When you start to wonder if you’re messing up big time, it’s a good idea to reexamine the reasons you started to homeschool in the first place. What was your main motivation? Has that changed at all? Sometimes we just need to remind ourselves of the original goals. If you decided that the public school wasn’t a good option, keep that in mind.

Another good idea is to look at other homeschoolers. Meet some people who are teaching their kids at home. The first thing you’ll notice is that no one educates their children the same way. If you want to be sure that you’re doing the right thing, then you need to look at your family and your kids’ needs. Each child is different, so they need the schooling tailored to them.

If you’re worried that your child isn’t learning enough, look into doing state exams to prove to yourself that your children are getting a good education. You’ll likely be surprised! Even if you aren’t, this will let you know which areas you need to improve in.

Outline in food. Draw the basic letter and then then have your child trace the line first with glue and then press beans, rice, pasta or other dry food onto the glue to create a fun letter. The fact they go over it several times will reinforce the letter shape in their minds.

Get coloring. There are some very cool coloring printables that you can get for free. These complex animal ones are really cool, though not very appropriate for younger kids . . . maybe have older kids color them and use them as visual reinforcement for the first graders. And for the younger set, these Sesame Street ABC printables are perfect.

Cut up magazines. You can have kids look for specific letter or pictures of things that start with a specific letter. Make collages out of all the things you can find for one letter.

Hold a scavenger hunt. Get kids to find an apple, a piece of art, an article of clothing, etc. Make a list for each letter of the alphabet and have them search out the items.

Still not sure about curriculum? Then you might want to take a look at this free alphabet curriculum that you can print right off your computer. No cost and there are some great activity ideas.

What are your favorite methods for teaching the alphabet? Why not share here and we can all learn something.

Whether you celebrate these holidays or not, it can still be a great way to get kids learning about why these days have become so important in our culture. You can do this in a few different ways.

Research: Why not get your kids to work together on a presentation of their chosen holiday? They can look into the history of the day and see how it’s changed since its origin. You’ll find that most holidays are now drastically different than when they started out! If you celebrate, why not incorporate a few of the older traditions this year?

Stories: Add a language arts twist and have your kids write a story using what they’ve learned about the holiday. You can also assign storylines. What would a child of their age done 100 years ago for Christmas, for example.

Start new traditions: Maybe this is the year to change things. It may be that your kids decide on their own that Halloween is not worth celebrating when they realize what the origins are. Or maybe you will want to change the way you look at Christmas this year. Brainstorm with your kids to come up with some ideas for new traditions.

What’s your favorite holiday? Do you incorporate it into your homeschooling?

You really have three options here. One, you can turn the kids loose and let them wreak havoc all day, which isn’t really recommended for the obvious reason that it won’t help your recovery much. Two, you can let them off schoolwork for the day, but instruct them on running the household while you are out of commission and three, you can have them settle in and work on their own.

Now, it really is in your best interest if you can get your children to the point of being able to teach themselves, at least for one day. While many curriculums require teaching every step of the way, with others you can set up the workbooks so that the kids can do their work with minimal input from you. This is actually very beneficial even if you aren’t sick, since it lets you look after the baby, make lunch or deal with any myriad of issues that pop up on a daily basis without interrupting school.

There’s nothing wrong with taking this opportunity to make your kids a bit more self sufficient, either. Instead of schoolwork, have them do the daily chores, make their own meals and deal with other household issues throughout the day. They’ll feel they’re getting the day off and you’ll know they’re picking up valuable skills for the future.

What do you do on sick days?

1. Borrow them. If you know other homeschool families with kids of similar ages, you might be able to work out a trade. For example, your 9th grader might use their science book for a year, while their 8th grader uses some of your older history texts.

2. Hit school sales. Schools unload their old texts every few years and tend to sell them off to raise funds. You can pick up these books, often en masse, for a song. Not only can you use them yourself, but perhaps sell some extras and earn some cash to pay for other school supplies.

3. Find used books online. You might be surprised at how much is available online. Ebay is a great place to start looking for used texts, but you can also find them on homeschool forums and membership sites.

4. Make your own. There’s really no reason you can’t create and print your own homeschool texts using information found online. If you are into DIY homeschooling, then this could be the way to go. It will take some time, but you will have everything you want your children to learn laid out in one book.

While textbooks should certainly not be the only way we teach our children, they are definitely useful. Finding ways to get them cheaper is always welcome for homeschool families that are struggling to stick to a budget.

Truthfully, this book has so much information packed into its pages that I can’t give a complete review of all the contents . . . it would be a very long blog post indeed!

Moodle 1.9 is not just a technical book on how to set up a course, though it does take you step by step through the basics. What homeschool parents will find very useful are the tips throughout the book relating to how you can make your material and coursework more friendly for the 7-14 age group. Bright colors and eye catching graphics are just a few of the suggestions.The step by step section shows you how to add colors and images to liven up the course and make it more appealing to this age group.

The first few chapters of the book look at how to set your course up. This section includes screen shots and you are best off working through it with Moodle already set up, so you can see exactly what the author is talking about.

Once you have the basics of creating a lesson plan in Moodle, it’s time to add specific modules that kids can work their way through. This is where it gets fun. The book takes you through adding worksheets and self-assessing exams, among other things, making this a very powerful teaching tool.
If you are interested in a more structured lesson plan, working with various people online and making your lessons available to other students, then Moodle is a great way to go. This book takes you step by step through what you need to know to create useful lesson plans for your students.
We will be making use of what we’ve learned from this book soon, providing some lesson plans for members of Barnabas Way, so stay tuned for updates.

1. Teach them. They can’t practice good study habits if they don’t know what they are! You’ll find plenty of information on this online, but there are also workbooks that you can go through with your kids.

2. Provide the materials. Give your kids highlighters, notepads and a well-lit area to sit and go over their texts.

3. Practice, practice, practice. This is very important. You can practice by having your kids watch a documentary and take notes, then quiz them afterwards. Notetaking is a very important part of studying and your kids should know how to do this whether they are unschooled or strictly textbook learning.

What are your tricks for making sure your kids know how to study?

Not sure where to start? Well, hands on is always best when it comes to kids, so here are a few ideas:

• Volunteer for weekly duties at the local soup kitchen. Your kids can serve food to people who really are greatful for every spoonful. Or, if you prefer, just make up some bags with a sandwich, drink and a chocolate bar to hand out to the hungry yourselves.
• Sew some blankets to give to the homeless. Warming Families is a great place to learn more information about this. If a blanket is too big a project, start with hats and scarves to give out come winter.
• Take a trip. There are thousands of charities around the world that could use a hand and it’s a great way to show your children how others live. You might try Habitat for Humanity or look for orphanages or schools in a country that you are interested in for volunteer opportunities.
• Write a letter to a sick child. Sending a card or note to a child who is in the hospital is a wonderful way to brighten someone’s day. You can learn more and find sick kids to write to here.
• Snacks for homeless kids. Take some paper bags and put a treat inside, along with a snack such as a granola bar or packet of cookies. Your children can decorate the bag and then drop them off at the local women’s homeless shelter, to be handed out to children.
• Walk some dogs. Many animal shelters welcome kids to play with and walk some of the animals. This lets them get out of their cages and get some exercise, without overworking the staff.

Not only do these activities teach compassion and open your children’s eyes to the world around them, it can also promote skills like sewing, crocheting and writing!

What do you do to teach your kids compassion?

I know a family here in Guatemala that is homeschooling their family entirely online, since they were limited in what they could bring with them from the US (they have 10 children). Having absolutely no curriculum and very few books, they are using the web to provide all the information their sons need in order to learn.

There are quite a few options online for homeschoolers. You can download free printables or even ebooks, but these will, of course, be of limited quality. Other options include paid membership sites where you can download higher quality curriculum, or simply using the internet to find the information you need, not necessarily for homeschoolers in particular.

I`m interested in how our readers use the internet for homeschooling, what are you using?

A lapbook is a large book that may be just a large card or may have several pages, depending on how in depth you want to get with the topic. Kids can draw, paint, color and write things related to what they learn about the topic chosen for the book. You can also print out reports and photos to make your book. It´s something that really helps kids learn because they are actively involved.

There are a number of subjects covered by using this technique for learning:

• Writing – adding labels, reports and other information
• Reading – kids need to read in order to research the info
• Research – invaluable skills, online or at the library
• Science – if you choose a scientific subject like frogs
• Social studies – if you choose a person or time period to work with
• Art – painting, drawing, etc.

Also, a lapbook can be a good way to involve all your grade levels. Here are a few resources that you might find useful in creating lap books.

What Do I Need to Get Started Lapbooking
How to Make a Shapes Lapbook
Lapbooking
Lapbooking and Unit Study Themes
Lapbooking Lessons (this is actually a Ning group you can join with challenges and ideas)

Have you used lapbooks in your homeschool studies? We´d love to hear your thoughts on this topic.

Photos by jimmiehomeschoolmom