we are 2.5 weeks into our decision homeschool and while this wasn’t in the original plans, […]
There's no doubt about it: Homeschooling makes a house messy. It seems like having a homeschool room - especially an organized homeschool room - would
As a homeschooling mama, I found that my children were becoming bored with just reading basic lessons from textbooks. To avoid the monotony of just reading all the time, I realized I needed to create unit studies to draw on several different subjects in order to teach a main topic. This helped cement the topic in my kid's minds, and also made learning fun again since there are SO MANY fun activities and resources that can be included to teach one main theme. This Unit Study Workbook Digital Printable includes: -A guide on the steps to take in order to create your own unit study -Work sheets in order to keep track of the resources you want to include -Pages to jot down any notes and ideas you have This printable workbook can be used for kids of all ages, and will help you make sure you include the necessary subjects that your child needs to learn, all in a fun way! It will also help you stay on track for what lessons should be taught next. The Unit Study Workbook is a digital printable that is available for you to instantly print upon confirmation of payment. You may print the pages you need from the workbook as often as needed, but they are for personal use only. Do not resell or redistribute in any way. Due to the nature of digital printables, I am unable to offer refunds. However, feel free to contact me with any questions! For more information on how to download the pages, check out, https://www.etsy.com/help/article/3949.
