Preschool (K4) was such a fun year of school for us! Each week of the entire year was spent learning about one letter of the alphabet. There were no formal plans made. Instead, the weeks were filled with whatever fun I could find (or think up) that revolved around the letter – science, cooking, dramatic…
We love living literature! If you’ve been around at all, you know I LOVE living literature! It’s been such a blessing to our homeschool. Need to know more about living literature? Start with my Living Books post. Our Favorite Books Not too long ago, I pulled together a 10-day series (that turned into an 11-day…
Each school year, we love to add exciting lessons that encourage a love for special days and seasons. Over the years, I’ve posted about bunches of holiday and seasonal lessons and gathered them all together here for a quick reference. If these ideas aren’t enough, be sure to check out my Pinterest page that overflows…
If my blog has any sort of homeschooling consistency at all, it’s that just about everything has to do with the implementation of our style of a Charlotte Mason education. I’ve written some very specific CM posts that I’ve gathered together one on simple index page for you. Enjoy your kids and your homeschooling lessons…
(This post contains affiliate links.) Around the World: Mexico To see where all our “spine” learning comes from during this unit, be sure to check out our main resources for the Around the World Studies. Inspirational Books Look What Came from Mexico Off We Go to Mexico Diego Rivera (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists) The Goat…
You have heard me talk about living math over and over. I thought it was high time to organize all my living math resources for you in one convenient “table of contents” of sorts. Start Here If you’re new to the concept of living math or need some help refining your definition/vision, this post should…
As a Charlotte Mason homeschooler, artist study has been a constant over the years. While I haven’t documented all our studies, I have pulled together several of them here for you. Briefly: How We Do Artist Study Most of the time, we focus on one artist per month in our home. One day each week…
Homeschooling gifted kids isn’t impossible. In fact, it might be one of the best things you could ever do for your child! And…you CAN do it! I’ve written Homeschooling Gifted Kids: A Practical Guide to Educate and Motivate Advanced Learners to help you be successful! I’ve been writing about gifted homeschooling for several years and have…
It’s time for candy math again! Through Pinterest, I happened upon a site called First Grade Wow that has the cutest suggestions for holiday-themed ideas just perfect for my little 1st grader. Many of these candy math ideas were inspired by her Double Mint Math post – and some even use her brilliant free printables…
(This post contains affiliate links and links to my business website, Shining Dawn Books. I was given a free copy of Primarily Math in exchange for an honest review.) Why Problem Solving? If you’ve read Loving Living Math or many of my living math posts here on Our Journey Westward, you know that I find…
Make December Homeschooling Different By December, 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….
When most of us think about living literature, we think about historical books. There are tons of scientific books that are written well enough to be considered living, too, though! In fact, I could probably list 100’s of living books to teach science for you. To get your library started with some of the best,…