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Art Study Coloring Books for Middle Schoolers

August 15, 2016 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

Scrambling to find art study resources for your middle schooler this year? These art study coloring books for middle schoolers are absolutely awesome ways to study classic paintings!

We’ve loved these books and today – I’m giving four of them away to one of my readers! Woohoo!

Read on for more about these books and for your chance to win them!

Art Study Coloring Books for Middle Schoolers

Art Study Coloring Books for Middle Schoolers

Let’s face it: Studying classic art can be a bit of a challenge, especially if your tween is not into art. Getting to “recreate” classic masterpieces, though, can bring these artistic styles to life!

Take a look at these!

Color Your Own Impressionist Paintings

Color Your Own Impressionist Paintings

Color Your Own Famous American Paintings

Color Your Own Famous American Paintings

Color Your Own Still Life Paintings

Color Your Own Still Life Paintings

Color Your Own Italian Renaissance Paintings

Color Your Own Italian Renaissance Paintings

Get more ideas for teaching art in your homeschool with my Art Appreciation board on Pinterest!

Color Your Own Masterpieces Giveaway

Now – for the fun part! You can enter to win all four of these coloring books, plus a set of colored pencils! Use the Giveaway Tools widget below to enter!

Entry-Form

Want to enter to win even more awesome resources for your homeschool year? Stop by the iHomeschool Network Gift Basket Giveaway to see all of the other amazing gift baskets you can enter to win!

Gift Baskets 2016 Collage 2


Filed Under: Art Appreciation, Middle School Tagged With: art, art study, book lists, homeschool art, homeschooling, middle school

Middle School Student Organizers for Tweens

August 12, 2016 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

It’s back to school time! And this year, I have a rising middle schooler. Eeek!

In keeping with my decision not to use a homeschool planner this year, I’m putting the organizing squarely on my sixth-grader’s shoulders. So that means it’s time to shop for gorgeous middle school student organizers that are lovely enough for tweens to use!

Check out this list of fun and functional middle school planners your child will be psyched to use this school year!

Tween Middle School Student Organizers

Need more tips for planning your homeschool year? See how to simplify lesson planning and streamline your daily homeschool schedule!

Middle School Student Organizers

Middle School Student Organizers for Tweens

  1. 2016-17 Coloring Academic Agenda – Weekly & Monthly Organizer
  2. Bloom Daily Planners 2016-17 Hard Cover Academic Year + Passion/Goal Organizer
  3. Undated Student Organizer for Middle School
  4. Mead Paper Airplane Academic Year with Weekly/Monthly Planner
  5. 2016-17 Year Spiral Organizer Student Weekly at a Glance Dayminder
  6. 2016-17 Middle School Student Planner
  7. Spiral-Bound 2016-17 Academic Coloring Planner
  8. Student Planner, Grades 4-8: Second Edition
  9. 2016-17 Academic Planner for Time Management
  10. Bloom Daily Planners Acadmic Soft Cover Vision Planner

Middle School Student Organizers for Tweens

Want to ease your child into planning his or her own schedule? Try these fun student planner printables!

Superhero Free Student Planner Pages @ Look! We're Learning!

Strawberry Friends Printable Student Planner Free Pages

Grab more tips to make this homeschool year the best one ever on my Homeschool Planning Pinterest board!

Free Unit Studies

This post is part of the Back to School Unit Study Hop! Stop by to read all these great posts from my fellow bloggers!

Back to School Teacher Gift {Free Printable Bag Topper} from Crafty Mama in ME

The Best {Back To School} Books For Kids from Play Dough & Popsicles

Back to School Interview for Kids from CraftCreateCalm

Free Kissing Hand Songs, Poems, & Videos to Ease Separation Anxiety from Living Montessori Now

How to Help Kids Back to School from iGameMom

Middle School Student Organizers for Tweens from Look! We’re Learning!

Back to School Party Ideas from Schooling a Monkey

Not Back to School Picnic from Tales of Education at Home

Back to School in a Forest School from FrogMom

Back to School Hand Washing Water Play from Play & Learn Every Day

52 Preschool Themes (& FREE 2016-2017 Preschool Theme Calendar!) from Preschool Powol Packets

Homeschooling? Have a Not Back to School Day from Adventures in Mommydom

Books for Kids About Starting Middle School from Planet Smarty Pants


Filed Under: Homeschool Organization, Homeschool Planning Tagged With: homeschool planners, homeschool planning, middle school, middle school student organizers, middle school student planners, school shopping, student organizers, student planners

Why We Love Using CTC Math for ADHD Kids

August 12, 2016 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

My youngest son is a bit of a challenge when it comes to teaching math. He has ADHD, so he’s super active and his attention span is extremely short. He likes math in general, but when it’s time to do some actual work, he tends to whine, tune out, and get frustrated.

So I was excited to try out the CTC Math Membership to see if the program would be a good fit for him. Guess what? HE loves it! And I love any math program that will get him to love math. 😉 See why we love using CTC Math for ADHD kids in our family!

CTC Math for Second Graders with ADHD

Plus, there’s an incredible giveaway available! Five winners will get a one-year membership to CTC Math absolutely FREE! Read on to learn how to enter!

Disclosure: I received access to this program in exchange for this post and I was compensated for my time. All opinions are my own and I was not required to post a positive review.

Why CTC Math is Great for Kids with ADHD

How CTC Math Works

Here’s a look at how the CTC Math membership works:

CTC Math Second Grade Lessons

As parents, you can sign in and decide which lessons in each grade you want your child to cover. Roo is entering second grade this year, so we started him off there.

CTC Math Writing the Numeral Video Lesson

Each lesson has a short video that demonstrates the concept in question.

CTC Math Writing the Numeral Exercises

Then there are ten exercises for the child to complete.

CTC Math Patterns in Number Charts

One of the things I really like about this program is that the exercises follow the exact same structure as the problems shown in the video. So, there are no “tricky” questions.

CTC Math Patterns in Number Charts Questions

Every time your child completes a question, he or she gets a check mark or a red X showing if their answer was correct.

CTC Math Second Grade Lesson Outline

As they work through the lessons, they can see their grade for each concept. This is really helpful, because you can see at a glance which topics they may need more help with before test time.

And, if you look at the top, you’ll see that you can choose the length of your child’s tests. That’s a super option, because some kids don’t need a lot of questions (or don’t have the attention span to complete a lot of questions). That way you can customize the test length for each child and each lesson.

Just in time for the new school year, CTC Math is offering a huge discount – just for homeschoolers! Right now, we can get 60 PERCENT off the regular price, which means you can grab a one-year family CTC Math membership for just $118.80!

Want to test the program out before you buy? Sign up for a totally free trial!

Why I Love Using CTC Math for ADHD Kids

So, what makes CTC Math so awesome for kids who have ADHD?

CTC Math Video Lesson

As you can see, my boy is really into that video lesson. Know why?

CTC Math Video Lesson Summary

It was only a little over a minute long! While some videos are closer to three minutes, they’re all very short, which is perfect for kids with attention issues.

See the “For Your Reference” heading at the bottom? If you download the “Lesson Summary” PDF, you can see a list of what will be covered in the video, along with the answers.

CTC Math PDF Lesson Overview

Just like this! So you can prepare ahead of time and come up with additional problems for your child to practice that use this same concept. I also like that, because there are some concepts that I already know may be a bit confusing. This way, I’m prepared to work them through along with him.

Using CTC Math for Second Grade

Roo did a great job at using the computer to answer the questions. Since the questions aren’t timed, he didn’t feel any pressure to finish them before he was ready. That’s another reason why CTC Math is great for kids with ADHD. It reduces anxiety.

CTC Math Writing the Numeral Questions

At the top, the program keeps track of how your child is doing on the questions he or she has been answering so far. When Roo saw that he was on track to get them all right, he stopped in the middle of one of his problems and said, “I better slow down. I want to get a 100.”

I had to pick my mouth up off the floor. I don’t recall him ever saying he needed to slow down for anything ever in his life before. The scorekeeping is a great motivator.

CTC Math Lesson with a Chalkboard

So, since he wanted to slow down, we paused on the questions and worked out a couple of the “Writing the Numeral” problems together.

Using a Blackboard with CTC Math

I wrote numerals and number words on the blackboard.

Working Out Math Problems with CTC Math

He wrote them down as either numerals or number words on his paper. When we practiced a couple, he seemed to feel more confident and we returned to the questions.

You can take a break on the questions anytime and resume when you’re ready. (Another win for CTC Math!)

CTC Math Writing the Numeral Exercise Results

That break for more practice worked! He got his 100. 🙂

Why CTC Math Works for Kids with ADHD

And, he’s actually been asking to do this program each day since. It’s definitely a keeper!

To learn more about CTC Math, follow the company on social media!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube
  • Periscope

And….drumroll….here’s your chance to enter the CTC Math giveaway! Five winners will receive a FREE 12-month membership! To enter, use the Giveaway Tools widget below!

Entry-Form

 

P.S. Don’t forget to stop by and check out the amazing 60% off CTC Math homechool deal – available right now! And while you’re shopping, sign up for a free trial to see if a CTC Math membership will work for your kids! SPOILER: It will. 🙂

Why My ADHD Child Loves CTC Math

Need more ideas for homeschooling your child with ADHD? Follow my ADHD Homeschooling Tips board for our tried-and-true suggestions!

Filed Under: ADHD Homeschooling, Curriculum Reviews, Math Tagged With: adhd math program, ctc math, ctc math for adhd kids, ctc math review, homeschool math, homeschool math programs, kids with adhd, math, math for kids with adhd, math programs, math programs for adhd kids

Easy Nature Art: Leaf Painting for Kids

August 8, 2016 by Selena Robinson 8 Comments

I’m so excited to be participating in this year’s Paint-A-Thon sharing fun painting ideas for kids! In our family, we absolutely adore fall, so I thought “Why not paint with tree leaves?” And that’s what we did!

Unfortunately, it’s late summer in Georgia, which means we’re not going to have autumn-colored leaves for some time. 🙂 But we got out some paint, including fall-themed colors, and started up anyway!

Take a look at our easy nature art project: leaf painting for kids!

Leaf Painting with Kids Art Experience

Want some more fall activities for kids? Try our fall snow globe craft or use our leaf identification flashcards to go on a leaf hunt! And don’t miss our All About Leaves printable pack for more leaf learning!

Nature Art Leaf Painting with Kids

Easy Nature Art: Leaf Painting for Kids

To do this activity, you will need the following: (Affiliate links provided here for convenience. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

  • drawing paper
  • acrylic paint
  • an assortment of leaves (try to get ones that are large enough for your kids’ hands)

Just a quick note: This was the kids’ first time working with acrylic paint, so they were kind of surprised by how it moves on the paper. If your kids like tons of paint, definitely try tempera paint instead.

Kids Painting with Leaves Project

I asked everyone what colors they wanted to work with and we got started!

Painting with Leaves for Toddlers

We put down two pieces of drawing paper – one as the “canvas” and another as the splat mat, plus paint palette. I just squeezed a bit of each color on the side.

Nature Painting with Leaves

This whole activity took maybe 15 minutes, but it was such a neat way to try art while using nature!

Leaf Painting with Kids

After we painted for a while, we started experimenting with printing.

Painting with Nature Materials

And that was even easier, since all you have to do is spread enough paint on the bottom of your leaves and then press them down.

Making Leaf Prints with Kids

Lift them up slowly and you get a lovely leaf print!

Have even more leaf fun this fall with these posts!

These printable leaf identification flashcards are a fun way to get kids interested in nature!

Make this easy and lovely fall snow globe craft to celebrate autumn with the kids!

This All About Leaves Printable Unit Study is a perfect way to study the science of fall foliage with kids!

Leaf Painting Easy Nature Art with Kids

Follow my Fall Activities for Kids board on Pinterest for even more fall ideas!

And get more fun learning ideas and crafts for kids when you sign up for our email newsletter! Subscribe using the widget below.

This post is part of Paint-A-Thon 2016 – a collection of more than 200 painting ideas for kids! Stop by to get tons of art inspiration for your kids!

2016 Paintathon - a collection of 200 painting ideas for children

Filed Under: Art, Crafts Tagged With: art, art for kids, art projects, art projects for kids, fall activities for kids, fall art, fall leaves, kids art projects, leaf projects, leaves, nature, nature art

Why I’m Not Using a Homeschool Planner This Year

August 5, 2016 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

Okay. If you’re shaking your head at the title of this post, stay with me! 🙂

When I first started homeschooling eight years ago, the number one thing I would have said homeschooling moms needed was: a complete homeschool planner. I had the most fun choosing a planner, organizing it, and filling it out each fall.

Here’s my problem: I was great at filling out the planner. I was not so great at following what was in it. I can make lesson plans like no other, but when it comes to following same plans, well…I pretty much stink.

After year after year of tossing out old (and unused) homeschool planners, I decided to do something drastic this year – figure out how to homeschool without a planner. And, surprisingly, it’s not as hard as I thought! Here’s why I’m not using a homeschool planner this year – and what I’m doing instead!

How to Homeschool Without a Planner @ Look! We're Learning!

Image c/o: grekoff via DepositPhotos

How to Homeschool Without a Planner

So…how do I plan to homeschool without a planner?

I’ll be using our state’s list of grade objectives as the framework. As for actual resources, they’ll include lots of different books, websites, and videos. (Similar to the way I do our unit studies.) I’ll be sharing more about our homeschool resources for this year in an upcoming set of posts.

As for the actual lesson planning…I’m outsourcing it to my kids!

I’ll give them a timeframe within which to complete each objective, using the materials I collect, and they’ll have to decide how much to do each week to finish it. They’ll be using their own printable student planners each week to write down what lessons to complete on each day.

For example, one of my third grader’s ELA objectives is to compare and contrast themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author about the same or similar characters. We’ll be heading to the library so he can choose a few books in a series to compare. I’ll give him about four weeks to do it and he’ll have to decide how much to read each day in order to complete his assignment on time.

Every few weeks, I’ll sit down with them to check their progress toward their yearly objectives and talk with them about any lesson plan changes they’ll need to make. (Basically, I’ll be serving as their college adviser this year…lol.)

Have you ever considered trying to learn how to homeschool without a planner? Were you successful? Share your tips!

Homeschooling Without a Homeschool Planner @ Look! We're Learning!

If you’d like to help your kids plan their lessons, grab these free printable student planners!

Superhero Free Student Planner Pages @ Look! We're Learning!

Strawberry Friends Printable Student Planner Free Pages

And for more about minimalist homeschooling, check out our series!

How to Homeschool as a Minimalist

Ready to plan your homeschooling year? Check out the tips and suggestions from my Homeschool Planning board on Pinterest!



Why I'm Not Using a Homeschool Planner This Year @ Look! We're Learning!

Filed Under: Homeschool Planning, Homeschooling Tagged With: homeschool planner, homeschool planning, homeschooling, minimalist homeschooling

Books about Dolphins for Kids

July 28, 2016 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

We’ve been learning about dolphins lately and I wanted to add a few more great books about dolphins for the kids to enjoy.

So – here are several books about dolphins for kids that are filled with fascinating facts, beautiful pictures, and learning ideas to help your children get to know these marine mammals!

If you want to try more ocean-themed learning resources for your kids, check out our list of 25 beach crafts and our roundup of summer books for kids!

Books about Dolphins for Kids

Books about Dolphins for Kids

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

1. Dolphins – Step Into Reading!

2. How to Speak Dolphin in Three Easy Lessons

3. Everything Dolphin: What Kids Really Want to Know about Dolphins

4. In My Ocean

5. Amazing Dolphins (I Can Read Level 2)

6. Dolphins: Amazing Pictures & Fun Facts on Animals in Nature

7. Hope for Winter: The True Story of a Remarkable Dolphin Friendship

8. How to Speak Dolphin

9. Dolphin Baby!

10. Dolphins at Daybreak (Magic Tree House #9)

Dolphin Books for Kids to Read

11. Winter’s Tail: How One Little Dolphin Learned to Swim Again

12. National Geographic Kids: Everything Dolphins

13. I Can Read: Dolphin

14. National Geographic Readers: Dive, Dolphin!

15. Smithsonian: Dolphins

16. Sharks and Dolphins: A Compare and Contrast Book

17. DK Readers Level 1: Diving Dolphin

18. Do Dolphins Really Smile? (Penguin Young Readers, Level 3)

19. Amazing Animals: Dolphins

20. Wild Sea Creatures: Sharks, Whales, and Dolphins! (Wild Kratts)

Kids Books about Dolphins

Learn even more about dolphins with our Dolphins Unit Study!

Dolphin Facts for Kids

Don’t miss these other kids’ book lists!

Books about Turtles for Kids

The Best Beach Books for Kids

And be sure to follow our Reading for Kids board on Pinterest for more great book lists!

Fun Science Experiements Every Month

Filed Under: Book Lists, Reading Tagged With: book lists, books for kids, dolphin books, dolphins, dolphins unit, reading, reading for kids

Dolphin Facts for Kids

July 22, 2016 by Selena Robinson 6 Comments

Remember Flipper? That was the first time I found out that dolphins are super intelligent, which made me want to learn more about them. 🙂

My kids love dolphins too! We’ve gotten to see them up close a few times in the past and they really are smart and sociable. But there’s more to dolphins than that! So I put together a few resources for a dolphin unit study. Use the resources below to learn even more dolphin facts for kids!

Dolphin Facts for Kids

Dolphin Facts for Kids

Watch the YouTube video about dolphins and have your kids answer the following questions.

  1. Are dolphins fish? (Answer: No, dolphins are mammals.)
  2. How do dolphins breathe? (Answer: Through a blowhole on the top of their head)
  3. How many species of dolphin are there? (Answer: Over 40 worldwide)
  4. What do dolphins eat? (Answer: Fish and squid)
  5. What kind of personality do dolphins have? (Answer: They are friendly and extremely playful.)
  6. How long do dolphins live? (Answer: Some have lived for over a hundred years.)

Dolphin Crafts for Kids

Share these fun dolphin crafts and activities with your kids!

  1. Dolphin Coloring Pages – Itsy Bitsy Fun
  2. Diving Dolphin Craft – Activity Village
  3. Felt Dolphin Craft – Wildflower Ramblings
  4. Hand Print Dolphin – School Time Snippets

Dolphin Books for Kids

These dolphin books are fun for kids to read during your dolphin unit!

  1. Island of the Blue Dolphins
  2. Little Dolphin Finger Puppet Book
  3. Dolphin Talk: Whistles, Clicks, and Clapping Jaws
  4. Oceans: Dolphins, Sharks, Penguins, and More

Get to know other marine animals with my free Sea Monster Notebooking Pages!

Free Sea Monster Notebooking Pages

And don’t miss these beach books for kids!

The Best Beach Books for Kids

Plus, get more ideas for unit studies on my Homeschool Unit Studies board on Pinterest!

This post is part of the Dolphin Unit Study roundup! Read more fun dolphin posts below!

Ocean Animals Letter Find Worksheets from 3 Boys and a Dog

10 Awesome Children’s Books about Ocean Animals from Crafty Mama in ME

Dolphin Facts for Kids from Look! We’re Learning!

Ocean Creatures Sight Word Puzzles from Simple Fun for Kids

Jellyfish Discovery Bottle from Schooling a Monkey

Picture Books about Ocean Animals from The Jenny Evolution

Sea Turtle Unit from Bambini Travel

Free Ocean Coloring Pages from Something 2 Offer

Ocean Sticker Art – Erasable Wall Decal from Artsy Momma

Ocean Animals Shadow Matching Cards from Preschool Powol Packets

Meet the Real Ocean Animals in Finding Dory from FrogMom

The Best Ocean Animals Preschool Fun from Natural Beach Living


Filed Under: Unit Studies Tagged With: dolphin facts for kids, dolphin unit study, dolphins, facts for kids, homeschool unit studies, unit studies

Minimalist Homeschooling: Stop the Stress!

July 20, 2016 by Selena Robinson 3 Comments

Having a house full of children to homeschool can be exciting, fun, and…well, a little bit stressful.

After all, we’re accepting the responsibility for educating our kids (even if they’re living with special needs) ourselves. It can be lonely and challenging, and I know this from experience.

But a huge incentive of adopting minimalism is reducing our things to reduce the level of stress in our lives. And that applies to minimalist homeschooling as well.

How can we stop stressing ourselves out over our homeschooling year? Try these tips!

Minimalist Homeschooling - Stop the Stress

Minimalist Homeschooling: Stop the Stress

Mothers excel at many, many things. Unfortunately, one of the things we’re best at is feeling guilty. When we read about homeschooling, we can start to translate tips and suggestions into a lot of “should do’s” and “wish I had’s”. Which leads to stress and unhappiness about our choices.

If you decide to use some of the tips from this series to declutter books, reduce your paper trail, cut down your crafting supplies, plan your lessons the simple way, and streamline your schedule, that’s great! I hope the suggestions help you!

But please, please remember: This is YOUR homeschool. If there is anything you or your kids dislike, you can change it any time you want to. You don’t need to wait for a new school year and you certainly don’t have to “get your money’s worth out of it”. Just drop it and refuse to make yourself feel guilty.

And if there’s anything you or your kids love and don’t want to change, by all means don’t! If it ain’t broke and all. 🙂

Whatever you decide to do, take your time and enjoy the journey, no matter how much or how little you homeschool with.

Need more minimalist homeschooling inspiration?

Simple Homeschool Lesson Planning

Minimalist Homeschooling How to Declutter Books

Get more ideas for planning your homeschool on my Homeschool Planning board on Pinterest!

How to Homeschool as a Minimalist

This post is part of the How to Homeschool as a Minimalist series! Visit the series page to read all of the posts!


Filed Under: Homeschool Planning, Homeschooling Tagged With: homeschool planning, homeschooling, minimalism, minimalist homeschooling

Minimalist Homeschooling: How to Streamline Your Homeschool Schedule

July 19, 2016 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

One of the major reasons we decided not to stick with public schooling was the super-packed daily schedule our family had to endure.

Between getting  up early for classes, staying in school most of the day, completing hours of homework, and getting to bed early – we were frazzled.

Surprisingly, though, it’s easy to fall into a similar pattern as homeschoolers, especially if we’re active in extra-curricular activities,  lots of field trips, or just a busy schedule.

Personally, I work a job in addition to running my website, in addition to homeschooling, so my weeks are pretty full.

A few months back, my children actually said to me “Can we just stay home today?”, which is when I realized that there wasn’t much “home” about our homeschooling.

So I set to work simplifying our routine and things have vastly improved.

If you also need to learn how to streamline your homeschool schedule, here are a few tips that worked for us.

How to Streamline Your Homeschool Schedule

If you’re a new homeschooler, these suggestions may help you avoid falling into the trap of overscheduling your days. (Unfortunately, it’s so easy to do this.)

If you’ve been homeschooling for years, these tips may help you scale back and simplify your approach.

Need more ways to prepare for your homeschool year? Don’t miss our list of tried and true homeschooling tips from veteran moms!

If you feel overwhelmed by planning your homeschool year, take a look at these easy tips to streamline your homeschool schedule!

How to Streamline Your Homeschool Schedule

Reduce the number of daily/weekly activities.

Try to set a certain number of days per week you will stay home, if you can. If you have the leave the house every single day, work to reduce the number of different activities the kids have to do.

Try to get them on a workable routine they can expect to follow most days. It’s easier for them and for you!

Use a block schedule. 

Block schedules are blocks of time designated for certain subjects. Rather than trying to schedule each school activity down to the minute, use hour or 90-minute blocks.

That way, the kids can continue with an activity they’re enjoying without worrying about time running out.

And you’ll have some downtime before starting another lesson!

Avoid long-term commitments, if possible.

Some extra-curricular activities require long-term contracts and agreements, which can make you feel “stuck”, even if the schedule isn’t working for your family.

When you’re first embarking on a new hobby or activity for the kids, try to choose one that only lasts for a few weeks. You’ll get a chance to “try it out” to see how it works for you before committing to it for an extended period.

Don’t hesitate to stop something.

Years ago, kids were taught that it’s important to stick with something and never give up. I know. I was one of those kids.

Here’s the thing: If homeschooling is not working for Mom (or Dad if he is the primary educator parent), then it’s not working for anyone else.

When you feel overwhelmed, it’s okay to stop a routine, a homeschooling method, or a class that is adding to the chaos. Don’t feel guilty about “quitting”. Feel good about choosing what is best for your family.

Minimalist Homeschooling - How to Streamline Your Homeschool Schedule

Want more ideas to help you homeschool the simple way? Don’t miss these posts!

Minimalist Homeschooling - Stick to the Basics

Simple Homeschool Lesson Planning

 

How to Homeschool as a Minimalist

 

 

Filed Under: Homeschool Planning, Homeschooling Tagged With: homeschool planning, homeschool scheduling, homeschool scheduling tips, homeschooling, how to streamline your homeschool schedule, minimalist homeschooling

Minimalist Homeschooling: Teaching Several as One

July 18, 2016 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

We’ve been talking about minimalist homeschooling a lot lately and I’ve shared lots of tips for scaling down your homeschooling supplies, books, paper, and more.

But what can you do if you’re homeschooling several children? I mean, you can’t really minimize them, right? 🙂

You can, however, minimize the way you teach them and that can make your entire homeschooling journey much, much simpler.

Here are some tips for teaching multiple children in your minimalist homeschool!

Minimalist Homeschooling - Tips for Teaching Multiple Children

Tips for Teaching Multiple Children

Combine grades, if possible. I got this idea from a good friend who is homeschooling three sons. Since she has twins and one child that is one year younger, she’s teaching them all at the same level. When she told me that, a lightbulb went off in my head. After all, I have two boys who are one year apart.

When I asked my soon-to-be second grader if he wanted to learn along with his soon-to-be third grade brother, he said “I don’t want to skip second grade.” Which is fine. But we’re going to do a 2/3 year for the two of them. His brother will get a much needed review and he’ll get a chance to move on a little early. And, best of all, Mom will only have to plan one lesson for the two of them. Win!

Use technology to your advantage. When you teach multiple kids, it’s generally easier to teach some subjects with the kids all together. History, science, and geography come to mind. This is especially true when you want to watch a video, do an experiment, or complete a craft project.

This year, I’m going to use a LOT more videos in our homeschool. Then the video can do the teaching and the kids can write reports about what they learn. Since it’s tough for the kids to crowd around a computer screen, we’ll be using the YouTube channel on our Roku. If I find other things on my mobile device, I’m going to use a smartphone projector so that everyone can see. Simple, right?

Those are a few ways I’ll be teaching multiple children in our minimalist homeschool this year. For more on simplifying your homeschool, check out these posts!

Simple Homeschool Lesson Planning

Minimalist Homeschooling - Stick to the Basics

Learn more about planning this homeschool year with my Homeschool Planning board on Pinterest!

How to Homeschool as a Minimalist

This post is part of the How to Homeschool as a Minimalist series! Stop by tomorrow for Day 9: Skip the Overscheduling!


Filed Under: Homeschool Planning, Homeschooling Tagged With: homeschool organization, homeschooling, homeschooling multiple children, homeschooling tips, minimalist homeschooling, teaching multiple children

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