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 it’s 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,…
As I sat down to plan what to write about this coming year here at Our Journey Westward, I took a peek to see what your favorite posts of 2016 were. As you’ll see below, it’s pretty clear you like living literature and creative teaching ideas. And, since I love those things, too, I’m happy…
I’ve been touting the benefits of living math for quite some time now. Why? Because living math makes sense to kids. It builds concrete understanding of abstract concepts. It touches real-life, giving math meaning and purpose. And, it’s fun! This post contains affiliate links. To make your life (and mine) easier, I decided to pull…
(This post contains affiliate links and links to my business website.) I love living math! Thus, the title of my how-to book, Loving Living Math. Living math is special for so many reasons! One of those reasons is the use of math manipulatives. What are math manipulatives? Math manipulatives are things your children touch, move…
Math is so much fun and means so much more to little ones when it concretely builds understanding. So many times, we skip over “the tough stuff” because we think our little people can’t handle it. Below are a few activities I have done with my five-year-old to begin building two of those “tough” concepts…
This hands-on, literature-based math activity will help your younger students concretely understand the concept of standard measurement. This post contains affiliate links. Target Age Range: K-2 Skills Covered: non-standard measurement, standard measurement, making comparisons, fine motor skills, reading Understanding measurement doesn’t have to be hard for little ones. In fact, teaching it early with concrete…
Learning math with play dough geometry is so much fun! Middle and high school students like to play, too, and this series of lessons gives them a great, hands-on overview of beginning geometry. Concrete learning (actually touching, building, and manipulating things) is so important to solidify a real understanding of otherwise abstract concepts. Play dough…
It’s autumn and time to have a little leaf fun with your preschoolers and kindergarteners! The Colors of Autumn in Play Dough After observing the changing colored leaves on trees, let your little ones create their own autumn trees from play dough or clay. You might even use some autumn scented play dough. Perimeter with…
(This post contains affiliate links and links to my business website, Shining Dawn Books.) I’m sure I’ve never mentioned that I used to help in a Montessori preschool before my public school teaching days. Some of the things I learned during that time impressed me so much that I’ve carried them into teaching my…
Welcome to my 10 Days Series on the topic of nature study! Each of the ten days brings you a creative nature walk idea and a fun follow-up activity to spark your enthusiasm for nature study today! Why study nature? The answer is more serious than you might think. Today’s nature study: Erosion This post…
During our human body unit, we spent quite some time studying cells – their functions and parts. This discussion naturally led to a study of DNA and genetics. What fun! (This post contains affiliate links.) Cells Understanding the basic formation of a cell began by using the model of an egg. (Our worksheet came from…
Many homeschool moms who teach co-op classes develop their own curriculum. Me, too, for the most part. However, I’ve found it a little more difficult to design a thorough, engaging curriculum for middle and high school co-op classes that doesn’t leave me studying and preparing for hours. As a curriculum reviewer, a lot of great…
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