Homeschooling for His Glory

For week 7 of this Summer Planning Series, we have Amy from Eclectic Homeschooling talking to us about Creating Your Own Unit Study. Over the years we have been homeschooling, unit studies have been the highlight.  My kids have really enjoyed them and learned well with them.  I must say that it is my favorite way to teach as well. Creating your own unit study isn't too difficult.  It just takes a little time.   It is also an excellent choice when you have a library handy and don't have much funds for homeschooling.  I've laid out the steps I've taken to create a unit study.  When I plan a unit study, I don't add in things like math, reading, language arts, or other subjects.  I just use the format to explore topics in depth. 1.  Decide on a topic First of all, decide on a topic.  It could be on a content-based subject like history or science, or on a topic near and dear to your child's heart. 2.  Choose a spine A spine is basically some sort of

  It is starting to smell back to school time. I myself have been getting my curriculum and getting my planning going. More than the books and schedules, I find that getting my mind in gear is very important. Every beginning of year is very exciting and promising, but as the year goes on lots of things start to dwinddle. This year I want to avoid that, so I figured I need to write down some pretty specific goals for me for this school year. I will keep them to five, as I ave heard it said that it is better to start small when setting goal to maximize your chances of meeting them. 1. Stay focused - I am a homeschooler, teaching and making sure my kids' school is done is my priority. By the same token I homeschool them so that they can have a spiritual education as well and I better make sure I work at it faithfully. Somehow,  these simple facts are easy to get lost in a lot of distractions such as Facebook, cleaning, and who knows what. 2. Finish all curriculum - I spend a lot

For week six of our Summer Planning Series, we have TaMara from  Tales of a Pee Dee Mama guest posting with us. For the first time ever, I will be homeschooling a high school student this year. This isn't my first year teaching high school, though; I taught in one of the local public high schools for 3 years before having children of my own. During that time, our school moved from traditional scheduling to block scheduling. I really liked the concept and how it worked then, so when I began planning for our homeschooling high school years, block scheduling was one of my first decisions. Block scheduling means that the student takes fewer classes a day, with each class lasting longer than traditional scheduling allows. Traditionally high school students take 7 to 8 units of credit, working on all 7 or 8 every day. Using block scheduling, students take 4 units of credit each semester for a total of 8 at the end of the year. What this looks like at our

Adding the Arts to our homeschool is often a challenge. Music lessons most often seem to be a luxury, yet every one would agree that they offer great benefits to the education and development of our kids. Recently we were privileged to be able to review HomeSchoolPiano - Complete Set of Books put out by HomeSchoolPiano. We receive a lifetime subscription to HomeSchoolPiano -Complete Set of Books for up to 5 students. What a blessing! I hoped to have my violin player get a start on piano, as his theory is not that great, and have my 4th grade level piano player learn some improvisation. So we tried to use this 3 -4 times a day. The details: HomeSchoolPiano is a subscription program that gives you access to online piano lessons. These lessons are suitable for all ages, even adults. Once you purchased a subscription it is for life and you have access the online lessons plus 3 books worth of downloadable music sheets to be printed out for use along with the lessons. The le

For the fifth week of my series on planning, I have Davonne from DavonneParks.com sharing about how to keep order in the home when you have an irregular schedule: Hello! I’m about to begin my sixth year of homeschooling and I’ve had a very irregular schedule for the past several years. I’ve worked full time for short seasons, I worked part-time (on irregular days and times) for eight years, I’ve stayed home full time, worked from home, and everything in-between. In addition to that, my husband is a business owner who’s nearly always the last one to leave the office and the first one to go in when works needs done on a Saturday. In the midst of all of this, our children have become very accustomed to doing schoolwork in the car or at the office and all of us have learned to be flexible. We’re definitely not perfect at home-management (or anything else!), but we have learned a lot over the years. Here are six ways to maintain order in the midst of an irregular

Still thinking about what to use for spelling or reading during the upcoming new school year. Hold off and enter this giveaway. All About Learning Press offers exceptional reading and spelling instruction through their curriculum All About Spelling and All About Reading . Their approach caters to all sorts of learning styles, visual, auditory or kinesthetic. They pride themselves in that they really help you take the struggle out of Spelling and Reading. I would encourage you to check it out and come back and enter this giveaway. It will be going on till the 22nd of July, so do not wait!   AND NOW FOR THE DETAILS OF THE GIVEAWAY   You could win YOUR CHOICE level from either All About Reading or All About Spelling, PLUS and Interactive KIT, a total value of $150.  The giveaway will run from JULY 16-22 and is opened to Canadians and Americans. The winner will be announced on July 26th. How to Enter the Giveaway Sign in to the giveaway widget with your name and ema

 Endless Hallelujah    Matt Redman When I stand before Your throne Dressed in glory not my own What a joy I'll sing of on that day. No more tears or broken dreams Forgotten are the minor things Everything as it was meant to be Chorus : And we will worship, worship Forever in Your presence we will sing We will worship, worship You An endless hallelujah to the King I will see You as You are Love You with unsinning heart And see how much You paid to bring me home. Not till then, Lord, shall I know Not till then, how much I owe Everything I am before Your throne Bridge: No more tears, no more shame No more sin and sorrow ever known again No more fears, no more pain We will see You face to face See You face to face      

I've got great news for you all!  On July 21-28 you will get to choose from a unique choice of prime curriculum, buy a pre-set bundle or and make up your own bundle.  How cool is that! Choices comprise items from Cathy Duffy 101 Top Picks. The BIGGEST digital homeschooling curriculum sale EVER is coming! Mark your calendars! Sav ings of up to 92% on popular homeschooling curriculum! ONE WEEK ONLY - July 21-28, 2014! Click here to be reminded | Enter to win $100 towards your bundle purchase BUT WAIT!! What is the "Build Your Bundle" - Homeschool Edition Sale? The "Build Your Bundle" - Homeschool Edition is designed to contain the best educational digital products on the internet! Unlike overwhelming bundle sales with nearly a hundred ebooks, the "Build Your Bundle" - Homeschool Edition is a brand new concept that will allow homeschoolers to pick and choo