1880’s Spain – the man of many styles and emotions Barcelona gave Picasso adventure, but France gave him his freedom. A Rebel, a Genius Teach your kids a few fun facts about Pablo: Who Was Pablo Picasso? Pablo didn’t like the ordinary or rules… Picasso did not like the restraints of “school” and “education” but instead roamed the streets. He was accepted to a prestigious art school at 14 years old (very rare – the school made an exception) and…
In 1850 Paris, France—Oh, Van Gogh – you moody man The Basics: After a simple search at the local library, I found dozens of great resources and ideas to teach about this passionate and notable artist. The basics just include a good resource or two, an art project and extras if you want. It’s easy and fun. Let the creativity bloom. Books & Materials: What We Did: I enjoyed watching the boys take (quite literally) the meaning of “impressionism”. They…
A Renaissance Man with Many Talents Da Vinci is a many of many talents – some known some not as well known. He was brilliant and perhaps a little moody. There are a lot of books on him. He may be known for his painting and creations most, but he also studied life and embraced the art of humanity and God’s creation. That’s why after some research, I chose to have the kids do the bird wing study. There are…
Yes for Homeschooling Year-Round While most public school kids are spending months winding down the year and doing activities or year-end parties to end for the summer, year-round homeschoolers continue as normal. While it may make you stand out more or provide questioning glances, year-round has always been a yes for our family, and I will tell you some great reasons why. Maybe you are already a homeschool family and homeschool year round or are a “school year” family with…
Educational Multiple studies have been done on the effects of cursive on the brain and how it utilizes different parts of the brain than typing. The current culture relies heavily on technology, touch screens and typing for its instant gratification and efficiency. And I’m all for this since we utilize this everyday ourselves. However, it is vital that handwriting including cursive is taught in your homeschool, even just in the basic levels because it’s proven to help stimulate the brain…
Finding the right reading list or resource to help your homeschool reading curriculum…. Whether you have an advanced reader or you are just starting to implement a reading curriculum into your homeschool, finding resources is tough. There are millions of children’s books available at our fingertips between libraries, Kindle, Libby, stores, Novel List Plus and more. But finding a book that has clean content and is appropriate for your child’s needs is a whole different story. Our struggle has been…
Many families choose to start homeschooling their child around the 3-4 year mark because pre-school is coming up and many of the learning is already taking place in the home. Whether you are intentionally teaching your Pre-K & K child or not, your child is learning and growing. There are not many major concepts that your pre-school or kindergarten child needs to know so don’t worry, it’s all about creating a loose schedule and establishing a foundation for learning. The…
The basics of homeschooling your elementary student in the day-to-day After you teach your child to read and they have the basic foundation to the day to day – it’s time to start a real schedule. Don’t be overwhelmed, it’s not that hard. Remember with elementary kids, school is still just the foundation, so it’s not rocket science. What does your elementary (1st-5th grade age) student need to know? The breakdown: Most elementary students are young enough to begin learning…
An in-depth, expertly researched curriculum with a lot of effort involved. What is IEW? How IEW Writing Curriculum Works: The Pros The Cons Why We Chose Following Narnia Volume 1 & 2 AND Level A Our children are big fans of the Narnia series and we also enjoy the book. A friend of ours gave us a used set for free so we figured we would try it out and see if it helped. After doing some researching, we discovered…
Help! My Child is Obsessed with Science! Do you have a child who loves animals, stars, how things work and more? Or maybe you are teaching science but you need a step up to bring the science to life. There are tons of science experiments, resources and extensions available when teaching science. It is probably the most resourced subject of all the main subjects when it comes to teaching. It is hard to narrow down and provide all the resources…