One Of Those Days As a Homeschooler, we can build unrealistic expectations about our kids and school.We are home, loving on our kids all day so they should be perfect students right? When you’re done laughing, I’ll continue… I have 5 boys. Been homeschoolin’ 15 years. I teach workshops, blog about homeschooling, and create learning packed for others to teach their kids. I never have bad days. My kids are perfect. Not.Today, was one of those days. We had just come out of a long weekend and on of the kids simply could not get his attitude together. Every single activity and lesson took hours rather than minutes.I am not proud of how frustrated I became.The entire was a total struggle. In the end, grumpy child overcame his attitude and completed his last lesson just as Daddy was walking in the door after work. It was a long day. We started at 8:30. Ended at 5:30. (Actually another child, our 11th grader is still working as I write this…) I have been sitting here reflecting on the day.Why was it so hard?What could I have done differently to assist grumpy child so that negativity would not have claimed his sweet heart all day long?Should I have called it a day early and then started over tomorrow? Truth is, I do not know. I am really cranking up the level of schoolwork the boys are completing this year.We have exciting ground to cover together. Since there are 3 kids doing the same lessons, I honestly cannot afford to skip a day just because someone does not feel like working. What about the kids who had a great attitude? They would be frustrated the next day while they wait for the other to catch up. All i know is that today, I needed to win the battle. Child does not want to work… Tough cookies.Work anyway.Harsh? I don’t think so. After 15 years, I have learned to pick my battles. I could clearly see that today’s bad attitude could not be rewarded with time off to play. While it was painful, making him press through until he was done was the right thing to do; hard, but right. So, I know I am not the only Homeschooler that has “hard days”.How do you handle days when your kids are off balance and grumpy, grumpy, grumpy? [leadpages_leadbox leadbox_id=1411c8346639c5] [/leadpages_leadbox]
Experince First: Marine Biology Experience First: Marine Biology is a post from Bekki @ A Better Way to Homeschool where we learn to train our children to become lifelong learners. If you have enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Bekki on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Google+! I am not excited about marine biology. The thought of teaching about bio-luminescence and phytoplankton simply do not cross my mind during the school year. So what if I have a Marine Biologist hiding inside one of my children? This is a prime example of experience first. You know, get up to your elbows in a subject first, then teach about it later… Our second son worked all spring and summer to pay his own way on a Tall Ship adventure. He was excited to learn to sail, kayak, and snorkel. He just returned this past weekend with a passion to learn all about marine biology. Why? He studied different phytoplankton under a microscope. He Observed an octopus in the ships aquarium. He snorkeled among our state fish (the garibaldi). Finally, he swam with baby seal lions. Actually, one jumped right onto his back while he was on his boogie board: How cool is that? Should it surprise me that he now wants to study marine biology? Of course not! He was able to experience the wonder of the ocean before I ever had him prepare a 5 paragraph essay on the wide varieties of ocean creatures. Take your children out into this amazing world. Let them get wet, muddy, and wonderfully dirty. Explore until you find what makes their heart skip a beat, then dive into the books to learn more. You will be thrilled with the “education” you are delivering to your children.
Customizing Homeschool I love creating personalized plans and activities for my kids. Actually, it is not only a passion of mine, but almost an obsession. I remember being about 6 or 7 years old and creating learning packets for my younger sisters. Fast forward almost 40 years and I am still making packets. And I LOVE every single minute of it! Every month or so, I give my readers here free copies of some of the activity packs that I have created. I am preparing a free bundle of goodies this week, so NOW is the perfect time subscribe. There will be something for kids of all ages in this “insiders gift set”. I want to invite you to join in the fun! It only takes a minute… Subscribe to this blog! Subscribe here! I have special tips and freebies for my readers!!! I will not spam you. You will simply get an email whenever I have a few minutes to share valuable homeschooling tips and encouragement. Visit my Store(click here) and Follow me (you will find the “follow me” right under my name at the top of the page. Why? I make new learning packets all the time. You will find something that helps you teach your children here! (if you have an idea of what you need, but cannot find it, let me know. I may be able to make you a customized activity pack. Thank you for subscribing and following me! Be sure to email me if you have an idea that you would like to see turned into a cute learning activity pack!
Organizing, Scheduling, and Managing Multiple Grades By the second day of school I was ready to pull my hair out. I was running ragged between our four homeschoolers. Tutoring the 11th grader Teaching the 4th grader Guiding the 6th grader Mentoring, teaching, and coaching the 7th grader By 4:00 in the afternoon I was exhausted and I looked at the day and realized we did not get through half of what I had planned in my head. That was the problem. All four kids schedules were in my head. They had no clue what to do, so whenever I became distracted, so did they. Enter Wonderful Husband. He reminded me that when our oldest (now 21 and in college) was in 7th grade we helped him create a planner. Hubby encouraged me to do the same for the boys. The result? After a few hours of planning, I had all four boys’ school-work mapped out for a few weeks. I created personal calendars for each student and organzied binders for each student. Oh my goodness. What a difference! I stay about 2 weeks ahead of the boys in planning, so there are no, “What ARE we supposed to do today” moments. We are 4 weeks into school, and all of the boys, event he 4th grader get up and pull out their planners and get to work each day before breakfast. The Planner: Gives them control over their day. More often than not, the youngest is working before 7am so he can be done with school early. Answers the question, “I am done, what should I do next?” Brings me peace of mind! Yes, it takes me a chunk of time to out lessons in advance and to schedule their weeks. But it saves so much time during the school day. My next goal is to teach the boys how to plan out their own weeks, but that will take some serious mentoring! By the time they are in the 10th grade they need to be proficient in planning their own days. How about you? How do you help your days run more smoothly? Subscribe here! I have special tips and freebies for my readers!!!
Math Worksheets, and Activity Packs Ready to Go! I created some new activity packs for you and your kiddos! Click on the images and you will be brought right to my store. Fun packet to help celebrate your child’s birthday. Includes wearable button, table/desk sign, paparazzi game, and more. If you mix food into any subject, it just tastes better. Yes, even math! Here is a daily or weekly worksheet to help your child practice all those different forms of a number: standard form, expanded form, word form, etc. I have included worksheets to cover fall, thanksgiving, winter, valentines, and St.Patrick’s day. Want to watch a quick overview? Visit my YouTube channel
Books for Homeschooling: Adding Picture Books to Your Homeschooling One of the beautiful things about homeschooling is that we do not have to reproduce a classroom environment around our kitchen table. Aren’t you glad? While I was quick to throw out many “classroom-y” ideas and practices in my first few years of homeschooling, I rediscovered a classroom secret that works like magic at home… Books. Picture books. Many homeschoolers take advantage of their local libraries and Amazon, but how do we present those books to our children? The Seed Was Planted One of my homeschooling mentors mentioned how important it was to surround our children with picture books. Forget the thought that picture books are for preschoolers. Simply select books that are beautifully written and illustrated and cover topics that your children are learning about in history. So, I took my 15 library books and out them all over the window sills in my dining room (where we “do school”). Result: All of the boys were drawn to the books. (All. Even the high schooler!) During breakfast, during snack, during break/free time they would wander over and grab a book to browse. There was no agenda; just enjoy the books. We explored the books, talked about the pictures, and of course read the stories! Lesson learned. As a classroom teacher, I guess I would have collected a book-set themed for what we are studying in history or science. I would have the books conveniently displayed all over the room and in the reading center. I suggest to you, that as homeschoolers we need to find ways to display these books to our children as well. On the kitchen table On the coffee table On the window sills Along our white boards On shelves. Displayed like they would be at a book store. If you have matching toys, stuffed animals or knick-knacks then display them with the books! We need to simply put together a history or science themed collections and then place them before our kids. I personally use Amazon to find the books I want to put in front of our boys, then order them from our library. I always have 10-30 books checked out during the school year! Challenge: Pull 3-10 books from your shelves or the library. Place them in a display-like fashion. Set no agenda. In fact, you ignore them. Observe your kids. I bet you will be as amazed as I was to see the difference it makes! Be sure to comment below and share what works for you! If you need some book suggestions, just let me know. I would be glad to help.
Color Recognition and Matching Game for Pre-K Are you teaching your little ones their colors? Check out my new color recognition game! You can get your copy here at my store.
Homeschool Freebie!: Notebooking Pages and Bible Road Trip GiveawayFree Samples Too!! Another Great Give-away!!! Enter right now for your chance to win by clicking on this image. Good Luck! (Enter between June 16-June 27, 2014) What is Notebooking? Notebooking templates Grab some free notebooking resources before you leave! Click on the smaller image to get your free resources!
4 Homeschool Classifieds Sites: Great Free and Discounted Homeschool Curriculum Sources Have you begun looking for Homeschool Curriculum yet? Many homeschooling families get “stuck” when choosing materials to use when educating their children. While I believe homeschooling should focus on educational goals rather than a list of topics to cover, we all must choose to give our children access to learning materials. I do not know about you, but I do not like to pay anything full price for anything. This includes homeschool teaching supplies and materials. I have pulled together a list of a few great resources for you to look through. Be sure to bookmark this page and come back and comment on great deals you find! Caution: Before you begin wandering through the virtual aisle of the Internet trying to decide between this math curriculum and this English program, make sure the “teachers” in your home are in unison about your homeschooling goals. If you do not have a target, you will not hit it. Take a moment to establish your core homeschooling goal list. 4 Homeschool Classified Websites: 1. Homeschool Classifieds 2. Homeschool Buyers Co-op “The World’s Largest Buyers Club for Homeschoolers!” 3. Second Harvest Curriculum You can buy or sell used homeschool curriculum here 4. Curriculum Share Looking for free curriculum? This site links you with other homeschoolers who are willing to share their curriculum. You just pay shipping and handling! Do have a great resource for curriculum? Please share in the comments below! Popular Articles: Hindsight: 14 Years of Homeschooling Wisdom Homeschooling Step 2: Establish Your Goals How Do I Homeschool?
Summer Boredom Buster Freebie Hi there! Summer and Boredom go hand in hand. While kids need to experience boredom often to unlock creativity, there are moments that you will need to pull an activity out of your hat to help them through their day. Here is a freebie for you. Enjoy! Summer Boredom Buster Chart and Coupons How do you deal with Summer Boredom with your kids? My thoughts on boredom and creativity. (Cute graphics by, apple tree learning) Download your FREE “Creativity and Boredom” {Printable}
Abstinence Sex Education-Purity, Sex, and Waiting!! https://abetterwaytohomeschool.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/sex-ed.mp4 The video above shows you how to use this puzzle approach. You can also see the same video on Youtube. A Sweet and Simple way to Talk to Your Kids about Purity, Sex, and Waiting!! The Lord gave me this idea about 15 years ago while teaching a group of 5th graders. My dilemma: How do you teach giggly, squirmy, and hormonal kids that God has a beautiful design and plan for them as it relates to sex? Just the mention of anything intimate sends kids into a panic. God’s Solution: Puzzles! I created this simple puzzle to explain God’s design for sex and marriage to my own children. All five of our sons have been taught about intimacy and marriage this way. Get your copy here It’s also included in the Bible Studies for Kids BUNDLE
Father’s Day Gift Ideas Father’s Day is just around the corner. Here are a few unique Father’s Day Gift Ideas: This post contains my referral link which helps support the work of this site. Here’s my full disclosure policy. USB Money Clip from Gifts.com Just Me and My Dad by Mercer Mayer Nothing Brings children confidence more than knowing mom and dad love each other! Father’s Day Coupons **FREE**by Victoria Leon! Samsung Fitness Tracker Father’s Day Crafts from My Delicious Abiguity Penny Frame from Ziggity Zoom
Thinking Out of the Box Teaching our kids to identify problems is great. Teaching them to think out of the box to solve problems is another thing. In our home, we are working on problem solving. 1. Identify a real need: Like improving our country’s energy resources. 2. Study and Brainstorm possible solutions: For instance, finding a way to produce better solar energy producers. 3. Critique plan: Does simply creating solar fields solve the problem? Is there a better way? Now, before you think that I am more intelligent than I am let me explain. I am not an “out of the box thinker”. I have to stretch to find ways to inspire my boys to think in this capacity. One of the ways I find creative conversation starters is finding unique and amazing videos about problems and solutions and then create a teaching environment. Step one. Find an inspirational image, video or product. Step Two. Using a probing question approach, set kids up to develop their own solutions to a true real life situation or need. Look again at these prompts. 1. Identify a real need: How can we improve our country’s energy resources? 2. Study and Brainstorm possible solutions: What about solar energy? Can we look for an out of the box solution to solve our energy needs? 3. Critique plan: Does simply creating solar fields solve the problem? Is there a better way? Step three. After the kids have come up with their best ideas, inspire them further by sharing the video clip you found here. Step four. After seeing the video (or image), can you think of a better solution? We use fun templates to record our ideas. Here are some free notebooking resources. http://notebookingpages.com/free-resource-center Have fun helping your kids become “out of the box” thinkers!
How to Organize Notebooking Templates on Your Computer This post contains my referral link which helps support the work of this site. Here’s my full disclosure policy. You have embraced the idea of teaching your children to journal by using notebooking templates. You have downloaded hundreds if not thousands of cute, interesting, and important files for them to use during their study and personal learning time. But now what? Without proper organization, those amazing templates you have purchased and downloaded for your children to use for their schoolwork will be locked and unused on your computer. Even worse, without a plan for organization you will have spent good money only to use up space on your harddrive. You need a plan to organize your notebooking templates! Create a master file folder on your computer In order to locate your notebooking templates easily, it would be wise for you to create a master file to store all of your files. A good master file name would be “Notebooking Templates for School”. I personally keep this folder on my desktop screen. Why? If I neatly tuck this file in my directory list I tend to forget it it there. If it is right on my desktop screen then I am reminded often that there are cute and interesting templates for the kids to use. Create a sub folder for each category as you collect and create new templates. Under your master file folder, you will want to create category folders that make it easy for you to find any template you need. I highly suggest you create lists by subject: Copywork History Science Bible Character Study Famous People Nature Animals ABC Geography etc Depending on how organized your like your files, you can choose to go one step further and add files under each of these categories. For instance under the history folder you can create files for ancient history, medieval history, modern history, the civil war, etc. Create files as you go. If you are new to notebooking, you will quickly discover that there are thousands of templates available for you to introduce to your children. An easy approach to this kind of journaling is to consider what subject you are studying together in history (for example) and to acquire a handful of templates for your student to choose from as they are learning. Organize these files as you go. With a little bit of time and effort you can ensure that you will be able to take advantage of all the free templates and great deals that you stumble upon as you search for school supplies and curriculum. With a good system of organization, you will be able to find those resources when your student is ready to use them!
How to Organize a Notebooking Station This post contains my referral link which helps support the work of this site. Here’s my full disclosure policy. How to Organize a Notebooking Station Notebooking is the practice of journaling while you learn using pictures and words. It is fancy journalling. This is an easy and engaging way to teach any subject and works extremely well in the homeschool environment. Beautiful templates, coloring tools, and a learning environment provide learners with everything they need to notebook successfully. There are two reasons children thrive in a notebooking learning environment The have ownership of their work. They are designing and scripting their own learning. Quality templates add value into their work. The easy to manage spaces make journaling less intimidating. Organizing a Notebooking Station Find a wide assortment of notebooking templates. You can create them yourself, or download templates from thousands of available online notebooking templates. Organize your templates into files or notebooks. If you are using the traditional hanging file folder system, create folders for your templates to make them easy to locate. Some example categories would be: blank templates, countries, ancient history, floral, insects, character studies, and holidays. There are many many more categories. Simply add new templates into new folders as they are acquired. If you chose to organize your templates into notebooks, you may want to fill a three ring binder with plastic page holders. Print of masters of each template for your child and use file dividers to organize by topic. Organize your art supplies. Create and area, bin, or holder to give your child easy access to scissors, glue, crayons, colored pencils, and markers. Replenish them a few times year to keep the supplies fresh! Create a Journal for each child’s completed notebooking pages. Your children will be very proud of their notebooking pages when they are complete. Validate their hard work by providing them a place to store them safely. A three ring notebook with plastic page protectors works beautifully. At the end of the school year, or when they have collected quite a collection of pages on a particular topic, you can even have the pages bound at your local office supply. Notebooking journals are a beautiful keepsake and even make great gifts or grandparents! Taking the time to organize your child’s notebooking templates, journal, and supplies are essential. If you treat these supplies with respect, so will they. There is something intrinsically freeing about journalling about what you are learning. It is one of the best ways to document what you are learning. Your children will grow to love their journals. Even reluctant writers can grow by first using the pages as copywork, then word and phrase collectors, and finally documenting their learning. Notebooking is a fruitful resource and skill to add to any educational environment and works beautifully with homeschool learning.
Teaching the Pledge of Allegiance with Copywork I can feel Summer just around the corner. Sign up here to receive freebies, deals, and resources!! This post contains my referral link which helps support the work of this site. Here’s my full disclosure policy. This is my favorite homeschooling time of year! We loosen up and simply enjoy learning, how about you? Our oldest son turns 21 Memorial weekend. How the heck can I be old enough to have a 21 year old! In honor of the holiday’s coming up, we are doing a few Patriotic lessons. Today, we focused on the Pledge of Allegiance. There is a great set of Patriotic Templates here. I had the boys choose their favorite page for the day. I wrote the Pledge on our white board and we began copywork hour. I am always pleasantly surprised how much more care the boys take in doing any assignment when they get to choose a template that “tickles their fancy”. Munchkin here decided that today is the day that his copywork will be in cursive for the first time. Beautiful! We call this guy our gentle giant. He is huge for his age, and as a result his fine motor skills are still developing. Look at the concentration! Very Happy with his results! Our oldest musketeer loves to write in cursive… He is well pleased with the results We wrote the Pledge of Allegiance. Defined vocabulary: Pledge, allegiance, Republic, indivisible, Liberty and Justice. Researched flag etiquette. Did you know you can only fly an American flag at night if it is illuminated? Did you know you are never suppose to use our flag to advertise and product or service? We are going to be looking at Memorial Day and Independence Day next… Resources:Notebooking Template Pages
Boys, You are Stuck in an Elevator with an Elderly Woman Ask your boys: “You are Stuck in an Elevator with an Elderly Woman. A voice comes over the speaker saying they are fixing the problem, just be patient. After a few minutes, the elderly woman begins to get really tired. It is just you and her locked in the elevator, how can you help her?” Wait for them to answer.See if they can come up with a solution to the obvious problem. This woman needs to sit or she will be hurting. Praise them for coming up with a way to help her, then ask.“Could you do anything to help her that would require a real sacrifice on your part?” After they come up with another solution share this picture: What did this man do to help this grandma while they were stuck? Our world needs real life Knights in Shining armor like this nameless man in the elevator. Let’s make sure we point out true humility and service to our future men. What did your kids say?Two of my boys said they would help her sit on the floor.One said he would hold her up with his arm around her. All 3 thought this real life solution was awesome!Character does not just spontaneously happen, but it can be coached into existence! [leadpages_leadbox leadbox_id=140485d46639c5] [/leadpages_leadbox]
Dancing Popcorn Dancing Popcorn? We are embracing science experiments lately. Thank goodness for YouTube! This experiment is called: Dancing Popcorn Make it a full science experiment by downloading these resources… Read More »
Greek Art with Notebooking Pages Here is a quick glimpse at notebooking. We are studying Greek history at the moment. The boys each have their own segment of ancient Greek history to discover and share with one another. The youngest gets to share about Greek art. First we explored videos, images and books about Greek art. (We discovered that Greeks loved nakedness!) He chose a notebooking template that would allow him to highlight 3 different aspects of Greek Art. We always do internet work together, for safety and accountability. He found three images that represented the different aspects of art he enjoyed most. Print, cut, paste! Lastly, he dictated to me what he liked most about each image and we used those thoughts as copywork on the template lines. Voila! Notebooking. For this exercise, munchkin chose one of the free templates. Grab a few free samples here: http://notebookingpages.com/free-resource-center There are many great Greece templates included in the ancient history collection. Click here: ANCIENT TIMES SAMPLE Do not miss the notebooking anniversary sale!
Coordinate Plane Drawing: Superman Teaches Math Superman Teaches Math Teaching kids to graph on a coordinate plane can be challenging. x, y, z? We used to say “x, y, z” if someone forgot to zip-up their fly after using the restroom when I was in school. I never did quite understand graphing until recently. This was a fun activity for the boys to practice plotting points on a graph. I found this activity at MathClass.net. Click on the site to go right to the page. How have you reinforced coordinate plane graphing?