Making homeschool decisions easy
Lyrical Learning is good music, good science,and good-time learning! I’m a lover of science and have been hodge-podging our science curriculum together for 8 years. I like to use a little bit ‘o this and a little bit ‘o that. Someday I’ll write and reveal my brilliant science curriculum, but not today. ; ) I want to talk about learning science by singing it. No,
IEW, or Institute for Excellence in Writing has a top of the line writing course called Teaching Writing, Structure and Style. It is a DVD based writing program by Andrew Pudewa that teaches you how to teach writing to a child of every age. I’ve used IEW since 2004 and I’ve taught co-op classes and small groups in my home, giving me a lot of experience
Story Starters, by Karen Andreola, is perfect for your reluctant writers and it is a creative writing supplement that can be used for a change of pace along side any writing program. If you’ve heard about using narration as a grammar tool, you will definitely want Story Starters on your school shelf. The name Story Starters is just what it says, a start of a
The Elements by Ellen Johnston McHenry Now let me introduce you to the profile of the compliant child: My oldest is very easy to homeschool. I could hand him a 500 pg. book to read, give him 3 pages of questions to answer, assign a 5 page typed report and he would comply by the following day. I know this about him but I do not
Something I always recommend to new homeschoolers is to write a family mission statement. The value of a mission statement for a new homeschooling family is irreplaceable. I also strongly believe that Mom and Dad need to sit down apart from each other (or vow not to peek) and write separate lists of what is important to them. Then, convene together and take the time
Math-U-See Math-U-See is a mastery based math program. This means that it teaches math concepts to mastery. This is very different from the spiral approach, which spirals through math concepts adding harder equations as the years progress. (Saxon would be a good example of a spiral approach). Understanding the difference between the two approaches can be key to picking the right math curriculum for your
Explode the Code I have used a myriad of Phonics programs, but have found myself drawn back to ETC which is what I used for my first born when he was in K. ETC and Get Ready, Get Set, and Go for the Code are simple enough that you can add in extra activities based on what your child needs. I love using the Pocket Wall
Phonetic Zoo, Excellence in Spelling This is another great program put forth by the Institute for Excellence in Writing. Phonetic Zoo has been wonderful tool for me as a mother to many to put my time in to the fun subjects, like history and science. Spelling can be mundane and boring for all people involved, but the Phonetic Zoo has made this an independent program
