Inside: Our philosophy of homeschooling, how we started, and how we make homeschooling work for us in a house with four kids, a dog, a cat, a fish, two birds, and two working parents. “Is it life, I ask, is it even prudence, To bore thyself and bore the students?” — Johann Wolfgang…
Category: Homeschooling
Exploring American History with Sonlight
When mid-morning comes around, and our dining room table is buried under the layers of four sets of books, folders, and notebooks, we get up and go read some books together. This serves the double purpose of turning down the noise that tends to build up throughout the morning with four busy kids and gives…
Using Visuals to Enhance Your Studies
Inside: Guest author Amy Pak, from Home School in the Woods, provides practical tips for using visuals with your kids to help them better engage with the material and absorb more information. When we began our homeschooling journey back in the mid-90s, one of the first things I read about was the differences in…
Through a Child’s Eyes: Imagination, Curiosity, and Wonder about Life
Inside: In Through a Child’s Eyes, you will hear from my kids as they pick their favorite aspects of homeschooling. You can read about Our philosophy of homeschooling, How we set up our home for optimal results, Pick our educational materials, and Make math fun and enjoyable in previous posts. “Through your eyes I see the…
100 Things: a Treasure Trove of Ideas for Family and Home
Inside: In a Treasure Trove of Ideas you will find a long list of inspirational blog posts for your family and home. Each post features 100 tips, tricks, books, hands-on projects, lessons, games, and ideas. Sifting through a sea of information on the internet can be daunting. To help you get inspired and save you…
How to Manage Large Family Homeschooling Without Losing Your Mind
Inside: Do you want to know what a day in our homeschool is like? Here is a look into our homeschool, plus twelve tips for managing large family homeschooling without losing your mind. Morning 4:30 a.m. No movement. No noise inside the house. From outside come the muffled sounds of a city backyard —…
How to set up a homeschool space you will actually use (template)
Inside: Get a free printable template of the most important questions to ponder when setting up a homeschool space, plus kid organizers, and a peek into our homeschooling setup. You have probably clicked on this article wondering, “Will it help me?” It depends. Are you suffering from a growing sense of discontent when…
Reveal Your Strength: Homeschool Curriculum Choices for 2019-2020
Inside: Eclectic homeschool curriculum focused on bringing out the best in children, maximizing their strengths, and giving them confidence that they can always learn what they need to be successful in life. “All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.” — Sir Walter Scott …
The Alchemy of Learning: Five Secret Ingredients and Five Things to Stop Doing Today to Unleash True Learning
Nothing has been taught unless it has been learned. Real learning is a transformative process. It’s a magic combination of motivation, inspiration, understanding, and assimilating. I link it to alchemy, the medieval forerunner of chemistry based on the idea of transformation, change so dramatic that the final product is something entirely different from the…
