Picture books for middle school? Shouldn't older students have moved on from picture books years ago? Not necessarily. Many of the best living picture books include amazing stories with rich language that big kids are finally able to read and enjoy on their own. Additionally, some of the picture books we have on our shelves do a beautiful job of introducing kids to serious topics - like war or racism. And I purposely tend to hold these back until my kids are old enough to handle the emotional content. Even with books that don't cover heavy topics, there are many picture books with nuances that are best understood by older children. This book contains affiliate links. I've ... Read More
100+ Science Picture Books to Help You Homeschool
We follow a four-year cycle for teaching science. In the elementary years, science picture books have helped me introduce and explain scientific topics so well that I consider them as much curriculum as anything else we use to teach science. While we do use the occasional science textbook during the elementary years, much of the learning takes place through three modalities: Nature Study covers most of the biology and earth science topics. We consider nature walks to be our outdoor science labs and spend indoor hours reading, researching, and sometimes completing hands-on projects. Unit Studies cover most of the chemistry and physical science topics. We spend plenty of time reading, ... Read More
What’s Growing in Your Homeschool? Bacteria Science Experiments
Ah, fall. Beautiful weather, fun festivals, football...and the beginning of "sick season." It's the perfect time of year to teach middle and high school students about germs through some cool bacteria science experiments! I've harped to my son for years about the importance of hand-washing to prevent illness. Now that he has actually seen bacteria with his own two eyes, he's washing his hands more often. It's amazing what experiential learning can teach. Bacteria are all around us...and not all of them are bad! In fact, good bacteria are essential in our bodies to help us digest food and fight off some of the bad microbes that get in. Bacteria are also fabulous decomposers in our world ... Read More
The Best Language Arts Games and Manipulatives for Homeschoolers
Have you ever wondered which are the best language arts games to use in your homeschool? There are so many options out there, but not every game is both educational and fun. I've pulled together a list of more than 20 games (and a few manipulatives) that I have used to get my kids excited about things like reading, spelling, and sentence structure. For the most part, everything on the list can be used with multiple ages as long as the student can already read. This post contains affiliate links. We usually play at least one language arts game per week during school hours. But, a few are family favorites that we often enjoy during family game night. I'll note the family favorites in ... Read More
A Happy Collision of Nature Study and Language Arts
One of the things I love so much about nature study is its ability to merge together so many other academic subject areas. Nature study and language arts, for example, go hand in hand together. Think about all the reading and writing that take place as nature journals are written, field guides read, or new finds researched. Keep reading to learn how to naturally make connections between nature study and language arts. At the end of the post, I think you'll be super-excited about the surprises waiting to help you connect the dots between the two subjects! This post includes affiliate links. The Language Arts Language arts includes four main areas: reading, composition ... Read More
Dirty Science: Unique Activities To Learn About Soil
Are your children overjoyed to learn about soil? Probably not. But, oh, I bet they will be when you introduce these unique activities! Eli and I have had so much fun playing in the dirt AND doing some pretty cool chemistry experiments. I received free products and compensation from Home Science Tools in exchange for writing this post. As always, my opinions are strictly my own. Affiliate links are included in this post. It's Fun To Learn About Soil If you've ever dug around in the dirt, you've probably seen little critters or bits and pieces of roots and rocks. While those things are certainly wonderful to find, observe, and study, there are so many other cool things you can't see! ... Read More
Light and Sound Unit Study
The main topic of this year's science rotation in our homeschool is physics, so I'm preparing a few unit studies that lend themselves well to experimentation and exploration. This light and sound unit study will be first in the line up and is just perfect for 3rd-7th grade students. It's packed full of meaningful, practical activities that won't waste anybody's time. Great informational books and biographies set the stage, while project-based and research-based activities allow for deeper learning on certain topics of interest. Get a downloadable copy of this unit study below! This post contains affiliate links. Light and Sound Books As with all our unit studies, books pile up in stacks ... Read More
Charlotte Mason Inspired Curriculum Picks for a 6th Grade Boy
Oh, my mercy. I'm only homeschooling one this year. While I'm ecstatic in so many ways, it's also entirely bittersweet for me. Who knew deleting my graduated son's name from the letter-of-intent-to-homeschool template on my computer would be such an emotional moment? That letter with only one name on it has been turned into my local school board and 6th grade curriculum for Eli is sitting proudly on the shelves ready to be used. So...bittersweet or not, bring on middle school! I ❤️ Charlotte Mason Middle School In our Charlotte Mason inspired homeschool, the middle school years are my most favorite of all. Since most of the fundamentals of learning have been built on ... Read More
How To Easily Plan Monthly Homeschool Field Trips
For years, we've taken at least one homeschool field trip each month of the school year. They have created some of our best memories and always almost supply us with wonderful learning opportunities. It may sound overwhelming to plan monthly field trips, but it's really not that hard at all when you're organized - and I'll help you get organized! Why Do We Take So Many Homeschool Field Trips? Over the past eighteen years of homeschooling, I bet our family has taken over 100 field trips. That's a lot of experiential learning! Field trips are the perfect example of hands-on, real-life learning. I love that so many of them are taught by professionals who know much more than me about ... Read More
How To Identify Rocks and Minerals During Nature Study
Why would you want to identify rocks and minerals during nature study? Heck, why would you even care to observe rocks when there are so many other things to see in nature. Rocks are boring. They're dull and colorless. Once you've seen one, you've pretty much seen them all. Be honest. You've thought some of those thoughts before, haven't you? When we first began nature study in our homeschool, I held off learning about rocks for quite some time because - well, I didn't know what in the world were we going to do with them. But I soon realized that we just hadn't quite learned how to look at them with eyes of wonder and excitement yet. I received free products and compensation ... Read More