Trying To Look Like Jesus

I know, I know! I should be more excited to teach about our world's history, but I'm not.  And because of that it's hard for my kids to get excited too! So, here is another chance to get creative with school.  I'm talking about things like the History Channel and period films.  Sometimes reading about history from a book is ok like when they are in secondary school (my kids prefer it) but, when my kids were younger we watched a lot of videos about America and the world's history. Something else fun to do are museums. They are full of old stuff:) Also U.S. and World geography is another part of Social Studies as is anytime the kids are learning "social skills" Remember Social Studies is the study of human society so anytime they are interacting with other humans in a social setting, (think grocery stores, church, the park), they are learning social studies. It doesn't have to be complicated. Homeschooling lends itself to various...

Sometimes with Bible class I have to be creative. When the kids were younger it was about trying to hold their attention so I had to make it kind of fun!  Lapbooks were the answer for us.   Once we did a lapbook on the seven days of Creation. Another one was the armor of God.  Lapbooks were a great way to take a huge subject and make it bite sized so the kids could really glean something from God's Word. Now that they are older, I prayed a lot about what God would have me to teach and the answer was discipleship! This struck me soon after I finished a discipleship class and realized I should be actively teaching to my kids'  hearts!  (I learned that lesson the hard way but nevertheless, I'm learning:) ) Lessons like why we need to be saved, what is sin, how to keep a prayer journal, how to pray and have devotions were some of the things I want to have become second nature to them. Like it's not even up for debate this is what needs to be done to st...

Now we come to science. My kids love  science.  General science, nature study,  forensics, computer science, it doesn't matter, they love to learn about how the world around them works.  But their favorite is doing science experiments and truly this is the best way to learn hands down! (Or should I say "hands on".)  Yeah, I know that was lame:) Anyway, a great way for young ones to learn about God's creation is through various experiments. I get a lot of ideas from homeschool blogs and Pinterest!  Also field trips to nature centers, the park, or museums are other great ways to get kids into science. With fall upon us, going out and having an Autumn scavenger hunt is a favorite with younger (and older) ones! All it takes is a paper bag and list of things to find.  In the winter we would search for signs of winter, same in the spring.  *Everything highlighed below will take you to a website if you click on it* We've also used lapbooks ...

For grammar and composition we've been using Rod and Staff.  It's a lot like Abeka but less expensive. Because it only goes to 9/10 grade I switch to Abeka beginning in high school. Rod and Staff is really old school but I like it because it's very  thorough and like Teaching Textbooks it has a lot of review which is great for helping the kids remember concepts learned. Abeka is a more current curriculum and I love the worksheets. I know it's not very creative but it does the job. For spelling/vocab Lily is using Rod and Staff for now but I'm going to switch her to what Noah is using which is Word Roots from the Critical Thinking Co.  The Latin root words help with breaking down a word even if you've never seen it before you can figure out the meaning of a word by using its Latin root, prefixes and suffixes. Hopefully this will come in handy for the dreaded SATs.  This is an area Brooke could have done better and thankfully I read this is suppose...

I can't say enough about this math curriculum. I didn't learn about this math program until about two years ago. Before this I would print things off the internet or use what was cheapest and it showed in the work my kids were producing. Thank goodness for homeschool blogs of moms who review and post what they are using.  As soon as I ordered the first book, which for Noah was Pre Algebra, I knew I had done the right thing. What I love most about Teaching Textbooks is the repetition of previous lessons to reinforce concepts so that my kids really get it.  I was NOT very good at math growing up and I didn't want that to happen to my kids so this curriculum was easy for them and for me to use and teach. Lily has been doing TT since 5th grade so I don't buy the Cd's that can be bought for the workbook. (Thankfully I wasn't that bad at math(: ) But with Noah starting pre algebra I spent the extra money on the Cd's. The Cd goes though each lesson probl...