Demetria Zinga

When our kids groan and complain about reading time, we know we’ve hit a rough patch that needs to be addressed. It’s important to keep kids excited about family read alouds. If your read-aloud times have hit a rut or become dull, here are a few ideas to keep read-aloud times upbeat.

Use anticipation to pique interest for reading time. Drop clues around the house pertaining to the story you plan to read. Then have a scavenger hunt to find the answer. When it’s time for the big reveal, the kids will be ready to settle down and listen.

Mornings used to be a cause for dread, but I’ve learned the art of homeschool morning survival!  

I’ve been a night owl for as long as I can remember, never liking a morning routine or having to get up early. But when I started homeschooling, everything changed over time. Now I can’t seem to manage if I stay up late at night and start my day mid-morning.

Why do many homeschool families feel overwhelmed at the beginning of a new school year? The main reason, in my experience, is choosing curriculum. Curriculum choices abound and choosing what to teach your children each year can be overwhelming. Couple that with countless homeschool curriculum publishers each with catalogs and websites, homeschool friends

Throughout my years of homeschooling, I’ve come to realize the importance of managing my time. The following tips have helped me to streamline my schedule and put systems into place that keep my family running more smoothly than we would otherwise.

Homeschooling is a hodgepodge of ideas, theories, practices, tools, and resources. How you go about using resources and putting those theories into place is dependent upon your family priorities. That’s why it’s so important to know in the beginning what your homeschooling priorities are.