He sits with his pencil in one hand and his furrowed brow in the other. There's no glimmer in his eye; I see only desperation. In front of him, there's a math problem that he could have solved last year but today looks foreign to him. He looks up at me. "Can I use a calculator?" I hesitate. This time it's my brow furrowing as I internally wrestle with myself. He's clearly not retaining what he studied last year. Where have I gone wrong? If I let him use a calculator, is he really going … [Read more...]
Moving Beyond the Page: Ages 11-13 Overview Video (UPDATE AT BOTTOM)
I've talked before about how much the kids and I love the Moving Beyond the Page homeschool curriculum. While some curricula are so workload heavy that they eat up your time leaving you miserably over-scheduled and less than thrilled about what your children are actually learning, MBTP keeps learning fun. Each lesson is a very reasonable length and most include some type of hands-on activity that keep the kids engaged and excited about what they're learning. My kids have walked away from these … [Read more...]
Homeschool Wish List Ideas
They're out there. The school supplies. The sales. The back-to-school frenzy that excites and/or overwhelms every parent. For me, it's 99% excitement. I have mad, mad love for school supplies of all kinds. When stores start stocking their back-to-school section, I become flat-out giddy. It started with kindergarten 30-something years ago and that love has only grown. Each year, I waited with great anticipation for the day my mom would take me on that special school-shopping trip. It … [Read more...]
Review: Moving Beyond the Page Homeschool Curriculum
Several years ago, we pulled our son out of public school. He had just completed 2nd grade and we were just not feeling the love for the system. We'd talked on and off about homeschooling before he even started kindergarten. The idea, frankly, both excited and terrified me. I was excited because of all the obvious reasons: having my son home, letting him explore subjects and ideas that interested rather than being spoon fed a one-size-fits-all curriculum, being able to work at … [Read more...]
Homeschool Art Lesson — Jackson Pollock
A week or two ago, my sweet neighbor Michelle told me she would like to do an art project with my kids. See, her mom is a 4th grade teacher and recently taught her students about Jackson Pollock. She shared her PowerPoint presentation with Michelle who, in turn, wanted to share it with us. Today, Michelle came over with the presentation, paint, canvasses, and other supplies. She taught us that Pollock's work is considered abstract expressionism and then showed some examples of his … [Read more...]