Learning about Life, Learning about Him, Teaching about Life, Teaching about Him
I don’t know about you, but as soon as a school year closes, I am hot on the hunt for new curriculum. Part of my process of choosing materials is to read and watch curriculum reviews. In particular, I enjoy watching the “curriculum hits and misses” videos on YouTube. I find it very helpful to find out what worked and didn’t work for others. With that, I figured I’d “throw my hat in the ring” and post my own 2022-2023 curriculum hits and misses post.
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Even though we homeschool, my kids through the years have participated in Valentine exchanges. It was easy to find Valentines when the kids were younger. They didn’t really care what the cards said (especially if they couldn’t read yet), as long as they received them and any accompanying treats. As my kids have gotten older, it’s become more difficult to find age-appropriate cards to exchange. For example, it would be a little awkward for my 13-year-old son to hand his buddy a card with a llama on it that read, “You’re Llamazing!” Since I needed some this year, I decided to make my own Valentines to use with dollar store items.
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This may certify me as crazy, but I always looked forward to the first day of school as a kid. I loved the newness of it all: new lunchbox, new outfit, new teacher, etc. Apparently I haven’t really grown out of the fondness for “newness” at the beginning of the year. When I decided that I wanted new forms to record grades, it led to the creation of nine new free printable homeschool planning forms.
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I always feel bad when I hear people talk about homeschooling high school with fear and dread. It is not uncommon to have people comment, “Well, we’re going to have to step it up now that my child is entering high school” followed by exclamations of nervousness and anxiety. If you are in that proverbial boat, be assured that planning for high school is actually quite simple.
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What is it about us as homeschooling moms that we’re itching to plan the next school year before we’re done with the current one? Maybe it’s the thought of a new year with new curriculum (and who doesn’t like new curriculum?). Whether or not you know it, as you plan for the next school season by choosing subjects to cover, you are creating a course of study.
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Are your kids like mine and can’t wait for the end of the school year? Or maybe it’s you that can’t wait, or a combination of the two. Depending on your schedule, you might take time off during the summer to plan for the next school year. This does not mean, however, that learning has to be put on pause. You can always fit in a little sneaky summer school.
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This year for our co-op, we are using movies to educate our kids. One week we watch a movie and the next week we analyze it. Recently the kids watched “Togo,” so I created this Free Togo Movie Study Guide to accompany it. You can watch the movie on Disney Plus.
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If there’s one positive thing about being locked down during a pandemic, it’s learning how easy it is to connect groups of people online. True, in the midst of things we may have grown a little weary of our various Zoom meetings (and perhaps still are). Still, none of us can deny how convenient Zoom meetings are for gathering people together. With that said, pandemic or not, here are 10 kids clubs to start on Zoom.
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Honestly, I never thought I would be posting a DIY project on my blog. After all, I consider myself to be a “DIY wannabe.” I even have a Pinterest board titled “DIY I might actually do.” With that said, I recently finished a simple project that I wanted to share as it yielded great results! So stay tuned to learn how to make incredibly easy DIY map frames.
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I just started my 19th year of homeschooling (with, dare I say, “only” 13 more to go). Take it from me when I say I am always on the lookout for ideas to make my life easier. I call them “sanity saving solutions.” Helping my kids to become more independent definitely falls into that category. In this post I have a super simple tool to share that will help with that goal. My homeschool sanity saving solution: the student planner.
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