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Why Homeschooling Works – A Preschool Example

Why Homeschooling Works - A Preschool Example

I was asked again recently if homeschooling really works. 

For some reason, I’m always caught off guard when I hear this. After all, I see home education work everyday!  

My own kids… my homeschooling friends’ kids… students I see at our co-op… they’re all growing and learning and turning into capable young people. 

Does it work? Of course it works! It’s been working in one form or another for millennia! Homeschooling is an amazing way to learn!

But only ten short years ago I actually asked the very same question.

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Achieving Handwriting Success with a Skill-Based Approach

Achieving Handwriting Success with a Skill-Based Approach on dark background with pencils on table

One of the beauties of homeschooling is that kids can work at their own pace based on skill mastery rather than age or grade level. This is helpful for all subjects but especially ones with physical coordination aspects like handwriting. Kids are all over the map when it comes to physical development.

Is your kindergartener’s printing better than your spouse’s? No need to hold them back with a “kindergarten” book! Does your older student need extra printing practice before tackling cursive? No worries! You can use whatever resources meet him where he’s at based on ability, not necessarily grade. 

At the end of the day, the goal is to have kids who can write neatly (or at least legibly) to communicate in written form. 

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20 Fantastic Ways to Help Your Homeschool Kids Stay Focused

20 Fantastic Ways to Help Your Homeschool Kids Stay Focused teen girl reading on red sofa

Home sweet home… 

The place we feel warm and cozy and free to be ourselves. 

The place we live and laugh and love and create beautiful family memories. 

The place where naked toddlers run through the middle of the lesson on the Byzantine Empire singing “I’m a Little Teapot” and throwing Cheerios in the air like confetti. 

*sigh*

While there’s a lot to love about the freedom a home-based learning setting provides, there are definitely some unique challenges that homeschooling parents need to navigate. Many of these challenges stem from two fundamental characteristics of a homeschool. 

Homeschools are often multi-AGE and multi-USE settings.

These two aspects can equate to high levels of distraction unless some thought is given to managing them well. 

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Spotlight on School Supplies: Magnetic Whiteboard

spotlight on school supplies magnetic whiteboard background with markers and eraser

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Never Bored with Your Board

My apologies to any chalkboard aficionados out there, but now that we’ve used whiteboards, I’ll never go back to chalkboards. Just imagine…..

  • No chalk-covered toddlers
  • No chalk dust in the air and in the carpet
  • No ear-piercing, goose-bump-causing SKREEEEEECH from wandering nails

*shudder*

Don’t get me wrong – I like a cute & trendy menu chalkboard in the kitchen just as much as the next Pinterest-perusing mom. And, of course, chalk still has its place for some activities (that place being outside). But for our day-to-day schoolwork we needed a different solution.

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Spotlight on School Supplies: Laminator

spotlight on homeschool supplies laminator with laminated printable

Melting Hearts of Homeschool Moms Everywhere

One of the first memories I have of my early homeschool research is reading a handful of homeschooler’s blogs and noticing the deep affection they all had for their laminators. 

I recall thinking this was strange.  

Yet now, here I am years later, adding my voice to the chorus of homeschool moms singing an Ode to My Laminator. 

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