I homeschool my three girls. My oldest is 9 and works 2 grades ahead, and works independently. My middle child, 7, is advanced and just as intelligent. She absolutely hates sitting and doing worksheets, especially in Math. I am getting extremely frustrated and this in turn frustrates her. Neither of us is happy. She loves to sing, listen to music and work on the computer. Help! [Read more…]
Question:Our granddaughter goes to public school and she is struggling so hard with math. The school has really messed her up and is teaching her things backwards. When we try to help her it confuses her. They are teaching her to do math problems from left to right, to do all of her borrowing before she even starts to subtract right to left. She hates math because of it and it is so hard to get to work on her math homework. We tell her how important math is and how she will use it the rest of her life. Do you have any suggestions that would help us? [Read more…]
It’s springtime, and to little ones planting a garden, it may seem those seeds take forever to come up! My kids occasionally poked their finger impatiently into the soil to fish out a pea seed just to make sure it was actually sprouting! We always plant radishes so they get a quick reward for their labor, but it still takes a couple of weeks.
Here’s an instant garden that kids enjoy growing! They can actually see the seeds sprouting, and it only takes a few days until you can eat them on sandwiches instead of lettuce.
Homeschool mom Catherine Lamb offers these fun and silly memory clues to help other mothers teach their children the states and capitals.
The Pacific States
Washington, Olympia (Washington sits with the Greek Gods in Olympus.)
Oregon, Salem (Ore e goin’ sailin’? Are you going sailing?)
California, Sacramento (Can I afford a sack of Mentos?) (*Mentos is a candy)
Alaska, Juneau (Do you know Alaska? say with an Hispanic accent)
Hawaii, Honolulu (easy to remember, no clue)
There is so much more to write about in the summer!
Writing in a journal is wonderful in the summer because there is often so much more to write about! Swimming, vacations, gardening, the county fair, church picnics, camping . . . all these topics give my children plenty of writing ideas for their daily journal entries. In the summer, when other schoolwork isn’t demanding, a chance to write is a nice interlude. I like to use the quiet time after lunch, when the littlest children take their naps, as a daily journal writing time for the other children (and myself). If your children have a full and busy summer schedule, this natural break in the day is restful and refreshing.
Rebekah does her cut-and-glue work
It’s school time…but what to do with the little ones? They want to have “school” too! They need activities to keep them happy and busy while you are teaching older ones. Here’s some of my preschoolers favorite “jobs” to do during school time: [Read more…]
Our Daughter Louisa
I’ve always found language arts workbooks dreadful. I know some children like doing them, but I love English and those workbooks seem to reduce a rich, lovely language to a dull, fill-in-the-blank exercise. I like to make things into a game. So, when it comes to learning punctuation skills, I am all about learning them through an interactive game. Here’s how we learn the punctuation symbols and how to use them in my homeschool: [Read more…]
Now, I know “excitement” may not be how you describe the subject of grammar, but your kids will think this instant, silly game is plenty of fun, and they’ll get good at knowing their parts of speech too!
Ready?
Set?
Grammar!
#1 Teach or review that a “noun” is a person, place or thing. Have your children look around the room and find nouns. If you can touch it, it is a noun. If you count it, it is a noun. If you can go there, it is a noun.
Company’s coming . . . and it can be a bit nerve-wracking wondering just what your kids are going to say or do! Get them ready to host guests—or to be good, mannerly guests themselves—wherever you go!
