Homeschooling for His Glory

I am back on day five of the Back to Homeschool Blog Hop. Today I will take a look at planning your daily routine. So once you have a general idea of what your year will look like (in broad strokes) from our post on Wednesday about Planning Your Homeschool Year , you can then turn to planning a daily routine to get through your weekly workload. First step is to figure out how many times a week you will do every subjects you have planned. For example this what our week looks like when it comes to the distribution of subjects throughout the week: One we get that figured out, we distribute the work load for each subject throughout the week. Using a form like this one comes in very handy for that work. Next, we come to our daily routine. I am not a early riser, so school does not start early here. The earliest would be 10:00am. My kids are quite independent now though, and often start their easy subjects without me. For my oldest (11 1/2) that would be one or more of...

Welcome to day three of the Back to Homeschool Blog Hop. Today we are looking at planning the school year. If you have followed my blog for any period of time, you would have known that I am not a big planner. But over the years, I have grown to love planning and see the benefits of it. So how do I go about it? I gather my planning sheets. I am a planner hoarder. You should see my homeschool file on my computer, I have dozens of printable planners. The funny thing is that I always end up making up my own. I prefer planners that allow me to plan all my subjects weekly. This year I created one that I really like. All of the other ones I like usually did not allow for me to see all of the subjects at once. With this form I have all my subjects all at once for any given weeks. Unfortunately I had to use two sheets. I would prefer to have them one next to each other but decided to work with it and put them one under each other. Under each week I mark the week number and...

Welcome back to day two of the Back to Homeschool Blog Hop. Today we will look at First Day Traditions. I am not one who loves traditions so much, so our back to school first day is usually uneventful and just like a regular school day. However, that said, I know that many homeschoolers love to make the first day of school special, and I have to admit it is kind of cool if you get to do it. We did do something special a couple of our homeschooling years. So, today I would like to share with you a few ideas to make that first day of back to homeschool memorable and exciting. Here are 5 to get your juices flowing: 1. Plan a field trip on that day. Many homeschoolers take that first day as a day to get out and enjoy the outdoor, or go on a field trip. What a way to get the school year on a right foot! A fun day of learning! A lot of my friends always go to Marineland the week of back to school here in Canada 2. Plan a special meal, either for breakfast or lunch. Ideas can be...

It is Back to homeschool time in a lot of homeschooling families' home, and ours is no different. So, I am joining the Schoolhouse Review Crew and the Homeschool Blogging Connection in a week long blog hop on the topic of back to homeschool. Today I would like to talk about setting goals for the school year. Why setting up goals? They help you keep on track, and they help you measure your progress as the year advances. We are entering our 9th year of homeschooling and I can tell you it does not get easier. With each year comes its own challenges. That is why having clear goals become more and more important. In the younger years, you know you have many years ahead of you to get to where you wish to get. As the years move on that window shrinks, and focus becomes of major importance. My boys are entering 5th and 7th grade respectively, and I am starting to narrow down their strengths and weaknesses, and their academic future paths. Whereas in the younger years, the focu...

With the Back to School season upon us, it is time to give thought  and share what our school year will look like and/or how we prepare for a new school year. Mark your calendars - August 10 to 14  - it's time for this year's Back to Homeschool Blog Hop . The Schoolhouse Review Crew will be joining forces with Homeschool Connections to bring you a week full of back to school encouragement. Here at Homeschooling for His Glory, I will be sharing about: Setting Goals for the Homeschool Year Beginning of School Year Traditions Planning your School Year Planning Your Daily Routine So come back on Monday and do not miss a post!    We will have 56 homeschool Moms sharing their combined wisdom and insights covering everything Homeschool related. That's 280 posts of encouragement and information just for you! Meet Your Back to Homeschool Blog Hop Hosts Marcy @ Ben and Me Debra @ Footprints in the Butter Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses Amy @ Home...

It's back to school time in many places at this time of year. Summer is certainly rounding down here in Canada where we live, and many are gearing up for the start of the school year in a couple of weeks. As homeschoolers I dare think that back to school has different meaning according to who you speak to. However, I think that there are some concepts that apply across the board when it comes to homeschooling, and today I would like to look at some tips that can be helpful to us as we prepare to embark in a new year of homeschooling. I have five tips to share with you: 1. Have a Plan. I know this is classic. That said, as classic and basic this is, it is another thing to actually have one. It takes time and thought to come up with a plan on how you are going implement all of these curriculum you purchased or all these dreams you dreamt of for your homeschooling year. Planners abound (I am a very good hoarder of online planners - even though I prefer a printed one), but it tak...

  School room? What school room?  We have always lived in 2 bedroom apartments so there is no room for a school room per se.  Our school room is mainly the dining room and the living room. We utilize the dining table, the sofa and the dining floor. We do most of our written work at the table, such as handwriting (one needs proper posture), some Math and Grammar work. Lots of our hands-on work, when it happens, like TOG map work or Math manipulative are done on the floor. The boys often like to do some of their independent work on the floor as well. The sofa is our prime place for TOG and LA readings as well as any kind of read-alouds. The floor is prime spot for a lot of our science along with the kitchen, of course. When it comes to homeschooling supplies and materials, boards posters etc..., the living room is where they sit. That way it's easy access during school time and in front of them at meal time. The library books have their home in the hallway...

 Planning, Planning, Planning, this is a word I have mixed feeling with. I am not a planner, I do not like routine, however  I like having things done. I know these are contradictory, but that's me. I have discovered though that with homeschooling, especially in a classical way, planning, schedules and goals are a must. Winging it when it comes to rigorous studies and mind training is not exactly an option. So for the past 4 years I have been at school when it comes to planning. I am no expert on the topic, I am still learning and figuring out how to best plan our year and how to keep up with the plans. So, how do I go about doing this? 1.  I pull out a calendar .  I first need to figure out, when we are starting, when I am going to give the boys and I breaks, and tentatively end the school year.  In the past I have tried to have a year made up of 4-6 weeks of school followed but 1 week off and so on. Last year, with my involvement with the TOS crew rev...

Welcome back to the Back to Homeschool Blog Hop. Today we will talk curriculum, homeschoolers' favorite topic. Around this time of the year  most homeschoolers are lining up their curriculum for the upcoming year, if they have not started their year yet. Even when he is already set, a true homeschooler is always on the look out for curriculum and homeschool programs. Lots of us call ourselves "homeschool curriculum junkies". Before I start I want to share with you an article I came across last week which is very appropriate for our topic today: Before you Choose Curriculum, 3 Things to consider . Indeed, as I  choose curriculum for each year my primary considerations are: What do I want to accomplish this year? Remembering the kind of learners I have: one that hates writing, and one that is very active but does well with worksheets. My own teaching style: I love teaching but the more they can do on their own, the better. To go back to the first point (what do I...

It's been a while since I have participated in a blog Hop. I like blog hops but blogging time is scarce nowadays. I figured "Back to School" is a good time and a good topic to be blogging about, so I decided to join in the schoolhouse blog Hop on 5 topics related to homeschooling. So let's start with Homeschool methods. Homeschooling is a very broad term. Some like to call it home educating. Homeschooling is becoming a common choice of education. But how does one home educate at home? The styles and methods of homeschooling are as wide as there are different kind of parenting styles. When I first started homechooling, back in 2008, I thought there were 7 main styles of homeschooling, which were: C lassical: Trivium, 3 stages (Grammar, Dialectic, Rhetoric), Good Books. The Well-Trained Mind is a popular resource on classical education. Chalotte Mason : Living books, narration, art and nature studies, and good habit training: Ambleside Online Montessori...