Category Archives: Explanations

Around the house I’ve set up various areas which I call Exploration Stations. We have a cupboard with science stuff, a drawer with creative writing stuff, an art cupboard, a nature backpack, an astronomy backpack, then there’s cooking, water play, … Continue reading →

Kids sports . . . ah, the proverbial soccer mom role. We’re almost done with our sports season for this spring. We’ve had four kids in sports and that has meant at least two practices or games every day for … Continue reading →

At least weekly I get asked why I homeschool.  Why?  Hmmm, there are so many reasons it’s hard to count.  When it comes down to it though, I guess I do it because I like it.  I like learning with … Continue reading →

Dinner Science Theater is becoming a favorite event at our place.  Dad, our resident science-enthusiast is our regular presenter.  We sit at the family dinner table while Dad entertains us with cool science facts, discussions, and demonstrations. Oh look, Dad … Continue reading →

Harrison and I share a favorite question.  Why? Harrison is three and whether you ask him to use the potty or tell him to come get a cookie the question is the same.  Why?  It’s almost the only thing he … Continue reading →

My kids have always “scared easy.”  I remember having to sit outside in the movie theater lobby with their trembling lower lips during the scary parts of Cars.  What scary parts you ask?  EXACTLY. I’ve discovered something though.  They are … Continue reading →

Nathan and Tim are beginning a “Great Books” course, which basically means we read some of the greatest and most enduring literature ever produced and discuss it and write about it.  It’s a history and English course all rolled up … Continue reading →

New homeschoolers often worry that they won’t be able to teach their kids all they need to know because they don’t know enough themselves.  ”I’ve never been a good speller.”  ”I can’t remember anything from high school.”  ”I’m no good … Continue reading →

I graduated from high school at the top of my class, but part of me feels like my real education started as an adult.  Even when I graduated from college I felt distinctly aware of the giant gaps in my … Continue reading →

Geography is one of my favorite subjects to study because there are so many amazing, interesting places in the world.  Of course, my favorite way to study about places is by going to visit, but that isn’t always possible.  The … Continue reading →

There are only millions and millions of blogs out there, most of them like five people read and they’re all relatives, so why did we start this one? Several years ago Karen and I (Michelle) decided we would like to … Continue reading →

When my homeschooling journey began 6 years ago I felt terrified  nervous.  I had a degree in education and lots of experience teaching little kids.  I definitely had ideas about how it should be done.  I had my husband’s support. … Continue reading →

Physics and history lessons give rise to questions about why humans make war on each other and the ingenuity of the human mind. The Layers of Learning method is to use the four year rotation when studying history, science, geography and the arts. The … Continue reading →

Most homeschoolers eventually gravitate to an eclectic style of learning for their kids.  This means they pick and choose the best fits for their family from many styles of learning.  School teachers eventually do the same thing for their classrooms. It takes some experience … Continue reading →

I’m not a big believer in tests for little kids.  I like learning to be for the sake of learning as often as possible.  Learning and finding out about things should be joyful for kiddos, not stressful.  This doesn’t mean … Continue reading →

Unit studies are popular among homeschoolers and also at the elementary school level in the public schools.  The idea is that you choose a topic and surround your curriculum for a period of several weeks with that topic.  For example … Continue reading →

Charlotte Mason and Classical styles of homeschooling are close cousins.  There are enough differences though that Charlotte Mason is a distinct style all its own.  Charlotte Mason was a school teacher in England when only the rich were well educated and could afford the best … Continue reading →

Kids really struggle with some subjects from time to time, whether it’s learning to read or studying algebra.  Sometimes the frustration and stress brings them to the brink and they become weepy or defiant or start to cheat.  That’s a good time to … Continue reading →

I love throwing random trivia questions at my kids.  We pull out Trivial Pursuit or Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader and quiz each other as kind of a warm up for school.  We earn house points (like in … Continue reading →

As amazing as modern computers are they are nothing compared to the human brain.  Kids can learn and sort and recall and categorize and connect information in ways no mere machine could hope to duplicate.  But having good recall takes work. Memory work is … Continue reading →

Recently I was interviewed by Families.com about homeschooling and how I got my start.  She also asked me to give my advice for homeschoolers who have a hard time keeping things running smoothly in a busy homeschool life.  The article … Continue reading →

For some reason there is a great deal of animosity between home schoolers and public schoolers, and between private schoolers and public schoolers (though to a lesser degree).  Actually I should clarify that, it is not the kids being schooled who worry about such … Continue reading →

Art seems to be one of those nebulous subjects that many are never quite sure how to teach.  Is it about just being creative and letting kids have access to some supplies and freedom of expression?  It is a technical … Continue reading →

Kids love candy.  Some kids love math.  Put candy with math and ALL kids love math.  Instead of limiting the use of all that Halloween stash to rotting out young teeth, use it to teach math concepts. Whether you are … Continue reading →

I try really hard to learn things right alongside my kids.  I feel like I’ve learned more since beginning to teach than I learned in my many years as a student.  When my kids are focused on a subject I … Continue reading →

Several of my kids are taking sign language classes this year, so I was delighted to receive a really interesting article from Emily Patterson, a communications coordinator for Primrose Schools.  She wrote of the accelerated communication skills that can happen, … Continue reading →

I recently spoke with a woman who was having a lot of difficulty teaching her children.  She has three kids and felt torn between them.  She couldn’t divide her time satisfactorily to teach all of them as much as she … Continue reading →

Below is a hilarious little video.  I hope you will enjoy. Now schools aren’t perfect, do make mistakes, and there are bad teachers, but really, it is the job of parents and the kids to get the education.  The school is … Continue reading →

I’ve been asked a lot lately about what a preschooler or kindergartener need to learn and how to achieve that at home.  I think the most important thing in terms of academics is a good familiarity with numbers and letters.  There are two basic ways to reach that … Continue reading →

People often ask what the hardest thing about teaching my kids is.  (Hmm, there are so many hard things I’m not sure I can count them all, but thankfully there are even more good things.  Most days anyway.)  I suppose … Continue reading →

I am constantly asked about what our homeschool is like, especially by people who are considering homeschooling themselves.  They want to know how it’s done.  They wonder what our schedule and structure are like.  (Interestingly enough, they rarely ask about … Continue reading →

I’m at one of those tough points in our homeschooling career.  Though my 6 and 8 year-old children can be pretty independent, they still need a lot of help and attention in the their schoolwork.  At the same time I … Continue reading →

I do a special “night” with my kids once a week.  That is, the two oldest get one night, and the next two get another night.  When the youngest two are a little older they will get a night also.  … Continue reading →

I hated “current events” in school.  You know, the assignment to bring in a newspaper clipping and a written page about why the article is important.  It irritated me.  I was a straight “A” student, but it was one of … Continue reading →

Memorization is part of our daily schoolwork.  We use poems, scriptures, and famous sayings, quotes, or speeches.  When they’re little they begin with nursery rhymes and progress from there.  We only spend a minute or two each day, but I’m … Continue reading →

People often come up to me and say, I don’t know how you teach your kids at home, I could never do algebra, or art, or history, or foreign language because I don’t know those things well enough myself to … Continue reading →

I wouldn’t say I do a lot of “lesson planning” per se, but I am constantly planning lessons in my head and jotting down notes and ideas of things that I hope will spark interest in my kids.  Sometimes I’m … Continue reading →

When we first moved to a new town some time ago we lived next door to a family of 6.  They were really friendly and great neighbors, but within the first few weeks of having met we were already surprised … Continue reading →

I do lots of planning.  Lots.  Planning is actually my favorite part about teaching. I love researching great books, finding cool, new ways to teach concepts, and jotting down lists of all we’re going to see and do.  Sometimes though, … Continue reading →

Despite my constant attempts to have school time full of activities, creativity, and learning fun, sometimes I still just can’t seem to keep my kids’ attention. We’ve spent the past few weeks learning about Africa and just had a few … Continue reading →

It’s no wonder teachers in schools want to drug or segregate some kids. Sometimes I want to drug AND segregate my ADD kid and I’m not dealing with 20+ kids all at once. So how can you deal constructively with … Continue reading →

Unless you are yourself fluent in a foreign language, you have to rely on some form of foreign language program. We’ve tried several methods with different levels of success and I’ll give you my assessments. Grammar based foreign language programs. … Continue reading →

I have six boys, ages 12, 11, 7, 5, 3, and 1. I have to teach Algebra, phonics, advanced grammar and simple addition simultaneously while also cleaning up messes made by the toddler, breast feeding the baby, and keep the … Continue reading →

Whiteboards have become an essential ingredient of our home school. The kids figure out math problems, practice their spelling words, write quiz answers, and practice drawing techniques. Not a day goes by that they don’t pull out the white boards … Continue reading →

Here are the essential subjects which you should teach or cause to be taught to your children. I’ve listed them in order of importance. Faith in your religious creed Hard work Basic skills of caring for oneself and ones family … Continue reading →

At our house our new school year starts in January. It actually doesn’t mean too much, when you homeschool, you just keep going. We don’t skip the end of the math book or the history book, we just keep going. … Continue reading →

The Great Conversation refers to the body of learning that we as humans have accumulated through our writing. It includes all the great works that have come to be known as “classics”. During the first eight years or so of … Continue reading →

A roller box is a simple and fun way to teach just about anything. It’s just a box with 2 dowels that hold a scroll of paper. Pictures, words, clues, or ANYTHING can be added to the scroll. Then when … Continue reading →

Whether you are teaching them to read for the first time or you are doing damage control and remedial work with a behind child, you take the same basic approach to learning to read. You need to first of all … Continue reading →

Often when we start a new unit study I give the kids a homemade booklet that accompanies the unit. It’s a place for them to write down their discoveries, record interesting things we read, answer questions I have for them, … Continue reading →

Using time lines in studying history is an obvious help in understanding events. Here’s how we do time lines. First I go online and find pictures of the historical events and people, copy them to a word processing program and … Continue reading →

We keep being told how fat Americans are. God bless America, the land of plenty. But we do want to be fit, in spite of all the cheeseburgers. Actually, I like to be fit because of the cheeseburgers. That way … Continue reading →

My kids began school at a new school this week. At the end of the week I went into their classrooms to visit with their teachers about their week and how the kids did. I warned their teachers early on … Continue reading →

Sometimes reading feels like a chore for my kids. I tell them they have to go read before they can do other things (like TV or X-Box). I haven’t been entirely successful just yet in raising kids who love to … Continue reading →

I have one son, ten years old, who is very interested in space travel and rockets and so forth. He is firmly convinced he can unlock the secrets of Warp Speed. Maybe he will someday. In order to feed his … Continue reading →

My kids love Harry Potter, so to make life and learning a little more fun, we do Harry Potter themed things at our house. One of those is Defense Against the Dark Arts. Defense is the regularly scheduled scripture study … Continue reading →

Since we homeschool our kids we can name our “school” whatever we want. So, as a family infatuated with Harry Potter, we wanted something reminiscent of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. My husband came up with the winning school … Continue reading →

Read my original Education Myths. Myth #6. Education and school are synonyms. While it’s possible that education happens in school (and much of the time it probably does), education is far more than what goes on in the classroom and … Continue reading →

When choosing books for their children parents can be very choosy, but few actually know how to decide if a book is good or not. There are several different elements to being sure that what your kids are reading is … Continue reading →