We switched to a "school lite" routine in late October as we waited for Lucas to arrive "any day" {that day ended up being a full two weeks later than we expected!} and then dropped everything but math soon after. That means it's now been more than two months since we've done a "regular" amount…
I recently shared my thoughts on a variety of language arts curricula and what has or does work for us as well as the importance of just reading good books. Several people asked if I'd be doing the same thing for other topics like math and science, but we really don't have a lot of experience with…
Last month I shared my favorite language arts curriculum (and truly, I think there is so much good stuff to choose from!), but in my excitement over sharing the formal curriculum options available, I managed to skim over what I believe is the most important part of the subject: quality literature. Reading aloud, listening to audiobooks,…
If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, this post probably isn't a surprise to you; I've been a bit obsessed with this whole morning time thing for the past few weeks! But from the first time we sat down to intentionally do this, I've known it was exactly what our homeschool had been missing, and…
Language arts is one of my very favorite subjects, both as a student myself and as a homeschooler. For that reason, I've spent a lot of time considering different curriculum and "perfecting" our approach. (And by perfecting, I mean what we're doing is working so far for our two oldest...who knows what will happen as the rest…
Today I'm joining up with Jamie at Simple Homeschool to talk about the toughest part of my homeschool year. There are really so many options that I may have to do my own mini series over the next couple of weeks... ...homeschooling multiple children with a toddler underfoot (and a baby on the way). ...homeschooling as…
Our first official day of the new school year is Thursday. Of course, for us that just means a fun day with homemade pancakes (I think I'm going to try tic-tac-toe pancakes this year!), front porch pictures, annual interviews, and ice cream for dinner. Because we do school all year long, I'm constantly tweaking, and we…
Recently I realized that our oldest daughter was writing her Story of the World chapter summaries in as few words as possible. Because she's always been an avid writer, this change worried me...and then I realized I was the cause of it! You see, she has lovely cursive handwriting when she tries, but she tends…
I've shared a few times on Instagram and Facebook already how spiral notebooks are helping us simplify. It's made such a big difference to our family that I can't help but give it its own blog post. You should know that this is not an original idea of mine, though; I'm really just passing it…
This post was first published in 2013, but it's one that I find myself talking about often in conversations with other homeschoolers who are facing the stress of trying to finish this year's work or burnt out at the end of a long year. We still "do school" all year long, and it's one of the…