Homeschooling Archives

Over 100 Homeschooling and Parenting Resources with Family Fun Friday!

January 29, 2015 by Selena Robinson 3 Comments

Hi everyone! In this week’s edition of Family Fun Friday, we’re sharing more than 100 parenting and homeschooling resources from last week’s linky! So, if your homeschool routine is feeling a bit…stale, look no further for inspiration!

If you’re a blogger, don’t forget to link up your own posts below! We’ll pick six more to feature next week. 🙂


Monica created Family Fun Friday and blogs at HappyandBlessedHome.com where she shares free preschool tools and printables, encouraging words for moms, and ideas for having fun together as a family. Follow: Blog / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter /Google + / Bloglovin’/ Instagram. Monica will feature Family Fun Posts.

Selena is a homeschooling graduate and a veteran homeschooling mom to four super special kids. She blogs at Look! We’re Learning! about unit studies, foreign language, and homeschooling with ADHD. Follow: Blog / Facebook / Pinterest / Instagram / Twitter. Selena will be featuring homeschooling and kids’ crafts.


Herchel enjoys blogging about parenting, organizing, crafting, and having good old-fashioned kid fun her blog Scrggbug Corner. Follow: Blog / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter /Google +. Herchel will feature organizing and family fun.

Britta was a military kid and is a military wife, now living in the high desert of Arizona and far, far from her New Orleans family. She happily homeschools and writes about the intersection of God’s Word and her world at Britta Lafont ~ Everyday Holiness. This year Britta wants to find that sweet spot between getting more done and enjoying the process. Britta will feature Delicious Recipes. Follow: Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest / Instagram.

Christin blogs at illuminate. As wife to her high school sweetheart and mother to three premature children, she’s learned that God is the Perfect Party Planner and sometimes the unexpected is the greatest gift of all. Follow: Blog / Facebook / Pinterest / Instagram / Twitter. Christen will feature Inspirational Posts.

Here are my favorite posts for this week!

1. Looking for a quick, indoor sensory activity that won’t take all day to clean up? Try this DIY Kinetic Sand from Parenting Chaos!

2. Young kids love pretend play! Mothers Messy Madness shares how to make a fun DIY Play Shop made out of packing boxes!

3. If you’re studying winter or arctic animals with young learners, ABC Creative Learning explains how to make a simple Paper Plate Penguin Craft!

4. Cover geography, culture, and biology at home with an amazing roundup from Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus featuring more than 70 Resources for Learning about the Rain Forest!

5. If you have a dinosaur fan in the house, this roundup of over 80 Dinosaur Learning Ideas from Mama of Many Blessings will keep your kids interested in the Prehistoric Age!

6. Maybe it’s just because I’m in the middle of the potty training Piglet right now, but these Tips for Potty Training Twins from Bajan Texas are so helpful!

Were you featured? Grab the Family Fun Friday button below!

Stop by to see what my co-hosts are spotlighting this week!

Bloggers are invited to share their best family-friendly and mom-inspiring posts in the link-up below.

Link guidelines:

Link your post.
Link back to the link party.
Follow your host(s).
Spread the word. Share and pin your favorites.
Mingle! Bloggers love comments.
Grab a button.
If you link up, you permit the hosts of Family Fun Friday to use your pictures/ideas as part of future posts and/or social media.

Family Fun Friday is a growing link-up with over 200 bloggers sharing their posts each week. Each host shares her favorites from the week before, increasing your chances of being featured. Co-hosts will also be pinning their favorites to a community Family Fun Pinterest Board. This link party opens up at around 4 pm EST on Thursdays.

Please be aware that by linking in Family Fun Friday you give our hosts permission to use your images to create a collage for our features. We may also use the collage to promote Family Fun Friday through our individual social media accounts.

Homeschool Unit Studies: New York City Unit Study

January 27, 2015 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

Based on the news, the Northeast is currently getting slammed by a massive blizzard. (Stay safe and warm if you’re up there!) If you’re studying the Northeast or the city of New York, you might like this New York City Unit Study!

Winter weather or not, New York City is a fascinating place. And most kids love the idea of the Big City, so you can use this homeschool unit study to introduce your kids to the Big Apple!

If you enjoy this unit, check out some of our other studies, including our Firefighters Unit Study and our Grand Canyon Unit Study!

New York City Unit Study

Since there are so many famous landmarks and geographical features in NYC, it can be tough to narrow them all down for a unit study!

We took a trip up there earlier this year and while we drove through the city, my conversation was basically “Oh, there’s the Brooklyn Bridge! Wait, there’s the Empire State Building! Kids, look! It’s the Hudson River!” Not the best way to learn about the city.

So I’m excited to share these activities and books that can help kids get a better understanding of what makes the city so special!

New York City Video Tour

Watch the following video about New York City and ask your kids to answer the questions below.

1. How many pizzerias are in New York City?

Answer: 9000

2. Name one special feature of the Empire State Building.

Answer: The top 30 floors change colors to represent seasons and events of the year.

3. How does the Whispering Gallery at Grand Central Station work?

Answer: A person can stand in one corner and hear what a person standing diagonally whispers into the wall.

4. When was the Atlantic Avenue subway tunnel built?

Answer: 1844

5. How many trees are in Central Park?

Answer: 25,000

6. How many sculptures are in Central Park?

Answer: 29

7. How many floors does a building need to be considered as a skyscraper?

Answer: 40 or more

Activities about New York City:

These kids’ activities about New York City can help kids learn more!

1. 3rd Grade: New York City History Worksheet – MacMillan Young Learners

2. 3rd Grade: NYC History Quiz – Education.com

3. Elementary: New York City Boroughs Activity – PBS

4. Elementary: Statue of Liberty Coloring Page – Super Coloring

5. K-12: Printable Map of Five Boroughs – Britannica Kids

Books about New York City:

These children’s books about New York City feature gorgeous illustrations and stories that will get kids excited about taking a trip to the Big Apple for themselves!

1. Pop-Up New York by Lonely Planet Kids

2. A Walk in New York by Salvatore Rubbino

3. Good Night, New York (Good Night, Our World) by Adam Gamble

4. This is New York by Miroslav Sasek

5. New York, New York: The Big Apple from A to Z by Laura Krauss Melmed

6. New York: A Book of Colors (Hello, World) by Ashley Evanson

7. New York City by Paula Hannigan

8. Larry Gets Lost in New York City by John Skewes

9. City Trails: New York by Lonely Planet Kids

10. ABC NYC: A Book About Seeing New York by Joanne Dugan

11. All Aboard! New York: A City Primer by Haily Meyers

12. New York City History for Kids: From New Amsterdam to the Big Apple with 21 Activities by Richard Panchyk

13. The Mystery in New York City (Real Kids, Real Places) by Carole Marsh

14. New York, Baby! by Ward Jenkins

15. New York for Kids: 25 Big Apple Sites to Color (Dover Coloring Books) by Patricia J. Wynne

If you want to see even more teaching ideas for your New York City unit, I shared a simple New York City Unit Study that features videos, books, and articles about NYC. Click on over to Year Round Homeschooling to get the details and use the unit with your kids!

New York City Unit Study – Year Round Homeschooling

Did you love this post? Check out these other ways to teach geography to your homeschoolers!

Plus, get more ideas on my Geography for Homeschoolers Pinterest board!

Multilingual Blog Carnival: Teaching about World Cultures

January 26, 2015 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

I’m thrilled to be hosting this month’s edition of the Multilingual Blog Carnival! We’ve been teaching our kids American Sign Language and Spanish, but we’ve also gotten to try French as well.

However, one of the most important parts of learning another language is learning about the culture associated with it. For example, if kids learn American Sign Language without gaining an understanding of deaf culture, they can view ASL as nothing more than a novelty. If that happens, they can easily offend a deaf or hard-of-hearing person when they try to communicate.

So for this month’s Multilingual Blog Carnival, I wanted to focus on why and how we should be teaching about world cultures. There are several great suggestions for approaching a study of world cultures for kids and I’m excited to share them today!

Suggestions for Teaching about World Cultures

Here are some great blog posts featuring reasons why we should teach our kids about world cultures and how we can do so! Be sure to stop by and show these great bloggers some love!

1. Marianna at Bilingual Avenue shares a great post for native multilingual parents about why they should retain their cultural connections and share them with their kids. We can even make language learning into a special bonding time with our little ones!

2. If we’re going to teach our kids to be multilingual, we can certainly start by teaching to appreciate the diverse nature of our world. Third Culture Mama shares her own experiences with neighbors and friends from other cultures and how she’s ensuring that her kids value and respect those differences.

3. Maria at Trilingual Mama has some great ideas for teaching our kids to respect international cultures, including making friends with other multicultural families, introducing kids to different cultures from an early age, and using Internet resources to teach foreign language and world culture.

Books for Teaching about World Cultures

For even more tips on how to introduce world cultures to your children, try these books about world culture for kids!

1. A Child’s Introduction to the World: Geography, Cultures, and People by Heather Alexander & Meredith Hamilton

2. Children Just Like Me: A Unique Celebration of Children Around the World by Anabel & Barnabas Kindersley

3. A Life Like Mine: How Children Live Around the World by DK Publishing

4. Children Around the World by Donata Montanari

If you’re interested in hosting the Multilingual Blog Carnival, get the details and sign up here!

Managing Your Homeschool with Family Fun Friday!

January 22, 2015 by Selena Robinson 6 Comments

It’s time for this week’s Family Fun Friday! There are some really great posts from last week featured today, especially if your homeschool motivation is…shall we say, waning.

I’ve never been particularly fond of teaching science. I’m an English major, after all. 🙂 So I added a few posts that have great tips for making science fun for kids (and parents!).


Monica created Family Fun Friday and blogs at HappyandBlessedHome.com where she shares free preschool tools and printables, encouraging words for moms, and ideas for having fun together as a family. Follow: Blog / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter /Google + / Bloglovin’/ Instagram. Monica will feature Family Fun Posts.

Selena is a homeschooling graduate and a veteran homeschooling mom to four super special kids. She blogs at Look! We’re Learning! about unit studies, foreign language, and homeschooling with ADHD. Follow: Blog / Facebook / Pinterest / Instagram / Twitter. Selena will be featuring homeschooling and kids’ crafts.


Herchel enjoys blogging about parenting, organizing, crafting, and having good old-fashioned kid fun her blog Scrggbug Corner. Follow: Blog / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter /Google +. Herchel will feature organizing and family fun.

Britta was a military kid and is a military wife, now living in the high desert of Arizona and far, far from her New Orleans family. She happily homeschools and writes about the intersection of God’s Word and her world at Britta Lafont ~ Everyday Holiness. This year Britta wants to find that sweet spot between getting more done and enjoying the process. Britta will feature Delicious Recipes. Follow: Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest / Instagram.

Christin blogs at illuminate. As wife to her high school sweetheart and mother to three premature children, she’s learned that God is the Perfect Party Planner and sometimes the unexpected is the greatest gift of all. Follow: Blog / Facebook / Pinterest / Instagram / Twitter. Christen will feature Inspirational Posts.

Here are my favorite posts for this week!

1. Are you suffering from burnout? Brenda at Schooling a Monkey has some great suggestions for dealing with homeschool burnout to help you reclaim your can-teach attitude!

2. How many times a week do your kids say the words “I’m Bored”? Get some fun ideas for kids activities at Faith Filled Food for Moms!

3. I’ve always been a bit intimidated by science experiments, so I love this DIY Lab in a Box from Planet Smarty! It’s a great way to get your kids excited about science without overwhelming them!

4. It never occurred to me to teach literacy along with teeth brushing skills, but Jodie at Growing Book by Book figured out a way to combine the two! Click over to read her cute idea for brushing away the alphabet with preschoolers!

5. Do you need a way to keep your little learners entertained so you can get dinner on the table? (I’ll wait while everyone raises their hand.) Joy in My Kitchen has a roundup of 10 preschool table activities that are perfect for the dinner hour!

6. Want a great way to study winter animals? My Big Fat Happy Life has an adorable idea for studying animal tracks with snow playdough!

Were you featured? Grab the Family Fun Friday button below!

Stop by to see what my co-hosts are spotlighting this week!

Bloggers are invited to share their best family-friendly and mom-inspiring posts in the link-up below.

Link guidelines:

Link your post.
Link back to the link party.
Follow your host(s).
Spread the word. Share and pin your favorites.
Mingle! Bloggers love comments.
Grab a button.
If you link up, you permit the hosts of Family Fun Friday to use your pictures/ideas as part of future posts and/or social media.

The Great Homeschool Public School Experiment: Unwelcome Attitude Changes

January 16, 2015 by Selena Robinson 3 Comments

Today is the last day of our series The Great Homeschool Public School Experiment! And today we’re talking about the last thing we’ve noticed since our kids have been in school: unwelcome attitude changes.

It’s no secret that all kids act out on occasion and ours have been no strangers to that rule. We’ve dealt with quite a few tantrums over the years, but we’d settled into a fairly comfortable routine as a family. After our kids started going to school, though, we noticed some sudden and glaring changes.

While we weren’t shocked by these changes, we were certainly less than thrilled. And it’s taken us a while to get back to our original comfortable routine. But we’re definitely on our way now. Here is how we’ve dealt with the unwelcome attitude changes that have popped up since our kids have been in public school.

Image: altanaka / Dollar Photo Club

The Sudden Appearance of Backtalk

We have never really had to deal with backtalk from our kids. After they started going to public school, though, we started to hear it for the first time. I wish someone had taken a picture of my face the first time Tigger said with a sigh and an eye roll, “I didn’t mean THAT, Mom.” I’m fairly certain my jaw was lying on the floor.

After recovering from my initial shock, I managed to ask “Excuse me?” I guess my face showed my abject horror, because Tigger immediately backtracked and rephrased her original comment. Still, Jay and I had to talk with each of the children in turn about picking up disrespectful speech from their classmates. We addressed it every single time we saw it. Every single time. And slowly, it’s loosening its death grip on our household.

Dealing with Irritability

Another issue we noticed was serious irritability. Pooh and Roo would wake up and immediately begin arguing as they got dressed. As soon as the kids got in the van at the end of the school day, Tigger and Pooh would instantly begin interrupting each other. It was awful.

We chalked a lot of the irritability up to the sudden change in schedule and their new homework responsibilities. But any life change is going to bring its own challenges and going to school was a HUGE change for them. Since we don’t have as much time together during the day as we used to, we have to make the most of what we have by sharing family dinners, giving the kids time to unwind individually, and getting them to bed at an early hour. Now that we make those things a priority, the irritability seems to be decreasing.

Have your children ever picked up negative character traits from other kids (in public school or elsewhere)? How do you handle it? Let us know in the comments!

This post is part of the series “The Great Homeschool Public School Experiment“! I really hope you’ve enjoyed reading it! Read about our other adventures in trying public school for the first time!

The Great Homeschool Public School Experiment: Plenty of Alone Time! Or Not

January 15, 2015 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

We’re on to Day 5 of The Great Homeschool Public School Experiment! Today I’m giving you an honest look at all that “alone time” you picture when you think about sending your kids to public school.

On some of my worst homeschooling days, I’d fantasize about how “free” I’d be if my kids were in school. I’d have hours of solitude to get the house cleaned, plan meals, and even go shopping if I wanted! I’d read books I’d always wanted to read. I’d finish knitting the afghan I’ve been working on for over a year. I’d even think about painting the walls in my house. (Something I’ve never done.)

Of course, that didn’t happen. I do get more alone time during the day, but it comes with a HUGE catch. Here’s my take on the plenty of alone time you get when your kids are in public school.

How I Spend My Days

Bear in mind that I still have Miss Piglet (who’s 2), so I don’t have quite the break that I’d have if all of my kids were in school. But I will say that having a house with one toddler in it during the day is FAR quieter than a house with four kids.

Generally, I drop the kids off at 7:15 and make it back home by 7:30. I get Piglet settled with breakfast and I start cleaning the kitchen. Piglet and I spend time watching JW Broadcasting, then we color and read a Bible Story. This takes a couple of hours. I make her a snack, then she takes a nap around 10:30.

Now I get to enjoy that vaunted “alone time”, right? Yes and no. I get about an hour and a half alone while Piglet naps, but here’s how I usually spend it: Doing laundry. Our kids’ school requires uniforms, so I end doing laundry and ironing more than I’ve ever done in my life as a mother. (Our kids often did school while still in their PJs.) If I’m actually caught up on laundry, I start on MY school assignments.

I make time to do something I want for half an hour (usually reading or taking a nap), then I get Piglet up, make lunch, and straighten up the kitchen yet again. By then, it’s time to get the kids. Seriously.

How My Evenings Became Even Busier

So, yes, I do get alone time in a way. But here’s yet another catch: My evenings are busier than ever. By the time we finish homework, it’s time to make dinner. And we have to cram in all the talking we used to do during the day around the dinner table. After dinner, the kids get about half an hour to unwind, then they get ready for bed. By the time they go to sleep, it’s time for me to finish up my schoolwork and get ready for the next day.

The quiet time during the day that I get is really helpful while I’m in school, though. Just having time to think clearly about what I want to do and how to go about it makes the evenings run much more smoothly. And after I’m done with school this spring, I’ll probably be able to enjoy that alone time a little more. 🙂

If your kids have ever gone to public school, did you find that you had more alone time? How did you use it? Do you miss it at all? Share your experiences in the comments!

This post is part of the series “The Great Homeschool Public School Experiment“! Read about our other adventures in trying public school for the first time!

The Great Homeschool Public School Experiment: Dealing with Homework

January 14, 2015 by Selena Robinson 3 Comments

Welcome to another entry in The Great Homeschool Public School Experiment series! Today, we’re all about the word school-aged kids dread: HOMEWORK.

The very concept of homework was somewhat alien to our kids. They knew kids who had homework, but the experience of doing it was a novel one. I mean, when you’re homeschooling, all of your work is homework by default, right? And, even when I did assign independent work, it was still done during school hours. So – the notion of coming home from a full day of school and still having work to do was something new for them.

I think we got to day 3 or 4 of public school before someone said the sentence “I hate homework!” Day 3 or 4. So it was clear we’d have to make a few changes to help them adjust. Here’s a bit about how we helped our kids to start dealing with homework.

Image: fcscafeine / Dollar Photo Club

The Amount of Homework Kids Have

I honestly had no idea how much homework kids in public school were doing on a weekly basis. As homeschoolers, we were blissfully ignorant of the trend toward lengthier assignments. Roo, who’s in kindergarten, has math and reading homework four days a week. This wasn’t a shock to me, because I’d heard of kindergarten homework from other parents, but it was still a difficult transition, especially at first.

Pooh has homework in two to three subjects each day. But he has been extremely diligent about completing it each afternoon. He forgot his homework assignment sheet at school one day last week and I thought he was about to hyperventilate. His teacher emailed it to us (another new thing that didn’t happen when I was in school) and he was fine. 🙂

Tigger, though, has been a different story. She has quite a bit of homework to complete everyday. She’s in fourth grade, which means that she has higher standards to meet (naturally) but she is also required to complete a certain amount of reading each afternoon. Generally, she finishes her homework just in time to help with dinner. Since she has ADHD, it’s a little harder for her to maintain the focus needed to complete everything in a timely manner.

How We Cope with Homework

The biggest thing that’s helped our kids cope with homework is having them get started on it as soon as humanly possible. Since they’re usually hungry, they have a quick snack when they come in the door so they can recharge and talk about their days. Then it’s homework time.

Roo and Pooh have the luxury of receiving the entire week’s worth of homework at a time, so we encourage them to do more than one day’s assignment. That way, they have very little to do on Thursday, which is a meeting night for us.

Tigger only receives one day’s worth of homework at a time, so she can’t really plan ahead like that. However, the school issues agendas for the kids, in which they’re supposed to write down their assignments each day and check them off as they complete them. I LOVE THAT. It’s great practice for high school and college work, and it teaches them to keep track of their own assignments. That will definitely come in handy once we resume homeschooling, right? 🙂

If you have kids in public school, how do you help them deal with homework? Share any tips or suggestions you have in the comments!

This post is part of the series “The Great Homeschool Public School Experiment“! Read about our other adventures in trying public school for the first time!

The Great Homeschool Public School Experiment: Adjusting Our Schedule

January 13, 2015 by Selena Robinson 4 Comments

Welcome to another entry in The Great Homeschool Public School Experiment series! Today, I’m sharing how we had to adjust our schooling and living schedule to make room for public school.

It’s also time for another edition of the Laugh and Learn linky, so be sure to check out our favorites from last week and read some great new posts this week!

Since we’d been homeschooling from birth, adjusting to a public school schedule was a MAJOR event in our family. Honestly, I had forgotten how much of my day revolved around school as a child. During the week, school pretty much consumed my waking hours. It’s only gotten worse since then.

Here’s a look at how we had to adjust our schedule when we took a break from homeschooling and enrolled our kids in public school.

Getting Up Earlier

First, we had to start getting everyone up earlier. A LOT earlier. Generally, we allowed the kids to wake up on their own (usually around 8 a.m.) and then we’d start our morning routine. Fortunately, our kids’ school is located less than a mile from our house. But we still have to get everyone up no later than 6:30 a.m. so that they could make it to school in time for breakfast.

Apparently, they got the most important sleep of the night during that last hour and a half. Because without it, I have some seriously grouchy little ones. Pooh, in particular, has had a difficult time adjusting to rising that early. Sometimes, I actually have to shake him awake.

Reshaping Our Afternoons

I figured that the morning overhaul would be the biggest adjustment, but I was wrong. I had no idea how much homework kids receive these days. Even Roo has homework and he’s in kindergarten.

So, when I pick them up, I bring them home for a snack. (They’re always starving, because they eat lunch at 10:10 a.m. Truly.) After they have a snack, they get right on their homework. I’ll talk more about how we adjusted to the very idea of homework in another post. In general, homework takes about an hour, sometimes more for Tigger, and then they get a chance to unwind before dinner.

What Happened to Our Weekends?

I didn’t even consider that our weekends would be affected by public school, but they are. I had seriously taken for granted how much homeschooling helped me with errands. Now, I have to wait until the weekend to take the kids shopping for anything. Of course, every other person in our town is also shopping on weekends, so those trips now take three times as long. Fun!

If you have kids in public school, I’d love to hear how you tweaked your daily schedule to make room for their assignments. Let me know in the comments!

This post is part of the series “The Great Homeschool Public School Experiment“! Read about our other adventures in trying public school for the first time!

And now it’s time for the Laugh and Learn linkup! 🙂

Welcome to our 15th week of Laugh and Learn – Homeschool and Parenting Linkup. Join us in the fun and help us spread the word! 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.

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

Our Favorite Posts for the Week of January 12th:

Written by Sheila at Brain Power Boy

Written by Annette at In All You Do

Written by Brand New Mom at Brand New Mom

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

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

An InLinkz Link-up

Activities for a New Homeschool Year with Family Fun Friday!

January 1, 2015 by Selena Robinson 3 Comments

Hi everyone! It’s the beginning of a new year and, while I don’t set resolutions, I do like to review my homeschooling method to see if I want to make any changes going forward. Even though we’re not homeschooling our three oldest right now, I intend to resume teaching them at home in a year or so, plus I have our toddler to plan for.

So – it’s a great time to start gathering ideas for a new homeschool year! We had some excellent educational posts shared during the last edition of Family Fun Friday and I wanted to highlight a few today. Check below to read even more great posts, including some for educators and parents!

Keep Reading…

The Great Homeschool Public School Experiment: Breaking the News

December 15, 2014 by Selena Robinson 3 Comments

As you all know, we made the decision to put our kids in public school last month. After homeschooling for six years, it was … a difficult transition to say the least. Our kids had never stepped into a school before and their only ideas of what school is like came from TV, so they had no idea what to expect.

Personally, I waffled back and forth on the decision to enroll them for months, so I waited until we were really sure to break the news. It still did not go well.

Here’s the first installment in our series: The Great Homeschool Public School Experiment! Today, we’re talking about how we broke the news of our new public school experience to the kids.

Image: archideaphoto / Dollar Photo Club

Breaking the Public School News to Our Kids

I actually decided to tell Tigger first. She’s the oldest and I thought that if I told her in advance, she’d put on a brave face for her younger brothers. That turned out to be a good idea.

Her first reaction was to cry. She told me she was afraid, because she thought the other kids would be mean to her. I told her that she’d probably have a few mean kids, but that most kids would probably just be unsure since they didn’t know her (and because she was starting in the middle of the year). Of course, fourth grade is a difficult time for kids anyway, so she had a lot of questions and doubts, but by the time we started, she was looking forward to it.

Pooh, our six-year-old, responded with “THIS IS A CATASTROPHE!” (He actually said that…lol.) He really, really, really did not want to go at all. Ironically, he ended up adjusting the fastest, so go figure.

Roo was kind of nervous, but also kind of excited. He’s in Kindergarten, which is an awesome time to go to public school for the first time. If I could go back to any point in my childhood, it would probably be Kindergarten.

Personally, I had been dreading breaking the news to the kids for weeks. But it turned out that telling them about our new homeschool public school experiment was the easiest part of the entire process. The harder parts were still to come. 🙂

Next week, I’ll talk about the next part of our experiment: School Shopping!

Homeschool Unit Studies: Snowflake Unit

December 9, 2014 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

Have you guys gotten any snow yet? We don’t usually see snow here in Georgia during winter, except a few tiny flurries around February or so. But even if you don’t live in a cold climate, you can teach your kids about snowflakes with this free snowflake unit I wrote for Year Round Homeschooling!

And, by the way, it’s time for another edition of the Laugh and Learn linkup! Be sure to read our favorites from last week below!

This snowflake unit features YouTube videos that explain how snowflakes form, as well as questions you can use to review the concepts with your kids afterward. There is a booklist with great kids’ books about snowflakes, and even a couple of snowflake crafts that will let you make your own winter “snow”!

Stop over at Year Round Homeschooling to get a few ideas for your snowflake unit study!

Snowflake Unit – Year Round Homeschooling

And now…on to the linky!

Welcome to our eleventh week of Laugh and Learn – Homeschool and Parenting Linkup. Join us in the fun and help us spread the word! Laugh and Learn – Homeschool and Parenting Linkup will be open by 6 am every Tuesday morning.

We will pick our four 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.

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 Ernspiker

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

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

Sarah Thornton

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

Our Favorite Posts for the Week of December 8th:

Written by Melanie at Tree Valley Academy

Written by Jennifer at Royal Little Lambs

Written by Gude at Hodge Podge Craft

Thanks to everyone who submitted a post. Please check out the posts above by clicking on the image, if you have a minute for some good reading. Thank you Melanie, Jennifer, and Gude for your great homeschool and parenting posts!

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

An InLinkz Link-up

Unique Ways to Teach School Subjects with Family Fun Friday!

December 4, 2014 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

You ever have one of those weeks when your lesson plan is just “blah”? I have. There have been so many times that I didn’t want to cover a certain topic with the kids, simply because I couldn’t think of a way to make it fun. Enter the Internet! 🙂

In this week’s edition of Family Fun Friday, I’m sharing my favorite posts from last week – all of which feature unique ways to teach school subjects!

Keep Reading…

Why I Decided to Take a Homeschooling Break

December 3, 2014 by Selena Robinson 15 Comments

If I was to sum up the last ten years of my life as a parent in one word, it would probably be “homeschooling“. We planned to homeschool Tigger as soon as we found out we were pregnant and we’ve stuck with it from the very beginning.

But ….

Last month, we decided to put our three oldest kids in public school. Everybody gasp with me! GASP.

Like a lot of homeschooling mothers, I’ve thought about public school a few times before but this is the first time I’ve actually gone through with enrolling them. And it was hard. A lot harder than I thought it would be.

Still, I know it was the right decision for our family. For now. Here’s why I decided to take a homeschooling break.

Why I Decided to Take a Homeschooling Break

1. I was no longer a happy homeschooling mom.

For the past year and a half, I’ve been juggling homeschooling, working, and going to college full-time. During my first two semesters, my husband was unemployed, which was a huge reason why I went back to school in the first place.

This fall semester (ending this week! Yay!) has been the first time I’ve tried to juggle all three while he’s had a job. It. Has. Not. Been. Fun. I’ve been stressed for the last 15 weeks straight. I couldn’t even concentrate on teaching school to my kids, because I was so worried about my own (often rushed at the last-minute) assignments.

2. My ADHD was becoming a real problem.

I’ve always had a lot of things going at one time. I was brought up that way and I’d done it so long that I didn’t know there was another way to live. Since I have ADHD, I tend to get bored quickly and want to move on to something else.

Here’s the problem: You cannot do that when you have to take care of a home and raise children with consistent values. Boredom is not an excuse to skip lessons for a week (or a month), let dishes pile up in the sink, or overlook a tantrum. I had gotten to the point where it was either: A) put my kids in public school so I’d have a little time to clear my head or B) try medication. And, for me, medication is the absolute final last resort.

3. I didn’t want my kids to get the wrong idea of motherhood.

Most importantly, though, I began to feel that I was giving my kids the wrong perception of motherhood. Moms shouldn’t be stressed out and frazzled, because they have too much going on at once. And we certainly shouldn’t treat our kids as if they’re inconveniences, which is what was happening to me. I mean, what’s the point of keeping them home with me if I’m biting their heads off every time they ask a question?

Here is an example of an actual exchange between me and Pooh:

Pooh: *loudly from down the hall* “Mama?”

Me: *working* “WHAT?????!!!???!!!”

Pooh: “Can I….”

Me: “STOP CALLING ME! GOD!!!!!”

Pooh: *sadly* “Yes, mom.”

(I’ve since apologized. Fortunately, he’d forgotten about it. But it was not one of my proudest moments as a parent.)

That is not the mother I want to be. And I decided that being a happy mom was more important than being a homeschooling mom. Right now, I can be one or the other but not both. And my husband, wonderful supportive spouse that he is, was open to it from the beginning.

Btw, I’ll be blogging about our transition and some of the adjustments we’ve had to make along the way. And I’ll keep sharing great educational unit studies, lesson plans, printables, and more! I have Piglet with me during the day and she’ll be starting tot school soon, so I’ll have plenty to share for preschoolers in the upcoming months. Plus, I’ll be making activities and lessons to use with the kids during breaks and summer vacation. So if you’re a fan of our resources, they’re not going anywhere. 🙂

Have any of you ever considered taking a homeschooling break? What made you decide to? Or what made you decide not to? Let us know in the comments!

Free Construction Coloring Pages

November 25, 2014 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

Do you have any little ones who love all things construction? They’ll love these free construction coloring pages!

I whipped these up exclusively for Frugal Homeschool Family – a wonderful site dedicated to making homeschooling affordable for all. 🙂 By the way, today’s another edition of the Laugh and Learn linkup! Don’t miss our favorite posts from last week below!

We’ve got two big construction fans in our family, so I put together a coloring pack that they’d love! This pack features several construction-themed pictures, including earth movers and construction workers. And it’s totally free! 🙂

Stop by Frugal Homeschool Family to get your free Construction Coloring Pack today! And don’t forget to grab our free construction themed contraction flashcards too!

Free Construction Coloring Pack – Frugal Homeschool Family

And now….it’s time for another edition of the Laugh and Learn linky! 🙂

Welcome to our ninth week of Laugh and Learn – Homeschool and Parenting Linkup. Join us in the fun and help us spread the word! Laugh and Learn – Homeschool and Parenting Linkup will be open by 6 am every Tuesday morning. My co-hosts and I will be picking our four favorite posts and featuring 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 four blogs.

Last week we had three blogs but as of today we have a new co-host! Please check out Sarah’s blog below.

We have also hit an all time high of 60 links! Whoo hoo! Please keep on linking and help us grow 🙂

As of last week we added something new to our #laughlearnlinkup. We are pinning our favorites to a special Pinterest board for homeschooling and parenting posts. Check the board out here: #LaughLearnLinkup {Featured Favorites}. It’s just added exposure for your awesome content!

Your Fabulous Hosts 😉

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

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

Michelle Cannon

Michelle is a single mom homeschooling two daughters. Michelle currently writes at The Heart of Michelle where you’ll find articles about anything from homeschooling to special needs, opinion pieces to fandom posts.

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

Sarah Thornton

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

Our Favorite Posts for the Week of November 24th:

Written by Sarah at Stay At Home Educator

Explore Lebanon – Written by Laura at Mommy Maleta

Written by Liz at Love and Marriage {and a baby carriage}

Thanks to everyone who submitted a post. Please check out the posts above by clicking on the image, if you have a minute for some good reading. Thank you Sarah, Laura, and Liz for your great homeschool and parenting posts!

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

An InLinkz Link-up

Seasonal Fun for Kids with Family Fun Friday!

November 20, 2014 by Selena Robinson 4 Comments

If you’re looking for ideas for seasonal fun for kids, look no further than this week’s edition of Family Fun Friday! Today, I’m highlighting six of my favorite seasonal activities from last week’s linkup! 🙂

Check out this week’s posts below for even more learning activities for families! Don’t forget to link up your own blog posts so that we can pick some great features next week!

Keep Reading…

Homeschooling as a Mom with ADHD

November 11, 2014 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

In case you haven’t noticed, I talk about ADHD on this blog a lot. Like here, here, and here. 🙂 Several of us in our family are living with various types of this disorder and, for me as a homeschooling mom, ADHD poses quite a few challenges.

I recently had the chance to talk in depth about what it’s like to live as a homeschooling mom with ADHD over at Tales of a Pee Dee Mama. If you’d like to hear more about those struggles and successes, head over and read my Homeschooler Spotlight post!

Homeschooling as a Mom with ADHD – Tales of a Pee Dee Mama

Psst…..It’s also time for another edition of the Laugh and Learn linky! 🙂

* We missed last week’s Linkup due to technical issues. Living in Mexico has it’s perks and problems. Tomorrow will be four weeks that I have not had Internet in the house. It was supposed to be installed in 2 to 10 business days! Starbucks has become my second home… Thanks for your patience and hopefully this won’t happen again. Tina

Welcome to our seventh week of Laugh and Learn – Homeschool and Parenting Linkup! Join us in the fun and help us spread the word! Laugh and Learn – Homeschool and Parenting Linkup will be open by 6 am every Tuesday morning. My co-hosts and I will be picking our three favorite posts and featuring them on the following weeks linkup. So be sure to link your best content and maybe we will pick you! When you link your post with us it will not be featured on only one blog, but featured on three blogs for added exposure!

Your Fabulous Hosts 😉

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

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

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

Our Favorite Posts for the Week of November 3rd:

Written by Sara at Classically Homeschooling

Written by Natalie at Planet Smarty Pants

Written by Kyle at Aspired Living

Thanks to everyone who submitted a post. Please check out the posts above by clicking on the image, if you have a minute for some good reading. Thank you Sara, Natalie, and Kyle for your great homeschool and parenting posts!

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

An InLinkz Link-up

Reading and Writing Activities for Kids with Family Fun Friday!

November 6, 2014 by Selena Robinson 5 Comments

Hi everyone! Welcome to another installment of Family Fun Friday! Last week, we featured our favorite homeschooling printables. This week, we’re onto Reading and Writing fun with six fabulous features!

Be sure to check out our favorites and link up your own posts below!

Keep Reading…

How Homeschooling Improved Our Family Life

November 4, 2014 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

We’ve been homeschooling for six years now…and we’re about to make a huge transition in our family. (I’ll be talking about that in an upcoming post.) But there’s no doubt that homeschooling has changed our family life….for the better.

Since most of us have ADHD, homeschooling has been a challenge but it’s also been a true blessing to our family. We’ve had fun, we’ve had fights, and we’ve had freedom to learn from and with each other.

Recently, I got the chance to share a bit about how homeschooling has improved our family life over at TOTS Family. Be sure to stop by and check out the post: How Homeschooling Has Improved Our Family Life to read more!

How Homeschooling Improved Our Family Life – TOTS Family

How to Write a Unit Study for ADHD Kids

October 31, 2014 by Selena Robinson 3 Comments

We’ve been using unit studies in our homeschool for years. Personally, I love them. They’re flexible and adaptable, which is perfect for keeping our kids interested in the lessons. We can write them ourselves, buy them from others, or make them up as we go.

If you’re unfamiliar with the unit study approach to homeschooling, check out our previous post about what unit studies are for more details. But, generally, they’re multi-subject lessons based around a central theme. You might have a medieval history unit or a harvest unit or a bear unit, and so on.

Since we’re homeschooling kids with ADHD, we make a few changes to help our kids stay interested and excited about what we’re learning. Here are a few tips that you can use to learn how to write a unit study for kids with ADHD!

How to Write a Unit Study for ADHD Kids

Follow their interests.

With unit studies, you have the flexibility to choose any topic you (or the kids) want. If one of your children is a huge fan of construction, like Roo is now, make that your topic. You won’t have to worry about them paying attention then. 🙂

When you’ve selected your topic, find ways to include all of the important subjects within it. For example, in a construction unit, I might include math worksheets featuring a construction theme, books about construction machines, and scientific concepts that are used in construction such as simple machines. It’s a great way to help kids develop an interest in subjects they may not have liked in the past.

Include movement at every opportunity.

Physical activity is excellent for helping kids with ADHD refocus their attention for learning. Use brain breaks or short bursts of physical movement every hour to give their brains a much-needed shot of adrenalin.

If you can find a way to make movement a part of the unit study, that’s even better! Using our construction example, kids can build a tower out of blocks, paper towel tubes, or sponges. You could even have them act out the functions of each construction machine they learn about. In fact, one of Roo’s favorite things to do right now is to use his arms like a front loader, complete with sound effects. It certainly makes our P.E. lessons interesting. 🙂

Don’t stress about time.

One of the goals of homeschooling is to help our kids love learning. If they’re doing that, don’t feel like you have to drop the topic to cover a different unit within a certain amount of time. If your children are enjoying the topic, it’s perfectly fine to stick with it for days, weeks, or even months on end.

Do you use unit studies with your kids who have ADHD? Tell us about how you adjust your units for them in the comments!

This post is part of the 31 Days of ADHD Homeschooling series! Thanks for following along with us this month! See all of the posts in the series by clicking the image below!

Free Homeschooling Printables with Family Fun Friday!

October 30, 2014 by Selena Robinson 3 Comments

Since we’re homeschooling on a budget (like many of you are), we love free homeschooling printables in our family! In last week’s Family Fun Friday, there were plenty of great homeschooling activities, including several great printable activities. Today we’re featuring our favorites!

If you’re a blogger, be sure to link up your posts to this week’s linky. Your posts could be featured next week!

Keep Reading…

Creating an ADHD PE Curriculum for Homeschoolers

October 30, 2014 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

Since kids with ADHD tend to be more active than other kids, it’s easy to think that physical education isn’t that important for them. Wrong! Depending on the child, PE can be even more important for a child with ADHD.

Because the ADHD brain has trouble organizing thoughts and carrying out instructions, kids with ADHD may be clumsier, less coordinated, and more likely to get injured than other kids. We saw this with Tigger quite a lot, especially since she also deals with sensory processing disorder. She fell, tripped, and got hurt much more often than her peers.

Since she was always active, I had assumed that she didn’t really need P.E. But in P.E., you learn so many critical concepts that are essential to being active later in life! So we decided to institute an actual P.E. program., but we made it into an ADHD PE curriculum with a few adjustments.

How to Make an ADHD PE Curriculum for Homeschool

Emphasize the basic skills first.

I went to public school until I was in seventh grade, so I had P.E. everyday as a young child. Even though it wasn’t that long ago *ahem*, I still forgot that I learned most of my basic movement skills there, not on the playground. When we took the kids to the playground last year, I couldn’t understand why they were afraid to climb the play structures. Duh! I’d never taught them how to jump down!

We started focusing on mastering the basic PE skills – jumping, skipping, standing, balancing, and running. I just took the kids to the playground last week and I almost couldn’t get them off the ladders. Even Piglet was climbing and sliding down with the rest of them. 🙂

Keep the lessons short.

Because kids with ADHD often have short attention spans, you might have to keep the structured P.E. lessons short, especially when you’re first beginning. They can get so excited about trying something that they fail to pay attention to the instructions and then they’re far more likely to get injured.

So, keep the instructions short and let them get involved as soon as you can. Watch them for signs that they’re losing focus – shifting eyes, fidgeting, etc. – and cut the lesson when you see that. They’ll also want to play and explore on their own. You may even want to let them do that first, so that they’ll be more likely to pay attention when you teach the skills.

Try teaching P.E. first.

Earlier in the series, we talked about having P.E. early in the school day to help them organize their thoughts for later lessons. Having P.E. class immediately after breakfast may actually help your kids pay closer attention to their other subjects.

One note of warning, though: If you decide to have P.E. first, don’t make it too strenuous. Otherwise, both you and the kids will be too pooped to finish the school day! (I’ve done this, by the way.)

How do you create an ADHD PE curriculum in your homeschool? Tell us about the way you teach physical education in the comments!

This post is part of the 31 Days of ADHD Homeschooling series! Stop by tomorrow for Day 31: Writing a Unit Study for Kids with ADHD!