Homeschoolers: What Must You Teach?
If you’re feeling overwhelmed at homeschooling your students through high school, remember that you don’t have to teach them everything they’ll ever need to know.
Cultivating creativity, wisdom, and joy in an ordinary life:
Homeschooling, Home Business, and Soul Care.
Set Priorities for the New Year
Here’s how you can make your personal New Year a time of renewal and refreshment. Think through goals and routines, and create priorities that help you, like Mary, focus on “the better part.”
Carnival of Homeschooling: Making Time for Things That Matter- 2011 Planning
Are you ready for 2011? For the last Carnival of Homeschooling for 2010, we have a loose collection of posts under the general topic of Making Time for Things that Matter. I find that the beginning of a new year...
Homeschool Planning the Peaceful Way
I’m trying to choose a cover for the new Making Time for Things that Matter Life Planner. I’d appreciate your feedback!
Giving and Receiving Grace-fully
Create traditions that work within your family, greet gifts with love and gratitude, and whatever you give, give in a spirit of love and grace, releasing the recipient from any assumed obligation for a specific type of response or reciprocation. True gifts come without strings!
How Do You Socialize a Homeschooled Child?
How do you socialize a homeschooler? It’s a common question, and one with a very simple answer.
Plan to Live Life on Purpose
Create a mission statement, goals, and a plan to help you make time for things that matter.
Review: The Struggling Reader Assessments and Teaching Materials
Reading is the most important academic skill we teach our students. Students must learn to read well before they can read to learn, so it’s important to create a nourishing home environment where books are read and enjoyed, ideas are discussed, and written and spoken communication is a natural part of everyday life. If you’ve created that strong foundation and your child still struggles with learning to read, there’s usually a discoverable cause. In The Struggling Reader system, the Eckenwilers have provided the tools for diagnosis, and the means for teaching what is needed.
Make Time for Things that Matter: Impact and Significance
Making time for significance I had the opportunity to speak on “Making Time for Things that Matter” at the Ultimate Homeschool Expo last week, and I’ve also been reading a book called Eternal Impact: Investing in the Lives of Others...
Our First Grandbaby is Here!
Here’s our new grandbaby, Imogen Violet!
Great Books Week Day 3: What childhood book captured your imagination?
I grew up in a quiet home with no television or other young people. My grandparents liked to read, and so did I. Books were my trusted friends and companions throughout childhood, and I loved many of them for many...
Great Books Week 2010 Day 2: What Makes a Book Great?
What makes a book great? That’s a question I thought about a lot while writing the Excellence in Literature curriculum. Why do some books stick with you, while others, just as highly reviewed or recommended, vanish from memory like smoke?...
Great Books Week 2010 Blog Challenge: Day 1
Here’s my answer to the Great Books Week Challenge’s first question, “What book has had the greatest impact on your life? In what way?”
On Charley and Being Different
We live in a society that worships “average” and fears anything different, but we can teach our children to appreciate the infinite variety in creation, and to be compassionate to those who have difficulties. Here’s one small place to start.
Excellence in Literature Worldview
Why choose worldview over specific content? Here’s why I did so for Excellence in Literature.
Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi as a Labor Day Meditation
Today is Labor Day in this part of the world, and I wanted to share this song from a prayer by St. Francis of Assisi as a meditation on the attitudes that can make labor beautiful. Whether you work in...
The Blessing of Creative Handwork
Helping your children learn to use their hands creatively can help develop imagination, creativity, and fine motor skills and will provide them with the means of giving unique and beautiful gifts to others, even on a very small budget.
Read for Fun; Learning Happens Along the Way
As parents, we can’t begin to teach our children everything they need to know, but we can teach them to read, and make sure they have plenty of good books. Truths carried to the heart through the power of story wil linger far longer than anything that comes through a lecture or a worksheet. As you begin the new school year, make time for reading, and I promise, learning will happen.
Our Summer Poem: The Summer Rain by Henry David Thoreau
Here’s our annual poem pick for summer: “The Summer Rain” by Henry David Thoreau. Enjoy cool thoughts as you read it!
Can Learning Go On While Caregiving? Crisis Schooling for Homeschoolers
If you can align your expectations with reality, make adjustments that keep you sane, and focus on priorities and essentials, you’ll be able to homeschool while you’re a caregiver.
Advice for Friends of Caregivers
Caregivers face daily challenges, but friends who are understanding and kind can make the path easier.
Carnival of Homeschooling: The Beach Reading Edition
The Beach Reading Edition of Carnival of Homeschooling is up, and there are great posts on why to homeschool through high school, how to motivate your children, how to teach boys, and much, much more. Enjoy!
Three Things to Consider When Making Curriculum Decisions
Choosing curriculum can be a challenge. Here are three things to think about to make it easier!
Caregiving for Homeschool Families: Some Questions to Consider
Homeschool families are notoriously family-centered, but I’ve recently been hearing questions and concerns about caregiving while homeschooling, so I thought I’d share a few thoughts here. Most of the people who have asked questions have been thinking about their parents...
The Power of Copying a Text
The power of a text is different when it is read from when it is copied out. Only the copied text thus commands the soul of him who is occupied with it, whereas the mere reader never discovers the new...
Grammar Made Easy- New Question Answered-Gerunds & Verb Phrases
As I post the books we offer, I try to answer all the questions I can think of. Inevitably, others think of questions that would never cross my mind, and I try to add them to the FAQ page to...
Learning Styles: Do They Make a Difference?
In the How to Homeschool a Boy series (the three previous posts), I talked about some of the things I learned through the homeschooling years. One of the first things I learned about was learning styles, or preferred ways of...
Hey Mom, Listen to this Great Performance: How to Homeschool a Boy, Part 3
Remember to let your sons be who they are so that they will become the people they were meant to be. This takes time, space, and the freedom to explore varied interests. As a bonus, it’s fun!
Hey Mom, Want to See My Jungle Gym? How to Homeschool a Boy, Part 2
Your sons will teach themselves amazing things if you give the time and space to learn what they can do. It takes a boy with a boy’s interests to find the thread of an idea and follow it through to the creation of a project he really enjoys. The key ingredient is free time and the liberty to explore, try new things, and yes– get hurt occasionally. It takes trusting that if you provide time, tools, and skills, they will use them. It also takes understanding that education is about a whole lot more than doing school.
Momma, Want to See a Snake? How to Homeschool a Boy, Part 1
It was a beautiful spring day, and we spent most of it with doors open, happily going in and out with various tasks and projects. It was mid-afternoon when my youngest son came in. “Momma, do you want to see...
