Online Magazines for Kids
If you’re like me, your children might be even more computer-savvy than you are. If I run into a computer glitch, I call on my 13-year-old to help me figure it out. In this age of technology, there is so much available for children, from games and coloring pages to educational programs to social sites. Many children’s resources have also been produced digitally —
Homeschooling | Dr. Seuss Books
Several years ago, I read a note online from a teacher who worked with children still struggling with reading. In it, she mentioned how she used Dr. Seuss books with these students and how much their reading levels had increased as a result. I’ve tried the same approach with my more reluctant reader, and I’ve had good results as well. Dr. Seuss books have
Homeschool Yearbooks
The other day, as we were moving books around from one room to the other, we came upon a couple of boxes of yearbooks — some mine, some my husband’s — from college, high school, middle school, even elementary school! My children had a fun time looking through them, finding our old photos and looking at others who were in the same class. Fortunately,
Recycled Crafts : How to Inspire Your Children to Recycle
One of my daughters loves to make crafts, and in her free time she creates all kinds of interesting things. We have a large box of craft items that she chooses from, but sometimes she prefers to use recycle-able items she finds around the house, such as empty jars, paper towel tubes, and plastic bottles. To help her with ideas, we checked out the
Extreme Rocks and Minerals !
If you have a young “rock hound” in your family, chances are you’ve checked out a number of rock-related books from the library or purchased them from the bookstore. One of my favorite rock books for elementary-aged children is Extreme Rocks and Minerals! by the Smithsonian, published by HarperCollins Publishers. Extreme Rocks and Minerals! is a nonfiction picture book with an attractive and easy-to-follow
American Girl Club
This year, in our co-op class, the older elementary-aged girls are participating in an American Girl Club using the American Girl books. These books are a collection of historical fiction for second through fifth graders focusing on the lives of individual girls during certain periods in American history. For example, Felicity’s adventures take place during the time of the American Revolution, Addie’s setting is
Homeschool Curriculum Choice
If you are looking into new curriculum for the new year, take a few minutes to visit the site TheCurriculumChoice.com. Developed by a group of home educators, the mission of this site is to discuss favorite curricula and homeschooling methods. Because a number of homeschooling parents contribute to the site, different philosophies are represented, and most likely, you’ll find a writer there that shares
Wordless Picture Books
When I was small, my aunt gave me two books that I just loved — they were wordless picture books. I would look through them again and again, making up the story as I went along. As one of the first steps towards reading, wordless picture books reveal an entire story through the illustrations. As children “read” the stories, they verbalize what they see
Homeschooling E-books
E-Books, or electronic books, are becoming more and more popular each year. An e-book can be downloaded instantly after purchase to your own computer and then read or printed as desired. Because there isn’t any paper, ink, or binding involved in the production of e-books, they are usually less expensive than the same book in print. While this is good news for the thrifty
A Charlotte Mason Companion
Charlotte Mason, an educator in England in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and author of Home Education, saw children as feeling and thinking human beings with spirits that should be nourished, not just vessels to be filled with information. With this in mind, she developed a practical (and at the time, radical) method of teaching centered around the arts and good literature,
