Did you know that you don't have to have your child do every single math problem in a lesson? They can do just the odd numbered problems or just the even numbered ones sometimes. It's true that some students need a lot of repetition and practice whereas some children will curl up and die if they have to keep doing problems when they have already shown mastery. Skip problems. Skip whole lessons, if needed. It's O.K. Did you know that instead of always having your child write o

If you've seen the 2005 movie starring Emma Thompson, then will may remember Nanny McPhee's criteria when she first arrives at the home of Colin Firth's character, Mr. Brown. His children are out of control and she is there to help. She asks him if his children go to bed when they are told, do they say please and thank you, and very simple things like that. Looking at those seven out-of-control children, the viewer is left wondering why she would begin with such simple things

It might help to start thinking about the #youngeryears by discussing a few schools of thought. Oh come on, Brenda, I just want you to tell me how to homeschool my preschool or Pre-K kid! I don't want to talk about educational philosophy! I get it. I promise the fun stuff is coming. To keep this really simple, I'll talk about only the two ends of the spectrum and you can use your imagination to fill in the middle parts. Tiny School On the one hand are those who favor what I w

Or Kindergarten? Why yes, you can! In fact, these years are such a wonderful time to begin homeschooling because you can establish good habits in your younger children that will serve as great helps when they are older. Before we talk about that though, let's look at your state laws. Remember, homeschooling is legal in all 50 states, but each state has it's own set of regulations homeschool families must follow. For the purpose of this post, I am talking about those years bef

For the 2020-2021 school year, I will have a 3rd grader and a 10th grader. (We have a college student too but I'm not her teacher anymore!) Here are our curriculum choices for the year: Language Arts/English/Writing/Spelling/Grammar/Art/Geography Yes, we really will cover all of that in one, fell swoop with The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts. This will be our third year using TGTB and we haven't looked back. I very much wish this curriculum had been around for my oldest

Do you have a child who always has a book in their hand? Have you ever punished them by taking a book away? Our oldest daughter read constantly when she was young. We had to tell her "no books at the table" during meals. We had to remind her "lights out" at bedtime because she would stay up way too late reading just one more chapter. Maybe your son or daughter isn't that crazy about books, but learns well through reading nonetheless? A literature-based curriculum might be jus

There are a myriad of reasons for homeschooling. Today I’m going to list some for you to think about. Maybe you’ll find some you agree with. Perhaps you'll see some reasons you never thought of. Maybe you’ll think they are all bad reasons. That’s OK, as long as you are solid on your choice. My child is gifted and the school isn’t challenging him enough. My child has special needs and the school isn’t meeting them properly. My child has health issues and needs care at home. My