We veered off the "typical homeschool path" this year to teach out-of-the-box homeschool high school chemistry instead. This isn't the first time we've chosen a different path for our son, who is a smart kid but doesn't thrive in the textbook world of science. Do you remember how we chose an out-of-the-box biology course last year? Because that course worked out so well, it was just natural to continue with a similar plan for chemistry this year. And, it worked again! This post contains affiliate links. Background Info Our oldest went the typical homeschool route of Apologia Chemistry during high school. It's an excellent course that provides a thorough and well-practiced ... Read More
Gifted & Struggling Learners
Whether you have a gifted child, a struggling learner or a mixture of the two, I have encouragement for you. You CAN successfully homeschool! These articles should give you some background on the varied special needs in our homeschool and offer you lots of practical ideas.
25 Creative Candy Math Activities To Make Learning Fun
I don't know too many children who aren't motivated by candy math activities. In fact, most of them beg for math when candy is involved. How many times do you remember your kiddos begging for math otherwise? Ha! When those regular math lessons begin to make everyone weary, take a break and add in a little candy math! Besides bringing a few smiles to your homeschool, you might be surprised to find that the hands-on nature of candy math actually does a great job of teaching certain troublesome topics, too! Has your child been struggling to read graphs? Build graphs from the ground up with candy! Has your child been struggling to understand multiplication of fractions? Help them to ... Read More
Your Children Will Love Funschooling with Candy Heart Lessons
What kid wouldn't love a break from the regular schedule of homeschooling to enjoy a funschooling day full of candy heart lessons??? Mom, I promise that your day won't be wasted and you'll be able to check off just about every box in your lesson planner! Teaching with Candy Hearts Grab a big bag of candy hearts from the Valentine aisle at the grocery and you have just about everything you need for a full day of STEM candy heart lessons and more. K-3rd Grade Candy Heart Lessons My little guy was five when we completed these activities, but they are very appropriate for children through 2nd grade. Pictured Above: 1 Given a small a pile of hearts, Eli had to figure out how many ... Read More
When Your Plan for High School Science Isn’t Working
Homeschooling works. It just doesn't always look the same from one child to the next. Sometimes even the best intended plans fail and adjustments need to be made. Our latest major adjustments were made in the subject of science and I've shared our success story here in hopes that you will be encouraged not to give up when your high school science isn't working. Or any subject for that matter! This post contains affiliate links. What works for one kid... With my oldest (who is now in college) we followed the plan so many homeschoolers follow for high school science...Apologia textbooks. They are absolutely wonderful science courses that I've found to be almost AP like in their ... Read More
6 Tips for Teaching Early Readers
Do you have a child who began reading well at three or four years old? A child who reads far above grade level? A child who soaks in more books in a year than you’ve read in your entire life? Do you wonder what to do with all that advanced ability? Just how do you proceed with gifted early readers?? Here's what I did. You can listen to this post if you prefer! Teaching Very Early Readers My oldest was an early reader. She blew my mind as she reached for book after book, able to tackle nearly everything on her own. As her teacher, I wondered how to handle her reading instruction. Should I still teach phonics? Should I force reading comprehension lessons? Should I hold her back ... Read More
Brain Training Activities for Auditory Attention
Does your child seem to have, um, selective hearing? You tell him (or her) to do this or that and you're very lucky if one little smidgen of it gets done? Yeah, that can be infuriating to a momma. Ask me how I know. It turns out that there can be an honest-to-goodness reason and maybe, just maybe, he really isn't ignoring you. Auditory attention and auditory processing are important cognitive skills that may need a little work. Luckily, there are loads and loads of quick and fun brain training activities that can boost your child's ability to listen, remember, and act if necessary. What are auditory attention and auditory processing? I'll remind you quickly about one of the ... Read More
Our Student-Led High School Equine Course
My college freshman is rocking her equine science studies. I think one reason she's been so successful is the time I allowed her to study horses during high school science. I've written before about our five-year science plan (8th grade included) and how we made sure to cover science fundamentals while still making time for her horse passion. In this article, I'm going to detail more specifically what her student-led high school equine course looked like. Even if your child isn't necessarily interested in horses, I hope you'll find some encouragement that passion studies are very doable - even if there is no particular curriculum readily available. This post contains ... Read More
Brain Training Activities for Visual Attention and Visual Processing
Brain training activities are good for everyone because they build neuron connections. Who couldn't use a few extra neuron connections, right? I've gone into some depth about the what, why and how of brain training before, so I'll spare you the details about all the cognitive skills brain training improves and how it helps ALL learners. Today we're going to focus on two cognitive skills: ATTENTION and PROCESSING. Actually, we're going to focus on one subset of each: VISUAL ATTENTION and VISUAL PROCESSING This post contains affiliate links. What are visual attention and visual processing? The word attention refers to the ability to stay focused on a particular thing. You ... Read More
Brain Training with Dyslexia Games
You know how near and dear brain training is to my heart, right? It's been such a game-changer in our homeschool that I take it very seriously. We do some sort of brain training every. single. school. day. One day might find us playing a quick card game to building working memory. Another day might find us narrating a fable to expand comprehension. You might find us working on matrix puzzles the next day to increase logical thinking. I have a huge arsenal of brain training activities! I plan to share lots more about this topic in the near future, so keep reading. Today I'd like to share with you a new-to-me resource for brain training...Dyslexia Games. I received sets B and C from ... Read More
Brain Training: FUN Ways to Build Stronger and Faster Brains
At the IAHE Conference (Indiana Association of Home Educators), I taught four workshops. While they were all well-attended and well-received, one of the sessions sparked an emotional reaction like none other. My brain training session was the last on my schedule and one of the last of the weekend. I fully expected a low turnout and glazed-over eyes from those few. To my shock, the room was packed to the brim with eager participants. Some of them, I later found out, almost desperate for information to help their struggling students. Because of the immense response I had to the topic of brain training at IAHE (and elsewhere), I'm going to write a BRIEF summary of that workshop and ... Read More