It’s time for another post in my series about using picture books to teach writing to middle and high school students! Today’s topic is using picture books to teach text structure. What is text structure? It’s how the information written in a text is organized. Learning to identify text structure as a reader can significantly improve…
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…
My children don’t typically jump for joy when given a writing assignment. Do yours? I’ve found several ways over the years to take writing from dreaded to enjoyable in our home, though. One of the most beloved of those ideas is writing newsletters. Several years ago, I wrote the monthly newsletter for our church. I…
Whether you currently enjoy nature study time with your children or not, being part of a nature club is a great motivator and provides hours of fun learning time! 1. What is a nature study club? Quite simply, it’s a small or large group of homeschoolers who meet together for the purpose of studying nature…
Wait. If nature study is science, does that mean we could do nature study instead of science textbooks? Does that mean I could (and maybe should) view nature study as more than just an extra in our homeschool schedule? Are you sure our time spent outdoors in nature can really count towards real science instruction?…
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,…
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…
What do you get when you mix historical fiction with lots of adventure then add daily devotionals for Advent? The Jotham’s Journey series of books! These books are simply NOT to be missed. This post contains affiliate links. Wow. That’s the best word I can think of to describe these page-turning, spine-tingling adventure stories meant…
Homeschooling in December can be rough. We all need a bit of a break from the monotony of the regular homeschooling schedule, don’t we? Some people choose to take the entire month off to focus on the preparations of Christmas and turning the hearts of their children toward the One that Christmas is all about….
I {heart} picture books for so many reasons. One giant reason is their ability to teach so many in depth concepts in such non-intimidating ways that students often don’t see fear in the lessons that follow. One such example is writing. I can’t tell you the times I’ve been asked by homeschooling parents to tutor…
I love homeschooling middle school students. They are so ready to dive deep into learning because they finally have the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic down. On the other hand, they are still completely open to creative lessons. You can just do SO much with this age group! In our eclectically Charlotte Mason homeschool,…
I can teach music theory. I can teach voice. I can teach at least a little piano. I cannot teach guitar. And, when you can’t find a steady guitar teacher, that makes life hard on a kid who really wants to learn the instrument. My Caleb has been learning to play the guitar for a…