Homeschooling Tips & Ideas

As home educators, we want our children to learn facts and information. But truly, our goal is not just for them to hoard information, like we’re filling some giant pitcher with water. Very simply put, we learn stuff to apply it in context. We want our children to take that “pitcher of knowledge” and skillfully use the contents to grow things. Learning is, in actuality, using what we’ve learned to discern, analyze, create, build… We want our kids to be excited to say, “I know stuff and I can do things!”

If you are following a traditional school year or have a schedule unique to your family, the half-way mark is a fair time to look at your curriculum choices. What do we like? What is not working for us?  If you feel that you are missing something, supplemental materials might be helpful to plug those gaps!

Are you noticing the mountain top areas where your homeschooler is excelling in certain topics and contrasting those with valley areas of struggle? Now is a great time to observe and address these little struggle moments that could grow into bigger tensions in your academic year. What do you do when you start pinpointing these areas of pain within your student’s day-to-day work?

An assessment is a tool to measure a student’s understanding. While it can be a 10-question written quiz, there are loads of options for assessing a learner. Let’s talk about a few you can try.

It’s what we want as parents. It’s what our students want as learners. But how does it happen? How do we get our children learning and working without our direct guidance? Let's look at the stages of their journey.

Magic happens at the board! Back when I was a teacher, my students solved math problems, wrote spelling words, practiced writing letters, constructed proper sentences, and more at the old-fashioned chalkboard every day. If a student struggled with a math problem, I would encourage them to take it to the board and almost always they would figure it out. I've found that they brought amazing benefits, and occupational therapists agree. Let's talk about some of those benefits!

We commonly receive calls asking for curriculum that is presented via online or DVD, and while these can be great options for home educators, they do present the issue of how to keep your student engaged during the learning process. Here is some advice that you can apply with your own children!

Something we often hear from parents is how much they are learning about history when homeschooling their children. We offer some amazing options for history in a variety of formats. But is that the difference? Is that what is speaking to you? Or is it that you have more life experience and are applying your context to the content being taught. I would argue the latter. So, how do you make history relatable for your students?

Spelling does not come naturally for all children. In our homeschool, I had one child who naturally excelled at spelling, while my second child struggled with spelling until high school. Over time, his spelling improved with creativity and effort. If you have a struggling speller, here are a few things that we did at home that you can try.

Fortunate to be in a state that does not require submission of grades, keeping grades is still an individual decision for homeschool families. Join veteran homeschoolers, Amber and Deanne, as they share their reasons for choosing to (and not to) keep grades!