I wanted to quickly share this free printable homeschool planner from Lara Casey. It looks beautiful and seems so practical not only for the day-to-day notes but also for goal setting. Lara Casey is the creator of Powersheets, so it makes complete sense that this would be a great resource for planning. If you don’t already have …
I have mentioned many times throughout the years that one of my sons has struggled with reading. It is an ongoing journey for us. One of the most helpful things I did was backtrack in his reading lessons. I tell people all the time that one of my favorite things about homeschooling is that I …
I wanted to do a quick round-up of any new curriculum we used this year in our homeschooling. A lot of our curriculum we have used for multiple years or with multiple kids, so you can read my thoughts on those from last year’s post. That post includes All About Reading, Math-U-See, Math Facts Pro, …
I have talked about struggling readers before (here and here) and shared some of my favorite tips, but I have a new tip that is really helping now. My struggling reader is in 2nd grade and reading has started to really click for him. There were times I doubted we would ever get to this …
We finished our regular school year (we do school mostly year-round) and I want to take a minute to talk about what we used this year for various subjects, what worked well for us, and what we ended up ditching. Overall, I have been really happy with our school year and I feel like we …
I have mentioned several times that I get easily bored with homeschool routines and strict structure. I have learned to discipline myself but I also try to consider and accommodate my boredom when possible. I found that having an environment prepared for learning really helps to keep days running smoothly and encourages learning throughout the entire day — not just during …
I’ve meant to write this post for a while now but every time I thought about starting, I realized we don’t have a lot of typical days around here. We have a loose weekly routine and some steady anchors in our daily routine — I intentionally leave room for flexibility and spontaneity. It took me a …
When it comes to homeschool, I sometimes find myself questioning if I am doing enough. Are my kids really learning history even though we never sit down to do a history lesson? Are they learning science even though it is only October and I have already scrapped my plan for the year?
I have a little bit of an obsession with first-reader books. There are so many options out there, but I struggled a lot to find books that were true phonics readers. There are many books labeled phonics readers that are full of words that are not really phonetic. Especially at the very beginning, my kids found …
We are on our third week of homeschooling for the year and I am back into the swing of planning like I never stopped. Everyone has their own way of planning, but I’ve been often asked how I plan out each week. I can’t say that what follows is how I will plan next year, but …