One of the main goals I set early on in our homeschool was to give my children a love of learning. Creative homeschooling is the mode I’ve used to successfully do that. Don’t think that you can never put your child in front of a textbook or computer screen to homeschool creatively! Instead, think of it as offering your children curriculum and styles to meet their needs. Sometimes that will be a textbook or computer class. Other times, it may be a unit study, living literature, field trips, games, project-based learning, co-op classes, or interest-based studies. These articles show you how. Be inspired!
I know I gush often about our Keepers At Home Group, but it really is a wonderful thing! Yesterday we took a break from “practical” stuff to party! Each of the girls was asked to prepare a dish and bring the recipe. (We’re putting the recipes together in a little booklet for them.) After reading…
Here’s the latest edition of the Westward Gazette.
(This post contains affiliate links and links to my business website, Shining Dawn Books.) The Book Have you ever read One Grain Of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale by Demi? Not only is it great literature, there is a fantastic moral to the story – and a mathematical component that makes for a fun living math…
Our Keepers group has started up again. At the first meeting, the girls made potholders that turned out SO cute! Thanks, Edith, for such a fun, easy and cute sewing project. Our second meeting was a tour of a 1700’s house that’s in the process of renovation. The owner of the house gave us a…
A question I hear quite often is, “Am I really qualified to homeschool? Am I going to ruin my children by schooling them at home?” Read This First: Animal School by George Reavis Once upon a time the animals had a school. They had four subjects ~ running, climbing, flying, and swimming ~ and all…
I’ve got a fun math activity for you! It’s important to me that my children not only know how to read graphs, but know how to create them as well. Mahayla is a pro at gathering information and creating her own graphs on paper. Caleb is just beginning, though, so I wanted him to make a “concrete” graph…
Field trip notebooks are a great way to get in some sneaky writing practice and create an amazing keepsake. Field Trip Memories {and learning, too!} After coming back from a trip to Michigan with 100 pictures, several brochures and tons of memories, I racked my brain for a practical way for my children to put…
Why is it that you usually feel dirtier after showering at a hotel than you did before you showered? Why is it that once the baby finally falls asleep in his carseat, somebody else in the car decides they have to use the bathroom and can’t possibly hold it – thus waking up the baby…
We are SO pleased with the first edition of the Westward Gazette! I bought a $20 software program from WalMart called Perfect Pro Office that made our computer work simple. (Word Perfect is the only office-type program that came on my computer and it stinks for projects.) The newsletter includes a story or journal entry from…
What fun we had visiting WKYT TV in Lexington today! They took us on a tour of the newsroom, video control room for broadcasts, video control room for taping shows, and the live set. The kids all had the chance to stand in front of the green screen to try their hand at pointing correctly on the weather map. …
If writing isn’t a natural passion for your child, it can be a subject full of drudgery. Believe me, I know. Up until this year Mahayla has fought me tooth and nail over any sort of writing assignment. This year has been different, though. I believe she’s enjoying writing partly because of maturity, but I’ve made…
(This post contains affiliate links.) Picture Prompts Inspire Writing Here’s a fun way to get your kids to write – and it’s VERY easy! Use homemade picture prompts. Simply cut out interesting pictures from magazines, old calendars, old books, etc. and paste them on card stock. Let your child choose a picture, then write a…