I am sitting at my desk at 11:52 p.m. and the house is quiet. With six children in the house, it isn't often quiet. In fact, I am expecting one of my three-year-olds to wake up at any moment for a potty break. And the quiet will be shattered. There was a time when our home was too quiet. Before kids. From our wedding day to the birth of our first child was five Continue Reading >>
Curriculum Review: Create Better Writers
It hasn't been very long ago that I got so frustrated with all of the writing curriculums we had tried that I decided to write my own. I found bubble diagrams and Venn diagrams and taught brainstorming and ... then life happened. Have you been in that place? I always start out with great intentions, but with six children to keep track of and homeschool life just gets in the way of writing my own Continue Reading >>
10 Ways to Encourage Your Kids to Eat Vegetables and other Healthy Foods
My friends are constantly amazed at the variety of healthy foods my children will eat even though they also get access to junk food. You can encourage your kids to eat vegetables, and there are a few things that will make it easier. I've talked about the "snack" supper before, and that's a great help. Here are the other things we do... Frequent Exposure Encourages Kids to Eat Vegetables The Continue Reading >>
Should We? or Shouldn’t We? Solving the Homeschool Coop Dilemna
Every year we have the great debate. Will we participate in a homeschool coop this year or not? I sometimes tease that for every year we participate, I need two years off to recover. This is the biggest drawback to a coop - participating is a lot of extra work. In the end, the value of each coop is based on how well the coop is organized and how well the mom's are organized. They are not Continue Reading >>
Maximize Your Homeschool Space when the World is Your Classroom
We don't have a dedicated homeschool classroom. We have 1600 square feet, four bedrooms, no basement, and eight people in our home. 300 square feet of this home is a hallway... That's a tight fit! Since we don't have a dedicated classroom, we maximize the space we do have. We study at the kitchen table, cuddle on the sofa for lessons, and store our materials in a school cabinet (four shelves Continue Reading >>
Product Review: Homeschooling ABC’s by Terri Johnson of Knowledge Quest
I have been very blessed recently with a membership to Terri Johnson's class called Homeschooling ABC's. I admit I was very skeptical at first, that a veteran homeschooler could get anything out of this class since it is designed for new homeschoolers. I am pleased to say that everyone can benefit from Homeschooling ABC's -- new and veteran alike! Here is just one example: I was pleasantly Continue Reading >>
Six Steps to Plan your New Homeschool Year
When it comes time to plan your coming school year it is easy to spin your wheels. Here are some simple steps to follow when you are ready to plan. Prayer is an essential first step. As you begin planning your homeschool year, it is good to get the bigger picture. Have you considered what your homeschool looks like from God's point of view? List some of your biggest concerns and bring Continue Reading >>
Choosing the Right Curriculum for Your Homeschool
So you've figured out which homeschooling method will work out best for you and your students, but within the method you have lots of curriculum choices. How do you find the perfect fit? I have to admit I am something of a curriculum junkie. I love trying new curriculums and I usually share what I learn on my blog. So you could always start by reading curriculum reviews on my blog. :) All Continue Reading >>
Book Review and Giveaway: Timeline of Classics by Gail Ledbetter
Do you have books coming out of your gills like we do? We have collected so many books in ten years of homeschooling, it is getting hard to keep track of which book belongs to which year of study and which books each child has read. Timeline of Classics is a great solution for that (wonderful) problem. Timeline of Classics is a listing of classic books according to the historical Continue Reading >>
Mom – Are you Learning Today? an Ultimate Homeschool Expo post
I was sitting at the playground all by myself. With three children. Usually, when I head across the street to the playground, one or two other moms will join us and we chat. Not today. I decided to do what I often do when faced with a lonely playground. I pulled up iTunes on my phone, and scrolled through the audio sessions in my Ultimate Homeschool Expo playlist. Today, I listened to Tricia Continue Reading >>