Making homeschool decisions easy
I knew my son needed to learn how to read, but I’d never taught anyone. I debated the decision to homeschool. I worried and fretted. Then I resolved to trust the process. I’d been taught the basics of teaching phonics through a program called, Writing Road to Reading. We used it. It worked! Then we got to the spelling rules and the notebook work. I
A little over a year ago, I was in eastern Washington at a teacher store and I came across a few books called “Build-a-Skill Instant Books”. I thumbed through them and thought these would be great for both of my boys to use. What I loved about them at first glance was it reminded me a lot of lapbooking. If you’ve done lapbooking before
We enjoy incorporating art into our unit studies. There are many ways to accomplish this, but one of my favorites is to have my children do a lesson from Draw Write Now, a series of books containing beginning drawing lessons and handwriting practice for primary and elementary students. The author, Marie Hablitzel, developed this collection of lessons for her second-grade students after seeing that they were becoming
Guest post by Dana Hanley I never thought much about handwriting when I started homeschooling. I never thought about its principles or developed any particular philosophy of what handwriting was or how good handwriting should be developed. I taught it exactly as I had been taught: through repetition and drill, expecting perfect conformity of letters. I must confess that I have had no more luck
Writing is something that I have always liked to do. However, not everyone does, especially many children. Sometimes children (and even writers) struggle to think of ideas and things to write about. So, what can a parent do to help their children with this? Last school year, I volunteered to teach a writing class at my homeschool co-op. I had to undergo a DVD training
As we continue our homeschooling I look for many ways to keep our schooling hands on and fun. I came across Integritas Academy which is owned by a homeschooling family. They offer affordable file folder games in many subjects. I absolutely love to use file folder games and the kids love playing them. When I saw how wonderfully these were made I wanted to try them
There are many ways to incorporate art into a unit study, but one of our favorites has been to learn about and imitate the art of a particular illustrator. Last year during our study of the ocean we read A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle. We enjoyed the illustrations so much that we decided to try making our own art in the collage
If lessons are meant to be creative, mine fail. This year, lessons are pretty much straight from the book. Commendable plans smolder in my thoughts. Our idea books are perused often, but not by me. My son has taken to finding his own creativity. I applaud his efforts. Pilgrim’s Progress When I asked him to record the characters in Pilgrim’s Progress, he hunted for Alternatives
