Making homeschool decisions easy
Searching for geography curriculum has been a fruitless pursuit for me, so I dabbled in creating my own. We discussed earth being our home, looked at maps, and located places on the globe from our history and literature studies. That was enough, but I wanted to go more in depth. When I was introduced to A Child’s Geography, Explore His Earth by Ann Voskamp, I
History textbooks have a tendency to be boring, but I discovered a series of about American history to treasure. These books do not contain dry lists of dates or a simple retelling of events. Instead, they focus on the causes behind events: people and Providence. The Mighty Works of God consists of three volumes for the early elementary years. They are not listed by grade-level,
There were just a few more pages to turn when it happened. My voice froze and I felt the tears pushing. My son grinned knowingly, “Mom’s going to cry.” It doesn’t happen very often, but literature gets me the most often. And biographies. Biographies can be just too inspirational for me to maintain my composure. I picked up a copy of Louis Braille, The Boy
Curriculum collects on shelves in our living room and peaks from boxes in the shed. A glance in either place reveals more stuff than we can realistically use. I’m so thankful for the options, but options can paralyze. So how do I choose what to help me teach my children? How did these books end up in our possession instead of others? I search for
After two year of homeschooling, I heard an idea I quickly embraced. In fact, I don’t know why it hadn’t been implemented already. Start each day with worship. We read the Bible. Math lessons were completed. Spelling done. But what about ideas wrapped in melody? I wanted words from the saints echoing in our soul. Our worship time varies greatly from new music to old.
I knew my son needed to learn how to read, but I’d never taught anyone. I debated the decision to homeschool. I worried and fretted. Then I resolved to trust the process. I’d been taught the basics of teaching phonics through a program called, Writing Road to Reading. We used it. It worked! Then we got to the spelling rules and the notebook work. I
Guest post by Dana Hanley I never thought much about handwriting when I started homeschooling. I never thought about its principles or developed any particular philosophy of what handwriting was or how good handwriting should be developed. I taught it exactly as I had been taught: through repetition and drill, expecting perfect conformity of letters. I must confess that I have had no more luck
If lessons are meant to be creative, mine fail. This year, lessons are pretty much straight from the book. Commendable plans smolder in my thoughts. Our idea books are perused often, but not by me. My son has taken to finding his own creativity. I applaud his efforts. Pilgrim’s Progress When I asked him to record the characters in Pilgrim’s Progress, he hunted for Alternatives
