Homeschooling help and encouragement from experienced homeschoolers - find out how homeschooling works and how to start, get tips & ideas for when things need adjusting, read curriculum reviews before buying, learn how online schools work, gain confidence about homeschooling high school, and more.
Sharing audiobooks is a great way for kids and parents to learn together. Hearing the same material at the same time means that moments for discussion are well-synchronized, and kids can ask questions or ponder meaning in real-time—leading to all kinds of opportunities for inquiry-based learning. Best of all, you can access many audiobooks for free! Continue reading »
Because of social distancing, school systems across the country are closing for weeks or months, and parents everywhere are asking about how to homeschool or help their children learn at home. Short-term homeschooling is not new—it has existed alongside long-term homeschooling for many years, and parents may be reassured to know that this option has worked well for families for lots of different reasons. If you have kids at home unexpectedly, or if you’re advising a family member or friend with kids who are out of school, here are a few things to keep in mind. Continue reading »
You may have never thought you would consider homeschooling, or maybe you were thinking about starting in the fall, but circumstances are forcing you to consider bringing your child home mid-year. Perhaps it is bullying, a negative school environment, an illness, school anxiety, a stressful family situation, or some other unexpected circumstance causing you to consider pulling your child out before the end of the school year. Regardless of the motivation, your first question is likely, “Can I start homeschooling mid-year?” Continue reading »
The December writing prompt calendar is full of winter and holiday-themed writing prompts. Each month we are offering writing prompts (you will be able to find them all on the main Homeschool Writing Prompts page), and you can download our December-themed prompts below. Continue reading »
This month’s calendar is full of autumn- and Thanksgiving-themed writing prompts, including menu planning for Thanksgiving dinner and leftovers. Each month we are offering writing prompts (you will be able to find them all on the main Homeschool Writing Prompts page), and you can download our November-themed starters here. Continue reading »
We recently asked moms on our Facebook page what some of the best tips are that have helped them avoid being overwhelmed at homeschool conventions. With hundreds of vendors and dozens of workshops, large conventions can quickly disarm the best intentions of even experienced homeschool moms. These ideas will help you stick to your budget, give new resources a chance, and get the best bargains at any homeschool convention. Continue reading »
The May writing prompts calendar focuses on picnics, moms, and Memorial Day. Each month we are offering writing prompts (you will be able to find them all on the main Homeschool Writing Prompts page), and you can download our May-themed prompts below. Continue reading »
The April writing prompts calendar focuses on food – lots and lots of fun food. Since April is also National Poetry Month, you may want to have your student answer some of the prompts in the form of poetry. Each month we are offering writing prompts (you will be able to find them all on the main Homeschool Writing Prompts page), and you can download our April-themed prompts below. Continue reading »
The March writing prompts calendar focuses on favorite foods, pets, colors, rainbows, and–of course–St. Patrick. Each month we are offering writing prompts (you will be able to find them all on the main Homeschool Writing Prompts page), and you can download our March-themed prompts below. Continue reading »
The February writing prompt calendar focuses on favorite books, love, and poetry writing prompts. Each month we are offering writing prompts (you will be able to find them all on the main Homeschool Writing Prompts page), and you can download our February-themed prompts here. Continue reading »
The January writing prompt calendar focuses on goals, memories, travel, and winter-themed writing prompts. Each month we are offering writing prompts (you will be able to find them all on the main Homeschool Writing Prompts page), and you can download our January-themed prompts below. Continue reading »
Apples and summer memories and dinosaurs and space! These are just a few of the topics in our September Writing Prompts download. Each month we will be offering writing prompts (you will be able to find them all on the main Homeschool Writing Prompts page), and we start with this chart of September-themed starters. Continue reading »
This month’s calendar is full of autumn-themed writing prompts with some creative story-starters included. Each month we are offering writing prompts (you will be able to find them all on the main Homeschool Writing Prompts page), and you can download our October-themed starters here. Continue reading »
Despite being an ardent supporter of home education, I find myself consistently feeling obligated to set the record straight when it comes to claims of the vast superiority of homeschoolers. I’ve noticed a tendency of homeschool advocates commenting online to be elitist. I’m not sure many of the commenters are even homeschoolers themselves – I get the sense that they are just politically opposed to public schools – but regardless, it’s not helpful or accurate. If they are homeschoolers, I’m not sure if it is a defense mechanism, a lack of knowledge, or isolation from public school families, but I find it to be disingenuous and divisive. Continue reading »
Jonathan Hollingsworth’s mother remembers him coming to her and his father shortly after starting his first semester of college to tell them he would commit to two years of filling up his mind if he could then spend a year emptying his heart. Amy Hollingsworth had homeschooled her son and daughter their whole lives, and Jonathan’s sensitivity was evident from the start. Now, as a freshman at the local community college, Jonathan was idealistic and burdened with a heart for the lost. He had already spent a week in Honduras, but instead of abating his ingrained drive to help the poverty-stricken, the trip only highlighted for him how very difficult it is to meet the need found in isolated cultures — cultures where the whims of nature can threaten the very existence of the inhabitants. Continue reading »
As a student, I hated poetry. In high school, the words “poetry unit” filled me with dread and an almost uncontrollable desire to feign an extended illness preventing school attendance. As an adult, the aversion stayed with me until I heard Walt Whitman’s haunting verses about the Civil War read aloud – grieved, lamenting the death that seemed to be everywhere. Listening to poetry and experiencing the emotions that the poet meant to evoke brought the words to life. Meter and rhyme, refrain and couplet, sonnet and stanza — they may be important to learn, but only after poetry is experienced. Experiencing poetry is crucial to appreciating it. Once it has been experienced, the process of creation can be studied with a focus on mechanics and editing Continue reading »
I’m a fan of natural consequences, but sometimes the lessons are too big – with consequences that last a lifetime – for the maturity level of the child. One such example is when a child wants to take on significant debt in the form of college loans. Most 17 year old high school students do not have the life experience to be able to understand the impact that taking on tens of thousands of dollars in debt will have on their lives.
While I encourage young adults to have freedom in making their own decisions, wise and carefully presented parental input is imperative in this issue. Most people would never consider advising a 17-18 year old to purchase a $80K house with payments deferred for 4 years (and a home loan has collateral — if you go into default, they foreclose and the debt is gone), yet are comfortable with student loans that have even more of a financial impact. Continue reading »
We are homeschooling high school all the way through. If you would like to see how we track credits and create transcripts, see Our 10th Grade Plan. If you haven’t checked out our free Homeschool Planner Plus download, you should take a look at it for creating high school transcripts. It is easy to plug in your courses and credits and the spreadsheet calculates your GPA for you.
The 11th Grade Plan: DE English – This year’s focus is on composition through the local community college’s ENG 111 course. Over the course of the semester, students work to complete a research paper from the abstract topic proposal to the final draft. It is a challenging course that goes into the details of the process for a single paper instead of completing multiple papers. Continue reading »
Recently on TheHomeSchoolMom’s Facebook page someone asked for recommendations for her soon to be 4 year old. It took me back to when I had a 4 year old and a 1 year old and had recently decided to homeschool. I. Was. So. Excited. What curriculum should I use? How should we schedule our days? (I bought Managers of Their Homes and carefully scheduled every moment of our days and then proceeded to never once use the schedule.) I made lesson plans and felt organized and believed that my kids were going to get the best education ever. And honestly, we had great fun with some of the activities. So after all these years (my kids are now 19 and 16), what curriculum would I suggest for a 4 year old? Continue reading »
Today a friend posted a video called “War on Boys” to Facebook and it showed up in my feed with lots of enthusiastic comments. As I watched the 5 minute video, all I could think was how obvious the video’s assertions are, and yet how far public schools are moving away from addressing the truths presented. Not just limited to boys (many girls share these traits with boys), the video shows how the policies being implemented in schools reward quiet intellectual pursuits in young children while simultaneously removing the opportunities for these kids to explore and learn through play. Continue reading »