Teaching alphabetical order using letter tiles can make learning a game. Here are some easy, hands-on activities that can help your children strengthen their alphabetizing skills. These activities don't cover alphabetizing by the second of third letter (and so on), but they can greatly improve that all-important underlying skill of quick-recall of basic ABC order. […]
Archives for January 2011
Homeschool Teaching Tips from Gandalf
The Five J's are huge Tolkien fans (in fact we named our homeschool after Gandalf), so I was amused when I found this article about "How to Teach Like Gandalf." But the article wasn't quite what I expected. It's actually quite thought-provoking. Author Nick Senger expounds on these five unusual tips, challenging us to be […]
Free Bubble Test Form Generator
A lot of homeschoolers avoid testing on principle, because they know that testing alone isn't an accurate measure of education. It's important, however, that our kids know how to take tests, especially if they're college-bound. A lot of homeschool curricula include fill-in-the-blank, matching, and multiple choice tests, but what about those fill-in-the-bubble type? Unless a […]
U.S. Government Games
Sheppard Software, a site we use frequently for geography, now has a U.S. Government game. Each game starts with some basic facts on each topic, and then you have to match up the right information. It's not an in-depth look at U.S. government, but it's a fun introduction. As you can see in the image above, […]
How do you homeschool when Mom is ill?
When you are ill either occassionaly or constantly how do you continue to homeschool successfully? A reader emailed me last week with a question I feel entirely inadequate to answer. I'm hoping that you, my readers, may be better equipped to offer some words of encouragement to this homeschooling mom. This is what she wrote: […]
Pajama School (a book review)
"I'm not sure any of us knew what they meant when Mom and Dad announced that they had decided to withdraw us from our beloved school and homeschool us. It was something akin to a death sentence." And thus began Natalie Wickham's experience as a homeschooler. Pajama School: Stories from the Life of a Homeschool […]