Okay, humor me for a minute and imagine I have a giant-sized burlap sack. It is over-flowing with exactly 7 billion unique flower seeds. You pick just one. You take it home, pot it in a little pot, set it on a windowsill, and water it. What is there left to do? Just to sit … Continue reading
I haven’t posted for a few days, because of Easter, but also because I’ve spent a long time putting this particular post together. (This will probably be my longest post ever. You’ve been warned.) Most of the people who stumble upon this website are homeschooling. Why do you homeschool? Leave a comment and share away. … Continue reading
Every home-school is unique; this is as it should be. Every child and every family is unique. And each new school-year brings changes. Adjustments. Tweaks. Personally, I have found that the years when I was pregnant (read: sick as a dog) and post-partum (read: sleep-deprived to insanity) our schoolwork was less organized, possibly to the … Continue reading
I had the privilege of studying at Cambridge for a summer while I was a college student. Not once, but twice a day, they served us tea. With cookies. It was a ritual I never missed; I needed the pick-me-up and loved the cookies. (Amazing how little I chose to sleep before I had children! … Continue reading
By age 5 or 6, most children are able to learn to draw. If you grew up thinking “I just can’t draw”, then your early teachers did you a disservice. Unless impeded by a disability, all children can learn to draw well. True, some are gifted with incredible natural talent and inspiration, like Akiane, who … Continue reading
What is important for children to learn? Isn’t that the question at the heart of education? Home-schooling parents shoulder the burden of deciding what is, indeed, important. No one can learn everything. There is no such thing as a “complete” education, and my favorite analogy for education is that it is like crafting a rope … Continue reading
For Catholics who are using a classical approach in their homeschool (such as Classical Conversations,) I have created a catechesis supplement for memory work. Memorization is not the heart of catechesis. The Christian faith is primarily a relationship, not a bundle of memorized facts. Faith formation takes place over time, gradually, in many different ways. … Continue reading
If you want to be amazed, read a young child a book, and then ask them questions about it! It still surprises me how much a young child can recall from only hearing a story once. Home is an ideal place for facilitating reading comprehension activities, because they are best done in a one-on-one setting. … Continue reading
Journal Entry of Aug. 1, 2011: Well, “school” started today, and it was a wonderful day. For about an hour this morning I had 3 attentive boys in one of our classrooms, doing group time and Classical Conversations together, then doing their workbaskets individually or with mom. (Little sister happily got to watch Sesame Street … Continue reading
Regular readers have noticed that I haven’t posted any new content on this site for several months. I have known for a few years now that big changes were in store for our family, and I knew that God was preparing my heart for them. This summer, the changes came pouring down! For starters, we … Continue reading
As I finalize my preparations for the upcoming school-year, one activity I have better organized and prepared is our “Song of the Week.” I am planning around all 40 weeks of the upcoming school-year, and I have chosen a song for each week and gathered either a songbook or sheetmusic for each piece. We sing … Continue reading
In planning for the upcoming school-year, I took the plunge and decided to try 3 new language programs. I intend to use them consistently and completely, but if we don’t love them, we won’t use them the following year. From what we’ve dipped into so far, I’m confident these will be a good fit for … Continue reading
It’s true, I’m a music-lover. The Scriptures are full of references to music. My attitude is strongly affected by music in the air. My husband has an amazing singing voice and plays guitar; I play piano and a little guitar and violin. We didn’t read Mother Goose to our toddlers, we sang Mother Goose, making … Continue reading
Our summer has been so full I haven’t made time for posting here much. I believe in taking breaks! And it’s okay because I’ve been doing some major re-organizing of our home and some major planning (and purchasing!) for the upcoming school year, and I can’t wait to share some of the gems I’ve found. … Continue reading
My husband & I share the goal of helping our children to develop skills which might help them in the future. The trick, of course, is to try to guess what the future might be like for them. I sometimes think about worst-case-scenarios where my children grow up needing to know how to hunt, build … Continue reading
This school-year we have been focusing on world history from creation through the fall of Rome, using Classical Conversations Cycle 1. Included in these studies were, of course, the ever-interesting ancient Egyptian civilizations. Continuing with my theme of random topics this month, I have been wanting to share a couple of our favorite resources for … Continue reading
Hello, friends! It has been so long since I’ve been able to post here. I have several things I want to share soon, but I want to start with one, quick, enjoyable recommendation: the book (and included CD) called Can You Hear It? by William Lach: I have spent several mornings this semester sitting on … Continue reading
Last summer, some voracious caterpillars were eating all of our dill. Eventually I gave up squashing relocating them, and we brought a few inside to observe and study. We learned that they were black swallowtail caterpillars, and watched to see if they would form a chrysalis. I was very skeptical, until it happened: One caterpillar … Continue reading
We have been “officially” homeschooling for 6 years, and every day has been unique. Every day the children are one day older and desire to learn more. I have an “ideal” start to our week-day mornings carefully considered and planned; but if the children have engaged themselves in interesting work before I have put my … Continue reading
I can’t believe I haven’t yet posted on painting. I have so many pictures of my kids painting, it’s going to be hard to decide which ones to add to this post. My pre-schooler was starting to annoy her older siblings today, so I asked her if she wanted to paint, which she did happily … Continue reading
Spelling City.com is a website with free registration that lets you type in a list of spelling words, save them, and provide fun practice or testing for your child. I’ve played around with it today and have been quite impressed. I think it will be a great occasional supplement for my 1st & 3rd graders, … Continue reading
Sharing today another “toy” idea that we have enjoyed over the years – Kapla blocks. I have witnessed people age 2 to 64 using these blocks with enjoyment. They are as simple as a block can get – plain, light-weight rectangular prisms. The company takes pride in making the planks as uniform as possible. We … Continue reading
Have you ever made a home-making notebook? We use 3-ring-binders extensively to organize our schoolwork, and binders can also help organize your life, too. I have been asked to publish some printable worksheets to accompany the The Montessori Homeschool Curriculum Organizer, and I am happy to report that I have the first version available – … Continue reading
I enjoyed a few days unplugged for Christmas, …but then the time away from the computer was lengthened by a swift-moving flu bug that found its way into our lives. Blessedly, the children were mostly better by the time it hit me. Here’s a fact I don’t casually offer up often: on winter days when … Continue reading
A post today about our workbaskets (now called Table Time.) I’ve mentioned already that I think ideally children should be free to choose their own schoolwork from among many great options, but that in order to prepare my children for eventually entering public school, I do choose some of their work for them. Sue Patrick … Continue reading
Planning meals for my family has been infinitely more difficult than planning for my children’s education this year. I know my kids, I know how they learn, and we’ve acquired enough books and supplies for a small army here. 🙂 The education-planning part has gotten easy for me. Yet, no matter how many books on … Continue reading
Today I’d like to share some free, hand-drawn sound pattern pages. If you have checked into handwriting programs for early elementary students, you’ve probably noticed that there are different styles of teaching handwriting, and different ways to write each letter. I have used Italic Handwriting Series (linked below) for a few years now, and I … Continue reading
As soon as your toddler begins drawing those adorable pictures with crayons or your pre-schooler learns to write “to mom” on every picture he draws, you start to wonder: what do I keep, and what can I sneak into the trashcan recycling bin? And how do I keep the “keepers” from taking over my drawers … Continue reading
I first learned about Janusz Korczak a couple years ago, when I purchased the little book about him called Loving Every Child: Wisdom for Parents. (You can preview this, and several other books about him, at the Google book site here.) When is the proper time for a child to start walking? When she does. … Continue reading
[From the 2011-2012 School-Year] One of the most effective ways for children to memorize important information is through frequent repetition. To facilitate this, I make a “playlist” for each week we are using our Classical Conversations program (24 weeks per school year.) The playlist runs 20 to 30 minutes in length. How your children could … Continue reading
Helping Children Learn 