How To Pick A Homeschool Curriculum

For those of you who are not year-round homeschooler’s, you are probably using the summer time to shop for new homeschool curriculum, especially if you are new to homeschooling. If you are a newbie, then you may be feeling overwhelmed at all the option’s you can choose from. Having so many options is a good and bad thing. It is great to have so many selections, but it makes it that much longer and time consuming to weed through them all. There are few things that you can do to help narrow your choices.

1.     Take the time to learn your child’s learning style.

2.     Decide if you are going to want a Christian or a secular homeschool curriculum.

3.     Do you want a boxed style curriculum or do you want to piece it together yourself.

4.     Do you want to use an online homeschool curriculum or text/work book style?

5.     And of course know your budget!

 

 

Until Next Time…

Happy June!

 

Wow, it is June! Am I the only one feeling like this year is passing by a bit too quickly? Feels like spring just began and now summer is almost here. Of course, the nice warm weather is always welcomed. Kids are already asking when we will be hitting the beaches ;)

In home-schooling news, I am taking advantage of the month of June by having my oldest practice her essay writing. She will be creating a story that takes places during this month, that is the only requirement; she is free to include anything else as part of her story.

For those of you who are new to my blog and may be wondering, "home-schooling in June?!", we our a home-schooling year-round family. So, for us any day in June, July, and/or August, is just another home-school day ;)

                                                                       Until Next Time…

Developing a Love of Reading, Starts with Finding the Right Book!

If you are lucky, your child will develop a love of reading from the start. If they don't, then it may make it harder for you, to find books that they will enjoy or at least read. Personally, I like to enlist my fellow homeschoolers to help me find books for my kiddos. Thankfully, we live in the age of the Internet, so I can easily find homeschool book reviews to help me pick out new book selections.
If you are anything like me, then you do not like to pay more than you have to, for your books. Luckily, there are many places you can find the books you are looking for, at a discount or even free. First, try your local library. Depending on the size of your library, you may be surprised how many titles they will have, that you are looking for. If you prefer to buy, amazon.com is a great site. You can also get many books for free or at a discount through Kindle, and other e-book sites. Sometimes getting your child to develop a love of reading , is just finding them the right book (;


Until Next Time...

May is National Inventors Month

The time we live in is amazing! We live in such a technology advanced world. It is so interesting to think what the world was like at different times, compared to now; from medicine, clothing, electrical power and energy, the world has defiantly changed dramatically.


With May being National Inventors Month, we have been learning this week about some of the more famous inventors throughout history. We have also been discussing what inventions we are most grateful for. TV, Video Games, and the Telephone were on my children's lists, that for sure. It has also been fun to hear the kids imagine what life would be like with out their TV, or video games, and telephone. It was even more fun to let them imagine all the things their kids or grandkids would have, that they don't today.

 The truth is, the world is changing everyday, who knows what it will be like tomorrow (;

                                                         Until Next Time...

Planning Ahead For Your Next Homeschool Year!

Summer time is almost hear and that means fun in the sun and also time spent planning the next new school year. If you are new to homeschooling, then you maybe feeling a bit overwhelmed trying to put everything together. Here are a few resources to check out, to help you plan your next homeschool year!



1. Phonics Curriculum

2, Printable Worksheets

3. Art Curriculum

4. Music Games

5. Curriculum for Science

6. Social Studies Games

7. Spelling Curriculum

8. Middle School Writing

9. Literature for Homeschoolers

10. Personal Finance High School Course




                                                                Until Next Time...






  A personal finance high school course

We Home-School Year-Round, Do You?

For those of you who stick with a traditional school calendar year, the school year is drawing to a close and summer vacation is almost here for you. For those like myself, who home-school year-round, you are just getting started good!

Currently, my youngest has finished up his Kindergarten year and is now starting 1^st grade. He is doing very well in math, already subtracting single digits and adding double digits, as well as adding money. Even though we are still reviewing his sounds, he is also starting to work on sight words; or as they are also called,” dolch words”. (Dolch words do not follow the basic phonics principle, which means they cannot be sounded out.)

My oldest is doing very well in her reading. She amazes me every day how she went from a struggling late reader, to such a book worm. She is a bit behind in her math, but I have no doubt she will catch up over the summer months. (I believe in allowing children to learn at their own pace. It isn’t about how fast they learn, but that they do LEARN. ) In science and history, she is beyond her years. I think her love of reading and her interest in watching documentaries has help with this.

Are you a year-round home-schooler? Or do you follow a typical school calendar year? Please take a moment and share how you home-school J

 Until Next Time…

Contextual Clues

I don't know about you, but my kids are sooooooo ready for Summer! They keep asking me, over and over, when we will make it to the beach or at least to the local pool. Of course, we need at least a few more weeks, but it isn't easy telling them that, lol ;)






In Our Home-Schooling News:
It is always interesting, when you are teaching something new to your children. They either get it or they need a bit more time, but in the end, when they smile with pride, it is all worth it :)

                                                This past week, we have been learning

 

 

FYI, for those looking for resources to help teach contextual clues  ~>The "WhichWord Sentences?" game from SpellingCity.com is a great activity to practice using context clues to identify spelling and vocabulary words.

Until Next Time...