Tag Archives: curriculum

What People are Saying About: Heart of Dakota

What is Heart of Dakota Heart of Dakota strives to publish Christ-centered homeschool curricula that is easy to use, flexible, and educational and can also be used with multiple ages at the same time. Our desire is to help homeschool teachers have a successful experience from the very beginning, while keeping God’s Word at the heart of their children’s academic training. {from site} What People are Saying… We haven’t been using it very long but I love it! We use it with all 4 children right now (3-7yo) and it’s been wonderful! ~Dana   Heart of Dakota is the best! … Continue reading →

My Favorite Curriculum Subject by Subject

Self Confessed Curriculum Junkie I love curriculum. I enjoy seeing the latest items to old classics. I have a true eclectic heart and enjoy all types of curriculum and educational materials from workbooks to living books. I gleam the best each method has to offer and tailor it to the individual needs of my kids. I think I get abnormally excited about educational things. Only homeschool moms rush to a back to school or book sale with pure excitement feeling the victory of saving a dollar.   English Curriculum Favorites A Beka Book :: Homeschool: I love Abeka’s phonics and … Continue reading →

Pushing Younger Kids Beyond Their Comfort Zone

When I first started home schooling my last three girls, two were in third grade and one was just starting preschool. It was a challenge wondering how I would present the lessons when there was such an obvious age gap between the older girls and the youngest. Being able to home school our kids allows us a lot of freedom though. Kids don’t have to be pushed ahead when they aren’t ready or held back when they are. What I did was to offer the same exact assignment for all of my girls, always at the age level of the … Continue reading →

Home School Blogger Intro

I started as a home schooling blogger on Families.com about a month ago. My introduction post is a little overdue, but I wanted to share with others a bit about myself and my background as a home schooling single mother. My two oldest daughters went to public school all the way through high school. A move to a rough area of Baltimore had me quickly pulling my three youngest out of school and home schooling them myself. It was a decision I wish I had made with my older girls. Live and learn though, right? For the most part I … Continue reading →

History Across The Curriculum

In previous posts I mentioned how I try to get as much “across the curriculum” learning out of a subject as I can. Why have separate reading, history, art, writing, and science projects when you can take one subject you’re studying and make it work for all areas? This is being frugal with your time and kids can really immerse themselves in the topic at hand rather than having their minds jump from one completely different subject to another. Another positive aspect of taking one topic and applying as many assignments to it as possible is that you can often … Continue reading →

Home Schooling – A Blessing In Disguise

When people find out that my three youngest girls were all home schooled they look at me with shock and admiration. Then, they always ask why I decided to do it. My answers are probably similar to many other home schooling parents, even if we all have our unique reasons and ways of handling things. We do it because we believe in doing the best for our children. My personal reason for choosing to pull my two third graders out of public school, and never let my youngest step foot in a classroom, was simply because I felt I was … Continue reading →

Self-Paced Learning When Your Nerves Are Shot

In a previous blog post I had mentioned how I home schooled my kids using the Charlotte Mason method. I found it to be very thorough yet relaxed at the same time. It also gave me the opportunity to let my kids do a lot of the assignments on their own without me hovering over them every moment or answering a long list of questions that I knew they could answer on their own if they thought about it for awhile. Each weekend I would simply make a curriculum schedule for the week, get them started in the morning, then … Continue reading →

A Whole World Curriculum – Learning About Other Lands And People

I lived in Maryland when first homeschooling my girls and the school board is pretty relaxed with the curriculum. You can use a traditional curriculum and workbooks or create your own, as long as the children are given an overall education. Truthfully, my kids were bored to tears with workbooks and textbooks, so I decided to make a curriculum that would really stimulate their senses and be fun at the same time. I knew my daughters liked learning about other lands and people, so I bought a world map and taped it to the dining room wall—-our makeshift classroom for … Continue reading →

Video Based Instruction Ideas

My 13 year old has decided that if the curriculum is not video based she does not want to be bothered with it. Over the years I guess I have spoiled her with internet based animation type curriculum like that at Time4learning, and Brainpop cartoons, and math programs like Khan Academy, but her decision to forgo all other forms of curriculum to just watch videos caught me off guard. It’s not that she doesn’t like to read. She reads at least 100 pages a day and carries a book with her where ever she goes. When we were enjoying California … Continue reading →

Curriculum Reviews: Hands of a Child

Note: I have started trying to add some curriculum reviews into the homeschooling blog. If you would like me to review something, please let me know. Since many different methods work to homeschool, my hope is to give information as unbiasedly as possible. If you know anything about lapbooking then you are familiar with Hands of a Child. Hands of a Child is a company who sells project packs, clip art and other materials that go well with the lapbooking method of homeschooling. Some Benefits The one thing that Hands of a Child is really known for is selling complete … Continue reading →