Years of homeschooling through a pregnancy or two, having a mix of older and younger children, and a few house moves, it’s not easy to admit as a seasoned homeschool mom that homeschooling is more grueling now than ever.
Choosing a boxed curriculum later in your journey does not mean sacrificing your goals or ideals./p>
There comes a time in every homeschool journey when you need to change what you’re doing. Maybe you’re entering a new school year and want to do things differently than last year. Maybe you’re halfway through the school year and need a little variety so you don’t go stir-crazy! Maybe your children are maturing, and what worked before is no longer clicking. It's time for a switcheroo!
Here are ten different areas where you can make modifications to your homeschool when you feel you need a little adjustment. Choose one or try them all!
One of the fondest memories I have of my childhood is my mom reading with me. We read books like Call of the Wild, Little House on the Prairie, and Misty of Chincoteague. Now as a homeschool mom, I am creating those same kinds of memories with my children. But reading aloud to our children provides so much more than memories. It provides long lasting benefits that can carry on throughout childhood and into adulthood.
My journey of educating my kids has been circuitous to say the least! We've tried and seriously considered nearly every option, and yet we keep coming back to homeschooling because of the flexibility and freedom it affords our family.
We started homeschooling for a variety of reasons when our oldest was a fourth grader. For one, we were tired of demanding teachers telling us what was best for our child. For example, one teacher insisted I should be buying my child milk to go with his sack lunch every day. This same teacher admonished me for buying him shoes with laces instead of Velcro.
Finding time for yourself is difficult when homeschooling. The children are always home and underfoot. This is marvelous except for those times you could use a moment or two for yourself.
There are ways a busy homeschool mom can enjoy some solo, me-time if she is very conscious about carving out the opportunities.
Studying ancient Egypt is an exciting adventure for both you and your child, especially when you immerse yourself in the period through the help of great books. BookShark covers Ancient Egypt for several weeks in both Level 1 for ages 6-8 and Level 6 for ages 11-13, so your children are exposed to this fascinating period twice during their elementary and middle school years.
To supplement your reading, there are plenty of excellent movies to help you further visualize the ancient Egyptian culture, history, and geography.
We are huge fans of the library and can hardly pass a bookstore without going in. But sometimes I run into issues about what kinds of books the children choose.
I am not a fan of fluffy books in which the characters talk about body fluids or boyfriends. And I have reservations about books with disrespectful characters.
I don’t want to stifle my children's desire to read, so I begin an internal dialogue: "Is reading a fluffy book better than reading nothing at all? If my children read fluff instead of higher quality books, will their education suffer?"
The weight of textbooks in our backpacks is often more memorable than the textbooks themselves. Not that they aren't chock full of information. On the other hand, books like the fiction and non-fiction literature that make up the BookShark curricula conjure up images, characters and narratives. Certain books are so meaningful and memorable that when recalling their stories, the characters feel more like real people who you knew in your life than constructed characters from lines of text.
Once you complete your study of Ancient Egypt and move on to Ancient Greece, this list of video supplements will come in handy. Add a video or two each week to appeal to visual learners and to enrich your study of ancient history with BookShark Level G for ages 11-13. Some videos may also be appropriate for students using our younger World History Program—BookShark Level B for ages 6-8.
Don't worry about matching the videos perfectly with your history readings. It's okay if your children see something in a video first and then read about it a few days or even weeks later.
Recently I inherited a stack of treasures my husband’s mother had saved from his childhood school years. Artifacts included handwriting samples, artwork, and test scores. Although it was fun to see, my home was already bursting at the seams with collections of my own children’s past work. It piles up very quickly.
That is why we decided to go digital with our homeschool portfolios.
