Another school year is upon us! (At least that’s what people are telling me… I personally am in denial)
I still plan to squeeze every last drop of fun and rest that I can out of this summer, but I also know that my future self will thank me if I make some solid school plans for the year ahead.
Every year we’ve homeschooled I’ve shared the curricula and resources we’ve used. (Check out the first post in the series – Our Curriculum Choices Year By Year – to start at the beginning).
If you haven’t yet read Part 1 of this series, do that first or the rest of this won’t make as much sense: How to Plan the Best Summer Break for Your Homeschool Family: Part 1
In Part 1 we covered the first two steps in planning a great summer break for your family. As a reminder those steps are:
Hopefully, those two initial brainstorming steps were accomplished in the time it took your kids to binge watch a season of Bluey.
Now that you’ve got your goals and you’ve researched the “tools” you’ve got at your disposal, keep reading to find out what to do next!
What’s the best way to approach summer break if you’re a homeschooling family?
Like the rest of homeschooling, there’s no one right method. Some families “do school” year round. Other families unschool – their relaxed school year is indistinguishable from their summer break. And some (like my own family) create a light structure, but take a break from some or all of their usual school work.
No matter how you do it, the keys to success are…
The moment I’ve been waiting for is finally here!!
I’ve been wanting to write this review for months, but I felt like I needed more experience as a World Watch customer to feel comfortable endorsing it.
Well, the wait is over! It’s been more than a year now and I can say with confidence that this is one subscription we’ll be keeping for the long haul! My three kids and I all love World Watch and highly recommend this news program!
There are two different types of planning that are important in homeschooling. They are…
…“Big Picture Planning” and “Detailed Planning”.
The Big Picture Plan is a zoomed-out view of our kids’ entire education. All the subjects. All the years. Everything from ABC and 123 up through high school graduation.
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Kids are natural-born inventors.
I’ve seen children invent games together using only their vivid imaginations.
I’ve seen them occupy themselves for hours with a pile of rocks or a piece of ribbon.
As parents and caregivers, we can encourage our kids’ innate creativity even more by providing them the time and materials to pursue their many ideas.
I say it every year and I’ll say it again…. I can’t believe another school year is ending! Where does the time go?!
Over our last decade of homeschooling, I’ve learned just how fast summer flies by, too. So even though the door is still swinging shut on this past school year, it’s time to think ahead and start planning next year’s homeschooling adventures!
I recently found this never-published post of mine from four years ago. In the Covid blur of early 2020, it got lost in the shuffle. But, better late than never, right?
My three homeschooled kids are currently in 9th, 6th, and 2nd grade. It’s been fun to look back at this glimpse into our lives four years ago when Oldest was in 5th grade, Middle was in 2nd grade, and Youngest was still a preschooler!
I’ve always loved “Day in the Life” posts – especially when I was a new homeschooler trying to figure out what those crazy homeschool people do all day.
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If there’s one thing I’ve learned in over a decade of homeschooling, it’s that learning can happen anytime, anywhere, and in many different ways.
We definitely don’t need to be in a classroom. And it doesn’t even have to be a school day!
In past posts, I’ve shown how kids are always learning – on weekends, on vacations, and even when they’re bored, sick, or having a bad day. This past New Year’s break I was reminded, yet again, that kids are always learning… even on a holiday!
(There may be affiliate links in this post – click here to learn more. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)
Board games are an awesome supplement for a lot of school subjects, but they’re an especially great way to teach and learn economics. Buying and selling, bartering and trading, and money in general are easy themes to work into fun board game formats.
So far in this Board Games for Kids series, we’ve looked at great games for teaching US History, US Geography, World History, World Geography, and Government/Civics. Now I’ll share some great ideas for board games for Economics for the K-8th grade age range.
