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Overview of the Homeschooling Planning Tools I Use
I’m joining in the Timberdoodle Blog Hop again today, and I wanted to talk about planning. I’m a big fan of planning. I feel like even if I don’t follow the plan exactly, if I have a plan, that’s a huge boost to getting things done. It helps to eliminate the risk of decision fatigue. There are lots of great tools out there for doing this, and perhaps at another time I’ll do more detailed reviews of some of the options. For now, though, I want to give an overview of what you can use to plan your homeschool. Paper Planners There are many different paper planners out there –…
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How Do You Know What to Teach?
One challenge parents struggle with is determining what to teach. In the case where you’re homeschooling through K-12 or an online school, that information is often provided for you, but if you want to veer from what’s prescribed, how do you figure out what to teach, and what constitutes covering a given subject? Providing A Solid Foundation for Learning I’m a big fan of general education and of teaching children how to learn. A child who knows how to learn, and has the skills to do so, will be able to learn anything that catches his or her interest. Thus, language arts needs to be a big part of your…
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Tips for Temporarily Homeschooling
Wow. None of us expected to be where we are right now. It’s overwhelming, it’s a little bit scary, and we have our kids to keep calm and occupy. Last summer, we’d made a decision that we’d send our kids to public school, but that I would “afterschool” and do summer enrichment wtih them. Our little Miss 6 wanted the school experience, and went in for Kindergarten, since she didn’t meet the state’s age requirements to start 1st Grade. She was enjoying it. We all liked her teacher, who worked hard with Miss 6 to help her anxiety the best way possible. Then, we all know what happened, because it’s…
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Review: Djeco Bugs
My 5 year old loves to color. She goes through coloring books so frequently that we’ve taken to purchasing them at the Dollar Tree so we can keep up with the demand. When I was offered the opportunity to review Djeco Bugs, a scratch-off art kit carried by Timberdoodle, I knew that it would be something she might be interested in. That suspicion turned out to be absolutely correct. About Djeco Bugs Djeco Bugs is a scratch art set from the French company, Djeco. Kids can scratch through the inc to the surface below using the wooden tool included. There are four images in this particular kit – butterfly, caterpillar,…
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Review: Timberdoodle’s Batik Painting Kit
I’ve long-admired batik fabrics for their vivid colors and beautiful designs. Mr. 3 loves to paint. So when there was an opportunity to review the new batik painting kit from Timberdoodle, I was happy to sign up. About The Kit There are five options for the kit – Turtle, Seahorse, Fish, Macaw, and Hummingbird. We chose the Turtle. For $19.99, you get the fabric stapled to cardboard with the waxed design on it, paints, a paint brush, and the instructions. You begin by folding the cardboard up to help contain the paint and you wet the canvas. I think we probably used too much water, because the colors are really…
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Hello Fall Theme Q&A
It’s my favorite time of year again – autumn. There’s always been something magical from mid-September through the end of the year and even into some of January. I’m excited, because even though we’re going to be very busy in the coming months, there are a lot of fun things on our calendar. I became aware of Roads to Everywhere’s Fall Theme Q&A post from a few years ago, and I thought it would be fun to answer the same questions and share with you some of my favorite things about pumpkin spice season in honor of the Blog Hop hosted by Timberdoodle. Favorite fall sweet treat? I’m a big…
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Review: Timberdoodle’s Farmland Math Mat Bundle
Recently, I had the opportunity to try a preschool resource I’d been wanting to try for a long time. I received a special discount for Timberdoodle’s Farmland Math Mat Bundle in exchange for an honest review. This preschool math resource is available both on its own for $43.50 or as part of their 2019 Preschool Curriculum Bundle. What is the Farmland Math Mat Bundle? The Farmland Math Mat Bundle is a combination of resources. It’s a tub of counters, a large play mat, and then a guided manual that takes parents and students through 36 weeks of hands-on math activities. It’s suitable for ages 2+, but I reviewed it with…
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Find It Series – Tot Resource Review
I received the Highlights Find It series from Timberdoodle in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. My kids are 2, 3, and 5 now, so this year, I’ll be adding some totschool preschool activities into our routine. I’ll write more about what I’m using for that soon, but first, I wanted to share this fun series of board books with you. There are four books in the Highlights “find it” series: Things that Go, Animals, Bedtime, and Farm. Each of the books has three items on the left page to find and an image on the right where toddlers can search for the images. This makes…
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Resource Review: Moon Rush: The New Space Race by Leonard David
Do you have a student interested in space exploration? Moon Rush: The New Space Race by Leonard David talks about the technology and science that will drive exploring the moon. This book is great for learning about the history of moon exploration and myths about the moon to plans for the future. It’s definitely for high school level and above, although a precocious middle-schooler would probably enjoy reading this one. I’ve shared tidbits from it with my younger students, but it will be shelved with my 10th grade science curriculum. About Moon Rush • Hardcover: 224 pages • Publisher: National Geographic (May 7, 2019) Veteran space journalist digs into the science and…
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Ideas for Social Activities for Secular Homeschoolers
If you’ve been homeschooling – or even considering homeschooling – then you know that the first question “concerned” people ask is, “What about socialization?” Because of this, one of the most common questions asked in homeschooling groups is, “so what can my kids do as a social activity?” Rest assured, there are many activities for homeschoolers to participate in (in fact, I feel like there are more activities available for homeschooled kids than there are for their public and private school counterparts). Secular homeschoolers often run up against the wall because many activities appear to center around church groups, and many homeschooling groups are religious in nature (particularly Christian). Some…
