Category Archives: homeschooling

Jan 9 2018

Middle School Curriculum Choices

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Recently, I shared how to plan for middle school. Some of you have asked to see our curriculum choices and so here they are:

5th grade

Bible – My Place With Jesus Bible Guide Set for Kids  + The Bible Story by Arthur Maxwell, 10 volumes (Can you believe we have owned this set for 10 years and have not read it? Shame!)

Writing – Writing with Ease, Level 3 + begin Writing with Skill, Level 1

Rod and Staff 5th grade Grammar

Rod and Staff 5th grade Grammar

Math – Math Mammoth, 5th grade – I have the PDFs to print out and put in a binder

Social Studies – Story of the World, Vol. 1 (plus recommendations for the Logic Stage from The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer) – this marks our second time through the cycle of SOTW, so we will skip the coloring and crafts. We will read more of the extra books recommended by Ms. Bauer and continue work on a timeline. I will have to add the geography recommendations as well. My 3rd grader will join us. My 5th grader will read extra books on topics that interest him.

Science, 5th grade, by Christian Schools International (The textbook, for $42. The rest of the offerings are overkill.)

Vocabulary – Wordly Wise 3000, Book 5

Spelling – Logic of English Essentials, Level C, Vol. 2 + 3

Grammar – Rod and Staff Grammar, called “Following the Plan” – I bought the entire set from Milestone Books, but Rainbow Resource has it slightly cheaper. I will know for next time.

French – Rosetta Stone Continue reading »

Jan 8 2018

Ski Lessons at Ober Gatlinburg

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January is learn-to-ski month and we have taken ski lessons in January since 2015. We did not take lessons last year because, frankly, I was not ready to drive up Ski Mountain road six weeks after the devastating wildfires of November 2016.

Family skiing at Ober Gatlinburg

Our family skiing at Ober

But this year is a different story. We have gotten over the shock of the fire and we were ready to resume our skiing careers. Plus, our daughter is seven, which is the recommended age to start.  Continue reading »

Dec 26 2017

Well-Trained Mind Binder System

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We have been using the Well-Trained Mind binder system recommended by Susan Wise Bauer in her seminal book for several years now. It occurred to me that there might be homeschoolers out there who would like to see it in action. In fact, I have seen this question over and over in support groups for classical homeschoolers.

Well-Trained Mind binder system

My daughter’s binders

A picture is worth a thousand words, right? So let’s start with a few pictures. Their binders sit on separate shelves in our school room. I am not a perfectionist when it comes to appearance. I don’t go all out when it comes to layout and design. A simple label on the outside of the binder helps us identify the name of the child and the subject matter. Continue reading »

Dec 21 2017

Homeschooling Through Holiday Cheer

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So, it’s the holidays. How’s homeschooling working out for your? Is the holiday cheer making it stressful beyond belief? I hope not. I sincerely hope you have found the breaks to the holiday madness and imposed some strict boundaries on your time.

Enjoying the Aquarium gift shop

Enjoying the Aquarium gift shop

A friend of mine who grew up in Western Europe lives in the States right now as a musician. She was shocked by how crazy it gets in December, with all the concerts in which she was asked to perform and all the other engagements she was required to attend. She is right. Continue reading »

Dec 5 2017

Story of the World, Vol. 3, Chapter 20

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Chapter 20 dealt with Ch’ien Lung (Qianlong) in two different stories. The first focused on his interest in books. Ch’ien Long was a patron of the arts in general, but he really, really liked books. He knew there were lots of books all over China and he wanted them in one place, for posterity. Yes, it sounds like he wanted a library.

Chi'en Lung (public domain picture)

Chi’en Lung (public domain picture)

He sent men all over China to gather up these volumes and split them into four categories. Then, he ordered them copied so that he may have nine copies of each. Of course, they copied them by hand. Continue reading »

Nov 19 2017

How to Prepare for a Spelling Bee

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Last year, our son attended his first Spelling Bee. He was in third grade, which is the first year a child can attend a Spelling Bee. On a national level, I see some first graders who make it to Washington, D. C. (usually homeschoolers) and I wonder how they got there. Their parents and teachers must have realized they are so good, they enrolled them and the youngsters blew their older peers out of the water.

BHEA Spelling Bee - January 2017

BHEA Spelling Bee – January 2017

Precocious kiddoes aside, third grade is where Spelling Bee starts. So how does one prepare for a Spelling Bee? Here are a few ideas: Continue reading »

Nov 10 2017

Gluten Free Apple Crisp

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September and October are apple months where we live. That’s when we can applesauce and make apple crisp almost every day. November can be apple crisp month too. Why not?

Gluten free apple crisp to warm you on a cool fall morning

If you ask me, any month is apple crisp month. I love, love, love apple crisp and any kind of fruit crisp, really. And since becoming gluten free, I have changed my baking recipes and the result is just as tasty if not even better.

Gluten free apple crisp with vegan cream

Option: serve it with vegan cream

This recipe I will share with you is inspired by the Minimalist Baker apple crisp, but I had to modify it because I like a different apple-to-topping ratio than what their recipe was. Also, I like a healthier take on it, so I put less sugar in mine. Continue reading »

Oct 27 2017

Gluten Free, Vegan Enchiladas

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Over the summer months, I found out what has been causing my abdominal pain for the past 24 years: gluten. As a result, I am now adapting all my recipes to be gluten free. Most of them are easy to switch. There are so many gluten free substitutes out there.

However, there is a learning curve. I have never been afraid of a little learning, so it’s all good. So far, I have been pleasantly surprised to hear from my husband and children that they like gluten free pancakes better than regular ones. The same goes for store-bought gluten free cookies and a gluten free zucchini cake I made a couple of weeks ago.

Here’s how I have adapted my enchilada recipe to be gluten free and vegan. By the way, if you do not like vegan cheese, you can always use the genuine article.

Gluten free, vegan enchiladas

Gluten free, vegan enchiladas

 

Ingredients

One pack of Bfree tortilla wraps (or use whatever brand you like)

1 1/2 c Bob’s Mill TVP

1 jar of your favorite Marinara sauce Continue reading »

Oct 25 2017

Enriching Children’s Minds

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There are so many ways to enrich a child’s mind that do not involve being sat in front of a teacher for hours at a time. This is where homeschooling comes into its own. In a natural, comfortable environment, it’s so much easier for your child to concentrate and learn.

Helping your own child through their life as a parent and a teacher is very rewarding. Yet the majority of parents send their children to a mainstream school for two main reasons. It’s easy and it is sociable. But homeschooling can be just as sociable! 

Girl homeschooling

Image Source

 

Field Trips

In school, your child will have two or three field trips or educational visits a year. With homeschooling, you can base as much of the learning as you want around field trips. For example, if you’re studying a part of history that your local museum is showcasing, it is so much more effective for it to be seen and understood by looking at artifacts face to face. Continue reading »

Oct 8 2017

Stockholm Technology Museum

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Tekniska Museet is the Swedish name for this museum in Stockholm, Sweden, which features a mathematical garden outside, and two floors of interactive exhibits covering physics, chemistry, biology, robotics, computer science etc. In other words, a STEM museum.

Tekniska Museet

One of the installations in the mathematical garden. Preschoolers and their vests in the foreground.

There is also a large collection of early innovations showing the history of technology since the 18th century, e.g. an old printing press, sewing machine, early MacIntosh computer, automobile and so on. All the exhibits have iPads where one can select the language of the presentation, either Swedish or English.

Continue reading »