The Rainbow Resource Center Homeschool Blog

How time consuming is this curriculum to teach? What is the time investment for each lesson? Does it require advance planning and preparation time, one-on-one instructional segments, or both? These are all important considerations when it comes to making a curriculum decision. We convey this information in our orange “Teacher Involvement Time” icon and it is also the part of the FAMILY Way acronym that takes YOU into account. YOU are an important part of the success equation!

It seems that kids these days have it easier when it comes to finding information. Just google it, and bam, there’s the answer! They don’t have to drive over to the library and pull large reference volumes off the shelf just to find the answer to a question or do a quick fact-check. Google is a fact of modern life and is almost essential to our lives as adults. But before our kids start googling, which is inevitable, we can teach them to be good searchers of information outside of the internet. This is an important skill to develop, and it usually means searching through physical books first!

You've bought the perfect writing curriculum and even lined up a tutor, but is your student truly equipped to thrive? In homeschooling, success in writing often hinges less on the program itself and more on the personalized environment, tools, and process that make the subject feel approachable and owned. From discovering a student's ideal learning spot to curating fun, interest-driven supplies like favorite-colored pens or themed notebooks, and experimenting with processes like mind maps or free-writing, small tweaks can transform dread into discovery. Join your child in building a space and routine that fits them—you might just nurture the next great storyteller.

Even if you’ve managed to get into a nice schedule after the holidays, the winter months can seem to drag on, and sometimes winter doldrums set in. Kids are longing to go outside but the weather doesn’t allow it. Why not overcome those winter blues by incorporating games into your homeschool routine? Games offer opportunities for hands-on learning, stimulate creativity, and foster critical thinking skills. Here are a few new games we’ve recently added to supplement the four core subjects that might make your homeschool lessons more engaging and memorable. 

February may be the shortest month of the year, but it’s packed with presidential history! It’s the month of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday (February 12, 1809) and the season when many families and schools observe Presidents’ Day. That makes it the perfect time to step into the life of a man whose journey stretched from a dirt-floor cabin…all the way to the White House!

So, your child is reading now—that's cause for celebration! But how do you know they're truly understanding? Discover Charlotte Mason's simple narration technique: a gentle way to check comprehension, build vocabulary, sharpen thinking skills, and transition from oral retellings to written summaries. Perfect for any age, genre, or curriculum, this fun method turns reading into deep, joyful learning!

Discover the life of George Washington Carver, the renowned African American scientist, inventor, and educator known as the "Peanut Man." This unit study explores his journey from slavery to becoming an agricultural innovator who developed hundreds of uses for peanuts and sweet potatoes. 

Reading aloud to children is a wonderful family experience! The winter is the perfect season to incorporate family read aloud sessions. Whether you have a reluctant reader or a voracious one, everyone can join in to share a delightful story together. It’s a healthy, screen-free way to enjoy purposeful time as a family. Together, you’ll encounter characters, adventures, and resolutions right in your own home. These moments create special bonding time that your kids will always remember. Here are 6 practical read aloud tips to help your family get the most out of family read aloud sessions.

As homeschool curriculum consultants, we sometimes feel like Curriculum Detectives. We tap into our inner Sherlock Holmes to investigate further into the crisis at hand. More often than not, when we are talking with you, we are helping you dig into the situation—for example, possibly the situation of “my child hates math.” This is the presenting issue, but we cannot stop our investigation there. This is something the Curriculum Consultant Team at Rainbow Resource Center is doing every time we work with a family. We are equipped to evaluate each interaction through the lens of our FAMILY Way, our extensive homeschool curriculum library, and the hive-mind of the team to find the deeper cause. 

Although many homeschooling families start from the very beginning, just as many find themselves homeschooling when that was the last thing they ever saw themselves doing. Maybe you started out sure that your schooling choices would serve your child well, only to be sorely disappointed, again and again. Then came the straw that broke the camel’s back, and you made the call. You pulled your child out mid-year, thinking there had to be a better way. So what do you do now?