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…
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…
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…
Here are some ideas for a child who asks how everything works. Do you have a child who tinkers with everything? One that pulls everything apart and tries to put it back together or is constantly asking, “how does that work?” Our youngest son is obsessed with tinkering. I got so frustrated with him taking everything apart, that I decided to go out to the thrift store and buy bags of electronics and old broken items so he could intentionally…
The requirements – (Good news! There aren’t any!) With all the other curriculum and requirements for your homeschool to get in subjects and just trying to do the day to day, it’s hard to consider or even think about getting in exercise or P.E. in. For some families it may come easier than others. It depends on your location too. If you live in the country, this “P.E.” requirement may not even cross your mind because everyone is up milking…
Traveling Salesman – Branching Out to New Curriculum Ideas with Southwestern Advantage Is Southwestern Advantage curriculum supplemental or is it more? A young college-aged traveling salesman arrived at our front door on a bike this afternoon selling curriculum. I thought that only happened back in the 1950’s, yet here he was – a young college student trying to earn money to get through school. He was selling a curriculum based out of Tennessee that is Biblically based and focuses primarily…
Learning Latin is the basis of all languages All languages come from a common core of root words. Why do you think Europe teaches Latin to their youngest grades? At its core is the foundation to all other languages, including English. Not only will learning Latin provide avenues towards more literacy and comprehension with other languages in your child’s future, it will also help them to better understand and master the English language. Finding a Latin curriculum is challenging and…