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10 New School Year Resolutions for Homeschoolers

December 15, 2020 by Selena Robinson 5 Comments

It’s common to start a new homeschool year in August or September, which is the same time of year when public schoolers go back to class.

But I still like to reset my homeschool every January.

By that point, I’m almost halfway through the school year and I can take a look at which resources are working and which are…not.

I can also see how my kids are progressing and adjust our goals to suit their ability.

Every year, I make a list of things I’d like to change about my teaching method or our homeschool routine and I try to apply those throughout the year.

This time, I thought I’d share of my new school year resolutions with you and hopefully get to read some of your plans as well!

There are ten tips below that can help you get a fresh outlook on the school year – even when you’re already five months into it.

They can also help if you’re feeling thisclose to throwing in the homeschooling towel. Trust me, I know exactly what that feels like.

Read through the ten suggestions and let me know which one you think will work for your family!

Feeling overwhelmed in your homeschool journey?

See what to do when homeschooling feels like too much!

10 New School Year Resolutions for Homeschoolers

Images c/o: CreateHERStock

This post contains affiliate links. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.

1. Establish a daily routine.

As much as I like the idea of a “go with the flow” mentality, that simply does not work for our family, especially since some of us are living with ADHD.

Instead of attempting to schedule every single minute, though, we’re going to stick with our minimalist homeschool schedule and strive for consistency.

2. Spend more time outdoors.

I’m really not an outdoors person. I’d rather be inside with a thick novel than outside any day. Especially when it’s cold. Like January.

However, we have active kids who love the outdoors, so we’ll be working in more outside time this year. We’ve gotten a chance to share some great nature activities as a family and I’d like to make time for that on a regular basis.

Even I feel more relaxed after we spend time outside together.

3. Make good use of lapbooks.

We’ve used a few lapbooks with the kids in the past and we’ve enjoyed them quite a bit. But I’ve tended to shy away from using them much because they take so much time to prepare.

After the initial preparation, though, they are wonderful homeschooling tools that kids can use on their own.

We still have Knowledge Box Central lapbooks from years ago and the kids can grab them and complete an activity any time. They’re certainly worth the initial time investment.

If you want to see how they look, check out this cooking lapbook that even my sons loved!

4. Encourage independence.

My husband was the first one to teach this in our home, so I have to give credit to him for this resolution. He believed strongly that our kids should learn to take care of themselves as early as possible.

As a result, our three oldest kids can wash their own laundry, prepare their own breakfast and lunch meals, and clean their rooms. Even our youngest child has started helping to wash dishes.

Less housework definitely takes a load off of my mind.

5. Slow down.

When I first started homeschooling years ago, I felt pressure to do ALL THE THINGS AT ONCE.

I planned every minute of our homeschooling day. I made a list of every single important children’s book with dates to read each one.

I collected every piece of homeschooling curriculum I could find. Then I almost killed myself trying to do it all.

Now that we’ve been at this for years, I’ve learned that it’s so much better to slow down, focus on what’s most important, and enjoy teaching the children.

See the next five school year resolutions and how to try them on the next page!

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Pizza Pie ELA! Adjective Sorting Activity

December 1, 2020 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Does anyone else think learning about parts of speech is fun?

If not, it’s possible that it’s just me.

When I learned about them years (and years) ago in school, I thought it was so neat that the words I read and used everyday had different functions.

If your students aren’t quite as thrilled about the parts of speech as I was, this pizza-themed adjective sorting activity is fun way to practice recognizing describing words!

If you’re reading a pizza-themed book with your class, this is a wonderful way to weave in some basic ELA practice.

Plus, it has a hands-on component that younger students will love!

Read on to see how to get your copy of this ELA activity – free!

And, for more ways to practice language arts in early grades, take a look at my Construction Contractions ELA unit!

This fun pizza themed adjective sorting activity is a perfect hands-on lesson for ELA!

Pizza Pie ELA! Adjective Sorting Activity

To use this pizza-themed adjective sorting activity, you’ll need the following: (This post contains affiliate links. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

Easy Adjective Sorting Activity for Kids

This ELA lesson lets students practice spotting and using descriptive words to describe everyone’s favorite food – pizza!

It’s designed as a one-time cut and paste activity, but you can easily adapt it for repeated use at centers.

Instructions are included on the activity, so you can just print and then hand them out to students.

They can look for the adjectives, cut them out, and then paste them onto the pizza as mushroom and pepperoni “toppings”.

Turn this into a reusable activity by laminating the pages. Then cut them out and let students use them again and again.

Adjective Sorting Activity for Early Elementary

This would also make a great take-home activity for practicing parts of speech.

Adjective Pizza Adjective Sorting Activity

Students can assemble their pizzas at home and then bring them in the next day!

Scroll down to get your copy of this free Pizza Adjective Sorting Activity!

Try some of these other ELA learning ideas for early elementary!

Have a sweet ELA lesson with this delicious donuts ELA activity set! Several ELA activities with a fun donut theme!

Teach children how to identify basic nouns, verbs, and adjectives with this winter-themed parts of speech sorting activity! Perfect for ELA over the winter!

Pick up these printable contraction flashcards to help early elementary students review English contractions!

To get your copy of this Adjective Pizza activity, click the image or the link below to grab it as a free download from my Teachers Pay Teachers store!

>>> Pizza Pie ELA! Adjective Sorting Lesson <<<

5 Fun Homeschool Book Report Ideas for Kids

November 17, 2020 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Ah, the familiar (and sometimes dreaded) book report.

When I was in elementary school, we had to give book reports in front of the entire class. I never minded, because I loved books and always wanted to talk about them to my classmates.

But everyone didn’t love doing them.

And it’s easy to see why. Just writing a report about a book isn’t necessarily fun.

So I thought it would be helpful to share these five fun homeschool book report ideas you can try with your children!

These are simple to do and they’re engaging, so if you have children who don’t love writing about the books they read, these different book report ideas may help.

Read on to see the full list!

And, for more ways to bring books to life, take a look at our tips for making reading fun for active kids!

These five fun homeschool book report ideas are excellent for assessing reading comprehension with kids!

5 Fun Homeschool Book Report Ideas for Kids

Images c/o: AndrewLozovyi / Depositphotos

The Cereal Box Book Report

Take an empty cereal box and glue butcher paper or construction paper all around it.

Have your children draw an important scene from the book on the front and write the book title at the top.

Use the space for the nutrition facts on the side to list characters and places inside the book.

On the back, kids can describe the basic plot and explain what they liked about the book.

The Story Cube

Pick up a few dry erase dice and let kids draw a scene from a few of the book’s chapters on each side.

Challenge them to use the drawings to retell the story.

You can also do this with an empty tissue box. Let the kids draw scenes from the story and glue them around the sides.

Then they can use the story cube to retell the major parts of the story. Or “roll” the cube to tell random events.

The Comic Book Report

Hand out a couple of pieces of paper, with markers and colored pencils, and let the kids make a comic book summary of the story.

Keep it short (eight or twelve panels) and see if they can depict the events in the order they occurred.

Afterwards, they can use the comic book to retell the major plot events.

The Stage Play Report

If you have children who love to dress in costume and perform (like I do), why not have them try a stage play book report?

They can dress up as the main characters and act out a scene or two from the story. Let siblings help to make a “set” and play other roles too!

Older kids may want to try writing a soliloquy or monologue showing the main character’s internal conflict and struggles.

After the play is finished, let the kids hold a character “wax museum” while they’re still in costume!

Each one can hold up a sign with the name of their character and a few important facts about him or her. As parents, you can walk around to see each “exhibit” from the story.

The Build A Scene Report

Grab some art supplies and recyclables from around the house to build a model of a scene from the book.

Choose a specific setting from the story (such as a village, castle, apartment, forest, etc.) and challenge the kids to use as much detail as they can. This is a great way to help the kids pay attention to descriptive details in the book.

You can also use LEGO blocks to construct a setting from the story. With a smartphone, older kids can create a stop-motion video to show a few of the major events!

Which of these fun homeschool book report ideas do you think your kids would like? Let me know how they work for your family!

Try some of these other ideas for making reading fun!

These printable summer reading challenge bookmarks are a fun way to keep kids reading during summer!

This printable fall reading journal for kids is a simple way to help children analyze the stories they read!

Pick up this printable ice cream reading log for kids to keep little ones reading this summer! This printable reading kits with printable bookplates, a printable summer reading log, and printable coloring bookmarks!

Sweet Treats! Cupcake and Cookie Alphabet Worksheets

November 10, 2020 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Winter is quickly approaching and it’s the time of year for…baking!

At least for me.

Whenever it gets cold outside, I’m ready to start baking cookies, cupcakes, muffins, and whatever else I can think of.

Of course, I also have the problem of eating them all, but that’s another story.

To keep early learners practicing their alphabet recognition skills over the winter, I thought it would be fun to share a set of cupcake and cookie alphabet worksheets!

Fun Cookie and Cupcake Alphabet Worksheets

These are filled with ways to practice letter recognition that are fun for little ones!

They’d be excellent for literacy centers or take-home packets over winter break in preschool or kindergarten too.

Read on to see how to get your copy of each – free!

And for more ways to teach early literacy skills, don’t miss my Winter Alphabet and Number Playdough Mats!

These printable cookie and cupcake alphabet worksheets are so fun for helping early learners practice letter recognition!

Sweet Treats! Cupcake and Cookie Alphabet Worksheets

To use these cupcake and cookie alphabet worksheets, you’ll need the following: (This post contains affiliate links. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

Printer (with ink)
Printer paper
Pencils
Crayons or washable markers
Child-safe scissors
Glue stick
Laminator (good if using these at literacy centers)

Each of these alphabet worksheet packs includes six activities.

First, students will fill in the missing letters to complete the entire alphabet.

Then, they can use crayons to complete the color by alphabet worksheet. The cookie worksheet set features a cookie-themed color by alphabet page.

The cupcake worksheet set has a cupcake-themed activity instead.

They can also cut out matching lowercase letters to glue next to the correct uppercase letters.

Plus, a tracing page for the entire alphabet is included.

The alphabet maze lets students find their way to the finish by following the uppercase and lowercase letter A.

Finally, they can use the letters they’ve practiced to write their name in several colors.

If you’re using a cupcake or cookie theme at any point this school year, these would be a perfect match!

If you plan to use these alphabet worksheets at literacy centers, be sure to laminate them first. Then students can reuse them with dry erase markers or crayons.

See this product in action in the video below!

Scroll down to get your cupcake and cookie alphabet worksheets – free!

Take a look at some of these other early literacy learning ideas!

Work on early literacy skills with this fun fall apple CVC word literacy activity!

Practice helping early learners memorize the letters of the alphabet with these printable finish the alphabet worksheets for kids! Great for learning alphabetical order!

To get your copy of our Sweet Treats! Printable Alphabet Worksheets, just sign up for our email newsletter! (It’s free.)

Get started by clicking the image below. Your set of cookie and cupcake alphabet worksheets will be sent directly to your inbox!

NOTE: If you don’t see the email in your inbox after ten minutes, check your spam folder.

Printable Woodland Animals Board Game for Kids

November 3, 2020 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

It’s the time of year when we start to see woodland animals in our neighborhood.

Down here in the South, it’s pretty common to see deer along the edges of the highway during fall.

Sometimes, we even see does and fawns cross the street in front of us. It’s pretty incredible.

As autumn closes in, I thought it would be a great time to share this printable woodland animals board game for kids to play!

Fun Woodland Animals Printable Board Game

This is a simple, low-prep activity to play with little ones, especially on days when the weather is less than perfect.

Read on to see how to get your copy – free!

And, for more fall fun, don’t miss our Roll A Leaf Printable File Folder Game!

This fun printable woodland animals board game is a perfect fall-themed indoor activity for kids!

Printable Woodland Animals Board Game for Kids

To play this printable woodland animals board game, you’ll need the following: (This post contains affiliate links. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

Printer (with ink)
Cardstock
Scissors
Double-sided tape
Game pieces (I used hedgehog mini erasers I got from Target, but you can use buttons, coins, counting bears, or any small manipulative.)

There are two styles of game boards: one with full color and one with white backgrounds.

Use either or both!

The game also includes a printable die.

After using scissors to cut it out, fold it along the lines and attach with double-sided tape.

You could also use glue or regular tape around the outside, but I find double-sided tape to be the easiest.

Then place the game pieces at the start and you’re ready to play!

Kids can roll the die to move their game piece along the board, moving to whichever animal they roll.

The first one to the finish wins!

***IMPORTANT*** If you are using a Mac, you will need to save this file as an image before you try to print it. Otherwise, the game board pictures will print with black backgrounds.

To do this, open the file in Preview (the default option for PDFs), then click “export”.

Woodland Animals Board Game - Mac Print Instructions 2

Change the option from “PDF” to “JPEG”.

Woodland Animals Board Game - Mac Print Instructions 4

Then click “save”.

Woodland Animals Board Game - Mac Print Instructions 5

Open the image and click “Print”.

Woodland Animals Board Game - Mac Print Instructions 6

You’ll be good to go!

See this game in action below!

Scroll down to get your copy of this printable woodland animals board game – free!

Take a look at these other fall activities for kids!

These fun fall color by addition worksheets are a perfect way to practice arithmetic with an art twist this year!

Use the digital or printable version of this Spanish Counting to 10 activity to practice number recognition in English and Spanish!

Use these realistic leaf identification activity cards to help students recognize common tree species!

To get your copy of this printable forest animals game, click the image or the link below to download it directly to your computer!

>>> Woodland Animals Board Game <<<

Easy Alphabet Acorn Sensory Bin for Kids

October 27, 2020 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

When you want to keep preschoolers engaged in a lesson for more than…three minutes or so, sensory bins are the answer!

Every time I’ve put a sensory bin together, I’ve had to practically drag my early learners away from it.

There’s just something about having so many different textures and colors to explore that keeps little ones interested.

And that makes sensory bins a wonderful medium for introducing early literacy skills – like in this alphabet acorn sensory bin!

This is such an easy, low-prep, and engaging literacy activity for autumn!

And it doesn’t make a mess, so you won’t have to clean anything up afterwards. Win!

Read on to see how to put this fall sensory bin together yourself.

And, for more fun with fall letters, take a look at our easy Name Acorn Necklace Craft!

Use this alphabet acorn sensory bin for some fun sensory play and letter recognition practice during fall!

Easy Alphabet Acorn Sensory Bin for Kids

To assemble this alphabet acorn sensory bin, you’ll need the following: (This post contains affiliate links. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

Container (I used a straw basket I already had, but a clear shoebox or a bin is fine too)
Acorns (Real acorns are the best, but I used these artificial acorns since we don’t have an oak tree nearby. This bin uses about three bags.)
Colored artificial leaves (Our bin uses these colorful acrylic leaves and acorns.)
Fall-themed foam pieces (This foam bead harvest mix with leaves, scarecrows, pumpkins, and candy corn is what I used.)
Printable Acorn Alphabet Cards (available in this post)

To start, print out the acorn alphabet cards and laminate them.

You’ll need them to stand up to frequent use by little hands.

Then fill the bin with acorns.

Mix in the colored leaves and acorns, as well as the fall-themed foam beads.

Finally, add a few of the acorn alphabet cards.

You don’t want to put them all in at once, because you want the letters to be part of the acorn sensory bin, not the entire focus.

One way to use them is to add in pairs of uppercase and lowercase letters (capital A and lowercase A, for example).

Then students can talk about the difference between the letters.

Or you can have a quick find the matching letter activity by picking up the capital letter and asking kids to find its lowercase mate.

Be sure to talk about the different textures, colors, and shapes of each item they pick up.

See this autumn sensory bin in action below!

If you use this alphabet acorn sensory bin with your early learners, I’d love to hear how it worked out for you!

Stop by to see some of these other fall early learning ideas!

Teach early learners how to recognize same and different objects with these fall themed acorn same or different worksheets!

Easy Name Acorn Necklace Craft for Kids

October 20, 2020 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Learning to spell his or her own name is such a big step for early learners!

As we’re teaching our youngest child to write cursive, even she’s in a hurry to get to all the letters in her name.

There’s no feeling quite like seeing your own name in print.

For a fun fall literacy lesson, I thought it would be cool to make a name building activity – this Name Acorn Necklace Craft!

This is an easy and hands-on way to practice literacy skills with young learners.

Plus, it’s so versatile you can use it for several concepts.

Read on to get the free printable cards you’ll need and see the full project instructions.

And, for more ways to learn with acorns, don’t miss our Acorns Alike Visual Discrimination Activity!

Easy Name Acorn Necklace Craft for Kids

To make this name acorn necklace craft, you’ll need the following: (This post contains affiliate links. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

Printer (with ink)
Printer paper
Laminator
Scissors
Hole punch
Yarn or heavy string
Printable Acorn Alphabet Cards (link at bottom of post)

Start by printing out the Acorn Alphabet Cards. You can get them as a free direct download at the bottom of the post.

I like to laminate them before cutting them out. That way, they hold up to the hole punch better.

Once you’ve printed the cards you need for the child’s name (you may need to print more than one copy), you’re ready to get started.

Simply use a hole punch to place a hole at the top of each card.

I like to punch the hole in the top center, so that the cards don’t tilt to one side when worn.

Putting a Name Acorn Necklace Craft Together

Then just string the yarn through each hole. Little ones love this step!

We used a weaving motion so that the cards wouldn’t all flop onto each other when work on the necklace.

Ta-da!

They’re ready to wear!

This would make a fantastic first day of school activity for students to get to know one another.

(And it’d help you remember everyone’s name too!)

If you’d rather use these cards for other concepts, try adding them to word building centers, spelling lessons, and more.

Scroll down to get your printable Acorn Alphabet Cards for this Name Acorn Necklace Craft!

Try some of these other fall-themed early learning ideas!

To get the printable Acorn Alphabet Cards for the Name Acorn Necklace Craft, just click the image or the link below to download them to your computer!

>> Printable Acorn Alphabet Cards <<

Autumn Addition! Fall Color by Addition Worksheets

October 13, 2020 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

Do you struggle to get students to practice addition facts?

Me too.

Teachers: “Okay, everyone, it’s time to complete an addition worksheet!” Immediately, the entire class groans.

Let’s face it: math worksheets are often NOT fun at all.

Unless we can add another element by incorporating a hands-on activity.

Which is why I’m excited to share these fun fall color by addition worksheets today!

These are a wonderful way to help students practice adding sums up to 20 while giving them a fun artistic component.

Plus, they’re no prep, which means less time spent on planning. Woohoo!

Even better, I’m sharing these absolutely FREE for my email subscribers!

Keep reading to see how to get your copy.

And, for more ways to add a fall theme into your math lessons, try my Spanish Acorn Counting to 10 Digital Activity!

Autumn Addition! Fall Color by Addition Worksheets

To use these printable fall color by addition worksheets, you’ll need the following: (This post contains affiliate links. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

Fall Themed Color by Addition Worksheets

This product includes five different fall-themed color by addition printables.

Since each page includes addition problems with sums up to 20, this is best suited for first and second grade students.

As students examine each addition problem, they can use the color code at the bottom to fill in each picture.

Printable Fall Color by Addition Worksheets

A color answer key is also included for easy grading!

Printable Fall Color by Addition Activity Pages

This would make an excellent resource for math centers!

Or you could hand it out to students for in-class work or send it home to use as homework or for distance learning.

Get a look at this product in action in the video below!

Scroll down to get your set of these Autumn Addition worksheets – free!

Try more fun fall learning ideas for kids!

Share this When the Leaf Blew In Storybook Extension to help early learners understand this classic fall story!

To get your set of free Fall Color by Addition worksheets, just sign up for our email newsletter!

You’ll get the link to these printables inside your welcome email!

Just use the widget below to get started.

Note: If you don’t see the email after subscribing, check your spam folder. If you still don’t see it, send me an email at selena@lookwerelearning.com.