Category: All About Homeschooling!

Handwriting Resources 0

Handwriting Resources

During this break I’ve been looking into handwriting skills.  I have a few minutes and thought I’d quickly share what I’ve come across lately. I found an extremely useful 32-page article about handwriting.  It’s a handwriting resource for (pre-K and kindergarten) teachers in a Maryland school district.  You can find it here: http://www.fcpsteach.org/docs/Handwriting.pdf It has some suggestions for building handwriting skills from a young age (preschool) such as activities that...

Planning for the new Semester 0

Planning for the new Semester

Here in Australia, most kids will be starting a new schoolyear at the beginning of February.  We follow the Americanschool year, so LD will still be in first grade and DD is stillin preschool. Since we take days off as we need to, I generally continueat half speed after the holidays (getting together for play datesor going to the pool at the drop of a hat).  Still, I’ve beenspending time...

Breakfast Independence 0

Breakfast Independence

The older kids are always given a small pitcher to pourtheir milk into their cereal. ED now has a very smallpitcher of milk to pour into her bowl. (She’s been doing thisfor a couple of months now, probably starting around 20months old, I think.) If she dribbles any milk she knowswhere the washclothes are and will go grab one out of thedrawer to wipe the table.

How do you homeschool with kids of different ages? 1

How do you homeschool with kids of different ages?

One question that I’ve been asked pretty regularly is “how do you homeschool with kids of such different ages?” My first response lately has often been, just imagine taking your three favorite students out of a class of 25. They have different needs and abilities, but so do the kids in a traditional classroom setting. I get to work every day with the kids that I most enjoy being with...

Mom’s Holiday Reading — The Read Aloud Handbook 4

Mom’s Holiday Reading — The Read Aloud Handbook

I’ve been reading lots of books this holiday.  Among other things (several novels, some science experiment books for kids and things like that), I’ve been re-reading one of my favorite  resources, The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease.   I find this book inspiring and I recommend it to anyone who has children whether you homeschool them or not.  It gives so many amazing statistics, facts, and real-life examples about why...

First Grade Math Games Online 0

First Grade Math Games Online

I came across this website this evening that lists some simple, but cute computer math games appropriate for first graders. I’m not that great about having LD use the computer for these kinds of things, but I think I’ll make a more concerted effort to make games like these available for him.  I think he’d enjoy them. http://www.internet4classrooms.com/skills_1st_math_new.htm Here are some examples of games listed at this website: 1)  Your...

Sunflower Schoolhouse 0

Sunflower Schoolhouse

I raved about Honey’s website a couple of days ago, but wanted to mention a couple of pages I found particularly useful that I don’t think I mentioned before. She had a very useful post about the websites she likes that have activities for toddlers: http://sunflowerschoolhouse.com/toddler-activities/ Also, I printed these brick building cards (Lego projects) and cut them so that there were two cards on each piece of paper. The...

Homeschool Planners 0

Homeschool Planners

Free Homeschool Planner (for daily/weekly planning) And, if you are looking for some printables to create your own Homeschool Planner, you might want to check out our free Homeschool Planner. This unique homeschool planning packet is currently FREE to download! It is nearly 100 pages! Not only does this packet include daily and weekly planning pages, checklists and record keeping pages, but it also includes various homeschool journaling pages… think...

Tot School 0

Tot School

We had a wonderful weekend camping and I’ll share more about that soon.  Today is DD’s birthday, though, so I won’t spend much time on the computer today. Last night I needed a few more ideas for ED and checked out a website I really enjoy. It’s truly a wonderful resource if you have a toddler or young preschooler. This Mom shares a wonderful assortment of activities for her son...

We’re Back!  (And a few freebies on currclick) 0

We’re Back! (And a few freebies on currclick)

We just returned from a wonderful holiday in Sydney and Canberra. We did a lot of really fantastic things and caught up with some friends. I feel rejuvenated and excited for the next term. I’m brimming with ideas!! It has been more than a year since we’ve been away as a family (we live in a very isolated town; 1200km to the nearest city!) I’ll be posting a few pictures...

A Few Useful Resources — Activity List, Writing Games, etc. 0

A Few Useful Resources — Activity List, Writing Games, etc.

I found a really good resource for upper elementary aged students.  It’s a list of homework ideas for students at a Montessori school.  The list has suggestions in a whole range of categories from creative arts and language to science, math and sports. It’s about five pages long.  It includes ideas such as knit, embroider, tie knots, learn to weave, learn how to use tools from an adult, start a...