Teaching geography, especially topics like the polar regions, can be challenging. We want kids to go beyond just memorizing places and facts—to understand, connect, and get curious. The Arctic and Antarctic regions aren’t just faraway locations; they’re home to incredible landscapes, animals adapted to extreme conditions, and unique ecosystems. My…
Getting 6th graders excited about writing can be challenging. You’ve probably experienced it firsthand—the blank stares, the heavy sighs, and the constant “I don’t know what to write!” At this stage, kids are asked to think more deeply and organize their thoughts in ways that feel more structured. And while…
Looking for a way to make math fun and engaging for your kindergartener? SPORK Education’s kindergarten math curriculum combines interactive games and hands-on activities to help your child build a strong foundation in math, while keeping learning enjoyable. It’s perfect for families who want a playful yet effective approach to education.
When it comes to giving our kids the tools for lifelong health, nutrition is right at the top of the list. Helping kids understand how their bodies work, what fuels them, and how to make the best eating choices is so much more than just educational—it’s empowering. By teaching kids…
Teaching kids about the water cycle can be challenging due to its complex concepts and terminology. This guide provides strategies for explaining the water cycle to young learners, with visual aids, hands-on activities, and a free water cycle diagram worksheet to make learning engaging and effective. Suitable for 2nd to 8th graders, the Water Cycle Unit Study simplifies this essential science topic.
Inside: Struggling with how to teach kids about volcanoes? I’ve put together an extensive collection of resources and helpful links to simplify your teaching. Be sure to also grab the free ‘Parts of a Volcano Worksheet’ (and sample of my bigger Volcano Unit Study) included in the post to enhance…
Inside: Heritage Humanities transforms the rich, complex world of classical literature into something accessible and engaging for today’s digital natives. Diving into classical texts of English literature can often feel like navigating a labyrinth, especially for young learners. Marc’s recent experience with the CLT8 exam highlighted a significant gap in…
Inside: Explore the Moon with your kids through fun, hands-on activities, ideas, apps, videos, and free Moon phases worksheets. It’s a perfect blend of learning and play! Ever felt a bit lost when your child throws a tricky question your way? You’re in good company if your kids’ latest questions…
Poetry is an important component of any solid elementary language arts curriculum. But how can we make teaching it fun and engaging for young minds? As a homeschooling mom with over eight years of teaching experience, I’ve found poetry to be an excellent tool for enhancing vocabulary, encouraging creative writing,…
Inside: Looking for engaging Spring activities for kids and a Valentine’s Day Unit Study to sprinkle some fun and learning into your homeschool day? You’re in the right place. From engaging activity ideas to learning about myths and developing literacy and numeracy skills, this post has it all! Spring is…
Inside: Discover the best educational toys for 6-year-old boys (and girls), handpicked by an experienced homeschool mom. Plus, get exclusive tips for enhancing your child’s learning experience.
There’s a common misconception that kids can pick up all computer skills for kids on their own. We might assume that because our little ones are tech-savvy with iPads or our teens breeze through video games, they’re already tech experts and computer literate. But here’s a different way to think…
Do you have Harry Potter fans? Do your kids wish for a Hogwarts homeschool? Then this post is for you. I’ve discovered an amazing Harry Potter unit study that has the potential to transform your muggle homeschool into a school of wizardry! Waldock’s Wizards and Wands from The Waldock Way…
After going through Algebra 1 and elementary math in our homeschool, I can say with certainty that teaching basic math is sometimes more difficult than Algebra 1. We had our fair share of hurdles in math, despite my rising 7th grader getting ready for high school Geometry for the upcoming…
Are you curious about finding a more effective way to teach math to your child? Are you on the lookout for a curriculum that goes beyond mere rote memorization and fosters a genuine understanding of mathematical concepts? Then keep reading. As I reflect on our homeschooling journey, I can confidently…
Get ready for another exciting chapter in my IEW review journey! Today, we’re diving deep into a thorough comparison of IEW SSS Level A Year 1 and Year 2. Wit this, I want to address a common fear of parents when talking about Structure and Style curriculum. Is it too…
Are you a homeschool mom struggling with reluctant or disorganized writers? For the past six blog posts, we’ve been looking at IEW Structure and Style for Students in a complete review of the homeschool writing curriculum that has the potential to revolutionize how we teach writing. We’re now at the…
Did you know that you can enrich your writing experience by using various IEW tools regardless of the writing program you’re using? We’ve been using the Institute for Excellence in Writing for two years and I’m continually discovering new gems on their website. They have so many valuable tools for…
You might have noticed I don’t talk much about interest-led studying or unit studies. That’s not because we aren’t doing interest-led, it’s because most of the time it goes unnoticed. I am not in the habit of spending hours to plan unit studies because Marc’s interests change quickly and he’s…
Do you remember the last time you read something that truly captured your attention and held it until the very end? Writing is a powerful tool that allows us to communicate our ideas and connect with others, yet this essential skill has seen a decline over the past years. As…
We’ve already talked about IEW’s holistic approach to writing and seen how IEW teaches writing through the three programs it offers. Now let’s dive in and explore the components of Structure and Style for Students, a video-based writing program that has been consistently ranked among the best in the industry….
I vividly remember Marc’s first steps into the world of learning- it wasn’t always easy, and I didn’t always know what I was doing along the way. Now, as a middle schooler, he’s tackling subjects and concepts that are far beyond his years with excitement and curiosity. But it all…
Homeschooling, just like regular school, will inevitably leave some learning gaps. But how do we find these? And most importantly, how do we fill them? There are various ways to discover these gaps, from a casual conversation (where you discover your homeschooler doesn’t know what erosion is 😒) to testing….
One of the best homeschooling investments you could make is to get access to a good online educational platform. This would serve either as a launch pad for introducing new topics or starting new curiosities or as a supplemental resource hub when you get stuck. I’ve written about multiple platforms…
Because I promised we don’t only do academic stuff during the summer, here’s part two of our plans for the next couple of months. I condensed them into 10 summer ideas for homeschooling fun and exploration. You can read about our planner, summer learning, activities, and why we chose to…
Science isn’t an easy subject to teach at home. Many times parents place it at the bottom of the list because there’s not enough time for it or they don’t know how to tackle it. The perfect solution to this dilemma is to get an independent science curriculum. Kids will…
This will be the first summer since we started homeschooling that we will take a break from our regular schedule. It feels odd, but we will still be doing summer homeschooling in a different, more relaxed way. I felt that the passage from elementary to middle school is worthy of…
Do your kids enjoy writing? I know a lot of homeschoolers are struggling with this subject, us included. That’s why I am constantly testing out programs and looking out for a writing curriculum that would encourage, hone, and teach proper writing skills to M. And hopefully not make him shed…
When it comes to history, I didn’t want to fall into the single-point-of-view trap. That’s why I decided to switch our whole approach to a literature-based homeschool history curriculum. Reading different accounts of an event would create a broader picture of what actually happened and provide us with the chance…
Many experts say it, and I agree: cursive handwriting is an important skill to have. I am saddened to see that more and more US schools have given up on cursive handwriting. I have already written about how to turn reluctant writers around and what I recommend for starting writing…
This post will be different because it’s location-specific, but the idea behind it is so cool that it could serve as an inspiration for people worldwide: Unplugged Computer Science. We all know the woe with computer classes. They add up to the screen time which is at higher and higher…
Whether you’re a homeschooler that prefers online learning or not, you’ll inevitably end up with a couple of online live classes as your children grow. We don’t always find the classes we’re looking for nearby and some children want to learn about weird stuff like the mantis shrimp or what’s…
One subject I cannot recall much about from school is history. Boring textbooks and dry teachers didn’t help me develop an interest in it and I wish they had the materials to present an interactive history to us back then. Thankfully, homeschoolers nowadays have so many options for history and…
A problem a lot of science programs have is that most lack critical thinking skills. This problem would be easily solved with a good project-based science curriculum, and that’s what we just found! Even if M is advanced in science, an aspect I felt lacking was the scientific method implementation….
I recently realized that I’ve made a mistake by mostly ignoring homeschool music learning. Since M didn’t show any special interest in music, I just let it slide. Thankfully, it’s never too late to learn how to play an instrument and there are so many options today, saving you time…
We all know how important social-emotional learning is for our children. But even when we notice they need help, it might be hard for us to find ways to get through to them. What questions do we ask? Where do we even start? It’s hard to believe that communication can…
While we can learn new vocabulary by reading, and M is a voracious reader, I still feel that we need to work on it diligently, year after year. But an aspect that I feel isn’t covered enough by just reading literary works is academic vocabulary. If you’re like me, you’re…
We’ve all heard about STEM/ STEAM/ STEMM, since these terms are being circulated quite a bit. It’s another matter when it comes to implementing them. That’s why I am excited to show you a new app great for kids as young as 5, which offers parents the opportunity to implement…
I have to admit that our homeschool geography is mostly done on the fly. It’s not a perfect setting, but I didn’t feel the need for more so far. Read about how we did geography in 4th grade to see what materials we pieced together. This is a post in…
Staying consistent with science can be a struggle, that’s where a homeschool science supplement comes in handy. Some days you just can’t stick to your plan no matter how much you try. Life happens, there are appointments, sick days, unplanned activities, or you just do not feel up for school….
Spelling skills are an important part of our homeschool. We’ve tried numerous programs over the years and all had good and bad parts. Despite the fact that Marc is a great speller, we will continue with spelling instruction because I feel he would still benefit from it. Of course, we…
This is something we’ve all gone through. There are good days, but a lot of them seem dreadful, dragging on forever. You spent a lot of time planning and choosing the best materials, things seem to go well for a while and then you’re met with a schoolwork refusal. Here…
I know some kids love writing… I know some are great story-tellers. This post is not for them. <3 This post is for the struggling parents and kids. You know who you are. You pull out a worksheet for your 7,8,9,10 year old. It has a lot of “multiple choice”…
Mentor Junior came to our life when M. started delving deeper and deeper into chemistry. I knew I was out of my league and I asked for help in my homeschooling group. They all helped me brainstorm and someone stumbled upon this lovely website. About Mentor Junior Mentor Junior (Mentor…
What do you do for literature? Do you do book reports for 4th grade? This year, after discussing with our teacher, we decided to take a different approach to the traditional comprehension questions by focusing on book reports instead. Marc doesn’t like writing, and writing composition is difficult for him….
Since Pandia Press just pre-released their second volume of History Quest, I decided to write about their history curriculum. I like it a lot and M is waiting eagerly for me to print the second volume and start reading. So far, there is only one complete volume (Early Times) which…
One of the best math investments for us were the Cuisenaire Rods. You simply can’t fail with them.We’ve been using them successfully for most of our elementary years and you can even go beyond that if your kids still need them to illustrate more complex concepts. What are Cuisenaire Rods?…
These are our 4th grade curriculum picks for 2020. Getting ready for a new homeschooling year is work in progress all year round. I am always on the lookout for new curricula, better programs and offers but the real prep work starts at least 2 months before we start our…
Homeschooling lesson planning, daily schedule and arranging your schoolroom can be very intimidating. Here’s how I do it and still stay flexible enough to cover everything.
Inside: The main challenge for eclectic homeschoolers is to balance all the bits and pieces and create a functional curriculum, but language arts always seems to be the hardest to piece together because so many pieces overlap. Keep reading to find out how we pieced together our 4th grade language…
Inside: An engaging curriculum for 4th grade geography is a combination of books and hands-on resources. Read on to find out more details about each of them and get more ideas you can incorporate in your geography study for 4th grade. Welcome to our journey through 4th grade geography! As…