Our 1st grade trip Around the World was wonderful. Our 2nd grade trip across the United States of America was even more wonderful! Take a peek at our around the USA study and enjoy a trip yourself! Around the USA Study Our brief stops in each state began with living literature “tour guide(s)” who introduced…
These days, it seems like hands-on homeschool is a buzzword of sorts. What’s all the fuss about? Let’s define hands-on first. It’s best to define hands-on first because I think its overall meaning might surprise you. You see, hands-on learning can actually mean several things. Most obvious, hands-on means “touching” things during lessons. For instance,…
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…
I HATED geography as a child. It was tedious, repetitive, and included lots of looking up things like the population of a given country that I have never cared to look up since. It wasn’t until I learned to teach geography with living books and learned right alongside my children that I realized what a…
If you’re looking for history gifts for middle school kids, you’re in the right place! Whether you have a history buff on your hands or wish you did, keep scrolling for a bunch of ideas. Every time we do a deep clean at my house, I end up shaking my head at how much unnecessary…
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…
After a successful year of history with Ancient Civilizations and the Bible from Diana Waring’s History Revealed series last year, we are back at it with Romans, Reformers, and Revolutionaries. History Revealed works well for our unit study, project-based learning, literature-based loving family. In fact, it’s been a perfect transition for my older kids to…
During my workshops about creative homeschooling and living math, I often talk about incorporating games into the school schedule. If your family has an established game night, you probably already know how educational many board and card games really are. Math, language, history, science, logic and so much more can be practiced without your kiddos…
On Fridays, I attempt to plan a simple object lesson to go along with Bible study. Since we have been studying knights of the Middle Ages lately, I thought a lesson on the Armor of God made a nice tie-in. The lesson is quick, but powerful. Armor of God Object Lesson Materials: two oranges a…
My 6th grader just finished a mini French and Indian War unit study that was a great pit stop in our regular history studies. I just love the slow and steady pace we’re taking to go through the Story of the World curriculum this time around. I used to follow pretty strict 4-year cycles in…
I have always loved teaching a Leonardo da Vinci unit study because it covers just about every single academic subject easily: The Renaissance, various science topics like inventions, simple machines, & the human body, and art & artist study are all easy topics to cover while learning about da Vinci. Add some fun research-based learning…
Eli and I have certainly enjoyed a meandering pace through Story of the World for history. Because we’re never rushed to move on to the next chapter, it provides plenty of time for rabbit trails when he shows special interest in a topic. One of those special interests this year was the Vikings. We had…