Making homeschool decisions easy
Homeschooling is hard, sometimes isolating, work. We can all use encouragement and an outside perspective. Throughout the month of September, Julie Bogart, the creator of Brave Writer, read an essay a day from her book A Gracious Space, Fall on Facebook Live. Even though you can’t tune in live, you can still watch the replays. They are available on the Brave Writer YouTube channel. It’s
Reading good books together is a cornerstone practice of our homeschool. Reading together gives our children a deep well of reliable language patterns. This reservoir helps them become discerning, articulate readers and writers. Good books also spark their imagination and give them a rich sense of lived history. But really, one of the biggest benefits is that it’s enjoyable to share stories together. ~Don’t miss
This past September, I made my biggest curriculum mistake yet. I had researched and thought and finally purchased a curriculum. But when it came time to start school, I realized that I would have to do heavy editing to make the curriculum match my student’s level. I set it aside and bought another curriculum–happily, one that we have been making progress in all year long.
A couple years ago, I was struggling to find a language arts curriculum that was both engaging and complimentary to our homeschool philosophy. In my quest, I sampled a wide variety of curricula. When I discovered Brave Writer, I knew I had found what I had been looking for. Not only does Brave Writer offer a variety of writing curricula and resources, they also provide
One of the most appealing aspects of a Charlotte Mason education for me is the seamless interplay between art and science that is possible with nature study. Nothing compares to tromping through the woods in all weathers to track the first crocus. Alright, we usually just walk around our neighborhood…and only when it’s not too wet! But we still keep our Calendar of Firsts, and
The dark comes early these days, and the temperatures stay cool. That makes winter the perfect time for stories! Recently, our family had the opportunity to try out Bookroo–a subscription book service. Every month a handsomely wrapped package arrives filled with your choice of board books or picture books. What a fun morning we had receiving our package from the letter carrier, then tearing open
For the past few months, my son has lulled himself to sleep by listening to Percy Jackson books on audio. We only own one but he checks the books out on OverDrive (one of our favorite library resources) and will listen to them over and over again. As a result of his recent interest, I knew he would also be interested in the National Mythology Exam that
Nature studies and nature journaling has been a part of our homeschool curriculum since the very beginning. When we first began our homeschool journey, it was the Charlotte Mason lifestyle that so appealed to me particularly because of the emphasis Miss Mason placed on allowing the child’s interest in the natural world to take lead. When the opportunity to review Exploring Nature with Children: A
