Category Archives: Homeschool Happenings

Some Craftiness Does the Heart Good!

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I’ll give a gift to anyone who can tell me which movie has this quote, which seems quite applicable to my blog at the moment:

This place is a tomb! I’m going to the nut shop where it is fun.

OK, now don’t go and google it! That would be cheating! As for the gift, I was just kidding! But if you know it, do share! It is a fun movie that always makes me smile. 🙂

So, in an effort to take away the tomb feeling around here, I thought I’d share another more practical (and fun … well it was fun) reason why my blog is collecting cobwebs.

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Making Meaning from Math

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I like math because it is useful. I don’t enjoy math though.

But, our little ones love to learn and exercise their math skills with hands-on activities. I have to admit this keeps it interesting, usually results in greater meaning for them, and it allows me to see exactly what they know regarding math fundamentals.

Here are some recent math lessons with a hands-on approach:

Skip counting with ice cream cones

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You can grab this great freebie at Krista Wallden’s TpT store!

Numbers 11–20 Review in 10 Different Ways

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Learning On the Go!

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Wow, it has been a busy month! Where did September go???

We are in Week 10 of school this week. That feels great to type that out! Overall, we’ve had a great start and now just 3 weeks shy of a third of our year complete … well, we’ve accomplished a lot I hope.

In this post, I thought I’d try to catch up on some photos and learning opportunities we experienced while on the go this past month.

First up, we have attended a few field trips with the tutorial we are attending. One was historical in scope, one was geared toward science and yet another a live performance on the stage.

A Civil-War Era Plantation somewhere in the South …
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Learning in All Shapes, Sizes … and Colors

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In case anyone reading thinks I have lesson plans … ahem, well, let me set the record straight. I really don’t. I have year-long “maps” of what I hope to accomplish with each child, particularly concerning ELA, math and independent reading book assignments. I also have assignment books that serve as a record of what they actually do, which by and large follows those assignment books and maps closely.

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Last week, I wanted to add in some interactiveness to our middle school boys’ math lessons, and I wanted to have more of a theme for our younger three. I didn’t think long and hard. I just went with what came to me and came together. It turned out to be a colorful week with rainbow-themed learning at the forefront. Some of it was review, and some of it was new concepts. All of it was good for our learners! Continue reading →

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A Peek Into Our Day

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I’ve had people ask me how I manage to teach six children with so many different needs and levels of learning taking place. I honestly have been thinking on this for the last couple of days as I’ve worked on putting this on virtual paper.

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I do not have a schedule laid out minute by minute. I have tried that, but I’m going to be honest in saying it just doesn’t work. And that stressed this Type-A person out, so I threw it out … literally … one day. Continue reading →

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Artistic Pursuits

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Wow, starting back to school has certainly limited my blogging time! I guess that is as it should be!

I wanted to share a few photos of artistic pursuits in our homeschool the first couple of weeks. Tomorrow will mark the end of week 2!

First, our back door was really on my nerves. Just being honest. With eight family members, it doesn’t take long for shoes to pile up. Just one pair each totals 16 shoes and our oldest is now wearing a size 10. So … one sunny afternoon (sun these days is rare which is a whole different post), I *encouraged* our older three boys to construct a shoe rack. They actually did a great job after a bit of back and forth as they began. Here is the finished product (and please ignore the broken flowerpot that needs to go away except I keep thinking I can somehow repurpose it–broken clay pot picture frame?). OK, back to the finished product.

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Now my oldest is going to build another one he says for the other back door. I do love it!

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For this next set of photos, I have to give a shout out to an amazing product I found at Teachers Pay Teachers, specifically the Art Task Cards Complete Set, which can be found in Renee’s store.

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I stocked up on these at the TpT Teacher Appreciation Sale last May, and I’m already convinced it was money well spent. Continue reading →

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Setting Them UP for Success!

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My goal this year in classroom/library set-up is “Setting them UP for success!” from the moment our students enter the room!

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I hope I have achieved that through some of the ways I have set up our classroom, which I call the library because our family uses it for much more than “school.” I am sharing some ways I have set our classroom up for success below!

1. Each of our students has a shelf for their books. At the end of the day, they know where they are supposed to go and have hopefully placed them there. For those books that are shared by some, their is another shelf and they are replacing books as they finish. While some books are for individual students, others are shared by multiple students. It is good to practice sharing, even as older students! Continue reading →

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