My Homeschool Mom Prayers Have Been Answered!

My homeschool mom prayers have been answered! Although notebooking is one of our favorite ways to learn, printing out all those pages is not exactly my favorite pastime, especially considering the horrible luck I’ve had with printers.

(This is a sponsored post. I was not required to share a positive review.)

I am so thankful to Family Nest Printing at https://familynestprinting.com/ for giving me the opportunity to review their service. Use the code noplacelikehome for 10% off of your order from now through August, 19, 2020! Trust me, you won’t be sorry.

Advertisement

A Must-Follow Reading Plan for Every New Homeschool Parent

I’ve been thinking. If there was one thing I could change about the beginning of our homeschool journey…. okay… strike that. (Because, unfortunately, there’s way more than one thing I’d change.) Okay, let’s rephrase that… one of the things I wish I had done as a new homeschool parent was to take the time to read.

Seems simple enough, right? So simple, in fact, that you may be wondering why I now feel it would have been so important for me then.

I’m going to tell you why. 

7 Ways to Use YouTube in Your Homeschool

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I have a love/hate relationship with technology.

As much as I would love to time travel back to the pioneer days, I also love the fact that we have so much information right at our fingertips.

Take YouTube for example.

Although, admittedly, this social media platform is filled with more than its share of dumbed down and downright inappropriate videos, with a bit of pre-screening and supervision, this website can be one of the most valuable resources you’ll ever use in your homeschool.

And it’s free.

As a mom of 11, homeschooling frugally is a must for me, and I know I’m not alone, so today, I’m going to share with you… 

Our 2018/2019 Relaxed Homeschool Curriculum for 5th, 6th, and 7th Grade

Another week has rolled by, and I’m keeping my promise to share next year’s relaxed homeschool curriculum for 5th, 6th, and 7th grade, aka “the middles.”

Last week when I shared our curriculum choices for my littles, I explained the fact that our homeschool philosophy is pretty much, “The less textbooks, the better.” Nowhere does this hold true as much as it does with my middles because next year, in fact, they will be using no textbooks at all. None. Not even a workbook. 

How to Get Reluctant Writers to Write with Video Presentations

As a writer, one of the biggest challenges for me is having some children who, unfortunately, don’t share a love of writing with me.

I’m going to be honest here. I’ve really had a bit of difficulty coming to terms with this, and the result has been that I haven’t always been able to come up with fruitful solutions to counteract this problem.

Although notebooking has been such a blessing to our homeschool, every now and then there are still times when I can see that my reluctant writers need to do something different for a change. It really is true that you can have too much of a good thing. 

Five Great Homeschool Resources and a Giveaway

Disclaimer: This post contains an affiliate link. See my disclosure policy.

I always get so excited when talking about homeschooling resources. They can come in so many different forms, but they all have one thing in common-inspiration. Today I’ve compiled a list of five amazing tools to add excitement and encouragement to your homeschool. The great thing about these is that they can all be applied to any homeschooling style with the proper tweaking. And here’s the good part: stick around until the end for a giveaway!! Now, on to the list!

1. Konos Character Curriculum– This is an excellent unit study that is made to last approximately two years. It covers grades K-8 and it’s cross-curricular- it covers everything. Before unschooling, this was our main curriculum, and even now we use it when we’re looking for great activities. Some activities we’ve done through Konos are:
-We had a Medieval Feast in which the kids prepared food from that era and served it to guests who
ate out of trenchers with their hands. They were each assigned two roles- one as a server and one
as an entertainer. Some examples are: carver, page, jester, etc.

-We made an ear tunnel. We used things from around the house to build a model of the ear canal and
inner ear. The kids got to crawl through it and name the parts of the ear as they went along.

-We dissected a cow eyeball. Okay, my husband took the lead on that because I was really
grossed out by it…but the kids loved it!

2.Five in a Row-This brings back so many memories. This is the curriculum we used our very first year of homeschooling. I actually borrowed it from a friend because when I decided to pull the kids out of school, I had absolutely nothing curriculum-wise. The very first book we covered was The Story About Ping. I still remember having them draw and count little ducks, since the story takes place in China;then, we made chicken fried rice for lunch. This was also the year we also fell in love with such books as The Story of Ferdinand and Cranberry Thanksgiving. Those are books we still check out from the library to this day.

3.Learning All the Time, by John Holt, isn’t a curriculum, but it is a great read on the process of how children learn things. This book was a major deciding factor in my decision to unschool, and I enjoyed it so much that I’ve read it several times.

4.The Homeschooling Handbook is also not curriculum but is an excellent resource not only for prospective and new homeschoolers, but also for homeschooling veterans. There’s such a vast array of information in this book- from learning styles and homeschooling methods to record keeping and learning resources. This is another book in my house that’s quite dog-eared.

5.I am so excited for this last one. This Spring, an up-and-coming magazine, home/school/life, is being released. This is going to be a treasure trove of information. Unlike many other homeschool magazines, this will have something for everyone-and I mean everyone. It will be chock full of hands-on project ideas, unit studies,seasonal activities, field trip ideas and travel advice, and-my favorite part- a different homeschooling family will be featured in every issue. I don’t know about you, but I love to see how other homeschoolers do things. These little glimpses into other homes have actually ignited a lot of our homeschool philosophies we’ve implemented into our home. It will be available in digital format for all you techies and print format for all you traditionalists.

And now for the good part…home/school/life is offering a free one-year digital subscription to one of my readers. All you have to do is subscribe to my blog and leave a comment saying that you did so! The lucky winner will be randomly selected on March 19! The contest ends at 9pm EST the day the winner is chosen. Best wishes to you all!

Linking up with

Think Tank Thursday

Hope in Every Season