I know how hectic things can get around here and how hard it is for me to get a way for even a day. I haven’t been to a homeschool curriculum fair in many years. Part of that is because of time and Read more »

I’ve been chosen to be one of the product reviewers for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, so you get the benefit of reading my reviews at this blog.

To start things off I’m going to tell you about the The 2009 Schoolhouse Planner. It’s quite a book, let me tell you. Some people might be put off by Read more »

I thought you would enjoy this free homeschool planner that I made up. This is what I use every year to plan out what each child will be doing and what books and resources I need to purchase Read more »

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Summer is almost here and life is changing a little in our house as Dad is off for the summer. This prompted me to think about what we are going to do this summer.

My philosophy is that whether you homeschool all summer or not, whatever you do, make sure it is the best thing for your family. We do a lot of swimming and gardening in the summer and this year I will be working with several children on their spelling and athletic skills. I have many friends that do various things with their summer. Some keep right on plugging away with their school work and some put all the books away.

I’ve written a whole page on this topic at my website Homeschool How To

Check it out and let me know what you think!

I have been reading Joyce Meyer’s book One Hundred Ways to Simplify Your Life - I’ve read LOTS of organizing books, but this one is different. I expected it to be a lot about getting rid of clutter, but it’s more about uncluttering your brain and your life. I think this book is going to be a life changer for me.

The chapters are extremely short (my favorite) so you can read one a day and let each of the 100 points sink in a little at a time. I highly recommend you read this book this summer, even if you plug away at it one point a day.

Hope you have a wonderful week!

Heidi

One Hundred Ways to Simplify Your Life

Sometimes it’s fun to look over reviews of homeschool curriculum written by another homeschool Mom.  It’s good to research something before you buy it especially if it is going to cost you a lot of money!

Don’t discount Read more »

Over the past year I have had several people come to me asking me how to homeschool Kindergarten. After you have been homeschooling a few years, I guess people think you know what you are doing

Hopefully I have learned a few things along the way and I have some things I can share with people. After writing and researching for a while I have written down some thoughts Read more »

Here is a website I found that is really fun for children (especially boys) to help reinforce their times tables. You can download the program for free. They have to answer multiplication facts before they can open doors in the castle. This program makes you want to enter the answers so that you can keep going and continue to open doors and find your way through the dungeon.

The only thing I wanted to mention Read more »

I just received my latest newsletter from CurrClick and came across a great article entitled “Top 10 Reasons to Teach Phonics.” I thought they made some great points so I wanted to share it with you.

CurrClick is a fun site where Read more »

Here are some more virtual tours for homeschooling that I came across recently. I thought I would share them with you. Read more »

I know it sounds impossible, but exercise and fitness for homeschool moms CAN be a reality. Whether you weight 100 pounds or 300 pounds, you need to get/stay in shape and keep moving each day.

Here are some tips for staying fit, fitting in exercise, and setting a good example of fitness for your children…. Read more »

What does mind mapping have to do with homeschooling you ask? Plenty! I wanted to bring you this Freemind review to let you know about a nifty little program you can use in many aspects of homeschooling or home business.

If you’re not familiar with mind mapping, Read more »

I recently found a great homeschool history video that I thought was entertaining enough to hold my teens attention, yet educational enough to teach them something.

I emailed it to each of my teenage daughters and told them to watch it on their own and email me back what they thought of it.  I even learned something here.

The video explains the differences Read more »

Since I recently read this book I thought I would do a The Duggars: 20 and Counting review. A friend sent me a video by email a few months ago about this wonderful homeschooling family that just had their 18th child.
I don’t know what it is about big families that intrigues us, but most people can’t get enough of them. Read more »

I recently came across a book called Kitchen Table Play and Learn by Copley & Custer. The subtitle caught my attention “Activities and lessons for building your preschooler’s vital developmental skills.

The book starts out with some questions that someone would have when starting out this book. Then it moves into Read more »

Career exploration for High School students can be fun and exciting. After all these years of home schooling, your child can start to investigate what it is he/she will be able to do the rest of their life.

The little weE-book published by the Old Schoolhouse Magazine called Career Exploration for High School Students  introduces what you can do with your child to help them investigate this area. Read more »

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine has a new book out called Homework - Juggling Home, Work, and School without Losing Your Balance. The book is a compilation of home business stories from many home schooling and home working Moms.

While reading this book, you feel like you are able to get into the heads of these moms. They have done such a good job of relating their struggles, Read more »

I recently received a review copy of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine’s new weE-book on homeschool mentoring in action. It’s called Missing in Action or Mentoring in Action?

If you’re not familiar with weE-books, basically they are just books that Read more »

Recently I was able to view the new weE-book Simplifying Classical Education from The Old Schoolhouse. Although I have written ebooks, I’m new to this whole concept of weE-books. They certainly are little books, but as a homeschool Mom I don’t have much time to read. Sometimes a little book on a certain topic I am interested in is all I can handle.

I have been interested in Classical Education for some time Read more »

I have found more picture books to use for Homeschool Science, so I thought I would share them with you. So many moms think they have to teach a ton of Science or get a curriculum to be able to teach effectively. For the younger grades, I believe Read more »

For the elementary grades I always recommend using picture books for homeschool Science. You can use boring textbooks if you want, Read more »

I recently came across a book called The Complete Guide to Organized Parenting (at the bottom of that page) written by Barbara Myers. She is a professional organizer, mom and website owner who has put together this exhaustive resource.

You may think, “Is organized parenting really possible?” I’ve read many organizing books over the years and have used many different principles. My friends all think I’m organized but my family doesn’t think so. I learned quiet a few things from Barbara’s book. The thing I liked about it is Read more »

I had never thought to use magazines for homeschooling until the other day when I went to throw one out. My son said that he wanted to use it. He wanted to cut out the pictures and make a book. “What a great idea.” I thought. Read more »

Many people think you have to purchase a homeschool math program and drag your children through it each day to to able to teach and learn math. Although math workbooks help children stay focused on math and teach the basics in order, they are not the only things you can use to teach math. Read more »

In these economic times cheap homeschool resources are always a good idea. Homeschool Moms are know to be some of the most resourceful people on the planet.  They can figure out how to make food money stretch beyond what it did several years ago. They can figure out how to make a normal book come alive without spending a fortune on high priced curriculum.

Cheap homeschool resources are all around us. We just have to keep our eyes open and grab them when we see them. Read more »