the kids commented.

When discussing the different types of homeschooling moms, my seven adult kids jokingly tell me that this is the kind of homeschool mom I am—completely relaxed.

Teaching Writing Part 2: A Paradigm Shift

My oldest son was writing a descriptive paragraph once. He chose a plastic dinosaur to describe, opened the crayon box, and found an orange color that matched his toy—the name of it was Macaroni and Cheese Orange. Based on that name, I’m guessing you know the exact shade of orange of the dinosaur.

I made that experience into a game we would sometimes play in the car. I’d ask my sons to point to a car or other object we saw and give it a “Crayola” name. One of my favorites was when my youngest announced that the color of an SUV he saw was “melted mozzarella cheese cream.”

Why did we do this? Because I wanted to change my sons’ experience with learning how to write to be different from my own. I wanted them to enjoy being creative and realize that the written word is fun.

Life Outside the Fence

Based on The Poky Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey

Book Description:

The Poky Little Puppy is a classic book by Janette Sebring Lowrey and is the top selling US children’s book of all time. It was first published as part of the original Little Golden Book series. This series has been well-loved by millions of children and adults for eighty years this year!

When the poky little puppy and his four siblings dig a hole under the fence in the yard, he finds so many interesting things that he can’t make it back home in time for dinner. Their mother isn’t very happy that her sweet little puppies disobeyed her and left the safety of their yard. So, she makes them go to bed without dessert. But the poky little puppy is so late getting home that he sneaks in and eats the dessert that his siblings left in the bowl.

Not to spoil the story for you, but the poky little puppy finally does learn his lesson after many escapades into the wild, wild world outside the fence.

A Boy and His Dogs

Based on Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

Book Description:

This novel about a boy and his two dogs reeled me in during my fifth grade reading class, and it has been a favorite of mine ever since. I imagine that I am not alone in my love of Old Dan and Little Ann, either.

The story of the narrator, Billy Coleman, is told as a memory. Billy recounts his adventures earning money for his dogs, training them, and falling hopelessly in love with them.

It all begins as Billy sees an old hunting dog and remembers his dogs when he was a ten-year-old boy living in the Ozarks. Billy takes us back to the life of a poor boy and his family around the turn of the twentieth century. He shares his struggles with earning enough money to buy two hunting dogs and then having to retrieve them in another town without access to an automobile.

Through the book we learn about the people of the Oklahoma mountains and are excited as we watch the puppies grow into smart and athletic animals. Though the story has many happy parts, there are some sad ones that will definitely pull on your heartstrings.

A Coming of Age Story

Based on To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Book Description:

To Kill a Mockingbird is a coming-of-age story of a young girl in the deep South during the Great Depression but was published during the racially divided and explosive Civil Rights Movement in the United States. This book explores what it was like to grow up in a world that was splintering into two polarizing viewpoints that would reach a breaking point a few years later.

The story begins with our narrator, Scout Finch, recalling her memories of being a six-year-old girl starting school. She shares her adventures with her brother Jem and their friend Dill. But the main plot of the story revolves around Scout’s father, Atticus Finch, and the legal defense he must give for a black man accused of rape by a white woman.

The book follows the trial of Tom Robinson, his defense, the accusations, and the emotions and feelings of those in the community. Scout and her family must learn to navigate a town that isn’t friendly to the children of a man who appears to be siding with someone most feel is guilty because of the color of his skin.

Fun Ways to Remember Math Topics

Here are several ideas to have fun and learn math:

Squares

One concept I like to teach children, especially those who are struggling and feeling like they are “not good at math,” is to teach them exponents. You can use coins if you don’t have math blocks. Make a grid, or square that is three by three, and then teach them that this is a square, and three times three (or three counted three times) is nine. Then write this as 3² and tell them that we can also call this “three squared” since it makes a square.

To increase their confidence, I like to tell them that this concept is normally taught in pre-algebra to 12 or 13-year-old students. Now that they know how to make squares, use the blocks to show 4×4 (4²) and 5×5 (5²) as well as 10×10 (10²).

What are some fun ways to get kids involved in the kitchen?

iving kids free reign with their own creativity in the kitchen is like fire to gasoline in the best of ways! Letting them create recipes and meals for themselves and other family members flames the spark for healthy cooking that will only burn brighter as they journey into adulthood.

If you want to instill a love for cooking in your children… a love for working with foods from the earth so they’ll be forever fascinated with God-given foods—whatever you do… don’t over supervise! Of course, they’ll need age-appropriate management to avert dangers. Providing easy recipes is a great jumping off point, too. But whatever children can do on their own is far better done on their own!

Ideas for a STEAMy Summer

Like the renaissance man, Leonardo da Vinci, who painted The Last Supper in 1498, many scientists were also accomplished artists. Albert Einstein even said, “The greatest scientists are artists as well.” Einstein, himself, played violin and piano, and Sir Frederick William Herschel was an astronomer and composer. Herschel discovered the planet Uranus, the existence of infrared radiation, and he also wrote twenty-four symphonies.

Fast forward to today, and we find many ideas for blending art with our science in what is called STEAM—which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math.

So, how do science and art blend? Both disciplines involve experimenting. Scientists use the scientific method to observe what will happen when variables are changed or kept the same. To create a new work, an artist may experiment with different media, lighting, color, and more.

Future-Proofing Our Kids

We took the day off yesterday.

It’s been a long few weeks of gray and wet, but this week has been filled with sunshine, heat, and green. I woke the kids early, packed lunches, filled water bottles, and loaded everyone into the van. We were headed to the zoo to soak in the warmth and light of spring.

When I was a newer homeschool mom, I would have likely thrown journals into my backpack along with pencils, animal guides, and an idea of how I could turn this impromptu day off into a justifiable day of learning. Afterall, as a homeschool mom, I have the obligation to make sure the kids are learning every single day, don’t I?

I walked into my daughter’s bedroom to check how her studying for finals was going and there was dead silence. Shocked to not hear music blaring or see a laptop glowing, I asked, “What are you doing?” Even more suspicious at the absence of a cell phone in her hand, I further pressed, “Where is your phone?”

She said she was tired of all the noise and needed it quiet to focus for her tests. I swear I even heard her say the words, “I completely turned my phone off and put it on the top shelf so it wouldn’t distract me.” While this might have seemed like an otherworldly event, she was actually making a choice similar to many other teens in her generation—unplugging.

More and more teens are getting tired of always being digitally connected. There has become an oversaturation of tech in their lives, and they are searching for a little simplicity. Consider these telling trends. Three years ago, less than one percent of teens intentionally opted for a flip phone; today that number is three percent. That may not seem like a lot, but that small number equates to several hundred thousand teens who are saying, “I don’t need all that stuff.”

Commonly Asked Questions About Credits

What is a credit?

A credit is a unit of study—on average one hour of instruction or learning, five days a week for the school year. It is important for home education families to understand their state’s requirements for hours of instruction and find out if homeschooled learners must meet that standard.

Generally speaking, between 120 and 150 hours of instruction and coursework is considered one credit.

How many credits are needed for graduation?

States require eighteen to twenty-four credits, a combination of core and elective courses, for graduation. Again, knowing your state’s requirements provides a measuring stick for what your family will decide. Keep in mind, high school graduation requirements may not be sufficient for college admission.

Books abound that assist with nature walks and outdoor excursions. Outdoor School Nature Guides by Odd Dot are perfect to take to a state park. These interactive guides are available for Animal Watching, Hiking and Camping, and Rock, Fossil, and Shell Hunting. Each guide follows a similar format. Read on the topic in the “Try It!” section, and then track it! Observe and interact, then document your experiences in the places provided. Skills progress so that you master the skill and take it to the next level. If you have a child who loves to document and journal, this is a helpful resource.

I remember being entertained for hours making mud patties, gathering sticks to build with mud, and jumping through lots of mud puddles. Muddy Boots: Outdoor Activities for Children by Down East Books is an outdoor project book providing 50 different projects. Each chapter focuses on different types of projects and activities, from making mud pies to building forts. There are even stick and stone activities. The final chapter offers more nature-focused explorations and hands-on activities. Nature scavenger hunts, pressing flowers, bird-watching, cloud watching, and identifying animal tracks are presented. Most activities take 30-60 minutes; a few may take 2+ hours.

It’s Time to Take a Break

Okay, not a very good poem, but you get the idea. I love summer. As a product of the public school system, I was conditioned to take off the summer months. We spent our days playing, swimming, working, and running lemonade stands. Then, when it was time to go back to school, we were ready. Kind of.

That’s how the world was set up. Opie got summers off on the Andy Griffith show. Greg and Marcia went camping with the family during the summer. Even Phineas and Ferb made an entire four-season cartoon about the magic of summer.

I think the desire for a summer break is in our DNA. We long for summer vacation like my dog yearns to have the place behind his ears scratched.