One of the issues I’ve struggled with over my years of homeschooling is the desire to do hands-on science projects with my children and the time/effort/inconvenience needed to gather all of the materials to do so. While I adore doing hands-on projects with my children, I do not enjoy gathering up all of the needed materials, running out at the…
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A Reason for Handwriting
We started out this year with the intent to use a different curriculum for handwriting but, of course, life happens! We ended up moving across country, leaving behind the majority of our home to be shipped at a later date. That means we left most of our curriculum as well! Basically starting from scratch, I stumbled across “A Reason for…
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French is Fun
In grade 7, after years of low-key, informal French, our children start French is Fun 1. This inexpensive textbook from AMSCO works well for us, helping the children consolidate all their earlier knowledge and extending it dramatically. French is Fun, Book 1: Lively Lessons for Beginners, Third Edition by Gail Stein and Heywood Wald brings beginners to a reasonable level…
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Games for Learning
While browsing the Christian Home Educators of Kentucky Convention last year, I came across a booth with several games that looked exciting. The company, HL Games Limited, allowed me the opportunity to review three of those games. All of them are appropriate for middle elementary children and older. Amuse Amaze happens to be our favorite of the three, although all…
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A Trip Around the World in Three Books
I have three reproducible books from Carson Dellosa Publishing that have been helping us in our studies of different countries. They are a series geared for elementary ages. The first book, A Trip Around the World, helps you and your children explore life in Mexico, Brazil, Egypt, Kenya, Germany, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, China, Japan, Australia, Canada, and the United…
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Spelling is a Zoo!
Ever since my daughter was in Kindergarten she has struggled with spelling. We had a few good years due to a great curriculum and active hands on word studies. However as she hit the junior high level she was no longer interested in spelling games yet still lacked spelling skills. She is a very intelligent girl but spelling is not her…
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Music for Little Mozarts
Last school year, I had a strong desire to start my boys in music lessons. And, while this led to a quest for a free piano, which my husband spent many hours refinishing for us, it has also brought much joy into our home. At the time, our daughter was in preschool, and we decided to focus only on starting…
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Don’t Make Me Count to Three!
“Don’t Make Me Count to Three!” by Ginger Plowman is not only a very humorous book, but full of wise and practical advice about Biblical discipline. As a mom of three children, I still have much to learn about patient, loving discipline that reaches the hearts of my children. And this book fits the bill! Not only that, but it’s…
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Evan-Moor History Pockets
History is on of my very favorite subjects to teach. I’ve always loved history and if you’ve read my blog for very long at all, you know I’m a project kind of homeschool mama. I don’t use any one history curriculum…I use a wide variety of project books with one or two great spine books to base our unit off…
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Things People Do
Do you remember elementary school social studies? I remember a few bits and pieces—my memories are of a little American history and a lot of social studies. It seems that we talked quite a bit about how society works. We talked about the police, the fire department, community leaders, the library, and other societal mechanisms. Though I have chosen a…
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