5 Ways Unit Studies Saved Our Homeschool

Once upon a time, I quit homeschooling and sent my kids back to school.

Yes, really.

It’s not something I’m proud of, but I’ve come to realize that that dark experience is what gave me the courage to be as – ahem – outspoken about homeschooling and the public education system as I am.

While there were many things that gave me the courage and confidence to take them back out again after two years to begin our homeschool anew, today I’m going to focus on one thing that has kept us grounded:

Advertisements

Don’t Make This Mistake When Homeschooling High School

Homeschooling high school is a scary thing. Believe me, I get it.  I’m going to cut to the chase today because I need to address someting that I see happening quite often. You see, this very fear is what I honestly believe is at the root of a mistake many homeschooling parents make once their kids reach those last four years of “school.”

It’s a mistake that many people wouldn’t even consider to be a problem in the first place, and therein lies the problem. 

How to Homeschool with Living Books

I love homeschooling. And I love books, so what better than to combine the two?

Now I’m not talking textbooks here – no thank you! As a homeschool mom, it is extremely important to me that my kids are learning in a way that is interesting and engaging, and, unfortunately, textbooks just don’t fit those criteria in my humble opinion. 

5 Common Reading Mistakes Made by Homeschool Moms

I love books. Are you with me? Chances are, if you’re a homeschool mom, books are as much a treasure to you as they are to me. Let’s face it. When a child learns to read, it opens up an entire world of knowledge to them.

Today I’m going to help you not to sabotage that. 🙂

One of the hardest things for us homeschool moms is to realize that you simply don’t have to replicate school in order to give your children a quality education. Unfortunately, that mentality is often all-encompassing and can potentially turn a child’s love for reading into a loathing of reading.

Take it from me. I’ve been there. 

Stop Making This Mistake in Your Homeschool!

When it comes to homeschooling, no family has the perfect method. No matter who it is, it all comes down to trial and error.

Take our family for example – particularly me as the facilitator. I’ve made a lot of  mistakes. As much as I wish many of those mistakes wouldn’t have happened, I have been able to learn so many things I never would have realized had we “done it right” in the first place.

Today I’m going to share with you one of the biggest mistakes you can make in your homeschool, and the reason I can share this with you is because I learned from experience.

That’s the beauty of this lifestyle. You get lots of do-overs.

Enjoy!

 

Homeschooling and education are my passion. It is my fervent hope to one day devote more time to creating content for you. If you’re interested in helping to make this a reality, consider supporting me on Patreon.

Thank you so much. I appreciate each and every one of you!

A Homeschool Minute with the Middles IRL (and an update on my YouTube channel!)

For the past several months, I have been contemplating making a few changes to my YouTube channel. Up until this point, it has been mainly comprised of homeschooling tips, curriculum reviews, and my famous rants about the public education system. 😉

Recent developments, however, have convinced me that it’s time for something new. Find out what that is, plus, get a one-minute sneak peek into our homeschool in today’s video.

 

 

Notebooking 101: Notebooking Through Textbooks

What’s your homeschool kryptonite? You know. That one thing that kind of sucks the joy out of educating your kids at home.

If there’s one homeschooling resource I tend to shy away from, it’s textbooks. While I do admit that many of them carry helpful information, to me, they just aren’t interesting. When you’re a huge proponent of interest-led learning, that’s a big turn off.

However… 

Helping Your Teen Find Balance Between Work and Homeschool

Homeschooling through high school can seem like a pretty intimidating prospect. Add in a homeschooled teen with a job, and you’re opening a whole other can of worms.

Fear not!

I’m going to offer you a bit of advice today that goes against the grain of your typical homeschooling circles. 

Notebooking 101: Unit Study Notebooking

As a busy homeschool mom, I have made it my mission to find things that will make our lives as easy possible.

Did you ever notice how seamlessly some things in life fit together?

• peanut butter and jelly
• ketchup and mustard
• toast and tea
• unit studies and notebooking

Did you catch that last one?? When we first began our notebooking journey, I never would have thought to link unit studies and notebooking together. After all, notebooking is about writing, isn’t it?

Well, yes and no. 

Notebooking 101: Copywork FAQs

Of all the types of notebooking techniques out there, copywork is, by far, the easiest one to explain how to do.

The problem is, it’s the why that seems to take the most time to describe.

Because of that, I decided to stray a bit from my most recent Notebooking 101 format, which consisted simply of clarifying how to get started. Instead, today I’ll be tackling some Copywork FAQs, such as:

• What is copywork?
• When should we start doing copywork?
• Why should we do copywork?
• How do you even do copywork?

Shall we begin?