Homeschooling
Mama, Let’s Color!
One of my favorite activities, especially on rainy or snowy days, is to color with my kids. Now I’m not talking about the box of crayons and the dime store coloring book sort of coloring. I am talking about artist quality colored pencils and Dover Publications coloring books. Dover Publications has hundreds of coloring books… »
Jim Trelease’s Read Aloud Handbook
Recently a friend reminded me of a wonderful resource that I had used many years ago and then somehow forgot about. Back when I was in college I took a children’s literature course that introduced me to The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease. At that time I was revisiting my childhood, reading piles of… »
Ways to Avoid Summer Brain Drain
I know a lot of homeschoolers do some sort of formal schooling all year round. For a long time I started each year with the intention of continuing through the summer but as April rolled around and then we got into May, my resolve always crumbled — by then we all needed a break. The… »
It’s Summer! Get Out Those Library Cards!
With summer in full swing it’s time to get everyone signed up for a summer reading program. Of course you can check with your local library to see what they are offering but there are also several great online opportunities for encouraging your kids to read over the summer. Click here to see one program… »
Homeschooling Hinders Assimilation?
While browsing the internet the other day, I ran across this letter to the editor in the Tennessean that really ruffled my feathers: “Home schooling in America has doubled in the past decade. What’s wrong with this picture? Students attending public schools, by necessity, associate with others who are different from themselves. This enables children… »
A World View of the Family Meal
We just finished reading a fascinating book called What the World Eats. This book is a photo essay with photographs taken by Peter Menzel. He also wrote a book back in the 90′s called Material World: A Global Family Portrait which is also worth your time, but I’ll get to that in a minute. What… »
Health 101
Recently we have taken a new direction as a family. We are on an adventure, learning together how to make better nutritional choices. Since we are a homeschooling family I am always looking for things to work into our learning time and this seemed like a great topic. But this is about more than Health Class—it’s… »
School’s Out!
We officially ended our school year on Friday. Then we counted…108 days until we officially start again on September 8th. We try to take Memorial Day weekend until Labor Day weekend as our Summer break. You’ll notice I said “officially.” That’s because we never stop learning. We are “officially” finished with this year so the… »
The Proof is in the Pudding
We’ve all heard the saying. “The proof is in the pudding” is actually a shortened version of an old English saying dating from around the 17th century. Some sources date it as far back as the 14th century but it first appears in writing much later. The entire quote actually went like this: “The proof of… »
My Definition of ‘Homeschooling’
Yes, I have homeschooled my children. But that doesn’t mean that homeschooling is right for you and your family. I’m also a degreed, licensed teacher for grades K-12 and have taught in public schools. I also had a child enrolled in a private school. When I talk about “homeschooling,” I don’t want to imply that… »
