I love preparing for a new homeschool year. Dreaming up the perfect schedule, writing mile-long book lists, finding fun and memorable activities that I know will be loved and impactful – it all gives me butterflies, excitement, hope. I look forward to the start of each new school year, seeing it as a chance to…
Are you in homeschool planning mode this summer? I am. It’s a slow and steady process for me, which is why I love a long summer break so much. Year after year, I tend to follow the same simple steps to plan our upcoming school year. My exact method might not work for you, but…
I first published this post of early elementary homeschool curriculum picks a few years back, but I’m still a super-fan of everything listed below. My little fella is steadily moving on in school. He’s reading real books and working real math problems. He builds amazing Minecraft structures and plays basketball better than me. And he loves history and…
You will love these top picks for upper elementary homeschool curriculum! Third through fifth grades are some of my favorite years to teach. During this period, children are usually pretty good readers – making it more fun to dive deeper into other subjects. And, they still have a zestful spirit about learning which means we get to…
Middle school homeschool curriculum is some of my favorite! Read on… The year before I got a full-time job teaching, I was a substitute teacher for three school systems, K-12. Let me tell you…after about two months, I let the central office know that I was available for anything except middle school. I loathed middle school. There were…
Ah…high school. Why do I love homeschooling high school so much? Mostly because my teens don’t need my constant attention and instruction anymore! Ha! While I’m not kidding about the independent learning thing above, there are other reasons I really enjoy the high school homeschool: We have great discussions. My children can (finally) logically defend issues that are…
I love using living books in our homeschool. If you’ve been around here any time at all, you know that living literature is a key tool I use across all ages and all subjects. Using literature to teach high school history works especially well. There are so many nuances of an event or era that…
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…
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…
Chores and allowance used to be under control in our house. We had our daily, weekly, and monthly plans in place with cute charts that helped everything run smoothly. We kept a relatively clean and tidy house – inside and out – without much effort or complaint. Then life blew up. As the kids got…
I have another senior. How is that possible? It’s really, indescribably true when you hear that time flies and your kids will be grown in the blink of an eye. So, this year I’m boyschooling a 12th grader and 5th grader. These boys keep me so busy with music lessons, sports, and more that I…
How do you feel when I ask, “What’s your plan for teaching writing this year?” Does it fill you with so much excitement that you chatter on and on – or do you just look at me with frustrated eyes and groan? The subject of writing seems to give more homeschooling families fits than any…
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