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.
School doesn’t need to happen between the hours of 8am and 4pm. Your child doesn’t need to sit behind a desk. And you definitely don’t need to limit your learning to textbooks and worksheets. Streaming offers a great way to learn, and Netflix has a variety of shows you and your kids can watch together to learn about STEM topics—check out our list of 42 STEM shows on Netflix. Continue reading »
Every homeschool family is walking their own path. The beauty of homeschooling is that it allows us to look at all aspects of our lives in new and different ways. We have to get creative. We have to push boundaries, or perhaps, enforce them. Here are 5 ways to set yourself up for better balance. Continue reading »
Do you ever scroll through Instagram or Pinterest and see perfectly perfect homeschool rooms? The huge farm tables, the meticulous supplies (color coordinated, of course), built in book shelves with alphabetized books, a delightful desk for planning and a lovely set of double doors to close off everything at the end of the day. Sigh. Perhaps you’re new to homeschooling or maybe you’ve been at this life for a few years. You see the images of lovely homeschool room ideas, and you feel frustrated because you don’t have a dedicated space just for homeschooling. You’re not alone! Continue reading »
The yellow legal pad had a line down the middle: the pros and cons of homeschooling were written on opposite sides of the blue-inked vertical line. Not content with that, I flipped to the next page and drew another line down the middle: pros of public school to the left and cons of school to the right. Continue reading »
I am sitting here, on the computer, listening to animated voices, slams and bangs of metal and ceramic above -- and I am very afraid. The snow may be falling outside, but it is the potential mess within that has me huddling over my work in the basement like a besieged citizen in a bomb shelter...anticipating in trepidation what I might discover when I emerge.
The girls are baking. Continue reading »
I have a Valentine’s Day confession.
Yes, on that day when we send out cards and candy, show our "special someones" how we feel about them, and extol the virtues of true love, I feel the need to, well... spill the beans on the truth about a love in my life.
You see, it’s only recently that I have fallen in love with homeschooling. Continue reading »
As if homeschoolers don't have enough of the real thing hidden under couch cushions, Google has just unveiled a new virtual LEGO® building site, Build With Chrome. A tie-in with the upcoming film, The LEGO® Movie™, the site features a 3D graphics technology that lets you build and display LEGO® creations using virtual bricks. While LEGO® has offered its own free building software for years, Build With Chrome is adapted for use on touch screens, including tablets and smart phones as well as on computers (with or without touch screens). Continue reading »
Hello and welcome to TheHomeSchoolMom! Whether you are brand new to the possibility of homeschooling or are a homeschool veteran, we are here to help you in your homeschool journey. Use the links in red below to get started. Looking for something particular and don't see it? Use the search bar at the top to Continue reading »
How we speak to and treat our children matters. Modeling skills such as good listening, how to speak nicely even when you are in a hurry or upset, and the Golden Rule, all contribute to creating a kinder Planet Earth. Of course, demonstrating behaviors like these is one thing—figuring out how to teach these "kindness skills" to our children can take a bit more thought. Continue reading »
Don't we all just run out of ideas from time to time for how to get our kids to address troublesome behaviors? Motivation systems can go a long way to help homeschoolers target specific behaviors upon which children need to focus. They are particularly effective with young children, and children who struggle with attention/focus issues. Once you have the principles of motivation systems in place, you can create systems that are as individual as your family. The following are some examples of motivation systems that can be used in the home, and the behaviors they address. Continue reading »
Motivation systems can provide that little extra "oomph" to help kids focus on specific behaviors they need to improve. Even better, they help parents be more attuned to responding to behavior in constructive ways. But for motivation systems to be most effective, parents need to keep in mind some basic principles of reinforcement (which apply to both reinforcement and consequences). Following these principles make the difference between whether a motivation system works or not, and they apply to any motivation system, whether it is done with stars, stickers, points, candy, or anything else. Before you set up any token economy for your child, be sure you appropriately incorporate the following principles: Continue reading »
It's happened with every homeschooler: you get to a concept, and no matter how much you go over it, your child just doesn't "get" it. You've tried hands-on approaches. You've been extra interesting and dramatic in your presentation. You've attempted to teach it according to your child's learning style. You've tried to sweeten the deal with motivators. You've even, um, raised your voice just a teeny little bit in frustration. All to no avail: your child has hit a wall. Continue reading »
Everyone knows that homeschoolers manage their children's behavior with patience, consistency and aplomb, always having the right response at the right time, and leading their children to higher standards of conduct with each and every interaction.
Right.
Now that we've dealt with what we are all sure happens in everyone else's home, let's get on with the reality of what really does happen in our own homes. Continue reading »
Free time was once the hallmark of childhood. But these days, many parents feel it's their duty to keep their children busy. This mindset can be found in parents who both work outside the home and need somewhere for the kids to go during off-school hours, parents who compete with other parents regarding whose child is the most "well-rounded," parents who want to give their children every so-called "advantage," and parents who believe their children will fall behind or get into trouble unless their schedules include every activity that can be crammed into each day. Continue reading »
Pregnancy is, for most people, an amazing personal and family event. It is a marvelous emotional and physical transformation, and, for many, a true gift from God. The anticipation of baby #3 is certainly all of those things for us. But, because we're homeschoolers, it's also something else... the educational experience of a lifetime! Continue reading »
No matter the form it takes, we all have episodes of inadvertently teaching our children "Do as I say, not as I do". And if we're really honest, we'd admit that sometimes we just wish the adage could be true! But the reality is that homeschooling makes it abundantly clear that over the long haul, children do what we do more so than what we say. No matter how good our words, we just can't get past the fact that it's what we do and who we are that impacts our kids' behavior the most. If we tell our children to not stress about their scores on standardized testing, but we spend the six months prior to testing working on testing practices every day with our children, worrying about how they are going to perform, and agonizing over testing results when they arrive, what message do the kids really get? Kids know when the message and the messenger don't line up - and when they don't, kids get the message; just not the message we want them to get. Continue reading »
I was feeling pretty good. Our curricula seemed to be working well for each child, our routine was consistent but flexible, and most of the time we’d been enjoying the homeschooling process. The kids were learning, we were making progress, and I was congratulating myself on how I actually seemed to have this whole homeschooling thing down. And then I got pregnant. Continue reading »
When children balk at their academics, it can twist homeschooling from a lively adventure into a grinding battle. And, unfortunately, in this war, there are no winners. Kids turn sour, parents turn angry, work doesn't get completed, and learning is stalled. If the battle continues long enough, it can significantly alter family life and damage relationships. For some, bad attitudes can lead to giving up on homeschooling all together. So what's a parent to do? Continue reading »
The new year. A new start. Yes, yes, I know it's the time we're all supposed to make resolutions and determinations about what we're going to accomplish in the coming 12 months. And sure, I've made my share of optimistic beginning-of-the-year commitments. But this year I think I'm going to change it up a bit. Because when you perpetually put all of your effort into something over and over again, like parenting or homeschooling, sometimes you need to revisit your starting point to help you keep perspective on why you're doing what you’re doing. Continue reading »
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