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RSSYesterday Jeff informed me that Joely, our 7 year old, had been asking him about what atoms were. He said he'd tried to explain it in terms she could understand, but that he didn't think she had really 'gotten it.' And so I was assigned the task. Well, I love science, so I eagerly took [...]
January 20, 2010
Learn about Atoms with a Photographic Periodic Table of Elements
January 20, 2010 by 7 Comments
November 18, 2009
How to Raise a Reader
November 18, 2009 by 13 Comments
I love to read. My husband loves to read. My two daughters love to read. But my son has been staunchly opposed to reading since he first learned how in Kindergarten. He'll read if he is required to for school, but he has never really sat down to read a real book just for the [...]
November 12, 2009
A Memorization Technique Anyone Can Use
November 12, 2009 by 5 Comments
The ability to memorize is an essential skill that all children should master. Some children have a natural ability to memorize things easily, but everyone can still benefit from a strategy for memorization. We have a quick and easy method that my kids like to use when they have to memorize something, whether it be [...]
August 19, 2009
The True Confessions of a Homeschooling Mom
August 19, 2009 by 11 Comments
I enjoy homeschooling my children. I love teaching them, reading to them, seeing the lighbulbs go off in their heads when they finally "get" something. I even love planning lessons (that's the OCD in me). But I have a confession to make. There's one aspect of homeschooling at which I fail miserably. Checking schoolwork. Now [...]
August 12, 2009
Chore Cards (Early Job Skills)
August 12, 2009 by 11 Comments
I mentioned on Twitter a couple weeks ago that I was designing a chore card for my kids, and several people asked me how we use it for our kids' chores. I figured I might be able to explain the system better when I'm not limited to 140 characters, so here goes. In this chore [...]
July 22, 2009
The "Spiral" Method of Homeschooling
July 22, 2009 by 16 Comments
Homeschooling can get messy. With more than half a dozen subjects per child, the sheer volume of written work that needs to be organized and graded can be overwhelming. Until this last school year, my kids would write out any written assignments on a loose sheet of notebook paper. The paper would then get shoved [...]
July 8, 2009
Homeschooling: What About Socialization?
July 8, 2009 by 12 Comments
Socialization is always one of the hot topics in homeschooling. In fact, when we first considered homeschooling four years ago — well, when I first considered homeschooling four years ago — that was one of my husband's first objections to the idea: "What about socialization?" Now that we've been homeschooling for four years, I think [...]
July 1, 2009
Where to Buy Homeschool Curriculum
July 1, 2009 by 10 Comments
I would venture to say that most homeschoolers start buying curriculum for the following school year in the spring or summer. More often than not this is a daunting task, and the cost of the various curricula can be overwhelming. Over the last few years I've purchased curriculum from a variety of sources. I try [...]
June 24, 2009
Switching to an Almost-Year-Round Homeschool Calendar
June 24, 2009 by 16 Comments
As most homeschoolers do, when we first began homeschooling we adopted a typical public-school calendar, including a two-week Christmas break, a one-week spring break, and a three-month summer break. We kept this public-school calendar for our first three years. But homeschooling during December always ended up being such a chore with our busy schedule, and [...]
June 17, 2009
How to Choose the Right Homeschool Curriculum
June 17, 2009 by 16 Comments
One of the most important decisions a family has to make when they first decide to homeschool is what curriculum to buy; but the plethora of choices available can be overwhelming. Where should I start looking? What will work best for our family? When we started homeschooling in 2005, I read dozens of curriculum reviews [...]
Joy is the wife of 