What do you do in the Summer?

May 25, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Summer vacation may be here from the public or homeschools. What will you do be doing in the summer?

I love it when summer finally arrives after the cold winters. We look forward to spending  a lot of time outside.

I love the possibilities that open up once summer hits.

You can send your children to summer camp or for a Christian option vacation bible school (vbs). This gives you and your children a break and allows them to meet some new friends. This can open them up to new experiences. If it doesn’t work out, it’s only for a week. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Homeschool Ideas

Delight Directed Teaching – Science

March 11, 2013 by

If you’ve read my blog, you know of my love for science. It’s the subject that I am most comfortable teaching, that and math.

I don’t think I could completely do delight directed teaching for the 3Rs but I am more flexible with the other subjects. I do like to have some sort of plan but I’m not overly rigid. I think if I left my son to his own devices, he’d spend his day playing video games, building with legos and listening to audio books.

He does enjoy making comic books and creative writing or typing I should say.

What is delight direct teaching?

I believe it is teaching according to what the student desires. It caters the learning experience to the student’s interests. While I try to find topics and books that my child will find interesting, I’m definitely not a delight directed teacher.

I definitely admire those who can homeschool by delight-directed teaching in all of their subjects but that just isn’t going to happen here. I do believe that you can let your children have an input into what topics they learn. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Homeschool Ideas, Lapbooks

A Love for Science

February 11, 2013 by

I love science. It encompasses all of my favourite things, math and logical reasoning. Everything has one answer or explanationIMG_1272, you get  to explore science through experiments and observations, what fun!

This is the subject I feel most comfortable teaching and the subject that I’ve been most relaxed in. My goals for science are to expose my children to all the branches of science and allow them to explore and discover according to their interests. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Homeschool Ideas Tagged With:

Memory Box – Why it Should be a Part of Your Homeschool

January 19, 2013 by

I planned on having my son complete some memory work last year, but never stuck to it. This year is a new one, and since my word this year is complete, I set up a memory box for him. I put it off last year because I didn’t have the right box to fit my cue cards so this time I just shoved them into a plastic pencil case.

Every morning, my son goes through his cards and then he repeats what he’s memorized to me. Once he has memorized it completely, I’ll separate those cards out from the rest so that we only go through it weekly.

So far I have his list of verbs from french, Latin vocabulary and some math definitions pertaining to fractions. I’d also like to add in some poems as well. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Homeschool Ideas

Great Winter Crafts

December 13, 2012 by

My goal this week is to set the books aside and get some crafting done. Here are some great winter craft ideas. I like to try a few new ones while doing the things we always do. We always decorate our windows with snowflakes and it just doesn’t seem like Christmas without them. I guess it’s our own tradition, we also make our own cards to send out to those family and friends we don’t get to see as often as we’d like.winter crafts

I’m not a big decorator but I do have a lot of the children’s artwork around the house. They love displaying their handywork in the house for visitors to see. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Crafts, Homeschool Ideas Tagged With: ,

Great Educational Gifts for Kids

December 4, 2012 by

I’m always on the look out for great educational gifts for my kids. I would much rather have them playing with great toys then watching TV. They do have several games systems but they get limited usage.

Building toys are a great way for your kids to use their imagination and get creative. My boys love Legos and K’nex, I prefer the general sets where they can build their own creations, although my boys have plenty of Star Wars and other sets as well. For younger children, I would go with Megablocks or Lego Duplo because they are more durable. I have the same Megablock set from when my 6th grader was a toddler. They get used every single day. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Homeschool Ideas Tagged With:

Winter Lapbook Ideas

November 22, 2012 by

You can teach your little ones about the different seasons by creating a winter lapbook. I enjoy lapbooking with the children because it’s just a more creative way for your children to display their written narrations. My son is very visual learner so it really appeals to him. Eventhough he is considered middle school aged, he still enjoys lapbooking. We just place out minibooks into a notebook instead of a file folder. This makes storing it a lot easier.

For book suggestions take a look at these winter books reading list. You may decide to make a lapbook based on a book or you can design your own. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Homeschool Ideas, Lapbooks Tagged With: ,

Great Winter Books for Kids

November 21, 2012 by

Luckily we don’t have any snow here yet, but winter is fast approaching, why not incorporate it into your homeschool with some fun books?

What do you do when it’s snowing outside? To keep warm with your family, snuggle up and read a good book. I’ve already placed mine on hold at the library. I figure since we get to keep the books for three weeks, we’ll be in December by then and bound to see snow. If not, it will still make for a good read. I always keep a list of books ready just in case the ones I want are not available. That’s the downside of relying on the library for all your books, you may not always get it when you want it.

Sometimes, I catch my middle schooler reading picture books, he’s a very visual learner, and if it’s a good book, he can’t resist. I love this time of year when Christmas is around the corner, you can deviate from your regular homeschooling plans and just read and enjoy great books. I like to look for activities or lapbooks that I wouldn’t normally have time for and bring those out in December. You’ll have plenty of time in the new year to get back to your old plans. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Books, Homeschool Ideas Tagged With: ,

Thanksgiving Craft Ideas

November 20, 2012 by

A great way to celebrate Thanksgiving and have some fun with your kids as well are crafts.

Crafts are a great way to get in some hands on learning or just to have some plain old fun. Relax and get messy with some fun crafts, paint, draw, cut and paste. Decorate your house with your childrens’ crafts. You can make wreaths or napkin holders. Get more educational and create a writing assignment for your children about what they are thankful for this year. You could also add it to the feathers on the TP roll turkey. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Crafts, Homeschool Ideas Tagged With: ,

Christmas Picture Books and Read Alouds

November 16, 2012 by

Christmas is fast approaching, what books will you be reading with your children this Christmas? Last year we read A Christmas Carol and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. This year we’re going to read Christmas in the Trenches since we are studying the modern era in history. I love Christmas read alouds, it really gets you into the Christmas spirit.

Since we use the library extensively for our books, I have to start thinking now about what books we want to read so I can put them on hold. It’s very disappointing if you can’t get the books in time for Christmas. We also love reading the Polar Express every year and then watching the movie.

Christmas Picture books:

Filed Under: Books, Homeschool Ideas Tagged With: ,
«Older Posts