Looking for some fun and educational hands-on activities to teach ecology to your kids? Here’s a book that delivers it well. The Kitchen Pantry Scientist Ecology for Kids: Science Experiments and Activities Inspired by Awesome Ecologists, Past and Present is one of a series of great books by Liz Lee Heinecke, also known as the […]
10 Outrageously Fun Ways to Play With Math Today
Short Division Makes Math Easy
Note: This is an article that ran on my homeschooling column at Examiner around 2009 titled “Long Division Is So Last Century.” Last week a fellow homeschooling mother told me that her sons were struggling some days with long division. I cringed and admitted we had not even started on the subject at our house. […]
Free Art Lessons for Kids: Week One Wayne Thiebaud
Welcome to week one of our 12-week free art lessons for kids course here at A Magical Homeschool! This week the kids will be learning about the art of Wayne Thiebaud (pronounced TEE-bo) and following along with five days of fun and easy art projects using a variety of media. Who was Wayne Thiebaud? Wikipedia […]
Five Lessons To Take From Waldorf In Your Homeschool
I talked recently about lessons you can take from Montessori to enrich your homeschool. Waldorf schools are another great source of ideas. Here are five Waldorf principles that appeal to many homeschoolers. 1. Young children don’t need academics. Waldorf schools don’t start any sort of formal teaching (including teaching reading) until age 7, much like […]
10 Sneaky Ways to Improve Your Child’s Math Skills
Math seems to trigger some ancient fight-or-flight mechanism in some otherwise brilliant children. This irrational fear of math can cause kids who don’t feel good at the subject to avoid doing it, leading to a snowball effect of more avoidance, falling farther behind and feeling more panic about not understanding it (and more avoidance). Luckily, […]
50 Fun Ways for Kids to Get Great at Spelling
All five of our homeschooled kids are now great spellers, but they weren’t always great. They learned in different ways that suited them, but in the end they all ended up becoming excellent spellers — without worksheets, drills or a curriculum. How? It was easier than I thought it would be, once they learned in […]
Learn French Free with The French Tutorial
Have you heard of The French Tutorial? It offers a full French course absolutely free online. The website, which has been around since 1999, says: The French Tutorial is a web-based step by step lesson covering basics, pronunciation, but also grammar, vocabulary and everyday French. It offers audio and video support for better oral comprehension, […]
Review: The Science Spell Book
We have a new favorite science experiment book in our homeschool! I was lucky to preview an advanced copy of The Science Spell Book: 30 Enchanting Experiments for Kids earlier this year and immediately fell in love with it. It’s is one of my favorite children’s science books that I’ve read, and I’ve read a […]
Five Great Nature Books for Kids
A Week’s Worth of Fun Math Fillers
Math Games Lab for Kids: a Great Book for Hands on Fun
Who needs to stick to a boring old math curriculum? There are some really great books for hands-on math fun. Math Games Lab for Kids: 24 Fun, Hands-On Activities for Learning with Shapes, Puzzles, and Games by Rebecca Rapoport is definitely a fun one to check out with your kiddos. I read an advanced reader […]
Fabulous Free American Sign Language Curriculum, Classes & More
Is your child interested in learning American Sign Language? There are some really wonderful free resources for kids of all ages to learn ASL. The American Sign Language University offers wonderful free online ASL classes. They provide four levels of classes for free, with each course building on the last and comprising of 15 in-depth […]
DYI Curriculum: 9th Grade Language Arts
If you don’t follow a boxed curriculum, it is easy to design your own Language Arts (English) curriculum for 9th grade. You can create an excellent master plan with a thorough list of recommended reading and accompanying work to focus on writing and communication skills. Ninth grade is a good year to focus on American […]
Homeschool 101: How Can I Convince My Husband to Homeschool?
So you’ve looked at studies, read books, researched online and talked to homeschoolers and have decided that homeschooling is the best path for your family — and your husband is still convinced that public school is the way to go. What can you do to change his mind? Here are five good steps to take. […]
This Poem Is a Nest: A Must-Read New Poetry Book
Kids Can Learn Native Languages FREE with 7000 Languages
Here’s a wonderful free resource for adults or kids to learn indigenous languages. 7000 Languages is a nonprofit website and app that teaches native languages such as Dakota, Cree, Balinese and Ojibwe, absolutely free. 7000 Languages explains: We create free online language-learning courses in partnership with Indigenous, minority, and refugee communities so they can keep […]
Artsology Uses Games to Teach Kids About Famous Art
Have your kids played on Artsology yet? This free site uses a wide range of games and activities to teach kids about famous art and music, from Georgia O’Keefe flower puzzles to Salvado Dali hangman to virtual graffiti tagging and jazz musician name scrambles. This is a site we visited with our older kids years […]
Kids Can Win Scholarships Through the Science without Borders Annual Art Contest
Here’s a way for kids to be creative, spread awareness to protect our oceans and coral reefs, and possibly earn scholarship money through their art right now. The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation’s Science without Borders® Challenge is an annual art contest open to kids 11-19 years old, with scholarships of up to $500 […]
A Favorite New Science and History Book
Our twelve year-old son, Alex, has been carrying around a huge science and history book for 3 days, devouring every page of it and talking to anybody who will listen about what he’s reading. The book is one that I reviewed recently for NetGalley, which I ordered after reading it because I thought it would […]
Review: Wild Life tells of being homeschooled in the African wilderness and dealing with mean girls in American schools
The newly released Wild Life: Dispatches from a Childhood of Baboons and Button-Downs tells the fascinating story of Keena Roberts’ life growing up partly in her parents’ research station in the middle of an African reserve and then part time in an affluent American suburb. The publisher, Grand Central Publishing, describes the memoir: Keena Roberts […]
Poetry Fun: 5 Creative Exercises to Get Kids Writing Poetry (and liking it)
Looking for a fun way to introduce poetry in your homeschool? Also want to sneak spelling, penmanship, vocabulary, antonyms and parts of speech into the play? Here are some creative poetry exercises that will fit the bill. Revised rhymes: Get out a book of nursery rhymes or short poems (try e.e. cummings or Emily Dickinson) […]
Fall Leaf ID Guide
Here’s a wonderful infographic to help you and your kiddos identify 60 different trees by their fall leaves! Infographic Developed by MJJSales.com The poster (courtesy of MJ Sales Umbrellas, which has a surprisingly helpful blog) helps kids learn about simple versus compound leaves, palmate versus pinnate leaves, and lobed versus not lobed leaves (see the […]
Review: Study with Me Gives Bullet Journaling Inspiration for Homeschoolers
A newly released #studygram inspired book offers great inspiration for students to use bullet journals for studying, and can also be used by homeschool parents for bujo ideas for kids. Study with Me: Effective Bullet Journaling Techniques, Habits, and Hacks To Be Successful, Productive, and Organized was released this month and I was lucky enough […]
Free Online Ojibwe Language Class
Here’s a fantastic free resource for foreign language learning. The University of Wisconsin Au Claire allows anyone to view their live or archived Ojibwe (Chippewa) language classes absolutely free. The University says: Welcome to our Online Ojibwe Language Program, where anyone can watch our live or archived classes for free. Archived classes can be found […]
A Sweet Little Vintage Reading Printable
I found this vintage first words image by chance on Flickr and thought it could make a fun coloring page for little ones who are learning to read simple words. The image is in the public domain since it’s from a book whose copyright has expired. The book, “The Book of Knowledge: The Children’s Encyclopedia,” […]
Kids Can Learn History, Mythology and More With FREE Superhero Course with Late Stan Lee
Here’s a fantastic opportunity for kids who like superheroes like Spider-Man, Iron Man and the Avengers that will help them learn history, mythology and more. Before his death, comic book legend Stan Lee contributed to a class on superheroes that’s now available for free on edX. The SmithsonianX course, titled “The Rise of Superheroes and […]
Free Printable Weather Tree for April
Of Course Those Little Girls Who Survived in the Wilderness Were Homeschooled
Awesome Bullet Journals on eBay for Under $5 (with free shipping!)
Bullet journals can be fantastic tools for kids and adults alike for everything from tracking days they’ve done math to planning next year’s curriculum choices to keeping track of the year’s read-aloud books. We’ve been using bullet journals in our homeschool for a couple of years now and the kids and I all love them. […]