5 Tips for Planning Your Homeschool Year

June 5, 2015 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

Summer break is here! And for many homeschooling parents, that means it’s time for homeschool planning! Personally, I’m a planning junkie, so I take full advantage of our relaxed approach over the summer to brainstorm about what I want to cover next year and which supplies I plan to use.

Naturally, I jumped at the chance to share a post over at The Homeschool Post that’s all about homeschool planning! Today I’m sharing 5 tips for planning your homeschool year!

5 Tips for Planning Your Homeschool Year

In the past, my tendency has been to completely immerse myself in shopping for curriculum, gathering resources, and making detailed lesson plans. After nearly seven years, though, I’ve (finally) learned a thing or two about what actually works when you’re planning a homeschool year.

Click on over to The Homeschool Post to read the post “5 Tips for Planning Your Homeschool Year” and spare yourself the trial-and-error approach I’ve taken! 🙂

5 Tips for Planning Your Homeschool Year – The Homeschool Post

Keep reading for more helpful planning resources!

Helpful Homeschool Planning Resources

For even more homeschool planning tips, try these books and blog posts for inspiration and ideas!

Books about Homeschool Planning:

Posts about Homeschool Planning:

How to Make a Year-End Homeschool Assessment

May 19, 2015 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

The school year is coming to a close! (If you use a traditional year, that is.) Get ready for the next year by learning how to make a year-end homeschool assessment! Read below to see how you can make one of your own with the help of an article at The Homeschool Post.

Today is Tuesday, so it’s time for another edition of the Laugh and Learn Linky! Haley, Tina, Lindsey, Sarah, and I have chosen our favorites from last week to feature. Be sure to link up your own posts for a chance to be featured next week!

How to Make a Year-End Homeschool Assessment

Making a year-end homeschool assessment can really help you to look back at last year and plan ahead. It’s always good to look back and see what worked and what definitely, definitely didn’t, right? 🙂

I recently got a chance to share a post over at The Homeschool Post about just how to make a year-end homeschool assessment. Check it out and get a jump on your summer planning!

How to Make a Year-End Homeschool Assessment – The Homeschool Post

Linky time! 🙂

Welcome to our 33rd week of Laugh and Learn – Homeschool and Parenting Linkup!

Laugh and Learn – Homeschool and Parenting Linkup will be open by 6 am every Tuesday morning. We will pick our five favorite posts and feature them on the following weeks linkup. Be sure to link your best content and maybe we will pick you! When you link your post with us it will be featured on five blogs.

We pin our favorites to a special Pinterest board for #laughlearnlinkup – homeschool and parenting posts. Check the board out here: #LaughLearnLinkup {Featured Favorites}. It’s added exposure for your awesome content!

Your Fabulous Hosts 😉

Tina

Tina lives abroad in Latin America with her husband and four children. Currently in Mexico, Tina is active in homeschool, travel, and her Bible ministry. She blogs about all of their adventures and more at Los Gringos Locos.

Find Tina at her blog link above, and on the following social media networks:
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Google +
Linkedin
Tsu

Selena

Selena is a writer and a homeschooling mom to four kids, including three with ADHD/SPD. Selena and her husband, Jay, are committed to teaching their children at home and loving every minute of it! You can read about the family’s homeschooling experiences at Look! We’re Learning, written by Selena!

Find Selena at her blog link above, and on the following social media networks:
Facebook
Pinterest
Twitter
Google +
Instagram

Sarah

Sarah lives in Kentucky, USA, where she and her husband homeschool three children. Sarah writes for and about, families with special needs. She hopes to provide support and encouragement to all special needs parents in the homeschool community. Visit Sarah at Dedicated Homeschooler.

Find Sarah at her blog link above, and on the following social media networks:
Facebook
Instagram

Haley

Haley hopes to encourage stay at home moms. She wants to help moms learn how to make an extra income, to stretch a budget, to make crafts, and other useful information. Haley always has updates on the kids and funny things that happen. Visit Haley at Haley’s Vintage Finds & Deals.

Find Haley at her blog link above, and on the following social media networks:
Pinterest
Instagram
Facebook
Twitter

Lindsey

Lindsey is a joyful mother, happy homeschooler, scatterbrained housewife, and passionate blogger. She writes about the joys and challenges of home educating, conscientious parenting, and “loving the simple life”. Get inspired with Lindsey at Simply LindseyLoo.

Find Lindsey at her blog link above, and on the following social media networks:
Facebook
Twitter
Google+
Instagram
Pinterest

Our Favorite Posts for the Week of May 18th:

Written by Jennifer at Year Round Homeschooling

Find this post at My Bored Toddler

Written by Holly at Keeping Life Sane

Homemade Nature Suncatcher Windchimes by Jamie at Hands On As We Grow

Written by Leanne at The Transplanted Southerner

Thanks to everyone who submitted a post. Please check out the posts above by clicking on the image.

[bctt tweet=”Come join the #laughlearnlinkup and share your favorite #parenting or #homeschooling post!”]

Now, let’s see your best posts for this week so we can share them as next week’s favorites!

An InLinkz Link-up

Why Kids Need a Student Planner

April 7, 2015 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Hi everyone! Last week, we had some great posts shared during the Laugh and Learn linkup! This week, we’re looking forward to even more great parenting and homeschooling posts!

I also wanted to share a recent post I wrote for the parenting website Thinking Outside the Sandbox and, if you’re a planning junkie like me, you’ll love it. It’s all about why kids NEED a student planner. (They really do.)

Why Kids Need a Student Planner

Honestly, the concept of student planners was fairly new to me until recently. Last fall, before we decided to take a break from homeschooling, I made a few simple planners for my kids to use. Tigger took to it right away, but the boys were a little reluctant. (They were in first grade and kindergarten, respectively.)

After the kids went to public school, I noticed that Tigger’s teacher issued a bound student planner and I noticed that it had an extremely positive effect on her view of her assignments. Now that I know more about how they work, I’m convinced that kids need student planners. And when we return to homeschooling, I plan to use them with all three of my older children.

To read about why I think student planners are great, visit Thinking Outside the Sandbox to read “Why Kids Need a Student Planner“!

For even more planning tips, check out our roundup of 10 free homeschool planners! Just in time for the summer planning season. 🙂

Why Kids Need a Student Planner – Thinking Outside the Sandbox

Now it’s time for this week’s edition of the Laugh and Learn linky!

Welcome to our 27th week of Laugh and Learn – Homeschool and Parenting Linkup.

Laugh and Learn – Homeschool and Parenting Linkup will be open by 6 am every Tuesday morning. We will pick our three favorite posts and feature them on the following weeks linkup. Be sure to link your best content and maybe we will pick you! When you link your post with us it will be featured on three blogs.

Your Fabulous Hosts 😉

Tina

Find Tina at her blog link above, and on the following social media networks:
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Google +
Linkedin
Tsu

Selena

Selena is a writer and a homeschooling mom to four kids, including three with ADHD/SPD. Selena and her husband, Jay, are committed to teaching their children at home and loving every minute of it! You can read about the family’s homeschooling experiences at Look! We’re Learning, written by Selena!

Find Selena at her blog link above, and on the following social media networks:
Facebook
Pinterest
Twitter
Google +
Instagram

Sarah

Find Sarah at her blog link above, and on the following social media networks:
Facebook
Instagram

Our Favorite Posts for the Week of April 6th:

Written by Tina at Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Written by Starla at Pressing In and Pressing On

Written by Emily at Mom On The Move

Thanks to everyone who submitted a post. Please check out the posts above by clicking on the image.

[bctt tweet=”Come join the #laughlearnlinkup and share your favorite #parenting or #homeschooling post!”]

Now, let’s see your best posts for this week so we can share them as next week’s favorites!

An InLinkz Link-up

Getting Started With the Homeschool Workbox System

November 10, 2014 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

The homeschool workbox system, which was invented by Sue Patrick, can be a great way to schedule lesson plans and organize your materials. In fact, if you have more than one child, the workbox system can literally save your sanity.

I shared a post earlier this year about how we use homeschool workbox organization to keep our materials in one place, but the system can also help you teach your children to be responsible for their own work. And that will certainly come in handy in the later school years, right?

I have had the privilege of writing over at The Homeschool Post for a while now and I recently got to share a post about how you can begin using the homeschool workbox system. If you are new to this technique or if you just want to know more about it, this post can give you an overview of what it includes and how you can simplify it for your family.

To get a look at how you can begin using the workbox system in your homeschool (without spending a fortune), stop by The Homeschool Post to read a few tips to help you get started!

Using the Workbox System in Your Homeschool – The Homeschool Post

Homeschool Organization Tips for Moms with ADHD

October 18, 2014 by Selena Robinson 5 Comments

Yesterday we talked about some of the struggles of homeschooling moms who have ADHD. Among them – or at least among mine – are disorganization, forgetfulness, and hyperfocus. Since you need a good routine to keep kids with ADHD on track, trying to teach them at home when you also have ADHD presents a whole world of problems.

For me (and many other people with ADHD), one problem is consistency. I can organize my things. I just can’t keep them organized afterward. I have absolutely no interest whatever in the daily maintenance of our homeschooling space. So, here are a few homeschool organization tips for moms with ADHD that I’ve used to keep our homeschool space somewhat under control.

Homeschooling Organizing for ADHD Parents

Designate one day per month to reorganizing.

Since I tend to hyperfocus on single tasks, I am awesome at once a month cleaning and reorganizing. I am NOT awesome at doing daily cleaning sessions. Sometimes I actually do not even see that the room is messy. Truly.

I’ve tried and tried and tried to make myself into a neat person, but it’s just not for me. I keep our open spaces clutter-free and clean, but my desk is a perpetual mess of books, papers, notebooks, and pens. I’ve since accepted that it’s a writer’s desk and, as such, it should be messy. It’s only right. 🙂

But once a month or so, I go into hyper-cleaning mode and I want to declutter from top to bottom. When I feel that coming on, I take advantage of it to the fullest. I set aside that entire day (generally) and clean like my life depended on it.

I go through all of our completed work for the past month and file it or chunk it. I also reorganize our school books, pull out our upcoming readers, and plan our arts and crafts for the next month. That gives me nearly a month before I have to do this all again, which is generally when I’ll experience another hyper-cleaning session.

Use the type of organizing system that is best suited for you.

I’m a visual person. I need to see constant visual reminders in order to get anything done. But for the longest time, I tried to make myself into the paper planner type. While I love filling in the planner, I don’t love looking at it every morning. In fact, I generally write down my schedule and then promptly misplace the planner. Or worse, put it on my desk and stack so many things on top that I forget to look at my list until a week later. Not helpful.

Instead, we use visual organizing systems such as workboxes, routine charts, and posted schedules. If I see our objects and plans each day, I’m far more likely to stick with them and maintain them, if for no other reason than that our things look better when they’re straightened.

Do a weekly review.

Okay, I can’t take credit for this one. My blogging buddy, Sarah from Early Bird Mom, suggested this and I loved it so much that I featured it in this week’s Family Fun Friday linkup. Sarah suggests that homeschooling moms pick one evening per week that they can sit down and complete a weekly review.

This is a designated time to look ahead to the upcoming week and remind yourself of your household, homeschooling, and financial obligations. That is an incredible idea, especially since I tend to write random reminders on bits of paper all over the house….and then forget to look at them again in time to do the required task. 🙂

How about you? If you’re a mom with ADHD, how do you keep your homeschool organized? Share your suggestions in the comments!

This post is part of the 31 Days of ADHD Homeschooling series! Stop by tomorrow for Day 19: Calming Tips for Parents with ADHD!

2014 Blogger Planner, Calendar, and Menu Planner from Mama Miss

How to Afford Homeschooling

August 26, 2014 by Selena Robinson 8 Comments

We’ve been living frugally for quite some time, but when my husband was out of work, we took frugality to new heights. 🙂 As a homeschooling family, we’re already living on a reduced income, since I don’t work full-time. But we managed to stick with homeschooling using lots of effort, budgeting, and patience.

We’re sharing some of these same tips with our new readers in our ebook “How to Afford Homeschooling!” And now you can grab your copy in our Store!

Read on to see how to get yours!

In this 24-page ebook, you’ll find helpful hints and tips for how to afford homeschooling, even if you’re a one-income family! Chapters in the book include topics such as:

Saving Money Around the House
How to Make Money from Home
Ways to Protect Your Family from Overspending
Cooking on a Budget
Plus – How to Find Great Homeschool Resources Absolutely Free!

There’s even a section on how to have an honest talk about finances with your spouse, especially if he’s not convinced that your family can afford to homeschool.

To get your copy of How to Afford Homeschooling, click the image or the link below to visit our Store!

>>>>> How to Afford Homeschooling eBook <<<<<

Our Simple ADHD Homeschool Schedule

August 25, 2014 by Selena Robinson 15 Comments

We’ve been homeschooling for several years, but we still make adjustments to our homeschool schedule each year. And once we learned that some of our children had ADHD, we had to make some drastic changes to our daily routine.

I’ve been reading some great books on managing ADHD with kids, and I’ve learned some excellent tips about time and school management for kids with ADHD.

As a result, we’ve instituted a simple ADHD homeschool schedule. And it’s made a world of difference in making homeschooling days run more smoothly – for me AND the kids!

Read on to get a look at our typical day. And if you need more flexibility in your homeschool day, check our list of 15 different ADHD homeschool schedule ideas!

A Look at Our ADHD Homeschool Schedule

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

Image c/o: belchonock / depositphotos

If you look at our ADHD homeschool schedule, you’ll notice that all of the school lessons are limited to 30 minutes MAX. That’s one of the important adjustments of this year, but so far, I’ve already seen improvements.

We also try to cover the basic subjects as early in the morning as possible. It generally makes the afternoon run smoother.

Morning:

7:30 a.m. (ish) – Wake up

I don’t really set a strict wake up time for the kids. They’re generally up by 7:30 a.m., but if they’re not, I let them sleep until they wake on their own. Pooh, in particular, needs time to wake up before he starts his day.

8:00 a.m. – Breakfast

8:30 a.m. – Copywork/Handwriting

We go over a different scripture each day and I use that verse as our copywork for the day. The kids clean up the breakfast dishes and bring their notebooks to the table to do copywork. Piglet generally sits in and draws with her Color Wonder markers.

9:00 a.m. – Math

I separate the kids for math. Tigger does her own work on the computer. We use several programs, including A+ Interactive Math, Khan Academy, and TenMarks. I let her go at her own pace, and I generally keep the entire lesson to 30 minutes or less.

The boys and I do a math lesson in the living room using “Life of Fred” and math manipulatives.

9:30 a.m. – Daily chores

The kids do their chores (usually two tasks per person) and then they make their lunches for the day.

10:00 a.m. – Language Arts

I don’t require that we have a structured language arts lesson each day, but we do cover all of the subjects (spelling, English, and writing) several times a week.

10:30 a.m. – Individual Reading

Each child gets to read with me for a few minutes alone. I generally read a short story with Roo first, then Pooh and I read a section of an early reader chapter book. Tigger and I are working our way through the Nancy Drew series and we’re on Book 1: The Secret of the Old Clock.

11:00 a.m. – Family Lesson

Everyday, we have a family lesson where we all cover the same subject together. Monday is Science, Tuesday is History, Wednesday is Geography, Thursday is Art/Music, and Friday is Foreign Language. (More about these in a future post.)

11:30 a.m – Family Unit Study

I try to pick at least one topic per month for our family unit studies. We usually read from a textbook or storybook and do an activity together each day.

Afternoon

In the afternoon, our ADHD homeschool schedule includes more of the “extras”. Unless we don’t finish covering the essentials in the morning.

12:00 p.m. – Lunch

Since they make the lunch themselves earlier in the morning, I don’t have to do much during lunch. Tigger generally helps Piglet with her food and I get a little break.

12:30 p.m. – Clean up and change for P.E.

We’re having the kids “dress for school” this year, so after lunch they change into play clothes for P.E.

1:00 p.m. – P.E.

We use Family Time Fitness for P.E. So far, we’ve been focusing on basic physical movements and helping the kids learn the difference between sports terms like “pass”, “throw”, “jump”, “hop”, etc.

1:45 p.m. – Showers and change clothes

I’ve recently made the decision to start giving showers earlier in the day. By the end of the day, we’re all exhausted and Jay and I just don’t feel up to the task. The kids seem to relax a bit more for quiet time when they’ve had a shower beforehand as well.

2:15 p.m. – Storytime

I generally read a story or part of a story before quiet time. I try to choose calm stories that won’t work them up too much. Otherwise, they’ll get in the bed and play around the whole time…lol.

2:30 p.m. – Quiet Time

This is the first year that I am NOT requiring a longer quiet time for the kids. Tigger is actually sleeping more this year than last. We suspect that it’s because she’s entering puberty and her body needs the rest.

If she goes to sleep, then I don’t wake her. We can always move the other tasks to later in the day. (One of the many perks of homeschooling!)

3:00 p.m. – Workbox Time

We do our workbox time right after Quiet Time, since it’s a quiet activity the older kids can do while Piglet is asleep. She generally naps for an hour and, by the time 3:30 rolls around, she’s up and raring to go!

3:30 p.m. – One-on-One Time with Mom

In my dream world, I’d have individual time with each child everyday. That’s just not practical, though – at least not when we’re following our regular school schedule.

So the kids alternate one-on-one time with me each day. Pooh gets Monday, Roo gets Tuesday, Tigger gets Wednesday, and Piglet gets Thursday. Friday is Mom’s one-on-one time with herself.

4:00 p.m. – Media Time

Media time is saved for the absolute very last part of the day. It’s a treat that they get to enjoy if we’ve gotten everything else done that day.

In the past, I would let them watch some TV around 11:30 p.m., particularly while I was making lunch. But they got so worked up after watching TV that they made a colossal mess while eating. Now I save media time until the end and things are better.

And that’s a look at our ADHD homeschool schedule, for this year at least. I’d love to hear about your daily homeschooling plans this year! Feel free to share them in the comments.

Don’t miss these other ideas for planning your homeschool year!

And see more ways to schedule your homeschool on my Homeschool Planning Pinterest board!

This post is part of the “2014 Not Back to School Hop” from iHomeschool Network! Click on over to read how our fellow bloggers schedule their homeschooling days!

How to Afford Homeschooling eBook Download

5 Pieces of Homeschooling Advice for the First Year

August 20, 2014 by Selena Robinson 4 Comments

When I first began homeschooling Tigger six years ago, I felt that I had a pretty good understanding of homeschooling. After all, I’m a homeschooling graduate myself.

I quickly found, though, that being a homeschool student and being a homeschool parent are two very different things indeed. Now I was responsible for providing a quality education to my little preschooler and I wasn’t even sure I knew what preschoolers needed to learn!

Keep Reading…

2014-15 First Day of School Photos

August 18, 2014 by Selena Robinson 17 Comments

The new homeschool year is underway! Our back to school tradition is to take first day of homeschool photos each year, so we’re sharing our first day of homeschool photos for 2014-15. 🙂

To make the first day of school a little more memorable, I found some adorable Back to School Signs at Enchanted Homeschooling Mom and printed them out. There’s space to share the kids’ names, favorite books, ages, and what they want to be when they grow up.

Tigger: 4th Grade

Age: 9

Favorite Book: Nikki and Deja

What She Wants to be When She Grows Up: Musician

Pooh: 1st Grade

Age: 6

Favorite Book: Germs, Germs, Germs

What He Wants to be When He Grows Up: Police Officer

First Day of Homeschool Pictures 2014-15: Look! We're Learning!

Roo: Kindergarten

Age: 5

Favorite Book: The Big Bug Search or what he calls the “Insect Book”

What He Wants to be When He Grows Up: “Bethel Builder” (He means he wants to help build the world headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Warwick, NY.)

Piglet: Tot School (seen here holding her favorite bear and signing “Mama” in ASL)

Age: 20 months

Favorite Book: Anything she can tear

What She Wants to be When She Grows Up: We suspect she thinks she’s already grown. 😉

And those are our student pictures for this year! We’re looking forward to sharing our experiences as we learn and grow together in 2014-15. 🙂

This post is linking up with the “2014 Not Back to School Blog Hop” from iHomeschool Network! Stop by to see the first day of school pictures from our fellow bloggers!

Land Of Nod: Design for Kids and People That Used to be Kids

Our Homeschool Workbox Organization

August 11, 2014 by Selena Robinson 18 Comments

Last year, we ventured into the world of homeschool workboxes. This year, we’re focusing on improving our homeschool workbox organization, so that our school day can get off to a decent start every morning. 🙂

I love workboxes! They’re like little fun boxes that make school work seem more interesting. My kids love using the workboxes. We do our workbox assignments during quiet time, which I’ll talk about in a future post, and that seems to make them feel more “grown-up”, especially since Piglet naps during that time.

Keep Reading…

9 Night Before Back to School Organization Tips

August 5, 2014 by Selena Robinson 36 Comments

We’re continuing with our back to school theme this week by sharing some great back to school organization tips you can use the night before! Plus, we’re participating in a fabulous linkup!

Nothing is worse than waking up in a panic to get your kids ready for school. We’re homeschoolers, but I still find that if I go through a checklist the night before class starts, our school day runs much, much smoother.

So – here are nine “night-before” back to school organization tips for your family, whether your kids are in homeschool, public school, or daycare!

1. Make a menu plan.

Menu planning is a real lifesaver during the school year. When you have a prepared menu, you’ll have an easier time getting dinner on the table in time. Check out these great menu planning posts:

10 Theme Nights to Make Menu Planning Easier – Real Life at Home

Seven Steps to Make a Menu Plan – Faithfully Nourished

2. Prepare the kids’ lunches in advance.

Want to save time in the morning? Make the kids’ lunches the night before! Even better, get them involved by having them choose their lunches or make them! If you’re tired of the traditional PB&J, try these great posts for back to school lunch ideas:

Simple School Lunch Ideas Your Kids Will Love – My Life and Kids

Over 50 Back to School Lunchbox Recipes – 3 Boys and a Dog

3. Set out the kids’ clothes for the next day.

Have your children set out their clothing for the next day before they go to bed at night. This is a great time to check on the looming laundry pile too! 🙂 Kelli from 3 Boys and a Dog shares some great tips for back to school clothes shopping:

Shopping for Back to School – 3 Boys and a Dog

4. Use a command center to keep track of assignments and events.

The first week of school or homeschool is pretty calm (typically), but as the year goes on, the amount of assignments and projects that are due can quickly get out of hand. Keeping a one-stop command center in your home is an excellent way to keep everything under control. Check out these posts for using command centers in the home:

DIY School Organization Center – The Chirping Moms

10 Back to School Command Centers – My Life and Kids

5. Plan lessons in advance and keep them organized.

Homeschooling moms have the additional responsibility of planning homeschooling lessons each week. Personally, I am awesome at making lesson plans. I’m not so good at following them everyday. So this year, I’m making a real effort at keeping my lesson plans organized so that I can find what I need quickly. For more about organizing lesson plans, visit this great post:

Organizing Lesson Plans – Adventures in Mommydom

6. Choose your read-alouds for the next day.

Developing a good reading habit with kids at an early age pretty much guarantees that they’ll love learning for life. But, trying to pull together a read-aloud list at the last second is a recipe for disaster. I prefer to have a list to work from so I have time to read the books myself and think about how to include them in our lessons. Here’s a great post about choosing books for kids:

Chapter Books for Kids – A Mom with a Lesson Plan

7. Use a dedicated space for keeping crafts and supplies.

If you’re homeschooling, you’ll need a separate space to keep your teaching materials. Rifling through a pile of books is extremely frustrating. (I have done this many times.) Save yourself time by keeping all of your materials in one dedicated space! Check out these posts for homeschool organization tips:

Tips for Organizing and Storing Craft and School Supplies – Motherhood on a Dime

School and Craft Supply Organization – I Can Teach My Child

8. Put your school items back before going to bed.

Okay, this is one I’m reeaallly bad at. Really bad. After the school day is over, put everything back where it was! This is a great time to get the kids involved as well. Make it a game of “How Fast Can We Put Everything Away?” 🙂 For a few suggestions about how to keep your school room organized, stop by this post:

Our School Room – School Time Snippets

9. Establish a bedtime routine and stick to it!

A good bedtime routine may actually be the most important part of back to school organizing. If your kids are in public school, they may have to get up especially early in order to catch the bus or make the first bell. Even if you’re homeschooling, you may want to start class at the same time each day. So – having a set bedtime is critical to getting your day started on the right foot. Check out this post to learn how to establish a bedtime routine with your kids:

15 Tips for a Better Bedtime – A Mom with a Lesson Plan

This post is part of the “Back to School” Linky Party hosted by The Educators’ Spin on It and featuring members of the Kid Blogger Network! Click on over to read the Back to School posts from our fellow bloggers!

Our 2014-15 Homeschool Curriculum Choices

August 4, 2014 by Selena Robinson 13 Comments

We’re starting our new school year next week! Woohoo! So it’s time to take a look at our homeschool curriculum choices for the upcoming year.

We’re going to have a fourth grader, a first grader, and a kindergartener this year, so I’m extra excited about what we’ll learn as a family. Piglet, who will be two in December, will be along with us for a couple of months, but I think we’ll start her tot school program by the end of the year.

Keep Reading…

Our Favorite Picks from the Build Your Bundle Sale

July 25, 2014 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Hi everyone! I got the chance to review four of the products in the Charlotte Mason Bundle for the Build Your Bundle sale and I thought I’d share our experiences with you all. You know, just in case you’re still on the fence about this great deal. 😉

The 2014 Build Your Bundle sale has ended. Look for next year’s sale! 🙂

Keep Reading…

Review: Lessontrek Online Homeschool Lesson Plans

July 24, 2014 by Selena Robinson 8 Comments

We’re still in the middle of homeschool planning here and, while I’m a fan of paper planners, I decided to try out the new online homeschool lesson plans program Lessontrek. I’m so glad I did! This program is going to make lesson planning SO much easier this year! Here’s a look at how the Lessontrek program works and why it’s such a good fit for our family.

Keep Reading…

Amazon Kindle Unlimited Books Program

July 18, 2014 by Selena Robinson 4 Comments

This post contains affiliate links, which help to support this site. Thank you!

Big news today! Amazon.com has announced the new Amazon Kindle Unlimited books program! With this monthly subscription, you can get access to more than 600,000 books a month for the low price of $10 per month!

Keep Reading…

10 Free Homeschool Planners for the New School Year

July 16, 2014 by Selena Robinson 48 Comments

We’re quickly approaching back to school time – for public schoolers and homeschoolers.

If you’re a homeschooling family, you are probably in the middle of homeschool planning.

You know, the time of year when you’re up to your neck in curriculum plans, binders, and various storybooks you’ve collected through the years.

Lots of homeschoolers are now using digital lesson planners and they love them.

But, if you prefer pen and paper, I’ve got a list of 10 free homeschool planners that can help you get a jump on the new school year.

And who doesn’t need a little help in that area?

Read on to see the full list. You might find a few that can work for your family!

Are you drowning in homeschooling books? Need a little help narrowing down your choices for this homeschool year?

Take a look at what you can do if you have too much curriculum at home!

Get a jump on the new school year with this list of free homeschool planners for parents!

10 Free Homeschool Planners for the New School Year

Back to school time is one of my favorite times of year.

I love all of the energy around planning the new school year. In fact, I’ve loved it since I was a kid getting ready for school myself.

And I still get excited about new books, new plans, and new curriculum.

But, whether you’re a curriculum and planning junkie like me or if you’re more of a laid-back homeschooler, these free homeschool planners can help.

Take a look at the list below to find one or two you might like!

Would you rather go the DIY route? This tutorial from Homeschooling Down Under is awesome for making your own homeschool planner!

10 Free Homeschool Planners for the New School Year

This list of printable free homeschool planners is excellent for getting your school year in order!

Use these to plan lessons, organize curriculum, and more!

Printable Kids Homeschool Day Planner

Want to help your kids begin planning their own school days? This printable planner they can color is a fun way to get started!

Donna Young's Home School Weekly Lesson Planners

Photo Credit: donnayoung.org

Donna Young is a homeschool planner's paradise. There are loads of printable forms here to get your entire year structured.

Free Homeschool Planning Pages

Photo Credit: www.myjoyfilledlife.com

These printables are so helpful for getting a look at what you want to accomplish this school year!

Free Homeschool Forms to Help You Get Organized

Photo Credit: 123homeschool4me.com

Are you overwhelmed at the idea of planning your school year? These forms can help you get an idea of how to record grades, attendance, and more!

7 Step Free Homeschool Planner

Photo Credit: www.tinasdynamichomeschoolplus.com

Use the lesson plans in this planner to outline your daily lessons for the entire school year!

Weekly Learning Themes with Free Planner Downloads

Photo Credit: karacarrero.com

Teaching little learners? Here is a list of learning themes you can use each week with a printable planner!

Two Fantastic Homeschool Planner Downloads (Plus Transcripts!)

Photo Credit: www.thehomeschoolmom.com

If you're teaching older kids, you'll love these printable homeschool transcripts you can use!

Free Printable Homeschool Planner

Photo Credit: www.livinglifeandlearning.com

This colorful printable homeschool planner is perfect for your homeschool binder!

FREE Homeschool Planner Weekly Checklist

Photo Credit: www.schooltimesnippets.com

If you prefer a minimalist approach to lesson planning, this grid planning checklist is perfect.

Weekly Assignment Sheet for Students

Photo Credit: www.reallifeathome.com

Help your older kids keep up with their weekly assignments with this printable tracker!

Printable Coloring Kids Homeschool Day Planner

Want to help kids start planning their own homeschool days?

This printable coloring homeschool day planner for kids is a great start!

Printable Homeschool Day Planner for Kids

It comes with a color and line art version for kids to fill in on their own. They can even color the line art version too!

To get your set of these homeschool planning pages free, click the image or the link below to have them sent directly to your inbox!

You’ll also get our weekly newsletter this Sunday night!

>>> Kids’ Homeschool Day Planner <<<

How I Keep My Homeschooling Costs to $250 a Year for Four Kids!

July 14, 2014 by Selena Robinson 29 Comments

It’s homeschool planning season! And that means it’s time to review our homeschooling costs.

If I had my way, we’d have an unlimited budget so I could buy ALL the curriculum, ALL the books, and ALL the resources there are. (Wouldn’t that be wonderful?) But we have to be responsible, so I set a yearly homeschool budget of $250.

For some homeschoolers, that may still be a bit high, but I look at the cost of attending public school and we’re still saving a ton. Between school lunches, uniforms, school supplies (which now include bottles and bottles of hand sanitizer), field trips, fundraisers, class parties, and sporting equipment, I know we’re coming out ahead.

So – here’s a look at how I keep my homeschooling costs for all four kids to $250 per year. And for even more ways to save on homeschooling, don’t miss our ebook “How to Afford Homeschooling“!

How I Reduce My Homeschooling Costs

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

1. Make use of as many free homeschooling resources as possible.

When I set up our homeschooling budget, I start by including as many free homeschooling programs as I can find. Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool, a completely free program, has always been a favorite in our home. I use that as the basis for a lot of our subjects and then I supplement as I see fit.

I also use other free educational websites such as Essential Skills Advantage and PBS Learning Media.

Of course, the local library has been a huge help in increasing our reading list and minimizing the number of bookshelves we need each year.

2. Decide what you’re willing to invest in.

Every year, there are a couple of items that I’m willing to pay a little more for. ABC Mouse is one of these.

Our youngest child is an insatiable learner. She wants to learn everything about everything and she wants to have it done YESTERDAY. Now that my boys are older and need more of my time to understand math skills, I like having a program she can use on her own.

And that’s why ABC Mouse has been so great. It’s designed for kids from PreK through Grade 2 and it’s not just for enrichment. It actually is a complete curriculum that kids can navigate through with periodic parental involvement.

We’ve been using it for the past couple of years and, now that she’s entering first grade, we’ll be using it again.

I set aside about $25 for normal school supplies each year. We’ve already purchased our basics for this year, including pencils, markers, crayons, notebooks, and filler paper. Back to school sales, of course, are the best for finding those items.

This year, we don’t have access to a vehicle during the day, so I won’t be purchasing any attraction memberships. However, we usually choose one attraction per year and become members. I can usually find a great deal by browsing Groupon and jumping on a family membership deal.

Since we have that extra amount available in the budget, I’m using Time 4 Learning to strengthen the boys’ ELA and math skills for a couple of months and make sure they’re ready for fifth grade this fall.

3. Buy curriculum you can use for years.

Because we have more than one child, we try to buy non-consumable books that we can use again and again. In fact, that’s one of the reasons why I love anchor charts so much. I make them once and then I have them for future years.

We use Family Time Fitness for our Homeschool PE Curriculum and that’s also a program you can buy once and then use again and again as the kids grow.

Most of Tigger’s storybooks and readers were handed down to Pooh and Roo over the summer, so they’ll be using those this year. I found the vast majority of Tigger’s books for the upcoming year in the $1 bins at Target.

I also pick up a few comprehensive grade-level workbooks, and I use those for workboxes and standardized test preparation.

4. Don’t be afraid of “used” products!

I’m a total school nerd and the smell of new textbooks is enough to make me prefer to purchase a book brand new. Over the years, though, I’ve gotten over that and I’ve fallen in love with used books.

Amazon is a wonderful resource for used books and we’ve found some excellent homeschooling resources over the years by browsing the used books section. Large kids’ consignment sales, which I’ll be talking about in a future post, are excellent for finding books and textbooks as well.

And that’s how I keep my homeschooling costs down each year! Here’s our actual budget:

Basic back to school supplies: $25

Early learning program: $59.99

Annual attraction membership: $95

(This amount is going toward curriculum this year.)

Storybooks and textbooks (mostly used): $50

Comprehensive workbooks: $20

Total: $249.99

I’d love to hear how you set a budget for your homeschooling expenses and stick to it! Tell us about your homeschooling costs and choices in the comments!

Want even more ideas for homeschooling this year? Check out these posts!

Plus, get more tips to plan your homeschool year on my Homeschool Planning Pinterest board!

This post is part of the “How Much Does Homeschooling Actually Cost?” linkup from iHomeschool Network! Stop by to see how our fellow bloggers budget for their homeschooling expenses each year!

Homeschool Planning with Kids Underfoot

July 9, 2014 by Selena Robinson 37 Comments

It’s that time of year! Time for everyone to break out their homeschool planning ideas! School year planning is probably one of the most exciting times for me personally. I get to look at my kids’ progress over the years, feel sad about how much they’ve grown (sniff), and get excited about what we’ll learn in the upcoming months.

Keep Reading…

Tips for Homeschool Time Management

June 9, 2014 by Selena Robinson 13 Comments

Today we’re talking about homeschool time management, which helps us deal with one of the biggest obstacles to happy homeschooling in our home: NOT ENOUGH TIME!

We have four children, including some with ADHD, plus I’m a full-time minister and I work – so time is extra precious around here. But, I’ve learned a few great tips for managing our homeschooling time and I’m thrilled to share them with you all!

How to Improve Your Homeschool Time Management

1. Make a Schedule and Stick to It

I’ve previously sung the praises of a consistent homeschooling schedule and I’m still a huge fan of scheduling. When time is at a premium, using a daily homeschool schedule can literally save your lesson plan. So if your days are extra busy, block out a regular time for your schooling and hold class at the same time each day.

Tricia over at Hodgepodge has a great homeschool routine that works for her family. It involves a great early morning routine that calls for all of the kids to be up, dressed, and ready for school by 8:45. Genius!

2. Delegate Housekeeping to Your Kids!

What if you’re drowning in housework? Get your kids involved! Assigning daily, age-appropriate chores to your children accomplishes two things: 1) It reduces your workload and 2) It teaches them valuable life skills. With a little planning, you can even incorporate it into your school day. 🙂

Tristan from Our Busy Homeschool is a homeschooling mom of 8. Eight! One of the things that keeps her homeschool on track is having her kids do chores everyday. She even manages to get her toddlers and preschoolers involved!

3. Restructure Your Lessons

One of the many wonderful things about homeschooling is that we don’t have to follow a regimented lesson plan. We can rearrange our lessons whenever we like. For example, Tigger finished her language lessons early last year, so had a chance to double up on math for a few weeks.

Beth at 123 Homeschool 4 Me manages to work in schooling, housework, and errands in a single day! How? She keeps the “school” time to three hours a day and uses other activities to teach, including library visits, storybooks, and educational iPad games. Beth also makes use of the workbox system, which is great for assigning work to each individual child without disturbing the others.

Great Books for Homeschool Time Management

There are a lot of great books for homeschooling parents who need to work on their time management. I’ve enjoyed the tips in these two in particular:

The Imperfect Homeschooler’s Guide to Homeschooling: Barbara Frank

Scheduling – The Secret to Homeschool Sanity: Plan Your Way Back to Mental Health – Lee Binz

Use these tips for better homeschool planning!

For even more homeschool scheduling and planning tips, follow our Homeschool Planning board on Pinterest!

This post is part of the “I Can’t Homeschool Because… linkup at iHomeschool Network ! Click on over to read how some of our fellow bloggers overcome obstacles to homeschooling!

How I Juggle Going to College and Homeschooling My Kids

April 21, 2014 by Selena Robinson 27 Comments

Good morning! College finals are fast approaching, so I took last week off from blogging to catch up on some of my last assignments for this semester. Now that I’m nearly a full year into my “back to school” experience, I thought I’d share some of the pointers I’ve picked up about how to homeschool while going back to college. Spoiler: It’s hard. 🙂

1. Insist on a regular schedule.

You’ll need at least two schedules: one for your kids’ lessons and another for your own. It’s really difficult, but it’s essential that you keep the kids on their regular homeschooling schedule. Otherwise, you’ll finish the semester and then realize that you have to do double lessons for a month to catch up on math (like I have to do with Tigger in May).

As for organizing my classes – I have an enormous binder that I use for my classes with sections for each subject and a stack of weekly planning pages in the front. At the beginning of the semester, I look through every class schedule and then write the due dates for my assignments in my planner pages. I usually do this during the first week of class before the really heavy assignments start.

I’m usually very organized at the beginning of the semester, but after spring break, it’s all downhill and I’m barely functioning by finals. That’s when the organizing I did early in the semester ends up saving me. Seeing what assignments are due several weeks in advance helps me avoid having to work on them all at once.

2. Enlist the help of your spouse.

I’ve written before about why we need supportive homeschooling spouses, and going back to college has just underscored how much I need the help of my husband. There have been many, many school days that he’s taught for me so I could go study. He has no problem cooking dinner or getting the kids ready for bed when I need to cram for a test or attend a school function.

In order for our spouses to help us out, though, we have to communicate with them. Jay and I have had several long conversations, especially this past semester, about how we can make adjustments to our schooling schedule while I’m in class. After finals, we’ll be sitting down again to see how I can revise my course load in the fall so that we can get back to learning more as a family.

3. Be flexible.

This is probably the most important tip I’ve learned about trying to go to college while homeschooling my kids. I’ve had to be open to trying new approaches almost every week. One of the choices I made was to take classes online, since that was the most flexible way for me to get my school work done.

Btw, if you are considering going back to college, I highly recommend distance learning. It’s convenient, easy to use, and adaptable for moms who are already busy during the day.

Another big part of being flexible is prioritizing. I have several interests that have had to take a backseat, especially during this past semester, including knitting, sewing, traveling, and (occasionally) blogging. But that’s life. We always have to shuffle our priorities to make sure that we’re taking care of the “more important things.” (Phil. 1:10)

I’ve even had to let go of my attempt to maintain a 4.0 GPA. In the past, I’ve done extra credit and additional assignments to make sure that my grades were perfect. As I’ve gotten older, though, I’ve learned that it’s more important to be reasonable than right. I hope that’s something I can teach my kids as well.

So, those are a few of the things I’ve learned while juggling homeschooling and going back to college! Are any of you back in school? Are you thinking about it? We’d love to hear your tips or suggestions in the comments!

This post is part of the “How Homeschool Moms Juggle” linkup at iHomeschoolNetwork! Click on over and read how our fellow bloggers juggle homeschooling and their other responsibilities such as housework, caring for a new baby, and working outside the home!

Using Pinterest for Unit Studies

March 10, 2014 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Today we’re linking up with iHomeschool Network to share our five favorite Pinterest boards! As you can tell here, here, and here, I love unit studies! They’re so flexible that they’re adaptable for just about any age, grade level, and subject, which makes them a perfect choice for eclectic homeschoolers.

Pinterest is a HUGE help when it comes to unit study planning. I can find a topic I like and then pin several resources to use when we cover our units. I have a lot of Pinterest boards, but five of them play a major role in our unit study planning.

Pinterest Board #1: Seasonal Learning

Follow Selena @ Look! We’re Learning!’s board Seasonal Learning on Pinterest.

Our Seasonal Learning board is home to loads of great resources for unit studies! If you’re basing a unit around a particular season, it’s simple to take a few lessons, experiments, and crafts and combine them into one ongoing study. I got the inspiration for our All About Snowflakes unit study from several of our Pinterest finds. Since we’re coming up on spring, here are a few of our pins that would be great for a spring unit study:

Spring Tulip Painting with Forks

18 Cloud and Rain Crafts

Spring Butterfly Craft with Toilet Paper Rolls

30 Indoor Activities for Spring

Pinterest Board #2: Learning for Little Ones

Follow Selena @ Look! We’re Learning!’s board Learning for Little Ones on Pinterest.

We have three learners aged five and under, so even with unit studies, it can be tricky to find activities for them all. Often, I can find an activity on Pinterest that’s geared toward young kids, and then adapt it for my oldest student (or vice versa). In fact, we’ll be breaking out the busy bags and such for Piglet soon! Some of the fine motor activities I’ve found are even good for older kids, especially those who have ADHD like Tigger and like to fidget during class. 🙂

Here are a few of our favorite pins for little learners that lend themselves to unit studies:

Sight Word Treasure Hunt (Pirate unit)

DIY Play Beach Sand (Beach unit)

Ice Cream Cone Letter Activity (Ice Cream unit)

Woven Paper Plate Rainbow (Weather unit)

Pinterest Board #3: Living History

Follow Selena @ Look! We’re Learning!’s board Living History on Pinterest.

I’m a huge history buff, so history makes up a large part of our homeschooling curriculum. A lot of the unit studies we do are based around historical figures or events, and we’ve found great history resources on Pinterest. Since we have so many active learners, weaving in activities and crafts with history helps our kids get more involved in our lessons. This is where the crafts in the other boards really come in handy. Here are a few of the ideas for teaching history that we like on Pinterest:

Lewis and Clark Expedition Study

African History for Kids

Dinosaur Activities for Kids

Smithsonian Natural History Museum Virtual Tour

Pinterest Board #4: Seeing the World

Follow Selena @ Look! We’re Learning!’s board Seeing the World on Pinterest.

Geography is a natural tie-in for history, so it’s fairly simple to add it into a unit study. When we did our series on ancient Africa, we naturally talked about the geography and people of the continent as we covered the historical events. But sometimes I find separate geography resources that are too good NOT to include in a unit study…lol. As much as I love history, I find geography kind of boring, so the geography lessons and units I’ve found on Pinterest have been a big help.

Here are a few of our favorite geography pins for unit studies:

30 Ideas for Studying the World

Free Printable State Notebooking Pages

Landforms Paper Flipbook

50 Books for 50 U.S. States

Pinterest Board #5: Unit Studies

Follow Selena @ Look! We’re Learning!’s board Unit Studies on Pinterest.

Naturally, here’s where I keep pins that are for completed unit studies. I like to make up our own, but I’ve also found lots of great unit studies written by other homeschoolers on Pinterest. Here are a few of our favorites, including one of our own:

Early Elementary Canada Unit Study

The Aristocats Unit Study

Ant Unit Study Resources

Inuit & Arctic Circle Unit Study

And that’s how we use Pinterest to help us plan unit studies! How do you use Pinterest in your homeschool? Do you have any particular topic you search for on the site? What are your favorite pins for homeschooling? Let us know in the comments!

This post is part of the Our Pintastic Pinboards linkup from iHomeschoolNetwork! Click on over to visit our fellow bloggers and see their favorite Pinterest boards!