I know more about ISBN numbers than I ever wanted to now. Children's books must be laid out in multiples of four. Your pages must be one of those magical numbers. You must adjust accordingly. What exactly is expected of a copyright page is debatable. There are a LOT of fonts in this world. Doing all this for the first time is hard. We are just figuring it out as we go, and watching some great YouTube videos. No kidding. I am putting the SELF in self-publishing. Some days I wo

It's an old joke amongst homeschoolers: They never get a snow day. If the weather is bad, that's practically IDEAL homeschool weather. Look kids, you can't go outside, might as well get some work done. What homeschoolers do get is sunny days! We are much more likely to take off when the weather is pretty and we can enjoy the great outdoors. But the weather does affect homeschool. Actually, it's something you need to learn to work around. In our former life, our oldest daughte

When we first began our homeschooling journey, we were invited to a book club for my older daughter, who was about 9 at the time. That book club lasted until she had outgrown it, and her little sister took over as the participant, and then also outgrew it. We read SO many good books in that book club, each time culminating in a day of activities and fun centered around the book's theme. Oftentimes my friend who hosted the book club would plan a book based on the fact that th

Look, I'm used to multi-tasking. I have been at this mothering gig for nearly 22 years and I've been homeschooling for 14 years. I can fill multiple roles at once--no problem. So becoming a children's book author means that I will also become a children's book editor. I'll be doing the layout, the font, the arranging. My amazing illustrator already did some layout for me naturally with the illustrations, but there is still more to do. Why will I be doing all of this? This is

It seems there are 2 main schools of thought on summer: 1. Let them be bored. 2. Fill the days up with good things. At the extreme, the #1 crowd may be seen letting their kids sleep in as long as they want, playing video games until their eyes gloss over, and plan nothing for them to do. Nostalgically, these parents say, "I was allowed to be bored in the summers and those were some of my best days! They'll have plenty of time to be busy when they grow up." At the other extrem

It can be hard to imagine teaching all of your children at one time if there is a spread in their ages, but it can be done. If your students are all within a couple of years of each other, it's likely you can pretty much lump everyone into the same grade level, perhaps having everyone on different math or reading levels. There are many subjects, such as history and science, that can be done together to save time and materials. At one point in our homeschooling journey, I had

Are you familiar with the term "co-op"? It's short for cooperative and it can have different meanings. For example, farmers can have a co-op where they share machinery, seeds, or fertilizer. Or, they can have a farming cooperative where they share the burden of marketing, distribution, and transportation of their goods. Farming is not the only area where cooperatives are used. It is any group of people who get together to meet a need and everyone is in some way invested in th

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

The first sick day we need to discuss is what happens when you, the homeschool teacher, are sick. You may have thought ahead enough to realize that there are no substitute teachers to call in homeschool. This can pose a problem. But with a little planning ahead, these days can go much more smoothly. (I am talking about regular illnesses, not COVID-19, which would call for other precautions to be taken.) When a Parent is the Patient When Mom (or whoever the main teacher is) ge

I'll be your coach through all this getting started on homeschooling thing, but you will need a team. You need people who will support you and you need people who are playing the same game as you, so to speak. Support Hopefully, you have family around you who can be your support. I know some people don't live near enough to their family. The mom of a friend of mine virtually teaches her grandsons certain subjects. Technology can be a great thing. If your family does live near

I'd like to share some curriculum choices we have used in past years, but no longer use. I have included my memories of what I liked or concerns I had. These are just my opinions and you could easily find a plethora of differing opinions. That's the beauty of it---we all get to choose what is best for our families and even what is best for each individual child. Part of the reason we no longer use some of these items is because they worked well for my oldest daughter (who has

Really? You can't possibly need to grade anything yet. Just kidding--this section is coming soon! Check back for great tips on grading. #grading #homeschooling

So you've decided to homeschool. You've checked your state laws. You've decided on what subjects you need to include. You've even carved out a space in your home to do this in. Hopefully, I've quieted some of your worries. You may have even thought over your school calendar and schedule a bit. But WHAT will you teach with? Friend, you need curricula! Curriculum--the courses offered by an educational institution. (Merriam-Webster) It's not enough to know that you need to teach