Copywork should be easy. It should be related to the history lesson or pulled from the read-aloud selection. It can come from art, music, or science. It can be a statement, a poem, or a definition. Copywork should be easy, but if I do not take the time to gather and organize the passages it becomes a tedious, time-consuming problem. …
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All About Spelling
Spelling is one subject I’ve never enjoyed teaching. (And my son has never enjoyed learning.) This is probably because I’ve never found a program that’s the right fit for my son – multisensory, phonetical and builds upon precepts. As a result, he still struggles a bit with spelling in the 5th grade. During my summer planning, I came across the…
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Your Backyard Birding DVD
Have you ever wanted to identify the bird that likes to perch right outside your kitchen window? Or better yet, to be able to say, “here comes our cardinal, he’s announcing his approach to the feeder,” just by hearing his call? Our family’s love of birds has developed over the years. We’ve enjoyed studying and watching birds as well as…
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Ancient History-Based Writing Lessons from IEW
After trying many different writing programs, I am using a writing curriculum this year with my 4th and 6th grade sons that I KNOW I will continue using year after year. I am absolutely thrilled with the writing curriculum I purchased from the Institute for Excellence in Writing. More specifically, we are using Ancient History-Based Writing Lessons. Ancient History-Based Writing…
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Expedition Earth: A Journey Through God’s World
We love unit studies and were thrilled to be able to begin a trip around the world with Expedition Earth: A Journey Through God’s World ($15.00 instant download) from Confessions of a Homeschooler. In the last few months my children and I have visited China, South Korea, and India. We’re headed to several countries in Africa next, and I have to…
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Book of Time
Eldest girl was browsing her Tapestry of Grace notebook. “So it says here I’m supposed to keep a time line.” Then she saw the light bulb floating above my head. The Book of Time from our early Sonlight days. The book I set aside for later. I pulled it from the long-forgotten section of the History shelf. She was intrigued….
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Adam and His Kin
As a supplement for studying ancient history this year, my children and I read Adam and His Kin. Ruth Beechick has done a fantastic job retelling the Biblical story of Creation through Abram as he leaves Ur (Genesis 1-11.) Reading like living literature, the author fills in some of her own imaginations about how the characters of the Bible might…
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My Access! Vantage Online Writing Course
My Access Home Edition is an online interactive writing program designed to be added to any curriculum seamlessly. You can purchase the program for three students for $99.95 HERE. From about first grade through high school this program will help your child develop valuable writing skills at his or her own pace. My Access is designed to take a central…
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Hooked on French Program from Hooked on Phonics
Having taken French in high school and college, I couldn’t help but want to work on French with my children once we started homeschooling. Urged by many people to focus on Spanish instead, we spent a gross amount of money, bought Rosetta Stone, and started working on Spanish. After six months, when my kids only seemed to be able to…
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Writer’s Inc and Write for College Writing Handbooks
The GreatSource Education Group, a Houghton Mifflin Company, has produced a variety of academically useful and reliable handbooks. Chief among them are the writing handbooks, including Writer’s Inc. and Write for College. Both books are intended for high school students. They present writing in an orderly manner, complete with lots of examples. These two handbooks contain enough writing information for…
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