Have you ever taken one of those “Can you name the 50 states” types of tests? Did you do well? I’ve always enjoyed geography, and for the most part, I’m pretty good at naming the states and capitals, and being able to locate the states. I even know that Alaska is in fact up…
We hit a wall in math. It happens – walls, I mean. There are some subjects that you just hit a wall (mine was chemistry in school). But what I’ve learned since becoming a homeschooler, is that there are ways around every wall. Up, down, around, through – there are many many ways to break…
Do you ever take a break to focus on one subject? We’re taken a break right now to focus on memorizing math facts. It’s been something we’ve worked on but right now we are focused on that. The holidays tend to mean less learning anyhow, so I thought I’d make a more manageable goal for…
Sillyness wins in our house, how about yours? Anything silly and funny is hit and easily aids the learning process. My kids are as silly as they come and it’s a good thing, because they have very silly parents. So when we can do a silly exercise and call it school work and educational, we’re…
As we continue to work on new ways to practice letter sounds, I keep thinking about how important learning phonics can be to a beginning reader. They need all the extra review to make sure they can read letter sounds quickly. Otherwise, sounding out words becomes very challenging. So we will practice, practice, practice and…
Is anyone else having trouble getting their kids to concentrate already? We’ve hit this moment before where the excitement of the holidays makes school work impossible. I just don’t remember it happening so soon! I’m going to have to pull out all the stops with holiday themed work so we don’t lose ground in December! …
Did you ever throw a party when your child reaches a milestone? Like, a big milestone? Logi-Bear learned to read earlier this week and we told him we would throw a family party after he read his first book. He is so proud of himself. Now, when I say he learned to read I mean…
Math. I can hear the groaning already. So many people dislike math with a passion. Math is abstract and difficult and they keep changing how we teach math! But it doesn’t have to be that way. Math can be hands on and concrete and fun. Hands on math is the way to make math…
It’s been years since we’ve had a Christmas Tree up, but this year we are getting one. I’m pretty excited, but not nearly as much as the boys. Of course, they don’t know yet that it’s going to be an educational experience. Muah haha! I see no reason why we cannot incorporate an amazing tree…
My kids like to throw things. Not just me, right? A lot of parents put their “throw-ey” kids in sports, but mine don’t like sports. They still want to throw things though. So I give them dice in school because it knocks out two problems. 1. They get to throw things and no one gets…
My kids have started asking for more of these simple math games! So of course I said yes! We end up only playing them a few days, but that’s perfect! They don’t get bored of them in the few times we play but they still get a lot of extra practice! I felt like a…
Have you ever been the mom of the kid who tells other kids that Santa isn’t real? Confession: We don’t do Santa in our house. It’s a long story but we just don’t do Santa. However, they do understand that others “do Santa” and we try to respect that. However, Baloo (10) also likes to…