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.
Almost nothing gets a homeschool mom’s heart racing like the sight of a brand-new curriculum, stacked clean and neat, ready for a new year of learning. We’ve done the research, placed the orders, and planned out the next several months, complete with themed weeks, finale projects, and even a few well-timed field trips. The butterflies…
No matter how long you’ve been homeschooling or how old your children are, some days just don’t go as planned. A craft doesn’t work out the way you’d hoped, anxiety sneaks in and sets kiddos on edge, siblings bicker, headaches happen, and fatigue creeps up and whispers for a break. Societal pressure (and our own…
Homeschooling a child with dyscalculia can seem daunting, but it’s entirely doable. In fact, it can be one of the best decisions you make to help your child succeed! What is dyscalculia? Dyscalculia is a learning disability in math and can make math incredibly hard if children are not given the right support. Dyscalculia goes…
I love using living books to help children “see” math. These math operations picture books specifically focus on addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division to help build understanding and connect math to the real world. Books are powerful in helping children relate to abstract mathematical concepts! They can be used as pre-reading before introducing something new…
This guest post, written by my friend Jen Vail, is a treasure to help you deal with homeschool anxiety skills. Be sure to bookmark it or pin it to come back time and time again for ideas and reassurance. When I was much younger and not so dependent upon ibuprofen, I had a lot of…
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…
There are definitely stereotypes when it comes to gifted kids. For instance, people might might picture an awkward boy or girl with glasses who plays chess and cello and snorts when he or she laughs. Parts of that may be true for some gifted kids, but they’re often not at all like people expect them…
Do you have a budding chef or a flourishing foodie at home, always at your elbow in the kitchen and wanting to mix, roll, bake, or glaze? Check out these gifts for kids who love to cook and find something for every skill level. You’ll enjoy what they whip up for you almost as much…
Do your children love history or do you hit walls every time you try to teach it? I hated history as a child, mostly because the textbooks were horribly boring, the teachers were dry as a crust of day-old bread, and those long lists of dates were entirely frustrating. Given the opportunity to teach homeschool…
One of my goals in homeschooling creatively has always been to help kids love writing. Whether students believe it or not, writing is an essential skill that finds its way into real life quite often. Teaching writing with real-life methods is a great way to convince kids of its importance. Not to mention, anytime an…
It’s long been a saying that we have to crawl before we can walk, walk before we can run, and run before we can race. Development is typically easy to track and anticipate as a child builds upon previous skills, a steady line sloping up. Gifted kids, though, develop much differently. Instead of a straight…
We’ve talked a lot about brain training for cognitive skills here at Our Journey Westward. Closely related to cognitive skills are social skills. This article focuses on some easy ways to improve social skills in the homeschool. Don’t get “social skills” confused with “socialization”. One of the biggest thorns in the side of any homeschooler…
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