Help Making the Right Choices About Curriculum

March 31, 2013 by Leave a Comment

I love getting new curriculum because it gives me an opportunity to try something new with my kids. Sometimes we just need a good change of pace.

However, sometimes when we are in a rut, I place too much hope on a new curriculum. Like if  I try something new, it will miraculously solve all the problems I’m having in math.

The first think you want to think about is your own teaching style. How do you learn? What appeals to you and what do you want to get out of the curriculum?

Be realistic, how much time can you really devote to it? I don’t know how many times I would have loved to jump into an intensive study or curriculum but it pulled too much time away from other subjects. It just wasn’t doable. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Homeschool Tips

Review: Essentials in Writing

March 13, 2013 by Leave a Comment

I’m so excited to be reviewing Essentials in Writing, I received the 6th grade curriculum for 11 to 12 year olds to review with my son. The first half of the program focuses on grammar while the second portion focuses on writing.

The grammar portion has a lesson on all the various parts of speech followed by worksheet or two. Most of the worksheets include a summary of the video. This is great for those who do not learn well with DVDs or who prefer to read it themselves. There is then an activity to work on during the lesson.

The table of contents shows a very thorough program and I was really excited to  get started. This was not the case for Jodo. He really doesn’t like writing so I was curious as to how he would like the program.

I sat him down and told him to watch the video. The first video is an introduction so I knew he didn’t need to complete any workbook pages, so I left him at it. Twenty minutes later he was still watching the video and getting pretty bored at this point. Well, silly mommy was only listening to the video and not watching it with him so he watched like 5 lessons worth of videos. I was expecting the video to stop after the lesson was over but if you hit play it just continually plays all the lessons, duh. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Curriculum Review

Delight Directed Teaching – Science

March 11, 2013 by 2 Comments

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

Teaching Creatively Giveaway

March 9, 2013 by Leave a Comment

I will be joining in this weeks Teaching Creatively blog hop. I won’t be joining in everyday but hopefully for 3 of the 5 days I will have a new blog post for you. Along with the blog hop, there is a wonderful giveaway with over $1000 dollars in prizes.

See my own review of Schoolhouseteachers.com, it is a great value for all the things that are included with the subscription.

I don’t think I’m particularly creative so I’m going to be blog hopping for sure to see what the other TOS crew members are doing to get some inspiration.

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I’m joining in with Marcy @Ben and Me and Sam @Sam’s Noggin to bring you this awesome giveaway during the 5 Days of Teaching Creatively Blog Hop, hosted by the Schoolhouse Review Crew! The Blog Hop won’t begin until Monday, but we are starting the fun early by giving you the opportunity to win incredible bundles of books and homeschool resources! [Read more...]

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When Do You Start Buying Curriculum for the Next School Year?

February 28, 2013 by 2 Comments

When do you start planning next year’s curriculum list? Right about now. We’re about half way through the school year, a bit more, and I have a pretty good idea of what is working and what we’ll need to change.

If something is working for my children, I know that I’ll just be using the next level next year which is easy peasy. It’s those subjects that we’re having issues with where I have to spend some more time thinking it through.

When I first started homeschooling, I’d spend hours researching new curriculum, like a kid in an online candy store. There are so many choices now for each subject, it makes it a lot more difficult to narrow down your choices.

Once March comes around I start thinking about what I’d like to use for next year. Why? I try to buy everything I can used before I buy new. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Homeschool FAQs

Visit Me Over at Ben and Me

February 23, 2013 by

If you are looking for help for the distracted homeschooler, take a look at my guest post over at Ben and me.

I have a little, well  not so little anymore, distracted, busy boy who usually has his mind on everything but his school work.

What can you do to make sure you don’t turn into a grumpy, nagging mommy?

Filed Under: Real Life

Share your Giveaways at Homeschool Giveaway Share

February 15, 2013 by

Homeschool Giveaway Share

Do you need to reach a wider audience with your giveaways?

Add your giveaway to Homeschool Giveaway Share on facebook and you’ll be to increase the traffic to your blog.

Anyone can add their giveway to their site as long as it is about homeschool related material.

Are you looking to win some new curriculum? Visit Homeschool Giveaway Share to see the latest giveaways for you to enter.

 

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Review: Flowering Baby

February 15, 2013 by

flowering baby review

 

I received the entire Flowering Baby curriculum from birth to 5 years old:

flowering baby review
After looking at the one to two year old curriculum I decided that I’d back track and go through the 9 to 12 month old section in the birth to one year old curriculum. At 13 months old, there is an activity where you tape masking tape to the ground and get your child to control their steps along it. Since my baby hasn’t taken any steps yet, I decided to use the earlier curriculum.

The curriculum is broken down into months with suggested books, supplies and music listed before each month. Each day there is a different activity that may take about 15 minutes to complete. [Read more...]

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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:

Greatest Loves Giveaway!!!

February 5, 2013 by

This is my first giveaway for you all, this is so exciting. I’ve always drooled over Oak Meadows curricula but have not been able to afford their books for our homeschool.

I’ve also used All About Spelling and would love to try their All About Reading program, it’s so thorough and very hands-on. This program is great for wiggly boys. [Read more...]

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