For many families, homeschooling provides amazing opportunities to reflect on, reconsider, and restructure daily routines and rhythms around what matters the most. They find themselves opting out of the rush 'n go in favor of a slower-paced, more balanced, fully flavored schedule. Having more TIME is just one awesome by-product: time to slow down and do things your own way, with intention and purpose; time to establish routines that will nourish and nurture you, your children, and your family, your community, restore balance, and provide important flexibility; time to explore and follow your passions, get involved in community projects, try something new; to time to catch your breath, open yourself up to the possibilities and truly relish your time with your children. Continue reading »
Search Results for: unit study
Get Ready for Spring with Field Guides
A library of field guides is an important resource for homeschooling families, and with spring just around the corner, it's a great time to make sure you have what you need on hand to help with identification of birds, trees, insects, spiders, snakes, turtles, frogs, toads, and wildflowers. Here are some tips for making sure your field guides are frequently-used. Continue reading »
Instead of Curriculum: Living Math
Why do some homeschoolers choose not to use one of the many complete math curricula available today? And what do they do instead? To many homeschooling parents, math feels like the one thing that must be taught and learned in a systematic way even for very young children. Even many people who are otherwise attracted to or influenced by a version of interest-based learning or unschooling often say-- "except for math."
Guide to Unschooling for Beginners
There's nothing I get asked about more as a parent than unschooling, and nothing I recommend more to other parents. Continue reading »
Hitting An Educational Wall
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 »
The Homeschool Calendar
The Homeschool Calendar: New homeschoolers and non-homeschoolers frequently wonder about whether the "homeschool year" follows or needs to follow the traditional calendar used by most public and private schools in the United States. Long-term homeschoolers frequently find their answer to that question changes as their children get older. Casual observers of homeschooling might think "of course" homeschooling has to follow a school calendar in order to be legitimate and sufficient.
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Spiders Are Our Teachers
We appreciate spiders in our family. A large orb weaver lives just outside the front door. Every night when we take the dogs out before going to bed we pause to appreciate the intricate web she's rewoven. It has a lot to teach us about strength, symmetry, impermanence and beauty. Continue reading »
Taking School Outdoors, Part 2
Let’s see…schoolwork sitting at a desk or table, relaxing on the couch in the living room, or lying down on a comfy blanket spread out in the shade under a tree? Fortunately, homeschoolers don’t have to choose! Doing school outdoors is one of the many benefits of home education, which has benefits that are physical, emotional, and educational. Continue reading »
Teaching Money Management: Overview (Part 1)
Math, English, History, Writing, Spelling, Science... few would disagree that these should be included in the homeschool curriculum. But one of the unique opportunities homeschooling affords is the ability to train children in areas that go far beyond simply the academic. The ability to manage money can impact a child's future as much as or more than his or her academic knowledge, yet this subject is rarely (if ever) found in a typical public school academic plan. Continue reading »
Tips for Keeping Children Engaged, Part 2
Young children, as well as many special needs children, often struggle with keeping attention and focus during academics. Tips for Keeping Children Engaged Part 1 looked at some simple ways to help keep students engaged and interested in school work. Here are some additional tips for how you can help your child to stay on track and maintain his/her focus. Continue reading »
The "Show Me" Letter
A new administrator, unfamiliar with the finer points of the homeschool law, asked for more than the legal requirement. She called to tell me she wanted a list of the books I would be using. Being an unschooler, I couldn't guess what books would grab my kids' interest. Even if I could guess, this was beyond the law. However, I felt this phone conversation was not the time to say so. Continue reading »
Exploring World History
Exploring World History is a high school world history curriculum combining world history, world literature, and Bible. It helps high school students gain a fuller understanding of the past as they read the history narrative, read classic literature, complete writing assignments, and study what the Bible says about issues and ideas in world history. Exploring Continue reading »
Exploring American History
Exploring America is an American history high school curriculum combining American history, American literature, and Bible. It helps high school students gain a fuller understanding of our nation's past as they read the history narrative, read classic American literature, complete writing assignments, and study what the Bible says about issues and ideas in American history. Continue reading »
Weaver Curriculum
The Weaver Curriculum is a unit-based, Bible-centered homeschool curriculum for grades PreK-12th. The curriculum uses the same daily Bible theme as a foundation and then creates lessons for each student. Students are then studying the same main subject at the same time with individual lesson assignment geared to each student's grade level. For example if Continue reading »
High School Graduation Checklist
Parents can provide a college preparation during high school for every student, which can benefit every child. If they ultimately don't go to college, then your homeschool education will be the only education they get. Make it great! They'll be well prepared for life and their civic responsibilities. Plus, if they ever change their mind and decide to go to college, they will have a much easier time getting in. On the other hand, some parents know early on that their children are college bound. For them, a college prep education can influence the quality of the colleges they get admitted to. College preparation can benefit everyone! Continue reading »
Stagecraft Theatre for Kids
Stagecraft Theatre for Kids provides youth in Upstate South Carolina with a unique opportunity to participate in and study theatre arts in a welcoming, inclusive, Christ-centered environment. We are a non-profit 501(c)3 after-school youth theater program offering classes, camps, workshops, productions, family events and more for students ages 5 - 18 years old.
Learning Styles
Homeschoolers have the same challenge as any teacher; how to best teach children according to the ways they best learn. By understanding your child's learning style, you can make learning more enjoyable for him or her, increasing the chances of learning success. Here are some strategies for teaching each type of learner. Continue reading »
Timothy Judd Suzuki Violin Program
Private lessons and group classes. If you want information about the Suzuki Method or violin study in general please contact Timothy Judd: (804) 353-0428 or (585) 746-3723. Timothy Judd has been a member of the Richmond Symphony since 2002. He is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, where he earned the degrees Bachelor Continue reading »
How To Make a Timeline Easily
How do we make a timeline? This is a great question and armed with knowledge and the right tools, it is not as hard as it might seem. Continue reading »
Should I Teach Geography?
Have you ever been teaching a history lesson when one of your children pipes up with a question. “Mom, is Carthage a city in Oregon or some other country?” Oh dear, you think to yourself and then calmly explain, “Honey, first of all, Oregon is a state, not a country. And Carthage no longer exists, but I think it was located on the northern tip of Africa across the Mediterranean Sea from Italy.” After receiving two or more questions along this vein, you realize that you need some better resources. Continue reading »
Waiting For Unschooling To Work
The best homeschooling advice I received came when my first child was a baby. My friend Barb, an experienced homeschooling mom who loaned me stacks of Home Education Magazine and Growing Without Schooling, told me that to homeschool I only had to "provide a rich environment, involve children in everyday living, and help find answers to their questions." That sounded very simple, and it is; the challenge is in trusting that such a plan is enough. Continue reading »
The Steiner Waldorf Approach to Education
The Steiner Waldorf approach to education emphasizes on the use of practical, artistic and conceptual elements into education. This method of education was established by Rudolf Steiner, the founder of a philosophy called anthrophosophy. The Steiner Waldorf approach is based on the fact that the role of imagination in learning is integral for the development of creative and analytical thinking. This educational approach is aimed at providing an environment where young people can develop free thinking, which can be a basis for developing their own personalities as responsible individuals by fulfilling their destiny. Continue reading »