Whether you are working from home, in school, or just have a rather large to-do list, it is easy to get distracted by your surroundings, especially technology. So, how do you stay on task? Here are some tips to help you do just that!
How to Set up a Homeschool Room - My Momma Taught Me
How we turned our living room and dining room into our homeschool room
Treehouse Nature Study is a Charlotte Mason and Waldorf-inspired seasonal nature study curriculum designed with family-style learning in mind. It is a gentle guide meant to invite various ages to connect with each other and the world around them through living books, nature notebooking, and hands-on projects.
I was asking this question 4 years ago, so I'm writing the post I wish I'd had. 🥰A little background: Our family began officially homeschooling when our oldest son was entering kindergarten. I wasn't homeschooled and only knew a few homeschooling families, so I had a lot of questions (and trepidation) about choosing a curriculum.Here's what I've learned along the way:+ An open-and-go, boxed curriculum can be very helpful for your first year. We used Sonlight (with no regrets!) and I have many friends who love My Father's World. You go to their website, select your child's grade level, and order the materials. All you need for the year - the instructor's guide, books, and supplies - arrives at your doorstep. You're ready to homeschool! This helped me feel confident that yes, I was doing enough, and had advisors ready to help me if I needed it.+ A trusted homeschool mama in your community is an invaluable resource. If there's a homeschooling mom in your church whom you admire, ask her all your questions. How did she get started? What curriculum would she choose (or stay away from) if she could do it all again?+ Start simple, as it will take a while to find your rhythm. For example, all that a kindergartener *really needs* is a reading/phonics program, a math program, and (for Christian families) a morning Bible/devotional time. If that's all you do for your child's kindergarten year, great! You can add history, handwriting, science, and other electives as you grow more confident.+ Remember that you may not land on your favorite curriculum or educational philosophy your first year. And that's ok! If you're interested in finding your homeschool style, I've linked a helpful quiz in my profile.+ After you've narrowed it down to a handful of curriculums you're interested in, I love Cathy Duffy's review site (cathyduffyreviews.com). Her reviews are straightforward and very helpful.
These all about me activities for preschoolers are engaging, hands-on centers to work on essential literacy skills in the classroom!
Is homeschooling free? Yes, it can be! Here's a list of my favorite homeschool curriculum that you can find online for FREE!
Working from home can be a real challenge. What works for you if you work at home? Check out my office space and see how I do it.
There are many reasons for selecting virtual classes for your older kids. Use this list to find online homeschool courses for middle & high school students.
Hello Friends, I am sure that the after school meeting that I participated in on Thursday was very similar to yours.... Our principal telling us that our spring break was being extended and that we would be working together to create home learning activities for our students - with no definite ending. It was such a surreal experience... My students and I had just been discussing all the fun things that they were going to do when we returned - finish our pinball machine, wear shorts for the first time since the fall, plant something in our school garden.... now, everything is so uncertain. And for the first time, we might be creating lessons on line for our students - which is new territory for so many of us. I am blessed to have some really amazing contacts in the teaching world. I have been perusing some of my favorite bloggers who have gathered together resources that can be used while we struggle to create plans for our little ones. I thought that I would share the links that I found to be useful. Hopefully having all these links in one place will save you a little time as you plan. There are several lists circulating right now. I tried to list (mostly) ones that give kids a bit more hands-on experiences. Of course, parents need a printer for many of these hands-on activities, so if you need more internet based experiences for your students, scroll to the bottom of my post for an internet based link. This looks so interesting and the service is free (at least for now). It looks to be a good site to do video conferencing with your students. I have only glanced at the possibilities, but being able to speak to my students in some way sounds amazing. Shelley has provided links to a few math games, a free camping unit, and other age appropriate links and ideas. There is a wonderful list of on-line games listed on this blog. The Blue Brain Teacher has created (and continues to create) google slide lessons for kindergarten teachers to send to their students that will last up to 14 days. I love The Science Penguin and she has uploaded some fun science activities that simply need to be downloaded. I love Differentiated Kindergarten. Marsha has listed some wonderful links and resources on her blog. A free resource from Differentiated Kindergarten that is worksheet free.... Mary, from Sharing Kindergarten created a wonderful list of activities to do that are easy for teachers to share and parents to implement. Here are free Print and Play resources from The Measured Mom. Scholastic has posted some amazing activities with more to come. Phonics Hero has created a 30 day free trial for parents. This is free from Katie Mense for a limited time. Home lesson plans for 4 weeks! Deedee Wills created this packet filled with ten math and literacy games and it's free right now! Tons of fun activities for kids to do at home are listed on this website. This resource has two amazing editable templates - a schedule and "lesson plan" template - all to be shared with parents. This is an "At Home Calendar" with a choice board. Sesame Street continues to strive to create videos and activities to teach kids to care and get along. Mo Willems is hosting lunch time doodles videos - perfect for Elephant and Piggie lovers! If you are looking for Catholic resources, Tiny Saints are uploading materials for our littlest learners. Presently there is only one, but their website says that they will be uploading more. For a limited time, Catholic Kids is making their library of Mass videos available for children. These items are not free, but are reasonably priced for stressed out teachers. My sweet friend, Deedee Wills, has created a home learning pack for both kindergarten and first grade and she has reduced the price greatly. She is presently working on two more to add. Kreative in Kinder has created a packet for kindergarten learning that can be found in her store. If you need activities that are simply internet based, Cara Carroll has a wonderful blog article with tons of links listing internet based resources by companies that have lifted their subscription fees for a few weeks and/or months. I will be updating this list as I find more resources. To find free resources in my store, click the image below. I am in the same situation as you, so I have not made anything specific to home learning, but I have quite a few free items in my store that might be helpful.... In closing, my favorite life quote (from Nelson Mandela) has always been "It always seems impossible until its done." Hang in there, sweet friends.... together we can do this... Blessings,
It's pretty important to me that our home look like, well, a home. I've not once in my life felt at home in a classroom, so why would I want one in my home?
Ten Tips to Start Homeschooling - how to get started, how to choose curriculum, and what you REALLY need to get started.
Added 7/30/17: You asked for it … You got it! Another Year of Homeschool Crafts is ready for the 2017-18 school year. Go HERE to check it out! I am the Queen of Good Intentions. Every new school year I decide that THIS is going to be the year when we do weekly homeschool crafts. My youngest [...]
Get a peek into my homeschool and see our sample homeschool daily schedules for 3 kids to see how they work each day. My kids all work at different levels and it can be a mess to juggle it all but with a little organization, you can get your kids working well on their own and use to a homeschool routine.
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 …
Pupils match the pictures with the words, then they read the text and answer the questions about it. - ESL worksheets
Use this as a framework in your instruction. By using this language your students will understand their role during lesson delivery. Please visit my blog TheKFiles for additional resources and ideas for the primary classroom! From my home away from home... ...to yours! The K Files...
There are two words that are crucial in my life: simple and practical. Here's a simple homeschool room that meets all the practical needs of my family.
Our province is in its third lockdown of the year. My oldest child is now homeschooling, so she is not having lots of opportunities to socialize. Thankfully, the parks are still open but my 11-year-old is still bored out of her mind. So to help pass the time I asked her to write a list …
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.…
This post is especially for the parents and educators who are currently stuck at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is such an unusual and crazy time for families – you may be asking yourself, what do I do with my kids all day? If you’re not sure how to approach scheduling out
It is easy to teach a child to read if it is done in the right way. Parenting Expert Dr Debmita Dutta - explains the steps to teach a child to read at home
Home Economics. What ever happened to that class? It seemed to disappear rather suddenly, and it was one of the most needed classes in my opinion! When we
Wondering how you can work from home while homeschooling? I have some tips and a sample schedule for you to make it possible.
Montessori has taught me a few things about how to keep my house organised and how to present children's materials! We know that children need their materials to be; accessible ordered beautiful, attractive, age appropriate, engaging simple, not overwhelming When it comes to art materials in the home simple is best. Art materials provide an opportunity for creative, independent work that uses lots of fine motor skills, develops coordination and concentration. It is so important. But we want to avoid mess and waste. Here are a few of my tips. Often it's best to present fewer materials or in lower...
Are your kids ready for the real world? These 16 life skills teach kids independence and self-sufficiency while also building confidence.
Since the stay at home order and online classes have started i have been having a hard time being strict and trying not to slack in my studies. The first few weeks I caught myself slacking, waiting until the very last minute for assignments, quizzes and not being as prepared as I should be for the exams I was taking. I was spending too much time doing other things, getting distracted and being worried about how much more COVID-19 is going to affect all of us. One thing that has helped me to be
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 …
A big thank you to Apologia for sponsoring this series… This post contains affiliate links. As a Charlotte Mason home educator, I love to train my children in self-learning and independence in their studies. Starting the year organized is one of the best ways to accomplish this for my children. I would love to […]
